Voice Recital

On Sunday, C had his voice recital! 

He did such a nice job! 

The livestream feed did not work as planned, and these videos are all I've got. M's videographer skills need some work, but it sounds good, and that's what counts. 

 Laudaute Dominium from Vesperae Solennes De Confessore by Mozart. It translates to Psalm 117: 

"Praise the Lord, all nations, praise Him all peoples. For his loving mercy has bestowed upon us, and the truth of the Lord endures for eternity. Amen." 

Then he also sang "Suppertime" from You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, and Husband took on the role of Charlie Brown. 

This is him and all of the youngest kids in the studio. (There are actually 5 rectials; they go by age.) 

We are so very proud of him and his hard work. 

Looking back, I would like to remember how the AC died in that church midway through the recital, and we were all melting. But the music was so lovely. 

It's so very impressive what this group is capable of. 

And also, that voice recital... was the last scheduled activity for summer. We officially, officially made it to the "lazy, hazy, crazy, days of summer!" 

Camp 2027

Last week the kids were at camp! 

They had a great time! 

Here is some proof! 

This was the 4th year my children have attended this camp, and this is the first time I have ever heard that when they challenge another cabin to do something, and it takes too long, everyone starts chanting "seminary's faster!" Catholic humor at its finest, folks. 

Both kids went to reconciliation while they were there, and I also didn't know there is an outdoor gazebo they use especially for that sacrament. But I love that they can experience the Grace of God in his majesty. 

It's nice to have them home again, though! 

Friday Update

Y'all, I don't even know what to post. 

This has been a week. 

I had some comp time at work, and rather than stay home, I went to my old work for the family law attorney (my friend). And it was like a vacation. 

Husband was more than a little horrified that going and doing different work felt like a vacation, but it did. I can't explain it. I liked it, though. 

We went to Texas Roadhouse the other day since I had some gift cards stocked up. 

M's skirts came for school. (Elementary is jumpers, middle school is skirts.) I have a lot of feelings about this. 

In other news, for the last 11 days I have been driving a NEW 2026 VW Atlas as the dealership has my car for repairs under warranty. 

This has partially stressed me out because it's a BRAND NEW CAR with like 2000 miles on it. I have literally never had a new car and don't anticipate getting one realistically. 

It has so many lovely features, including this, which has no bearing on the car's performance, but I love that when the front car doors open a little VW logo shines on the ground like a bat signal. 

This has also partially motivated me because, other than the fact that the car I am driving is white and I am a black car girly, I love this vehicle so much. There's literally nothing I don't like about it. And it feels like me. Is that weird to say? Probably yes. 

So I am now manifesting this car. I am telling the universe I would like it. And God is going to need to sort that out for me. 

Dare to Dream!

This weekend was M's show. It was super cute! 

Dare to Dream is a Disney review show... all the Imagineers in Training are learning about following their dreams in order to become Imagineers. 

Miss M was Player 2, which is one of two Senior Imagineers. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was a lead, but she definitely had more lines than many. 

The show featured many fun Disney songs. My top 5 in order of "songs I would actually listen to at home" were: 

1. Let It Go
2. Try Everything
3. Go the Distance
4. How Far I'll Go
5. Remember Me

None of those are M's songs. She sang "Be Our Guest" "A Dream is A Wish Your Heart Makes" and "Hakuna Matata"

It was a very fun weekend but the AC in the theater was broken so it was HOT and STUFFY. Never the less, we are so proud. 

And this wraps up the "performing arts" section of the summer. 

Show choir camp turned into SpongeBob, which went right into VBS (where she was a sing and play assistant, so singing and dancing the whole time), which went directly into Dare to Dream. 6 weeks of fun! 

Madame Butterworth and Friday things

This week, we introduced our children to Madame Butterworth. 

To be clear, my kids have had syrup before. 

But when I was in Junior High, we had (an empty) Madame Butterworth in French class, and she taught us lots of things. 

I will know forever and til the end of time that moving Madame Butterworth "a la gauche" meant I moved her to the left. Funny enough, no other directions stuck. LOL. 

So when we were all at a grocery store together that wasn't Aldi (our primary grocer), and I saw the Mrs. Butterworth bottles, I just had to get one. True story? I don't even like or use syrup! 

Judge away, we have been eating in the living room because the kitchen just doesn't get as cool, and it's been so hot! 

