It's going to be a bit of zombie day for Meg and I. Henry had one very bad night of "sleep" and it was the second such night in two days. :(

On Wednesday Henry woke up at 10PM and then at 1:30AM. At 1:30AM he was asking me to go downstairs and was shaking. It was pretty pitiful to see. It seems he had a really bad dream, but all he said about it was, "you wake me up." We let him sleep in our bed for a while and then sleep downstairs with me. I meant for him to sleep on the love seat, but he ended up sleeping on the floor next to me on the couch.

Last night started out pretty bad. Henry said he didn't want to sleep upstairs at all and when I finally convinced him to get into bed with a special blanket (a newer one with trucks) he said, "this blanket give me no dreams?" I went downstairs and soon afterward he was crying. I went up gave him a couple of special friends he hadn't slept with in long time (favorite stuffed animals of his) and he went down again. I left the door slightly open and put on his night light. He, of course, came downstairs after a bit. Meg went up with him and rocked him. He seemed to go to sleep for real then.

At about 10:30PM he started crying for us. It didn't sound good. I went in there and saw that he had thrown up all over himself and the blankets. Fortunately he missed duck. He was very upset. I cleaned him up and consoled him and Meg got new bedding and cleaned up the soiled ones. He went back to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night it happened again. We ran in there. It wasn't as bad, but we still had to change the sheets again and clean him up. He went to sleep again and by the morning he seemed just fine. "Juice made me feel better," he told Meg.

I'm a bit scared about tonight!

19 small dollars had nothing.

1,800 quarters produced three Canadians and one US dime.

1,400 dimes yielded one Mercury (1941D) and one Canadian. The Mercury dime is probably the best one I've found in a while. I'll take a picture of it soon.

920 nickels had four Canadians (1 Ni), one US dime and one US penny.

3,350 pennies rounded up seventeen Wheats, twenty-three Canadians and seventeen US dimes.

1918S, 1929, 1936S, 1940, 1944(3), 1945, 1945S, 1946(3), 1949(2), 1951(3), 1955, 1956, 1957(2), 1957D, 1958D

Proofs

Here's a couple of pictures of Hazel pulling herself up. She's very obsessed with this new skill of hers. She tries to do it everywhere, even on walls and doors!





I did pretty well with last night's coin searching.

150 small dollars produced one proof (2000S). That's the second new proof of the week! This one isn't in as good a condition.



4,960 quarters turned up one silver Washington (1964), four Canadians, four US nickels and one US penny.

3,000 dimes rounded up five silver Rosies (1951D, 1953, 1962D, 1963D, 1964), three Canadians and three US pennies.

1,600 nickels had one Buffalo (1928), one proof (1959 Proof), four Canadians (3 Ni) and one battery. That's the oldest proof nickel I've found and the rarest nickel by mintage too! Just 1,149,291 were minted. I'm always a bit skeptical about old proofs (those without the S mint mark and a few others), but this one has the telltale extra thick rim and has a lot of reflectiveness to it.



3,500 pennies got me twenty Wheats, twenty-seven Canadians, one US dime and a Euro 2¢.

1935, 1938, 1940, 1941(2), 1944(2), 1945, 1946(3), 1947, 1949, 1950, 1953D, 1956, 1956D(2), 1958D

Found: 6 pennies

Here's some good pictures we've taken lately (mostly from Easter). Soon I hope to catch Hazel pulling herself up on something on video. She's become quite a daredevil over the past few days and constantly searched for surfaces to try out her skills on. It's pretty cool, just a little scary, especially when Henry comes over because he doesn't realize how unsteady she really is.







This is Henry playing in our new mini-van. He takes special pride in showing off its features to anyone who will listen. His favorites are the way backseat and the conversation mirror.

962 small dollars had one proof dollar (2011S Grant), one mint set dollar (2008D) and three Canadians. That's one of the earliest proofs I've gotten. The circulation Grant's general release is May 19th, I got this proof one in circulation four weeks before that! It's in good shape.



1,960 quarters produced just one US dime and one US nickel.

1,200 dimes yielded one US penny.

680 nickels turned up two Canadians and one Aruba 25¢. In this bunch was a new nickel I needed, the 2010D. Just this weekend I noticed that I hadn't found one of these for my album yet even though I've come across many others ... whoops!

3,000 pennies rounded up sixteen Wheats, twenty-five Canadians, one UK penny, one Trinidad and Tobago 1¢ and a NJ stamped penny.

