Happy Birthday Me!

I had a crazy busy week this week as you will see by reading this blog post.  A lot of the busyness was a result of my birthday. I opened my birthday gifts the day before my birthday. I got a video game and a full-length mirror for my bathroom (pictured).  My birthday was on Monday, but we didn't have time for a family celebration until Wed. My celebration included some birthday cookies from Kaitlin, birthday doughnuts from Chuck, and a fun family game which I won.  I took advantage of a lot of offers from friends to do fun things for my birthday, which resulted in a few lunches out, and a friend gathering where we played Settlers of Catan.  I also went to a library craft night with another friend and had an impromptu motorcycle girls night out with another.   Nearly every day this week I did a fun birthday thing with someone.  It was a great birthday and I felt really loved.

On Tuesday I sang in Kensington Singers final concert of the season. It was a pretty good concert; I thought we performed really well.  Singing in this choir has been a pretty big time commitment but has been worth it.  I've learned so much from singing at this level and it's made me a much better conductor.



Jared's Final Band Concert

I spent my birthday at a dress rehearsal and when I walked in the door at around 10pm, I discovered that Chuck and Jared had gone out to buy a drumset they had found in the online classified. Sure enough, 5 minutes later they came bursting in, hands full of drum set.   About six months ago Jared asked for a new drumset (we had a really cheap old one). I told him that I would get him a new one if he started practicing more regularly. For the last few months, he has been playing every day. Many days he has played for hours until his hands have bled, he loves it that much.

Jared also played in his final band concert of the year.  I had to miss it because I was also singing in a concert that night, but I got to watch in on video, and then Jared played along with the video for me on one of the songs. I felt like I had a first-row seat.  I've said before how awesome it is to have a percussionist because it's like they have a solo on every song. You always can hear exactly what they are playing.

I'm attaching a short video clip of Jared playing the snare drum in a song called "Train".

Ruth Wins More Things

For the last while it seems like the name of this blog should change to "Awesome Things Ruth is Doing" and this week's entry is no different.  Ruth came home from school one day with an arm full of prizes.  She found out when they made an announcement over the intercom at school that she had won the Lagoon Physics Day logo contest.   Every year Lagoon, our local amusement park, sponsors a "physics" day for high school students.  As part of this, they offer a logo contest where students from all over the area can design for next years physics day.  Ruth's teacher told that class that if they entered the logo contest they wouldn't have to do a worksheet, so Ruth entered the contest... and won.  She won an air cannon, a plasma ball, and two tickets to Lagoon. Her logo will be used on t-shirts and advertise for next year's Lagoon day.

Ruth also had her end of the year Debate banquet where she was recognized for all her achievements this year.


New Car for Chuck

Ever since we sold Chuck's truck when we were unemployed, Chuck has been driving the old mini-van.  We nicknamed it "The Man Van."   This week he bought himself a little Subaru Outback.  We hope to now buy a small trailer so we can haul our motorcycles around in it.