Jazz and Desserts

RHS hosted a cool Jazz and Desserts concert on Monday night. It was very casual, taking place in the Student Center. Each of the 5 (6?) jazz bands performed three-ish songs, while we all browsed the multitude of desserts that were available. It was a really neat, casual format, where we could chat with the people around us, and still be able to enjoy the smooth sounds of jazz in the background. I ended up sitting with the family that we carpooled with for marching band over the last few years. It was nice having a chance to catch up!

I wasn't able to see Ava perform (she was tucked behind a pillar that I couldn't see around from my seat), but Jazz Blue (the band she is in) sounded good, and it was great seeing so many band parents again, since we've had a bit of a break since marching band season ended a few months back. I'm already looking forward to this event again next year!

There was also pep band, swimming, taekwondo, more jazz rehearsals, dentist, ortho, high school conferences, etc etc etc to squeeze into the last five days. It was busy! Both kids have great teeth, no cavities, and Ava got her retainers on Friday morning. They're fun...pink, glittery, and swirled with glow-in-the-dark patterns. Way more exciting than the one that I had in high school!

I went to Ava's high school conferences on Friday morning, and all of her teachers were so complimentary. They mentioned how smart she is, focused, participates, (the art teacher said she was very talented!), and they all love the little drawings she does on the paper assignments that she turns in. We are so proud of the young adult that Ava is becoming, and can't wait to see what the next stages in life will bring!

I'm just one week away from a full transition off of my old job, and boy, this past week was a doozy! We've got some changes coming up, so we've been needed to be nimble at managing the upcoming work, and keeping the teams operating smoothly. I'm looking forward to being able to focus on my "new" job 100%, instead of having to split my time between two different ones. I'm also looking forward to (hopefully) taking a break from nighttime deployments.

Scott had a rough week at work, where nothing quite went right. Even this morning, as he was working on his side jobs, he told me he got fired (he's self-employed, so he fired himself, lol), so I'm hoping that the rest of the day went smoothly, and he can take a day to relax on Sunday.

To add on to the gloominess, the weather we're having is weird. It feels like March, not January. We've barely gotten any snow this winter, and while I don't mind the better driving conditions, I'm a bit sad that we haven't had enough to make a snowman, or a snowball, or anything worthwhile fun. I'm sure this comment will come back to bite me at some point, but for now, we're all wondering...where has winter gone?

Comments

Exploring Local Places

Last Sunday was the perfect day to explore an area that neither Arya nor I had been to before. We headed east to walk around the Vermillion Falls/River and Greenway area. The path was nicely paved, with lots of overhead shade from trees; there were so many families out on bikes and walking, and we had a nice view of the Vermillion River. Arya got some great pics, and I enjoyed spending time outdoors with my sweet girl. This weekend, G and I will be heading out to explore a creek area in a few towns just south of us. And I've already got an idea for another creek I want to walk by next month (it's a bit further away, and I'd rather put that aside until Arya is off at college) The tree leans to find the sun On the way home, we stopped at the DQ in another town (we have a love/hate relationship with the DQ in our town, so I wanted to avoid it.) The warm weather felt great, and we enjoyed some sweet treats while watching the world drive by. We're counting down the days unti...

What a Week

The weather has been unseasonably warm this fall, so we've been able to extend our outdoor projects just a bit. This past week Scott's been working in the garden, cleaning everything out, and repairing the back wall of our garage. Ava was such a good little helper, scooping up dirt, but still trying to keep her hands clean while doing it! I swear, a box is all she needs to make her happy. Princess Darla. Princess Darla has had enough. I personally like how she and Ava have the same expressions in this picture. Apparently Spanky was bored - check out that yawn in the background! We went down to Grand Meadow this weekend, and as always, it was so fun to see Ava and Isabel play together. They actually had several little conversations with each other - and they were so polite while doing so! We even had them share a room last night...boy, that was a challenge. I think they finally fell asleep around 10:00pm. And of course, Ava wa...

Preparing for Vacation

We had a low key week, which is rare in this house. Oh sure, there were fun field trips at Summer Power, a visit to the splash pad on a hot day, and a few crazy, rain storms, but it was an easy week. Well, there was that one time when we were out for dinner with G (Ava was with Grandma Karen and Grandpa Doug for an overnight stay and a trip to the Dakota County Fair - fun!) and G decided to hide behind my chair and puke all over me and the floor (at the restaurant.) Ugh. The good news is that he was just too full of chocolate milk...no illness! A quiet week, once in a while, is an okay thing! We're starting to prep for our vacation to the Wisconsin Dells...we don't take too many family vacations, so this is a big event for us. (Funny, I took a break from writing this post as Scott just asked me about planning a trip to Disney...we were debating the differences between going to California vs. Florida...pros and cons to each!) Yesterday, I showed G a video from one of the wat...

Go, Go, Goers!

Search This Blog