The weekend started really good for me. Just after supper on Friday I searched two boxes of pennies. In the middle of the second box I turned up one that got really pumped!

We had an ambitious agenda this weekend (for we with two small kids that is) and we got it all done!

On Saturday we went to Rotman's and got two rugs and pads. It wasn't the easiest trip there with the kids, but we got an awesome deal and were very happy with our choices. The rugs will come in a few weeks and until then we'll use just the pads. After Rotman's we took up 1/3 of the living room carpet. Meg worked on finishing that while I spent more time with the garage door opener. Late in the day I got the opener working. It felt great.

Then on Sunday, before church, we finished another third of the living room; went to church; went to my sister's for brunch (fixed their laptop); finished the last third of the living room and did the final cleanup/finishing of the garage door opener project. We went to Bertucci's to celebrate.

It feels good to have gotten so much done. I just wish we spent more time as family doing some fun stuff. The kids did help out a bit, especially Henry. He's a good sweeper and is very careful when picking up boards with nails, etc.

32 small dollars and 8,000 halves had just one 40% silver half (1969D).

17,350 pennies yielded one hundred three Wheats, one hundred thirty Canadians, eleven US dimes, one South African 1¢, one Dominican Republic 1¢ and one Cayman Islands 1¢. In this mix was also a 1984 Lincoln with a small cud.

During my coin searches there are a few coins I wanted to find much more than the others. I don't know why exactly, but a few coins really stand out for me. For pennies these have been the 1938D and the 1938S (20,010,000 and 15,180,000 were minted). I still have quite a few Wheat holes in my album to fill besides these, but I want these two real bad just to fill up a whole page in my book and because they are relatively new and they're mintages aren't too low, but somehow they've escaped me ... until Friday. I found the 1938S!. Could the the 1938D be far behind?!

(The other coins I rank likes these were the 1938D and 1943D for nickels, finding those two completed my album; and the 1946S and 1951S for dimes, finding those two would complete my album. I don't have the same desire for any coins in quarters, halves or dollars.)

1913, 1918, 1920, 1929(2), 1930, 1934, 1936, 1937(2), 1938S, 1939

Meg told me that yesterday Hazel kept telling her, "watch," before she did anything and would only perform her trick after Meg said, "I'm watching." Hazel also tried this out on Henry a few times, but he either didn't understand her or was ignoring her.

Last night I went into the living room to see what craziness Henry and Hazel had gotten into. I found them jumping on a pile of pillows and sofa cushions. Henry told me, "We didn't hit our heads, Dad!"

I didn't pick up too much coin at the bank yesterday, but I did get the biggest batch of old red seal bills I ever scored. A teller sold me twenty-three red seal $2 bills (6 x 1953A, 8 x 1963, 9 x 1963A)! They're all in fairly good condition (better than the ones I have at home). The 1963A variety is a new one for me.

1,600 quarters had one Brazil 20¢ (1967).

500 dimes produced one Canadian.

280 nickels yielded one US penny.

Just a coin update ...

3,400 quarters produced one proof quarter (1986S), four US nickels and a French Polynesia 10 franc.

3,400 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1952), three Canadians, six US pennies and one Barbados 10¢.

960 nickels turned up one Buffalo (1926) and one War Time (1942P).

Yesterday after two great running-up to Daddy hugs from Henry and Hazel I heard all about their creative day. Henry and Hazel both helped Meg make some cookies. Hazel helped stir the ingredients and Henry made the balls of dough, rolled them in sugar, squashed them and drizzled some frosting on them! Hazel was to help out with the balls of dough, but she kept trying to eat the raw dough (mmmm!). They also put on a cute puppet show for Meg using the loveseat as their stage, played with their marble maze and did some paintings. While Hazel was asleep Henry worked on some workbooks with Meg. He's doing really well with circling the appropriate items (items that start with a certain letter) and connecting the correct items with lines. I think he's now up to being able to do simple connect-the-dots.

Last night I searched a ton of coin.

66 small dollars and 116 half dollars had just one mint set dollar (2003D).

8,240 quarters turned up one silver Washington (1964), seven Canadians, two UK 10 pence, one Bermuda 25¢, one United Arab Emirates 1 Dirham, one Belgium 5 franc (1949), six US nickels, two US dimes and a new modern quarter for me, the 2012P Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

5,150 dimes rounded up four silver Roosevelts (1946, 1951, 1960, 1964), four Canadians and one UK 5 pence.

3,480 nickels produced three Canadians, one Bermuda 5¢ and one US dime.

This weekend we did some rug shopping. The kids especially enjoyed playing in the rugs we were looking at and for some reason were both very into having their pictures taken.

8,000 half dollars turned up just one 90% silver half (1942), one 40% silver half (1969D), one proof half (1977S) and one Spanish 50 Pesetas (1980).

