Weekend Update

Hey, y'all (please note the proper spelling of y'all, it is not ya'll, that's just a pet peeve of mine),

I'm back from a week of training in lovely Wausau, WI. Home of my employer, Wausau Insurance. I'm all trained up on our "TotalValue Proposition." Please ask me how I may help you to control your total cost of risk with my expert, decisive risk management solutions.

Training is usually a beating - presentation skills, time management, group projects, etc. But actually, this week wasn't too bad. They could have cut some of the fluff and covered the really important stuff in just two or three days, but I met some nice colleauges that I look forward to staying in touch with. (Ending a sentence with a preposition is not a pet peeve of mine, in fact I think I read somewhere that it's allowed these days.)

And it's a lovely part of the country with many lakes and hills and tall trees. The harsh winters can be tough, though. My heart is in Texas. But central Wisconsin is very pretty . The weather was simply gorgeous this week. Highs in the 70's, lows in the 40's, trees already changing color. It's definitely given me the camping bug again, which I wrote about last week.

It's great to be home, and just in time to do my part battling the snot monster MommaLlama wrote about. It's coming under control somewhat, and it's nice that all the boys are capable of a good, hard blow of the nose. Bubba can really put some force into it. I thought a nice long, hot bath would help clear up some of the crud.


Snookie is really becoming more photogenic, with a more natural smile for the camera. They are all growing so fast. I talked with one of my coworkers at dinner this week who has three sons in their late teens and early 20's. He encouraged me to treasure every day with my little guys. And the absence really did make the heart grow fonder. When I'm traveling, I like to show people the family pictures in my wallet, from three years ago and last fall. That image stays in my mind, and it's a bit of surprise to come home and remember how big they are now. They seem taller than when I left, and Bobcat's limp is very much diminished, and their senses of humor and wit are maturing.

They are not quite at the level of sophistication required to appreciate such a fine work of cinema as Mr. Bean's Holiday, which we saw this afternoon. Maybe the Llama and I have quirky senses of humor, but this guy totally cracks us up. We thought the boys would enjoy all the goofy faces and crazy noises he makes. But they mostly sat there bored. I think they were disappointed that it wasn't animated... Oh well, at least it was matinee prices.

And, last but not least, the Llama's unbridled creativity and spontanaity have struck again. She has a tendency to paint rooms when I'm gone. She didn't quite finish before I got home, so I snapped a couple photos of her finishing up this evening. Isn't she cute on her ladder?

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Update:

Not two minutes after I sent this post, we checked in on the boys' bedroom, and Snookie and Bubba were playing around, out of their beds, for what must be the 10th time in a month. Grrrr.... It is 10:30, and they were dead asleep when I woke them up from their naps this afternoon. I assumed they'd be exhausted from all the playing and the cold medicine. I even kept them up a little later than usual. Yet somehow they manage to find the energy for doing the wrong things at the wrong times. This is what I get for being all romantic and sentimental earlier in this post...