1920, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1944, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1946D, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1950S, 1953D, 1957D, 1958(2), 1958D

Easter

This weekend we were busy, but it definitely felt good to have the mini-van bought and the dining room done. We took a drive out in our new vehicle (Kia Sedona, 2011) to Uncle Tim's birthday party and on Easter we went to church and Nana's for dinner. The kids were very well behaved for everything. The biggest bummer was the timing for Easter was all wrong for Hazel so she wasn't herself for things. (I'm not sure how to schedule things for her outside of 11-1.) We had some good times playing with the kids after some naps on Easter. A couple good hours of playtime helps Mom and Dad forget any previous crazy times.

Henry told us yesterday, "Hazel looks like a little princess." She did. I'll have to post some pictures soon.

8,000 half dollars had just one proof (1999S). That was a lot of work for just about nothing. :( Oh well, the year's been great for the most part.

5,000 pennies turned up forty-three Wheats, thirty Canadians and one Bahamas 1¢.

1911, 1923, 1937(2), 1938, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1944(4), 1945(3), 1946(7), 1949, 1950D(2), 1952(2), 1952D, 1953(2), 1953D, 1953S, 1955(2), 1955D, 1956, 1956D, 1957, 1957D(4), 1958D.

I had a particularly good score at the bank coin counter. In the reject bin I found $33.68 in US coins (121 quarters, 19 dimes, 20 nickels and 53 pennies); $1.50 in Canadian coins (2 quarters, 1 dollar) and some other foreign coins (a Euro 5¢, a Euro 1¢ and a UK 2 pence). The UK 2 pence was one I needed for my album.

Found: 1 penny, 2 nickels, 1 dime

The Van

Yesterday I picked up our new minivan and dropped off my old car. It took longer than I expected to sign everything, listen to all of the pitches for additional services and go through the introduction to the car. I just wanted to go home with it and show it to Meg and the kids. When I got home Henry was elated. He was dancing and bouncing about, "The new van is here! It is gray; just like Evan and Liam's!" Meg had to wait until after the kids were in bed to test drive it and put the car seats in. Today I think it'll be fun for them to drive it about. It was extremely cramped for me to drive the old car with Hazel right behind me and so I'm definitely looking forward to more comfortable trips.

With last night's coins I did OK.

840 small dollars had just one quarter. I was a bit bummed to not find anything.

3 halves had nothing.

1,240 quarters produced just two US nickels.

3,200 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1948), one Canadian and an El Salvador 25¢ (1970). That's the first new country find for me of 2011! I now have found coins from all Central American countries in US circulation.



3,400 nickels turned up one War Time (1945P), seven Canadians (2 Ni), one UK 20 pence, one Bermuda 5¢, one Swiss 20 Rappen and one Panama 5¢. The Panama coin is a new variety for me.



5,750 pennies rounded up twenty-seven Wheats, thirty Canadians, one US dime, one Panama 1¢ and one Croatia 20 Lipa. The Croatian coin was the second new country of the night!



1927, 1935, 1940, 1941(3), 1944, 1945(4), 1946, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1951D, 1954D, 1955(2), 1956, 1956D, 1957(3), 1957D(2), 1958

Yesterday I didn't pick up too much coin, but I had a lot of pennies to get through still. And I wanted to finish painting the dining room. Mission accomplished there! The furniture and rug are moved back in. I just need to scrap the windows and paint the cabinet doors.

25 small dollars didn't have anything.

880 quarters rounded up just one UK 10 pence.

500 dimes broke me out of my silver dime slump with one silver Rosie (1950) and one US penny.

280 nickels had nothing.

8,650 pennies yielded one Indian Head (1901), fifty-eight Wheats, eighty Canadians, fifteen US dimes, one Jamaican 10¢ and a nice cud error penny. As always it's fun finding an Indian Head. This one isn't in too bad shape either. The Jamaican coin is a new one for me and the error penny has a really nice big cud on it.







1919, 1930, 1937, 1940, 1941(2), 1942(3), 1944(7), 1944D, 1945(2), 1946(2), 1947, 1947D(2), 1948, 1950(2), 1951D(2), 1952(2), 1952D, 1952S, 1953, 1953D, 1954(2), 1955(3), 1955D, 1956(2), 1956D(8), 1957, 1957D(3), 1958, 1958D(2)

Although most of last night's coins were kind of dull, I did score one good one.

40 small dollars and one large dollar had nothing.

2,800 quarters produced two Canadians, two US nickels, one UK 5 pence (larger format, 1980) and one Australian 10¢.

