the march toward spring

temps in the 40s for the past few days and rain the past 24 hours have significantly reduced the amount of snow left on the ground, and heightened our hopes for spring. this week ben enters his spring break, with doug and emma going back to the usual grind.

big march madness weekend for us--had different groups over for viewing (and eating) parties on both friday and saturday, and doug and emma went over to the target center on friday to watch some of the girls state high school tournament. not sure who is winning the family pool, but here are each of our final picks: emma--Notre Dame; ben--ohio state; doug--ohio state; terri--ucla. no, just kidding for T; she really picked duke, doing with her head rather than her heart, in nana's lingo.

with being on sabbatical, spring break not quite as big a deal for terri as others of us. big news for her for the week involved a paper she just had appear in the journal for marriage and the family this week. the journal and university put out press releases and it turns out that the piece is getting some nice media attention. she did interviews with newsweek, men's health, and the AP (among other places). the transcript of one such interview can be found below:

http://www.minnpost.com/healthblog/2011/03/17/26691/young_adults_help_from_parents_doesnt_mean_theyre_slackers_u_of_m_study_finds

there are other write-ups about the study on websites of time and us news as well.

all of us also went to a play called "Song of Extinction" at the Guthrie this afternoon. it was poignant mediation on science and life, that followed the life of a high school cello player whose mom was dying of cancer and his high school biology teacher, a refugee immigrant from cambodia.

spring break bus-i-ness

doug and emma are officially now on spring break. this, after being first in line (with terri) for the season opening of conny's this morning! indeed, the full extent of emma's spring break plans seems to involve trips to cone everyday. ben's first shift is weds night--though sounds like he plans on stopping in today after school as well.

we actually got started saturday night with some bowling. crazy thing about that was that in the first game we all (terri, emma and doug--ben was watching a movie with friends) all got exactly 100.

lots of challenging world news all around us--protests in the middle east, the tragedy in japan (terri's brother chris, just back from search-and-rescue in new zealand, could be called over), and now some on a more personal, local front: sam gerteis, the son of our friends joe and nicole (one year younger than emma), was discovered to have a brain tumor this weekend. he had 6 hours emergency surgery yesterday and appears to be doing well. his is in the ICU at children's in st. paul (doug visited last night). all our prayers are with them.

Good Times