Go, Go, Goers!

I'm not sure what happened this past week. I picked up the flu, and was down for the count for all of Sunday last weekend, and the rest of the week just sorta limped by. I was able to reschedule/cancel a few fun evening events that I had planned, and happily stayed at home and kept my germs to myself. The good news is that no one else in my family got sick. So strange how viruses work... I'm also really glad that virtual dr appointments are easier to come by. On Sunday afternoon, my mom asked if I was going to see a doctor, and get some meds. I hadn't even thought about it, but within 10 minutes, I had met with a nurse, and she had prescribed me some (generic) Tamiflu. Our pharmacy even fulfilled the prescription quickly so I was able to start taking it the same day. And here we are, seven days later, and I'm feeling like a new, healthier person. Glad that's over! Ava had her first job interview this past week, and she got a job! She won't be able to start worki...

We had fun snacking our way through the big game last Sunday. We pulled together all sorts of air fryer foods, Scott made wings, and we enjoyed a very casual meal over the course of a few hours. The game was on in the background, and we definitely paid more attention to the commercials. Ha! G was really hoping the 49ers would win, so when I woke him up on Monday morning, I had to tell him that the regular game tied, they went into OT, and the 49ers were ahead until the last 3 seconds. Kinda ruined his Monday, BUT, we were glad to see that he was paying attention to something in the sports realm. G loves to hide footballs around the house for the Super Bowl, and then we have to find them (like Easter eggs.) Ava found 5 of the 6, I found just 1, and Scott didn't find any. Ava's big prize was a check for $1billion! So she ate it. And then G told her it was a trick, and she owed him $1billion. Strange game we had going on! The RHS pep band has been playing at a lot of games for a v...

Ava's been busy the past few weeks prepping for a performance for Culture Night at RHS. Her Chinese teacher asked if she would participate with the Lion Dance, so she played the gong (fun!) It required several rehearsals, she met new people, and had fun at Culture Night this past Thursday. I saw a brief video of some of the performance, and heard about all of the wonderful that she had a chance to eat while she was there. She also volunteered on Wednesday after school at a local elementary school to help celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year (which is Feb 10, and it's the Year of the Dragon!) I'm so proud of her for joining the National Chinese Honor Society, and getting involved with events like these. She also played pep band for a basketball game at RHS on Tuesday night, so it was a busy week full of extracurriculars for school. The picture on the left and the one on the top right are Ava's (created for her Drawing class), both currently on display at RHS G tested for...

I'm trying to make plans with two friends, and our schedules are so busy that we're almost being pushed out until the end of March. That's craziness! I can't imagine what I'm going to do with all of my free time when there aren't children at home, busy doing everything that they do. This week at TKD, Ava earned her board-breaking stripe, which means she's moved up to the purple belt...way to go, kiddo! The rest of the week was busy with school, work, after school activities, etc. G has been dealing with some insomnia, which the whole house is aware of, as it's happening...so Scott and I have been managing on less sleep than usual. Ugh. On a positive note, we capped the week off with an impromptu happy hour with my parents at a local bar. I pre-ordered pizza to be delivered to the kids at home, so they were set for dinner, and we enjoyed a few hours out, with other adults. Overall, though, we had a low key week (in the evenings), which was needed. (We wer...

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 sch...

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be a kid now vs when Scott and I grew up. Not a month goes by where the kids don't have at least one day off of school, and it's usually more. This past week, the kids didn't have school on Monday (I didn't work either, hooray!) and they were both off on Friday. Only three days of school (or work) per week sounds pretty good to me! Monday was an exciting day, though...Ava is officially done with her braces (aligners) and will be getting her retainers next Friday. Woohoo! What was supposed to be an 18-month process ended up taking 30 months instead, so we are all very happy that she's finally done with her aligners. Her retainers are going to be pink and glow-in-the-dark swirls...fun! The kids and I ran a bunch of errands on Monday, and went out to lunch, and by the time the evening rolled around, we were all pretty tired. I made the executive decision to skip both swimming and taekwondo. And we were all happy about that. :...

It finally snowed! And now it's chilly. Why were we feeling a little sad that it didn't feel like winter yet?? One good thing about this weather is that it came during the week where Ava was doing her six hours worth of driving with a district instructor. She managed to get in 4 hours in the evening, on decent roads, and then on Saturday morning, she was able to get in around 2 hours on snowy roads. The instructor took her out into a parking lot to get her comfortable with driving while the roads are unpredictable. I'm really glad that she was able to get that professional instruction under her belt. She seems to be making great progress every time she goes out driving...it's awesome! Ava informed us that next year she'll probably do a Zero Hour gym class (before school starts each day) to get it out of the way, and allow her to take the child development classes she wants (since Zero Hour will free up one of her hours during the day.) She'll need her license an...