THE GRINSTEAD FAMILY

SEND EMAIL...PLEASE!!

If you are reading this, I am begging you to PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE drop me an email with your home address in it. My PC crashed the other day & I have lost all email AND home addresses of my family & friends. A friend is going to attempt to pull some things off of my hard drive, but I'm not counting on that!! I guess from now on, I need to back up...lesson learned!!

What else happened this week??? Scott traveled to Atlanta for a seminar. He loved the decent weather there & rubbed it in a bit!!

Valentine's Day was nice. The kids had their parties at school & they were a lot of fun. Pics will be posted another day.

My mom came up yesterday afternoon. She stopped by the school & met some of my students & got to see the kid's classrooms & meet Jake's teacher. She had already met Allie's teacher when Jake had her. We went to dinner last night & then went to Jake's game this morning & out for breakfast. We had such a nice time. The kids always enjoy their wild game of UNO with Nana.

Jake was chosen for a speaking part in the 1st/2nd grade musical that will be held in March. He was pretty excited. He also got another 100% on his spelling test. He had a doctor appt. & got his chicken pox booster. He HATES shots & was all worked up about it. They used a "shot blocker" and he didn't even know that he got a shot!! What a WONDERFUL invention!

Allie took her friend Jordyn to her ballet class this week. The girls had a great time. Allie had her friend Renee come home from school with her on Thursday & they played & played.

On the agenda for this week is dance, religion, a Pampered Chef party, conferences, volunteering in Allie's room, no school on Thursday/Friday, a doctor appt. & basketball.

A TRIBUTE

On a completely differently note...a teacher at school sent me this email. I had to pass it on...

I am an alumni of Northern Illinois University. I spent my "formative" years on that campus. It is where I received my teacher education. I am so bummed. You always think "those tragedies" will happen someplace else. Now one has struck unbelievably close to home. Where will they end? Without meaning to date myself, here is my tribute to good ole NIU:

NIU--where I attended every single education class for 4 years wearing either a skirt or a dress no matter what the season. Windchill had not been invented, so we never knew how truly cold we were.

NIU--where I attended a candlelight vigil the evening of April 4, 1968 in honor of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

NIU--where my husband and I courted and fell in love 40 years ago

NIU--where we had hours in the dorms and they were strictly enforced

NIU--where men were allowed in our dorms twice a year on a Sunday afternoon for "open house" and the door had to remain open

NIU--where the cornfields met the edge of the dorms and where nothing big ever happened

NIU--where I spent one memorable Friday night dancing to the live music of the band "Tommy James and the Shondells" (those of you who are too young to know this band, you should google them!)

NIU--where I went to see the movie "West Side Story" because my mother wouldn't let me go and see it when I was in high school because it was "indecent"

NIU--where my oldest brother came to visit me for a weekend right after he returned from Viet Nam, and we had front row seats for a Righteous Brother's concert

NIU--where I huddled in the basement of the dorm during the spring of 67 tornadoes that struck Belvidere and then DeKalb

NIU--where nothing ever happened that was big.....until yesterdayGod bless the NIU community.

"Announce peace with your lips, but have it even more so in your heart." St. Francis