12,250 pennies yielded seventy-seven Wheats, one hundred two Canadians, seven US dimes, two Bahamas 1¢ and one Bermuda 1¢. In the pennies was one I've only gotten once before, the 1911D. It's in really good shape and was a nice upgrade to the one in my album.
1910, 1911D, 1917, 1919(3), 1926, 1935, 1936(2), 1937, 1938(2)

Just a quick coin update ...

10 large dollar and 15 small dollars had nothing.

560 quarters produced one US nickel.

1,050 dimes yielded nothing.

3,360 nickels turned up three Buffaloes (1919, 1935, 1936), three US dimes, one US penny, one Canadian (1 Ni), a key date Jefferson (1949S) and a new one for me, the 2012D.

Henry had two really good uses of his imagination yesterday. Meg told me that for a long time in the afternoon he constructed a pretend "dance pad" in the sand box for hundreds of people to dance in. He also came up with the idea that he and her should make pretend coins, small bits of blue construction paper cut into circles with "jewels" glued on them. He insisted that only "American colors" were used.

This morning Meg told me this cute story:

Henry just said that I was wrong when I told him that 4 + 2=6. He then asked me where his computer was, and said "I'm going to show you." He navigated through the menus on his computer to the "Add it up" function. And then after a few adding exercises, he said "See, you're wrong."

Hazel's also been all fired up lately too. Her actions words have grown in leaps and bounds. We've heard, sit, share, trade, watch and others. Her nouns have grown a bunch as well.

Last night I searched a lot of coin.

46 small dollars and 46 half dollars had nothing.

10,200 quarters produced one proof quarter (2006S SD), two silver Washingtons (1962D, 1964D), seventeen Canadians, two US dimes, one Bahamas 25¢, one Barbados 25¢, one Dominican Republic 25¢ and one Bermuda 25¢.

5,750 dimes yielded three silver dimes (1940, 1946, 1964), five Canadians (including one 80% silver, 1960 dime), two US pennies and one Swiss ½ franc.

Although shorter than last weekend, the past two days were pretty good to us. On Saturday I did some volunteering, Meg got to do some shopping and Henry and Hazel spent some quality time with Nana and Grandpa. Nana and Grandpa took them to one of the last great family department stores in our area, Klem's. They enjoyed free popcorn, pet store sitings and checking out lawn mowers and tractors. In the afternoon Henry and I went to Home Depot for materials and to check out more tractors. Later we went on a family walk. On Sunday we went to church, did some yard work and went to the park.

8,000 halves produced three 90% silver halves (3 x 1964), eighteen 40% silver halves (10 x 1967, 7 x 1968D, 1969D), two proof halves (1989S, 2004S) and one Indian Rupee (1917). The Indian Rupee is one of the cooler coins I've come across. It's 91.7% silver and is in decent shape. It's not really worth much more than it's silver content, but I think it is great. It is the 9/10th oldest foreign coin I've found.



17,800 pennies turned up ninety-two Wheats, one hundred eighteen Canadians, four US dimes, two Euro 2¢, one Irish penny and one UK penny.

1913, 1927, 1929(2), 1936, 1937, 1939(3)

I searched just a wee bit of coin last night.

1,480 quarters produced three Canadians and one UK 10 pence.

850 dimes yielded two silver Rosies (1946, 1947) and one Netherlands 25¢.

760 nickels had nothing.

Happy Easter!

Here's some pictures from our nice, long Easter weekend (I took off Friday and Monday). Sorry the kids don't look at the camera in most of them. Getting them to smile at you and get it on the camera is impossible these days ... trying for 2/2 is looking for a miracle!



On Friday we went to the Botanical Gardens to see the fields of daffodils they have there.





Later on Friday we went to a large (three backyards!) Easter egg hunt in my sister's neighborhood. Each kid could find 12 eggs. There were about fifteen kids there. It must have been a lot of work to stuff and hide them all! Kudos to Nicole and her neighbors! Henry found nine and Hazel found one (a nice young girl gave it to her). They were both very into and Henry even shared his candy with Hazel.



On Saturday we had my folks and the Mc G's over for a fantastic Indian dinner made by Meg and then on Sunday we got up early for church and to head out to Nonnie and Pop's. We got out of the house, packed before 7:30AM. That was a real Easter miracle!









The kids second Easter egg hunt was put on by Nonnie and Pops. Both kids did really well.

Our weekend also included crafting, crankiness, cute questions, a trip to a new library and a rare breakfast dinner date for us parents.

I did really well with my coins since the last posting.

25 small dollars had nothing.

