On our mantle we have a countdown to “School Ends” going. The kids are so ready for summer.
Another day, another ball game. The weather was perfect to watch Danny have a perfect catch in center field. Right before the game started Danny informed me he forgot his water bottle so I went to Tokyo Joe’s and grabbed him some Sobe Life Water (because it looked like the healthiest option) after the man at the register wouldn’t let me pay. When I arrived late J’s mom and dad told me I had missed two great catches in center field, so I teased that the 3rd catch that I was in time for was just for me. Final score was 14-7.
The last orchestra concert of the school year was brilliant. These students make so much progress in such a short amount of time under the incredible teaching of “Miss Fisch.”
7th Grade Orchestra
Echelon:Kathryn Griesinger
North Star to Freedom:Soon Hee Newbold
Wood Splitter Fanfare:Brian Balmages
Pops Orchestra
Stranger Things:Sean O’Loughlin
Music From La La Land:Justin Hurwitz, arr by Robert Longfield
This year the program was on May 4th so of course you’ll see me wearing a Star Wars shirt and there was laughter when announced the 8th graders got to play Star Wars music by John Williams. I am so grateful I got to attend this concert and work at this school. This week was teacher appreciation week and parents brought in treats and gift cards and helped students write notes to staff. Here is my favorite:
Natalie made amazing progress in her spring iReady testing and received much praise (and mochi) from the teachers she works with most… who also earned recognition at the school district awards for teacher of the year. Natalie will still have IEP goals to get her ready for middle school but graduated from the READ program. Congrats, Natalie!
In other news, Danny and I left early from school to take him to get an MRI at the Children’s Hospital. We had been postponing but the doctor told us she couldn’t send the school an updated doctor’s note for future high school sports until she had the MRI results. The next day Danny worked on getting his hitting back with a private lesson. I feel like this sort of thing is part of his medical treatment as well and am more than happy to pay for it. The doctor bills I am not as happy to pay for. Lol.
Michelle seemed to have a great time at the middle school’s Spring Social while Danny and I were at the hospital. She even had Hubby help her buy a cute dress for the occasion that she wore the next day for her dance gala. You can’t see it in this photo but look at those smiles! These friends also walked to our house for a sleepover after the social. They were so sweet, binged Wandavision, ate pizza Hubby had delivered, and had great attitudes about having to leave at 8:30am since we found out the same day that Michelle had a dance recital practice at 9am the next morning.
Michelle’s Gala to celebrate the end of competition dance session was bittersweet. It was wonderful to be around friends but we also knew Michelle had chosen not to dance next year so it was a little sad too. Her teammate nominated award was for “Most Hardworking.” That sounds like a good life skill to me!
I don’t know what this dance studio will do when S transfers to another studio and her mom won’t be around to take amazing photos anymore!
Here’s my favorite photo from Natalie’s Tuesday night softball game. Our girls were matched up against some of their elementary school classmates and they were pretty evenly matched. It looked liked our team was going to win but in the end they did not. I wouldn’t mind a rematch later in the season since these girls seem to like having more friends around whether they are playing against them or not. And shout out to the high school aged umpire willing to spend so much time at the ball fields. We couldn’t play without our umps!
Even though I don’t have any photos of Kate to share, she has been spending lots of time with friends now that she’s getting a break from volleyball. Sleepovers and bedroom reorganization, and just hanging out after school. I’ve asked her a couple times about her retainers but she has no opinion to share. So hopefully no news is good news.
Also not pictured: On Saturday Hubby spent some time helping a coworker salvage what they could from their house. It had burned down one day when the family was gone. It was a total loss, including their two dogs, and is set to be bulldozed this week. But neighbors, friends, and Church members showed up to help with what they could. There was a storage area of the basement that contained pictures and keepsakes and the coworker's baseball cards that the family was thrilled to see. Hubby's truck also got a workout because they saved the flagstone to be used in the landscaping again later in an area that will be safe from the bulldozers. Hubby was sore the next day but so pleased that he could do something to help alleviate the pain associated with such a huge loss. And somehow he still managed to take our family's turn cleaning the church building and help me with yard work. Natalie was an amazing helper this weekend as well. She had made me a Mother's Day present at Activity Days and was game to help Mom out with whatever I needed. She stuck with it when she realized I was adding money to her chart as we went along. That girl helped me both inside and outside the house for HOURS and earned almost $30. The task Natalie liked best was learning how to run the laundry machines and the one chore she didn't want to do (so didn't) was putting away the clean dishes. lol. I was so amazed that a 4th grader could do so much for so long and honestly she knows how to do quality work. That night Hubby and I went to his friend Bryan's birthday party and Natalie kept doing laundry while Michelle babysat her (and Kate and Danny were at a friend's house together). Oh, and the birthday party was great! Bryan is wanting to learn how to cook meat better so asked everyone to bring a food with the recipe. Of course I liked Hubby's best but boy, was there a lot of great food and great conversation beginning with telling how the food was made. One family, who moved here from Texas a year ago, brought trout and deer they caught themselves! I really liked the pulled pork mixed with bacon too. Ok, now I'm hungry just remembering this party!
P.S. I finished reading The Last Thing He Told Me because apparently I pick out books according to Apple streaming shows now. I really enjoyed it and listened to most of the book in one day while doing housework and pulling weeds. I think Jennifer Gardner will be great in this role but I will have to watch and see. I still haven’t finished the show version of Defending Jacob yet but I like it so far. I heard they toned down the ending so I’m kind of afraid to finish the series. Oh, and Natalie and my favorite band to listen to lately is AJR.
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