There is sun! real, live sun and something that might well be grass poking through. No croci yet, but I am starting to believe they are coming at last.

Plus, Eli won the "What African American History Means to Me" contest for the 7th grade in Ohio and got a laptop (hey!!). Here he is with the other winners from Clintonville Academy and their amazing Social Studies teacher, Kim Rosenbaum.

And Gideon has some terrific new pieces to share, including a "stained glass" portait of Mowgli and a very German expressionist piece entitled 3 Faces

Too much has been going on in the last couple of weeks to write about: the kids have been in school for a total of about 3 days this month thanks to the snowiest February anyone can remember. But we escaped for a delicious and perfect weekend in L.A. visiting Michael and Stephen, who took us to Bouchon for the best meal we have ever had (which turns out to be a vastly superior thing to the "snowiest winter we have ever had") and to visit the set of Glee and tour the Paramount lot. And they let us swim in King Henry VIII's pool and look at his huge mirror. We even squeezed in a trip to the beach and to the Museum of Jurassic Technology. Perfect, and just what the doctor ordered before returning (just in time) to still more snow.

What else... Hmmm. Well, on Friday we got to see Porgy and Bess at the Southern, an absolutely amazing production and the kids' first opera (Gideon is in love). It was an especially nice celebration as we had just received the news that both boys had received awards in their respective essay contests, Gideon's on "freedom" and Eli's on African American history month. Readings and ceremonies to follow. And celebratory sushi with Bubbe and Papa when they return from the desert. Saturday Gideon and the Cougar's fought valiantly in the field for an hour and then Gideon went off to art class to work on figure drawing. Some new pics by the young master here:



And the whole of JBEG is grooving on season 6 of Lost and the first 7 volumes of 20th Century Boys. Basically, life, as always, is pretty darned awesome. Except for bills and cleaning the toilets, but still...

Snowed in for the weekend, building sad, short-lived snowmen. Check out the short, happy life of Tilty, the Snowman. And Gideon, inspired by his reading of Douglass's Narrative, did a portrait in the great man's honor.

B ran her first 5K today for MoveMMORE and she finished 4th in her agegroup! 'Cause she is totally awesome. To see video of the action check out http://gallery.me.com/jphewitt#100191

J is quite certain that there will be half-marathons in our near future.

Congratultions to Steve and Nancy for such a marvellous event! If they would just set up an eliptical machine for J next year at the starting gate, he can participate, too!

Not finding what you are looking for in What to Expect...? Well, we here at JBEG Inc are working on our own parenting manual sure to be a hit this holiday season. For instance, tonight one of the parents (not me) said to one of the kids (not me), in response to an endless stream of insufferable questions (demands) as to what was going to happen tomorrow (and I quote): "What is most likely to happen tomorrow is that I am going to take a huge S*** on your face." Yes, these and other sure-fire tips for fine-ass parenting will be yours in the JBEG Parenting Manual (patent pending).

Try as we might to track down the piece de resistance of American obesity, we could not purchase any deep fried fat. Yes, deep fried macaronic & cheese, deep fried mash potatoes, loaded nachos, deep fried ravioli, pork sandwiches as big as your head were ubiquitous. But no where could JBEG find deep fried lard on a stick. Still we braved the sun and the screaming and made the rounds with Bubbie and Papa (their first midwestern state fair ever!) to see the pregnant cows (Eli even tried milking one), the butter sculpture, the beautiful animals (J & B are pretty sure we are never eating meat again), the hucksters trying to fill Billy May's shoes, and B. had her yearly chat with the man from the maple producers. E & G went on enough rides to justify their wristbands until Gideon exited "Crazy Plane" dizzy and nauseous. B bravely did the free fall drop all by her lonesome (why is her family so chicken??) and then she followed in Gideon's vertiginous footsteps after the Yoyo with Eli. Oh, State Fair, why do you tempt us with your foul ways?

Gideon finally got better just as Bubbe and Papa were pulling into town in their big yellow truck. Summoning all sorts of superhero unpacking strength, we unloaded after only 1 1/2 days, and thus they were able to lunch with Gideon in honor of his Good Citizen Award. Jared made it through his first week of classes, teaching 170 students, thereby proving that he too deserves a good citizen award and medal. Then today Eli summoned up all kinds of courage (not to mention talent) to play both oboe and piano at the Young Musicians Competition. He was brilliant and gorgeous and somehow didn't even lose it, even when he walked through the door to discover he was on the stage of a 500-person auditorium (nor did he seem furious at my evident betrayal, since I told him he would be playing in a little room in front of some kindly old ladies). Now we've got to celebrate with some JBEG subterfuge . . . .