Holiday Weekend

We had a busy weekend where I was not on the computer much. Therefore, I did very little blogging. Let me try to sum it up.

Friday evening we went to a small party where the kids watched Peter Pan and the adults hung out. It was originally going to be outside, but we had some really nasty storms Friday that moved the party inside. The kids got to bed late and slept in a bit, which was just fine with us.

Saturday we cleaned out the garage. That led to a trip to Goodwill as well as some trips to local stores to get some storage supplies. I assembled some steel shelving which should help with our clutter problem. We now have two trash cans chock full of trash and recycling. The local waste convenience area was quite hopping on Saturday, as you might imagine.

Sunday was church. I took the kids out for some errands and Amanda took her kayak out. That evening we met up with our friends the Stansberrys (the people with whom we are planting a church) for a little picnic and hanging out. The kids had a great time. It was another late evening that led to them sleeping in.

Monday I played video games with the kids in the morning, took Lily out on a mini-date for frozen yogurt (I've decided that Skinny Dip is the premier frozen yogurt place I've tried), and then took Noah to Dick's for a legitimate purchase. I bought padded hooks for the kayak so we can mount it on the wall of the garage and get it out of the way. I came home and we grilled some chicken breasts, corn on the cob, and purple asparagus. I never had purple asparagus before, but if you see some and like asparagus I cannot recommend it too highly. Even the thick stalks are really tender.

So why no blogging in the evenings? We spent the last three evenings watching this on Netflix Watch it Now. If you like Sherlock Holmes at all you owe it to yourself to watch it. Now we're just a little sad that we're going to have to wait a year to see the next season.

Singing and Dancing

The Northwoods PTA had its annual general meeting last night. We approved next year's budget, elected officers, and approved bylaws. Now we are members of the PTA, but not particularly active. Amanda volunteers to do "book and a bite" where she comes in to school to read to the class. Other than that, we have not been very active. So why attend this meeting?

The PTA does something brilliant. They coordinate with the music teacher to put on a little show so that at least one class will come to the meeting. This year it was second grade. I don't know if it's second grade every year, but it was this year. Lily had the option of not going, but how could she pass up an opportunity to perform?

She started off a bit tentative, but found her stride pretty quickly. She did particularly well with the little dance routine they had, though she hammed up one of the motions too much and actually hurt her arms as she slapped the floor. At any rate, we were very proud of her as she did a great job. She said that she enjoyed it as well. I'm pretty sure that Great-Grandpa Cole, Great-Grandma Cole, and Great-Grandma Chamberlain are smiling in heaven. She comes from a line of performers, after all.

Our Houseguest

Tonight is the last night for us hosting the little corgi named Piper. He is really a wonderful dog. He is very gentle with the children, does not bark excessively, and is affectionate as well. He follows Amanda around like a shadow.

But therein lies his one flaw. It seems that most of us are allergic to him to some degree. Amanda keeps getting sinus headaches. My eyes itch a little bit and my throat is scratchy. Lily keeps sneezing and wiping her nose. Noah seems to be immune so far, which is nice. It's great that he wants to be close, but we get into trouble with his dander.

I'm pretty sure that if we powered through this for a few weeks we would all adapt and feel fine. However, we are not going to have that opportunity. Sadly, Lily has not quite got sick of taking care of him yet. I was hoping that she would. I think it will take more than a few days for that to happen. But all of us sneezing and getting stuffy is more ammunition against getting a dog. I'll take all of that I can get.

Recital

Here are two videos from Lily's recital. This year the recital was "Wizard of Oz." In the first video she is a poppy. In the second she is part of the Emerald City. Look for her on the right as a poppy. Look for the dark green dress in the back at Emerald City.

Graduation

Here are two videos from my graduation. The first is me walking to get my diploma. The second is a short testimony I gave about my experience at Shepherds.

Spring Fling

Yesterday was Northwoods Elementary's annual carnival that they call "Spring Fling." They typically have inflatables for bouncing, lots of music, popcorn, assorted treats, etc. Lily has enjoyed it to varying degrees in the previous two years. But this year she got to go with a classmate who invited her.Amanda said that she was pretty giddy when she picked her up.

I took Noah out for a milkshake since I had taken Lily out earlier in the week. Plus, Amanda wanted the house to herself. Noah has decided that he too likes Chick-fil-A's banana pudding milkshake. We split that, went to Sam's Club to get gas, and then hit Play N Trade just to hang out.

Today is a big day with Lily's dance recital. After that we'll probably eat a meal out to celebrate a successful end to another year of dance. After that Brenna is coming over to spend the night. And after that we are welcoming a very special house guest for a week. We're watching a corgi named Piper that belongs to our friends the Stansberrys. They have an opportunity to spend a week at the beach for free, so we're helping out with the dog. He's a great dog, but I suspect that he will send the adrenaline levels to 11 with the kids. That's OK as we don't have to get up early tomorrow.

Date Night

Lily had some problems with acting up while we had Grandpa and Bubbe here for their visit. I took her for a ride  and we talked about what was going on with her. Obviously she wanted attention and she was not seeking it in a healthy way. One thing we discussed was that she wanted to do more things alone with Amanda or me. Amanda and I agreed that this was fair as Noah tends to get the spotlight, which drives her crazy.

To that end I took her out for dessert last night. We went to Pink Frozen Yogurt, which is not as good as Marmalade Skies, but has the advantage of being a 3 minute drive from our house. Their flavors were better than usual this time as they had peanut butter and red velvet cake. We had a couple of great sundaes and enjoyed chatting. It was only a 30 minute date, but Lily said that she enjoyed it. That's the important thing.