Dotzour Family.com – Page 14 – Althea, Bryan, Andrew, and Sylvia

April 14, 2011April 19, 2011

Down by the river

A week-or-so ago, Michael, Lisa, Tom, Terry, the kids, and I all headed out to Tom’s new (second) home in Lone Rock, Wisconsin. He’s been working hard as the general contractor of building operations since September. Exhausting work, it seems! But now, the job is just about complete. So we came out to help get it fixed up and to enjoy some first meals in it together.

After spending a few hours inside (removing a layer of construction dirt, and moving and setting up furniture), we took a walk down to the Wisconsin River.

Sylvie loves wearing her “fruit tarts” (leotards).

Mid-April in Wisconsin. Warm air and bare trees.

Love this pic of my little Miss and her stick.

Looking downstream. The Wisconsin River is just about my favorite place on earth.

The water is so high!

Sylvie dips her stick in a shallow area (when the water is lower, the land actually extends 5-10 feet out, so the spot she is in is really shallow and still.

You can see the Lone Rock bridge up stream.

Enjoying nature (and checking the iPhone).

And I’ll leave you with a few more images of trees in the water.

April 13, 2011April 10, 2011

Young at Art

Andrew has a piece of his art hanging in Madison’s Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. We got a notice about that in the mail, and I sort of assumed that he had contributed to a mural or some collaborative piece of art. So it was surprising and exciting to visit the museum a week ago and see instead one of his pieces framed and hanging on the wall.

The Young at Art exhibit runs at MMoCA through May 15th. Here’s an article from the Badger Herald. What a cool project and a great way to promote and celebrate creativity!

According to MMoCA’s website, “In preparing for the exhibition, each of Madison’s public school art teachers is invited to submit up to three works created by his or her students.” It’s really cool that Andrew’s work was chosen! Stop by to see the free exhibit if you’re in Madison this next month. There’s some pretty amazing pieces on display.

April 12, 2011April 10, 2011

Post for Topsy

I thought that Topsy (Terry’s mom) would appreciate seeing some pictures of Sylvia and Terry. They were having fun playing with all Terry’s silly toys. Sylvie is such a talkative, delightful three-year-old big girl:)

April 11, 2011April 10, 2011

Mom’s birthday cake

My mom’s 59th birthday was last Thursday, April 7. I hadn’t planned any specific activities, but then I decided that we should make her a cake.

I made a tres leche cake, and boy was it yummy! We decided to meet Terry and Dad at Plaza on State Street for burgers and fries and then to head back to Terry’s for cake. Plaza was a regular eating place for my family in the past. Seemed like a good place to go to raise a glass to my mom.

When we came back to Terry’s the kids got to put the candles on the cake.

Terry lit the candles (I love how transfixed the kids appear in this picture!).

Then we all sang happy birthday to my mama.

And then Andrew and Sylvie blew out the candles.

Mom’s birthday is definitely bittersweet. I wish she was around to celebrate. But it’s a nice opportunity to remember her and celebrate the wonderful person she was. And we all certainly enjoyed her cake. Love you, Mom.

April 9, 2011April 3, 2011

Spring mud cake

The weather is finally warming up! All it took was getting up to above 40 (I think it was 46 degrees), and my kids were barefoot and then shirtless. It is so nice to be playing outdoors again!!

After school, Alivia and Rayna came over to play. The four kids were busily running around the yard, riding bikes in the driveway, and then they disappeared to the backyard where they were all hard at work on a major project. I went to investigate with my camera in hand.

Here’s the two big kids. They are just so cute together!

They were making a cake out of mud and mulch and grass and some pieces of blue construction paper and a sprinkle of sugar from the kitchen.

Adding some grassy touches…

A final stir –

And voilá! The first mud cake of the season.

I look forward to many more!

April 8, 2011April 3, 2011

Tuckered out

We drove home from St. Paul on Sunday, March 27. Bryan drove the whole way; Sylvia was awake until the last half hour, and when she fell asleep, she was out cold. When we got home, Bryan carried Sylv inside and sat down with her in the rocking chair. A half hour later, he was still there, rocking her. I’m assuming that she had indicated to him that she didn’t want him to leave her.

A bit later when I peeked in the room, this is the sight that met my eyes.

So I ran for my camera:)

They’re oh, so sweet sleeping together.

And looking at Bryan’s tall body curled up in Sylvia’s toddler bed…it’s about the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. He’s the best dad ever.