This weekend will bring a lot of things, including M's second show of the summer. 

Happy Friday! 

Happy Birthday 'Merica

Our 4th was so incredibly low-key. 

We didn't get home from the Savannah Banana game until 12:30, and by the time everyone was showered and in bed, it was 1:30. So luckily, we all slept in to our heart's content. 

We grilled hot dogs for lunch. 

We played games. 

I call my mom Whome. M tried to get away with that in Bananagrams, but we vetoed it, not before sending my mom a picture, though. 

We watched The Music Man. Like we always do. 

We grilled cheeseburgers for dinner. And sweet corn. Because we live in Iowa.

We cracked glow sticks and watched the Macy's fireworks on TV. Like we always do.

Our low-key, stay-at-home 4ths work for us. And I am so grateful! 

Banana-Fana-Fo!

Friday, we picked M up from her camp early so we could drive to Iowa City. Because the Savannah Bananas were in Iowa and we were going.

The drive was uneventful, and we stopped at McDonald's for an early dinner. Because I had warned the kids we were not buying stadium food.

Here’s the honest truth… I wasn’t looking forward to the game much. As a first-year KClub member, I was able to buy tickets in February. And then when we got our seating assignment, to find out we were in Row 79 of 79 was disappointing. We even talked about trying to sell them, but since KClub members can only sell to KClub, we just went with it. 

Parking was very easy, and I am glad!  My very expensive parking pass was worth it. Many people were trying to get parking passes closer to the game, and they were all sold out. I have never been to Kinnick before, so I wasn't sure how it would go exactly. We didn't go to Iowa. And I have pretty much banned my children from going there as well. Not our vibe. Not our scene. 

We got to the party plaza about 4:05 and ended up in the front row for the pregame parade. M high-fived everyone. Split. Jesse Cole. Every. Single. Player on both teams. It was hot hot hot, but 25 minutes of the party was the ideal amount of time.

At about 4:30 the gates opened. We made it through the crowd to our very high seats. And they weren’t so bad. We were farther away last summer and still had a great time. We were in the shade, which was deeply appreciated! Our friends were on the other side in the full sun. True story: I had been calling the seats sh**ty for weeks. And then we got up there, and there was actual dog poo nearby. It seemed right.

And I have to tell you about the absolutely horrible stairs in the stadium. Concrete. Not deep enough. And not a handrail in sight! Horrible! 

So we were in our seats, waiting for the fun preshow antics to get rolling and... Enter the 2.5-hour soaking rain and lightning delay. But guess what? That last row tucked up against the press box was covered! We weren’t wet at all. Loads of people came to sit with us, in fact. The biggest twist of all time: the terrible seats had a pretty great perk I wasn’t anticipating needing.

They kept telling us to leave, but apparently the concourse was sardine-packed. And I am not going to lie to you... There was no way I was walking up 37 flights of stairs again. I didn't care that much. If I was going down, I was staying down.

They also apparently locked the gates and didn't let anyone else leave or come in. So staying put, even in the storm, was the best case.

The rain started and stopped a few times. And we even saw a rainbow! And did I mention we were dry? We were some of the only ones who were. Most were drenched!! Someone who had come to stand up by us took the dog poop with him on his shoe, and I was also not sad about that.

Then finally, super late, like 9:15 pm, it was time for bananaball. (The first pitch was supposed to be at 7:00.)

• We “Hey Baby-ed” with enthusiasm.
• I got my KClub pin.
• We got to participate in the wave, which was fun. (And there’s zero chance I am going back to Kinnick for football, so I am glad I got to experience it.)
• We sang “Yellow.”
• And on the way to the car, M even got herself a selfie with Princess Potassia, the one person who wasn’t in the parade.  

Now we didn't stay til the end. We called it at 11:20 in the 8th inning because we were all exhausted. We never ate stadium food because we were going to eat after the game. We all decided we were too tired to do that. We were grateful we could bring in packed snacks, and we were so glad we did. One dinner of candy, Skinny Pop, and animal crackers never hurt anyone.

The kids watched the rest of the game on YouTube in the car on the way home. It went into 3 showdowns, and the Firefighters won!

Overall... it was more fun than I imagined it would be. And how grateful am I to have been surprised that my disappointment was unwarranted?!