Go, Go, Goers!

This week was all about counting down until our days off from work and school, so we could gather as family to eat really good food and celebrate a day of thanks together. We headed over to Grandma Deb's house in the early afternoon on Thanksgiving, and spent several hours there, visiting and eating the aforementioned really good food. We also had the chance to meet Deb's new dog, Yental. She is such a sweet girl, and other than a few sniffs, she and Pria pretty much ignored each other. Perfect! Both dogs are about the same age, so it was a lot of begging for food, and then relaxing for these two girls! We are so grateful that we were able to spend the day with Deb, as well as my parents. Family is everything, and I'm so happy that we're able to combine our celebrations so we can see everyone. Making turkey bark...no real turkey included, ha On Friday, we spent several hours decorating the house for Christmas, including having the kids decorate the Christmas tree. It to...

The RHSMB did not make the finals cut last Saturday, but they tried their best. There were a lot of kids fighting off illnesses, plus being tired and probably not eating the best, drinking enough water, or getting enough sleep. BUT! I think they had fun, and certainly made memories that will last them a lifetime! I don't think they'll be heading to Grand Nats next year, but I bet they'll do a regional trip to St Louis, which will be another fun adventure. Ava commented that she thinks that she WILL do marching band again next year, which makes this band loving mom really, really happy! Can you find Ava in these pics? The five motorcoaches pulling onto the RHS property, and the hundreds of people waiting to welcome the marching band home! This week was all about Ava catching up on school work from being out for a few days, and battling a cold (mostly just a sore throat and a runny nose.) Ava and I did volunteer some time at the high school on Friday night, sorting/passing ou...

It has been a whirlwind week...lots and lots of marching band stuff, and swimming and taekwondo, and...probably other stuff? It's been a good week, but I'm ready for my nerves to calm down a bit. After a very full rehearsal day on Saturday, Ava suited up and went out with friends for the RHS Fall Formal. She walked in heels for the first time (we had to have a quick "let's not stomp our feet" lesson), and had a blast hanging out with her "junior" friends, as well as seeing some of her "younger", aka freshmen, friends at the dance. The dance was supposed to go until 11, but after a really long day, I was not disappointed when she asked me to come and get her at 10pm. Everything was fine, but she missed her bed. And sleep. So, I happily went and picked her up! By far, the biggest event happening this week started at 3am on Thursday morning. Ava and the rest of the RHS marching band headed off to Indy for the 2022 Bands of American Grand Nationals...

As we wrapped up G's birthday night, we also threw in some pumpkin carving (there's only so much time in the weekends to get stuff done!) Honestly, we went fast and easy this year. We had one good pumpkin left from the garden, and we gave G free reign to draw a design. He went with a goofy face, and I had it scooped out and carved within 20 minutes. It was the fastest pumpkin carving we have ever done. And I'm going to give a lot of the credit to Scott's super sharp little saw knife thingy that I used. Cut through the pumpkin like buttah! The next day I puttered around the house while everyone was off elsewhere, and I ended up attempting to make one of G's birthday presents...chocolate mousse witches cauldrons. Aaaand, it was harder than I expected. I burned the chocolate on the first one, completely did the mold wrong on the second one, and finally got a decent one to turn out. I presented that to G, and he said it looked and tasted pretty good. Yay. Whew. There...