Andrew, Sylvia, and I are all oh, so lucky:)

April 6, 2011April 3, 2011

Cute kids at Como Gardens

Como Botanic Gardens in Saint Paul is just beautiful. And this time of year, an afternoon of warm air, green leaves, and flowers is just what we all needed.

Andrew and Sylvia were being so adorable together. Glad I had my camera on-hand to document the meltyness of it all.

Siblings exploring.

<aak> be still my heart!

Checking out the koi.

Here’s Andrew’s first photo taken with my camera (the strap was around my neck). A little over exposed, but it was in manual mode:)

Bryan and Sylvia share some moments by the water’s edge.

This melts my heart too!

I think they’re both awfully fond of each other!

And here’s a sloth. I always love to see a sloth!!

April 5, 2011April 3, 2011

Visit to St. Paul & Kyle’s project

The weekend of March 25, we drove up to St. Paul. My childhood friend, Katie, was getting married, and as a big bonus, we also got to spend the weekend with Maretta and Kyle. Here we are in their home.

And here’s the happy couple:)

Kyle is a PhD student in astrophysics at the University of Minnesota. He’s been working on an experiment since he was an undergrad, and it sounds like it’s making strides toward the finish line. EBEX (see Wikkepedia article here or one with pictures here) is a super-special telescope that Kyle’s team has been engineering. Their plan is to attach the telescope to a stratospheric balloon and launch it in Antarctica. The data it gathers should give the scientists information about background microwave radiation that may help them determine how fast the universe is expanding and what the universe might have looked at soon after the Big Bang. At least, that’s my take on it. Kyle, feel free to correct me!

On Tuesday last week, Kyle and his team took off for Palestine, Texas, where they are working at NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility where they will be integrating their equipment with the balloon in preparation for the big flight from Antarctica. One of Kyle’s teammates is writing a blog about their work he’s also posting pictures here. The duration of this phase of the project is unknown. It could be months. So my sister’s a little sad this week with her hubby gone, perhaps for months. Hopefully evening Google chats and spinning will sustain her:) Good luck on this amazing project, Kyle!

While we were visiting Maretta and Kyle last weekend, I loved watching Maretta and Andrew snuggle and play. I’ll leave you with a few cute pictures to bring a smile.

April 4, 2011April 3, 2011

Sleeping Beauty’s spinning wheel

My sister Maretta’s fictional alter-ego is Sleeping Beauty. The girl loves her sleep, and she does look like an angle while snoozing. She and I shared a (very small) room growing up, and I would have the lights on and my music blaring and I would be walking across her bed, and all the while, she lay there in beatific slumber.

In addition to being a beautiful person, sister, and actress, Maretta is a knitter extraordinaire. The girl is fast, and she cranks out projects by the week. This is especially impressive to me as I crank out knitting projects on a 2-4 year time horizon.

Maretta recently took a class where she learned how to spin yarn. Now, she’s addicted. She put the word out and acquired a $20 spinning wheel. When we visited her recently, I took some photos of her demonstrating her new craft.

Here she is seated in front of the wheel.

Here’s a bobbin filled with spun yarn.

Before and after. Roving becomes yarn.

Before and after closeup. You gotta love those natural fibers! Maretta is really getting on my case about getting myself a farm where I can raise alpacas for her:)

The wheel.

Here it’s spinning without the wool.

And here’s the wheel in motion.

I took a little video of Maretta spinning away. Enjoy! She’s starting to get wool from a fiber CSA called Kindred Spirit Farm. It’s such a joy to see someone you love so electrified by a new passion!

[flickr video=5584385514]

April 3, 2011March 30, 2011

Playing kitty

One of Sylvia’s favorite games is to pretend to be a kitty. The adult is a person who comes to the pet shop looking for the kitty. Sometimes the kitty runs away. Sometimes the kitty is sick. Sometimes the kitty is pink.

When Bryan came home from work the other day, Sylvia strongly requested that he play kitty. Sweetly, Bryan set down his coat/lunch/bag and acquiesced to the playtime desires of our daughter.

Here she is, in the corner, meowing as Bryan-the-customer comes to the pet store to see if there are any kitties for sale.

In this case, the kitty was a little sick, so Bryan called the vet who came to take a look at her.

The kitty is feeling a little better as Vet-Bryan examines her.

Oh, what a sweet little kitty.

It’s always nice to pet your kitties to help them feel better.

Notice the ballet skirt Sylv is wearing over her footie pjs? Outfit #9 for the day.

I’m so glad that Andrew and Sylvie have such a sweet daddy to fill their buckets and to play make-believe with:)