8,101 half dollars turned up forty-six 90% silver halves (dateless WL, 1950D, 1951, 3 x 1951S, 7 x 1952, 1953, 2 x 1953D, 3 x 1954, 1956, 2 x 1957D, 2 x 1958D, 1959D, 7 x 1963, 8 x 1963D, 6 x 1964), thirty-six 40% silver halves (1965, 4 x 1966, 12 x 1967, 17 x 1968D, 2 x 1969D) and one proof half (2002S). Most of these including all of the Franklins came from one lucky, random bank stop. It's the most Franklins I've ever come across at once. The only bummer is that I didn't find either of the two Franklins I need for my album.

3,720 quarters got me one silver Washington (1963), three Canadians (including one 50% silver 1968), one US dime and two US nickels.

4,300 dimes yielded two silver Rosies (1952, 1958D), seven Canadians (including one 80% silver 1959) and one UK 5 pence.

1,520 nickels had one dateless Buffalo, one Canadian and one US dime.

34,900 pennies roped in one proof (1994S), one hundred fifty-one Wheats, one hundred seventy-eight Canadians, nineteen US dimes, one Hong Kong 10¢ and one Norway 50 ore. Two of the pennies I looked through had been stamped, one had California on it and the other a "G." I only discovered this new proof when one roll I was returned spilled out and the light caught it just right! Those things are sure hard to spot sometimes. I suppose I miss a few. I was glad to turn up two Wheats I don't come across much, the 1923S and the 1933D. The 1933D was a good upgrade for me.

1910(2), 1916, 1919, 1919D, 1920, 1923S, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1933D, 1934(3), 1935(4), 1936(2), 1937(2), 1938(4), 1939(5)

100 small dollars had nothing.

3,970 quarters turned up one silver Washington (1960D), three Canadians, three US nickels and one Moroccan 1 Dirham.

3,200 dimes yielded one proof dime (1996S), one silver Rosie (1961D), one Canadian, one Bermuda 10¢ and one Barbados 10¢. This new proof dime is the 4th rarest by mintage dime I've found. Only 1,750,244 were minted.

1,920 nickels produced eight Canadians (1 Ni), one Swiss 10 Rappen and a key date Jefferson, the 1950.

2,680 quarters turned up two silver Washingtons (1950D, 1964D), three Canadians, two US pennies and one U.A.E. 1 Dirham.

2,650 dimes had two silver Rosies (2 x 1964), four Canadians, one East Caribbean States 10¢, one US penny and a clipped dime. The clipped dime is pretty cool.



1,920 nickels yielded one dateless Buffalo, four Canadians (1 Ni), two US dimes and one US penny.

I had a pretty run with the coins last night.

100 small dollars had nothing.

4,920 quarters produced three silver Washingtons (1944, 1945S, 1960D), seventeen Canadians, five US nickels, two US dimes, one UK 10 pence, one Bermuda 25¢ and a colorized Rhode Island quarter. The last new silver quarter I found was in August of last year so I was quite pleased to find the 1945S last night. It looks good in my album!



3,650 dimes yielded five silver Rosies (1959D, 2 x 1961D, 1963D, 1964), two Canadians, one East Caribbean States 10¢ and one Steelie (1943).

2,000 nickels rounded up one Buffalo (1929), two War Times (1943P, 1944P), four Canadians, one Bermuda 5¢ and three US dimes.

Here's a few photos from Saturday's special event I snagged.

This weekend we celebrated Palm Sunday. It's a two day affair now that Palm Saturday (our church's Saturday morning kid activity) is part of our tradition. Henry was a extremely reluctant to go on Saturday morning. He arrived in his pajamas. I was able to change him out of this pretty quickly once at church and his mood improved dramatically. Nana and Grandpa came to take Hazel away and Henry and I stayed for the morning. With cousin Liam and about thirty other kids Henry made crafts, processed with a real donkey, witnessed a foot washing, decorating cookies and dyed eggs. His best work was his super cookie, two layers of frosting and a mountain of candy. Hazel and I also made cookies. Meg spent a nice morning with her mother shopping and enjoying some sinful, peanut contaminated Thai food!

On Sunday just after church we watched Meg race near our house and then drove over to the finish line to watch Meg beat her personal goal. We are proud of her efforts and hope she's able to do more soon!

The kids have been really into making block towers with each other and lots of crafts ... when they're not getting in each others way, etc. Here are some pictures.









8,000 halves turned up seventeen 90% silver halves (1917, 1940, 1941, 1948, 1957D, 1963, 11 x 1964), sixteen 40% silver halves (1965, 3 x 1966, 9 x 1967, 3 x 1968D), five proof halves (1985S, 2 x 1990S, 1995S, 1997S) and one Ecuador 50¢.



17,500 pennies yielded ninety-three Wheats, one hundred nineteen Canadians, nine US dimes, one UK penny, one Brazil 10¢ and one Bermuda 1¢.

1927, 1934(2), 1936