Been a busy few weeks…….

It's been a busy few weeks.  We've have the usual piano, trumpet and violin lessons and J.C. Kids choir practice.  Throw in several indoor soccer games and three different school choir concerts.  There was the School Art Expo and several church meetings.  Guess it's just that time of the year.  Sometimes, it's a little bit tiring, but it's all good.

One Sunday, we took a day for a “family day”.  We headed out to Milan to see Thomas Edison’s birthplace and museum.  Along the way, we stopped for brunch at a little restaurant in downtown Norwalk.  We love finding local places to eat at when we’re out.



We had a little time before the museum opened and stopped at a local antique store.  The kids love to check out antique stores.  Not.



We enjoy checking out the homes of yesterday and hearing interesting facts of the people that have had such an impact on how we live today.



The fourth-grader has been enjoying indoor soccer.  Indoor soccer is very different from outdoor.  Besides being obviously, indoors, the ball bounces around.  A lot.  It’s almost as if the players are in a live pinball game.  There are walls, and getting the ball out from the wall can be a challenge.  All in all, she’s enjoyed playing.  There have been no practices.  The intent is to just get the girls some playing time and be ready for the outdoor season.  Practice for outdoor starts this week and I think  she’ll be ready and anxious to play outside.

 







March was “Music in our Schools Month”.  We’ve had three different evening concerts in the last three weeks.  Although one of them was really, really long (about two hours) they all were enjoyable.  The kids do a great job.



Last weekend was the district’s annual Art Expo.  The fourth-grader had a couple pieces of her artwork on display.





I’m not sure what these kids were up to.  Probably no good.



On Sunday, Grandma and Aunt Pam were here for a visit.  We had a rousing game of “Sorry” to end the visit.



So, there ended March.  Happy April, everyone!

Fun, Food, Friends and 4-H

My kids love a pot-luck. They know that there will be plenty of good food and a table overflowing with wonderful desserts. They especially like the dessert part.

Yesterday was the annual 4-H pot luck dinner. I think that it is one of their favorite meetings of the year. It was a nice evening to hang out with friends and enjoy a good meal.

Today, in the fourth-grader's language arts class, they studied limericks -- in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Here is her limerick:

There was a raccoon named Fred

One night he had to stay in bed

It was quite a task

When the doctor said "take off your mask"

And once again poor Fred is in bed

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In the Woods

This past Monday, the kids had a day off of school. They cheerfully (or maybe not so cheerfully) tagged along with Dad and helped as he collected sap from our friend's woods. Twenty-six or twenty-seven trees were tapped this year. The sap is poured into larger buckets, carried through the woods, dumped into a tank in the back of our truck and then brought home to cook on the evaporator.  When the two or so gallon buckets on the trees or overflowing, like they were on Monday, that's a lot of trips through the woods.  The seventh-grader complained that his shoulder's hurt for the next two days -- but I think Dad did most of the sap hauling. 

With this crazy, warm weather, the sap is no longer flowing and could bring an end to a very short maple syrup season.  So glad that our livelihood doesn't depend on this.  Whatever happens, we will enjoy the syrup that we have and look forward to next year.

Student of the Month

Today, it was the seventh-grader sprinting down the driveway when he got off the bus.  He was so, so excited.

Middle school has had it's challenges this year.  Lots of changes and lots of adjustments.  That's part of middle school.  But, he is having a really good quarter and is just so excited.  A candy bar, a couple of kitchy little things from the prize box, an invitation for a root beer float next week and a certificate to hang on the refrigerator. 

Good job, buddy!

No batteries required

She must've wanted to communicate to her brother, but how?

Cell phone -- nope, don't have one.

Walkie talkie --batteries are dead.

Walk over to his room -- too much effort.

Just holler across the hall --  nah. Been there, done that.

Having discarded most of the normal ways to communicate, the girl opted for this instead. 

A little bit of yarn tied together and strategically looped in just the right places and voila, a perfect message delivery system.  She wouldn't even need to leave her room. They entertained themselves for hours sending messages back and forth.  I kept hearing exclamations of how "awesome" this was. They could've been playing with all the computer, electronic and video games that they have, but no -- some yarn and a piece of paper.

No batteries required.

It was a Monday...

Yesterday was just one of those days when you wish you could crawl back in bed and start all over. I was in a crabby mood for most of the day, but can't really explain why. Not a good way to start off the day. Work has been crazy. I had something that I absolutely had to get done, and nothing was going smoothly. Computer issues, program issues, things not balancing. Grrr.....

That evening, while at the girl's violin lesson, I decided to write in my gratitude journal. The journal was a gift, back in December, from a sweet friend of mine. The intent is to find something (or somethings) each day to be thankful for and write it down.  I have to admit that I haven't really written in this journal much since she gave it to me, but decided that I have been in need of an attitude adjustment lately.  I actually was feeling a bit better as we made our way home.

Once home, I decided to make something for my co-worker's birthday on Tuesday.  I really should've know better than to try to bake something at the end of a long day. But, try I did.  I didn't get very far before I messed up the recipe.  Threw it out and was going to try again and then realized I didn't have enough of the ingredients I needed. Grrr.......

I gave up and went to bed.

I left early for work Tuesday morning, intending to stop and pick up something for the birthday and to get a jump on my work day.  Of course, the first store wasn't open.  Don't they have 24 hour groceries anymore?  This day was not starting out well. The second store wasn't really open, but they let me come in anyway.  And were really nice about it.

Within the first half hour of working on my reports, I figured out what was wrong.

At that point, I already knew what I'd be writing in my gratitude journal that night.

"I'm thankful for Tuesdays."

Some Random Birthday Pictures

It was a low-key kinda birthday for the thirteen year-old.

It's a family tradition that the birthday person chooses the menu on their birthday. His choice? Our friend Tammey's "famous" Lil' Cheddar Meatloaves, mashed potatoes and green beans. He jumps for joy whenever I make these meatloaves. Thanks to Dad, he even will take a cold, meatloaf sandwich in his lunch, which he did the day after his birthday.

He is still thrilled with new legos and nerf guns and with a mini air hockey game thrown in, he was a pretty happy camper with his birthday gifts.  The sister played "happy birthday" on her violin and a birthday phone call seranade from his aunt and cousins rounded out the day.

He had been anxiously awaiting the opening of the new movie "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief".  Over the weekend, we took him and his two best friends to see the new movie. The afternoon was spent outside in the snow and then inside playing nerf guns and Wii.  "Make your own pizzas" was on the menu along with Mom's homemade chocolate chip cake -- birthday style. 

These three boys are just awesome -- they get along together so well and were so happy to just hang out together. 

What a Happy, Happy Birthday!