4,250 dimes turned up one proof dime (2004S), four Canadians, two UK 5 pence and one Euro 1¢. The proof dime is in really good shape and is now the 3rd rarest, by mintage, dime I've found. 1,804,396 were minted. I'm now in a bit of silver dime slump. :(



2,160 nickels yielded just six Canadians and one US penny.

7,800 pennies rounded up thirty-five Wheats, fifty-six Canadians, three US dimes, one Bahamas 1¢ and one UK penny.

1940, 1941, 1942(2), 1944D, 1945(2), 1946(3), 1947, 1947S, 1948, 1950(2), 1950S, 1951, 1951D(2), 1952, 1952D, 1953(2), 1953D(2), 1955(3), 1955D, 1956, 1956D, 1957, 1958, 1958D(2)

This weekend was definitely a busy one. It was a three day weekend for me because I took off Patriot's Day to get some more painting done, buy a car and to go see the Boston Marathon.

On Saturday I took Henry to our church's Palm Saturday event. It lasted most of the morning. With the help of a teenager I supervised eight kids (including Henry and Liam). Nicole worked one of the six stations we went to. The kids listened to stories, did some crafts and had an egg hunt. Henry's favorite part was decorating cookies and eggs. I was very proud of him. He sat very well for the readings and participated in the craft making sessions with no problems what so ever. He was a bit shy when we first arrived, but once his cousins came things were much better. I'm not as anxious to take to any more such events now. I know he can do it!

After the church event I painted and bought our new car. We don't have it yet, but should have it soon.

On Sunday we went to church and did more painting. Henry also had a fun play-date at Evan and Liam's house. He got a ride home in Cioci's van! This was very convenient for us and a joy ride for him.

Finally on Monday, the big day, my sister's race day arrived. We went to watch her in Ashland with my mother, Greg and the cousins. It was a bit of a rough start (loud sounds), but things improved quickly. We were definitely helped by having access to a nearby house. A friend of Nicole's had food for us, a bathroom and some party favors for the kids. We only saw Nicole for a few seconds, but it was definitely worth it. I think I've only been prouder of her at her wedding and the birth of her two boys. Cioci Rocks!

Henry asked us afterwards, "Where'd Evan and Liam's mom go?" Meg told him, "she is running all the way to the city." He said, "she run in tunnels?"

Here are some fun pictures we took recently.



Henry put himself in Hazel's jumperoo while Meg was upstairs, but he couldn't get out. It looks a bit like a restraint device to me!



Henry and Liam listening intently during Palm Saturday.



Liam getting his feet washed.



Henry's cookie.



Evan giving out oranges to the runners. At times this was a bit precarious, a bit like sticking one's arm out of the car window, but he survived. One person gave him their shirt sleeves and another person stopped to take his picture.



Meg, Hazel, Nana and Liam.



Henry being goofy.



OK, here's a challenge! In this picture is Nicole. Can you find her? Greg got a much better picture than this one ... it was really difficult to get a shot. Digital cameras are just too slow.

24 small dollars turned up nothing.

8,001 half dollars produced nine 90% silver halves (dateless Walking Liberty, 1962, 1962 Proof, 2 x 1963, 1963D, 3 x 1964), twenty-five 40% silver halves (2 x 1966, 10 x 1967, 7 x 1968D, 6 x 1969D), one commemorative (2008S Bald Eagle circ.), four proof halves (1962 Proof, 1986S, 2001S, 2005S) and one Jamaican 50¢ (1975). The commemorative is a great one. I hadn't found an a new half in a while and this one is the rarest, by mintage, US coins I've found. 119,204 were minted. The proof Franklin is pretty tarnished, but it's definitely an old proof as it quite reflective and the rim is extra thick.





It's kind of hard to capture the reflectiveness of a tarnished old proof like this, but I thought I'd put up a picture anyway.



80 quarters didn't have anything.

1,050 dimes rounded up just two Canadians and one Bermuda 10¢.

1,120 nickels roped in three War Times (1944P, 1945D, 1945S) and one Canadian.

6,000 pennies yielded forty-six Wheats, forty-eight Canadians and one US dime.

1910, 1919, 1934, 1937, 1939, 1940(2), 1941(2), 1942, 1944(4), 1945(2), 1946, 1947, 1948(3), 1948D, 1949D, 1951(3), 1952, 1952D, 1953, 1953D, 1954, 1955(2), 1956, 1956D(3), 1957(2), 1957D(4), 1958(2), 1958D

Found: 1 dime

291 small dollars had a proof dollar (2005S). It was a slight upgrade to the one I had found before.

