Willow Brook: Catching Up

Often times I'm too lazy (think tired) to upload photos. Several of our kiddos own cameras and take photos if/when I leave my camera at home or I end up taking pics on my cell phone for convenience sake. It is a disorganized system, but at the least the photos are there...somewhere. Which brings me to a few events in months past that never made it to posting. I don't often post anything of the older children because the girls don't want photos unless there hair is done and the older boys just don't like photos being taken. They have to be in the mood, which is seldom. So I try to steal photos of them at candid moments. For instance....skiing in February at our favorite hill in Michigan. There was no way out of this cell phone snapshot of Andrew (right).

On March 15, Francesca, Elizabeth and I joined John's Aunt Jean and Judith at the Lyric Opera House in Chicago to watch Verdi's Aida. It was the girls' first opera experience and they enjoyed it very much. I was most impressed by the imported stage setting from Austria and imported costumes from Germany. I teared up when the tenor, Radames sang Celeste Aida in the opening scene. It had been far too many years since I'd been to an opera (22 years, but who's counting). I cannot explain the emotion it stirs up in my heart. It has always been my passion.

Meanwhile, the Knight took his princess to American Girl Place and did some shopping downtown Chicago.

Here are the girls in front of a fountain downtown Chicago before we parted. Yes, the water is green. They most likely colored it in preparation of St. Patrick's Day festivities. I find it amusing that all four of us wore hues of greenish-blue that day without it being planned. At least this means we were all in the same mood (rare), which was a good thing!