106 half dollars had forty-nine 90% silver halves (1942S, 1962, 45 x 1964, 2 x 1964D) and fourteen 40% silver halves (2 x 1966, 6 x 1967, 4 x 1968D, 2 x 1969D). That's one of my better silver scores, especially considering the small amount of halves I searched.

1,800 quarters turned up just two Canadians.

950 dimes had one Canadian.

280 nickels, likewise, had one Canadian.

1,450 pennies produced six Wheats and six Canadians.

1938, 1947, 1948, 1952(2), 1953D

125 small dollars turned up seven mint set dollars (3 x 1981P, 2 x 1981D, 2 x 1981S). Oddly all seven of these were in the same roll. I think that's a record for me, at least for a customer rolled roll. This mint set SBA dollar completes my collection of circulation Susan B. Anthony dollars (there are ten varieties).

6 half dollars had nothing.

2,200 quarters rounded up three silver Washingtons (2 x 1964, 1964D), two Canadians and one Dominican Republic 25¢. The three silvers were in one roll.

1,350 dimes had just two Canadians and one UK 5 pence.

800 nickels yielded three Canadians (2 Ni) and one Bahamas 5¢.

3,200 pennies produced thirty Wheats, thirty-four Canadians, two US dimes, one UK penny and a Bahamas 1¢.

1920, 1942, 1944(8), 1945(2), 1946(3), 1949, 1950S, 1951D, 1952D(2), 1953, 1953D(2), 1954, 1955, 1956(2), 1956D, 1958, 1958D

Yesterday Henry told Meg, "I want something not good for me" again along with "Why we not go to Dunkin' Donuts?" He's a young junk food junkie I guess. Meanwhile we think Hazel's up to three words, "Dad," "Henry" and "Mom." Each of them doesn't sound exactly right, but we're pretty sure she's saying something for each of them that's different ... or maybe we're imagining things?

I did OK with last night's coins.

20 half dollars had nothing.

2,280 quarters produced four Canadians, one Bermuda 25¢, one Arnold Palmer token/magnet and one Red Sox token (pretty odd to get two sports tokens in one night).

2,750 dimes turned up two silver Rosies (1957, 1964), six Canadians and four US pennies. In the mix was also a new modern dime for me, the 2009D. I knew this one would turn up at some point so I wasn't trying too hard to find it, but it certainly took a while. 49.5 million were minted.

680 nickels had just one Canadian (1 Ni).

3,500 pennies yielded twenty-nine Wheats, twenty-four Canadians, one US dime and one Bahamas 1¢.

1925, 1936, 1941(2), 1944(3), 1944D, 1945(2), 1946, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1956D, 1958, 1958D

Found: 1 penny, 1 dime

389 small dollars didn't produce anything. I've set a near term goal for myself of 50,000 small dollars. This helped me get a there, but just didn't turn up anything good. Someday I'll hit 100,000 I suppose.

Found: 1 penny, 1 dime

This weekend was pretty busy for us. We didn't go anywhere, but we sure had a lot to do at home. I managed to put the base coat on the dining room walls and clean out my car very thoroughly (we're planning on trading it in soon). I found $21.15 in coins in my car! Meg somehow managed to do a lot of yard work. Hazel didn't give her much sleep for two nights a double ear infection :( (She got some medication from a Saturday morning doctor visit and seems better now.) Somehow we had some playtime outside too and went to dinner party with some friends.




Henry saw this rolled up rug and thought, "fort!" "Put Hazel in here," he said to me. I told him that wasn't such a good idea.

My weekend coins were pretty good.

24 small dollars didn't have anything.

8,006 halves turned up two 90% silver halves (2 x 1964) and thirty-four 40% silver halves (1965, 6 x 1966, 9 x 1967, 15 x 1968D, 3 x 1969D).

5,000 pennies yielded one Indian Head (1892), forty-seven Wheats, thirty Canadians, one Bahamas 1¢ and one Bermuda 1¢. Find a new 19th century coin definitely helped a dour day! It's a bit beat up, but I'll take it.



1919, 1920(2), 1929, 1930, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941(2), 1944(6), 1944D, 1945(3), 1947, 1947D, 1950D, 1951, 1952(3), 1952D, 1952S, 1953S, 1954D, 1955, 1955D, 1956(3), 1956D, 1957(2), 1957D(3), 1958, 1958D

5 large dollars and 1,915 small dollars had one proof dollar (2008S Van Buren), five mint set halves (3 x 2002D, 2003P, 2004P), one Bermuda $1 and a gold plated John Tyler 2009D.

4,000 quarters, 50 dimes, 40 nickels and 250 pennies had just three Canadian pennies.

In the reject bin of a coin counter I found four pennies, three dimes and two quarters.

Found: 1 penny, 1 dime

Just a quick coin update (kind of a ho-hum night) ...

39 large dollars, 22 small dollars and 75 half dollars turned up one proof half (1979S).

3,480 quarters yielded just five Canadians.

1,600 dimes had nothing.

3,080 nickels produced one War Time (1943P) and two Canadians.

17,550 pennies rounded up sixty-three Wheats (including one Steelie), one hundred four Canadians and two US dimes. In the Wheats was one pretty good one, the 1925D, I've come across four of these now.

1925D, 1934, 1935, 1937(2), 1939, 1942(4), 1943, 1944(10), 1945(2), 1946(4), 1947, 1948, 1949D, 1950, 1951(2), 1951D(2), 1952(2), 1952D(2), 1953D(5), 1953S, 1954D, 1954S, 1955D(2), 1955S, 1956, 1956D(2), 1957(4), 1957D(3), 1958D(3)

This morning Hazel pulled herself up on the end table! Perhaps she'll be cruising soon. She sure gets frustrating from not being able to go from room to room as quickly as she wants.

Yesterday Meg took the kids to the doctor. Two sick kids, two doctor visits and two sets of shots! Henry weighed 33+ lbs. and Hazel's at 19+ lbs. Henry's got an ear infection, but seems to be on the mend.

Here's some pictures we took in the past few weeks.



This is my best fort yet. I even gave it lights! Under the blanket and between the frame I laid down some Christmas tree lights (white only, sorry Henry) and hooked them up to an outlet with a switch. It actually was pretty comfy and relaxing inside.





Yesterday I got three calls from three banks saying, "We've got lots of coins. Can you come pick them up?" ... I got to two and will hit the third today.

160 large dollars and 380 small dollars produced one proof dollar (2007S Jefferson), one mint set dollar (1981S) and one Canadian dollar. I was sure hoping the 1981S was the 1981P as that's the only circulation SBA dollar I need.



692 half dollars yielded one 90% silver half (1964D), nine 40% silver halves (1965, 6 x 1967, 1968D, 1969D) and a nice clipped half.



5,320 quarters rounded up two silver Washingtons (1945, 1952D) and four Canadians. The silver quarters were both in the same roll.

2,450 dimes got me six silver dimes (1925, 195?, 1959D, 1960, 1960D), six Canadians (including one 80% silver, 1965), one East Caribbean States 10¢ and one UK 5 pence. It was pretty cool to turn up a new dime. I don't find new Mercury dimes very often!



1,080 nickels brought in three War Times (1943P, 2 x 1944P), one Canadian, two US dimes, one US penny and a Polish 50 Grozy.

Found: 1 penny, 1 quarter

Error Penny

Today Henry told us about a dream he had last night. In the dream he told us that he broke a window sill in our sun room. He also said he was playing outside.

8,000 half dollars turned up sixteen 90% silver halves (1934, 1936, 1937, 1940, 1942D, 1943, 1962D, 7 x 1964, 2 x 1964D) and thirty-eight 40% silver halves (1965, 9 x 1966, 17 x 1967, 10 x 1968D, 1969D). That's a pretty good haul for me. Finding all those Walking Liberty halves was pretty sweet.

5,000 pennies yielded eighty-one Wheats and thirty-two Canadians. One of the pennies I found a was a really cool 1995 penny with a cud on it.

19XX, 1920, 1935, 1937, 1940(3), 1941(2), 1942(4), 1944(4), 1944D(3), 1945(3), 1946(7), 1946D, 1947(2), 1948(2), 1948D, 1949, 1949D, 1950D, 1951D(3), 1952, 1952D(3), 1953(2), 1953D(5), 1954D, 1955, 1955D, 1956(2), 1956D(6), 1957(3), 1957D(4), 1958D(5)

46 small dollars, one half dollar and 160 quarters didn't have anything.

2,600 dimes turned up one silver Rosie (1963D), one Canadian and one Bermuda 10¢.

1,200 nickels yielded two War Times (1943P, 1944D), four Canadians, one Bermuda 5¢ and one Belgian 1 franc (1975).

10,000 pennies rounded up forty-seven Wheats, sixty-six Canadians, twelve US dimes, two Euro 2¢ and one plastic penny.

1909, 1934, 1936(2), 1938, 1939S, 1940, 1941(3), 1942, 1944(2), 1945(3), 1946(3), 1947, 1948, 1950S, 1951(2), 1951D, 1954D, 1955(2), 1956(5), 1956D(4), 1957(2), 1957D(2), 1958, 1958D