Out With The Fam

Sometimes my favorite times with my family are when we go out. So we did. And we chatted and enjoyed each other so much. 

One of our burger joints added an arcade. Now I admit, it opened in early April. And I legit thought it was an April Fool's Day joke because it seemed really weird that they would do that. 

But they did and they have Skee Ball. I love Skee ball! 

They also had an automatic vending machine for the lame ticket-based prizes. That was actually super fun to watch. Both kids ended up with squishy fruit stress ball things. Definitely the best of the possibilities! 

Wildcats in the House!

This weekend was M's production of High School Musical. 

She was absolutely darling and I am such a sucker for HSM. It's a difficult show to not sing along to for me for sure. 

She got to do the show with 2 other third graders and a 5th grader from school. A smaller group than in years past but it was still so nice to have them together. And I will genuinely miss driving the carpool for it because they are the nicest group of young ladies. 

And... also I am glad the show is over because it's that time of year where things come tripping off the calendar. Delightful! That means summer is coming! 

Piano, Sunrises and Birthdays

So last week I left you with new glasses and angry skies. Since then a lot happened but not a lot all at the same time. Husband and M had their piano recital. 

I am told it went well. See it got scheduled well after my weekend in Wisconsin was scheduled. I was not the only mom who wasn't there. To ease the sting, M had only 12 lessons before her recital and I have been to every one so I feel like I understand how she's doing already. 

While in Wisconsin, my friends woke up early to see beautiful sights like this: 

Those are actual pictures my friends took. I, in full transparency, slept right through all of that. And it was cloudy by midday. I had this cozy little spot I could put my feet up on. And that was good. 

We had a nice time! 

Yesterday was a big day though because Husband turned 40!! We went out to dinner at the place he picked. 

And came home for Dairy Queen Cake Cups. 

Seriously, the best invention. He really wanted a DQ cake and I didn't want to clean out the freezer to make room for said cake. Insert: cake cups. 

And in true turning 40 style, the gift he was most excited about was socks. :)

He is the worst gift recipient I have ever met. The guy who has one drink and plays his cup like a guiro with a toothpick. The least picky person I know who still makes chicken pot pie without the chicken in it for the particular eaters he both married and is raising. He's the doer to my dreamer. He's the better half of us for sure. And now he is 40! (But like what the heck? We aren't old!) 

So that's a little bit of what we've been up to. And there's that. 

Time with My Kiddos

Monday, we knocked out both kid's annual eye exams! Neither kid was particularly excited to be pulled from school a little early but I swear I did my best to get appointments that would conflict the least.

Both did a nice job with their exams and their eyes are healthy!  

Afterwards, it was everyone's favorite part: finding new frames. 

Okay, actually C really hates picking new frames and was pretty grumpy about it. But we found a pair we both liked. 

M, bless her heart, doesn't actually need glasses yet. And I think she was a little sad about it. But she's got these picked out for when she does. (The time is coming but the Dr. thinks we can wait a little longer yet.) 

We went out for an early dinner at Red Robin as a little treat. 

And we had a really nice time chatting together about things. One of which was this thing on the children's menu. It's hard to read but it says "Dream Playroom: Draw your dream playroom. Fill it with fun furniture, games and more." 

C was aghast. "It's OBVIOUSLY a bedroom. And what kid thinks furniture is fun? There's no more room for furniture anyway!" 

He's not wrong. 

Yesterday we had a bought of severe weather. 

C altar-served school Mass. Somehow, he was the cross-bearer even though both of the other servers were taller than he was. 

I spent the entire Mass in the vestibule. Because it was so windy the doors kept blowing open. So I locked them. But then had to stand there to let people in. And that might not seem like a big deal but church is across the street from school. And at least 50 kids left during Mass because their families pulled them from school early due to the storm. So there was a lot of ins and outs. The big kids can cross by themselves but the littles cannot. 

Then nothing happened until like 5:30 so it was pointless to pull anyone from school at all. It did rain. But not with the hail they were predicting at 3:00 pm. Thank you Jesus!!! 

We actually ended up closing the office early. But we stayed because I put my car in the office carport and then we just killed time before piano lessons. (I figured, my car in a carport in hail was safer than just going home and having it out!) I actually had M go practice on the big piano in church. 

We did have a tornado warning for a bit yesterday and spent some time in the basement but we were totally fine and there wasn't any damage to anything at our house. Again, Thank You Jesus! 

Anyway, that's what's up with us! Healthy Eyes. Angry skies. 

The Busiest Week (Plus a Little)

Oh my goodness. It has been a while since I have checked in and that is because it has been just the longest week or so. Something every day and the marathon is not over yet. I know you're all dying to hear what we've been up to so let me tell you! 

Okay, let's go back to last Friday night (April 4) when we stayed up super late to watch Iowa eek out a win. Total nailbiter. 

Saturday C got his letter telling him he will be the editor of the newspaper for Biztown! He was and continues to be very excited about this! 

Sunday we went to a meal-packing event and it was really great! I am so glad we went! Both kids had a good time and I was happy to have a meaningful service opportunity to share with them. It was one of our deaconate candidate's projects and I am so grateful that is what he picked. 

Then we went home to watch Iowa lose (sadly). I am always an underdog supporter and I just think a fully undefeated team is boring. Also, all due respect, I think "Gamecock" is the worst team name I have ever heard. But I was glad it was a good game to watch. And now I can go back to not caring one iota about basketball. 

That evening we had a Confirmation meeting. We led a mini Eucharistic retreat to try to help our candidates and their sponsors/adults grow in faith and love of the Eucharist. 

Monday, we watched the eclipse. It was a previously scheduled in-service day so we were home. We were 92% coverage and I was really shocked by how bright that actually was. 

I totally got sunburnt too! But it was a lovely day. 

On Tuesday I had a meeting that was really great and that was the highlight of the day. My day could be summed up with: 

Wednesday was Chalice painting day for our second graders. And all around it was just a really busy day. It was also our parish-wide Households night. 

Thursday was our staff retreat. I was unexcited about it. But there was a really cool moment on the drive where it was super sunny and rainy right next to each other. 

Friday I prepped hard all day. I got to work at 7:35 and didn't stop moving until 2:30 when I finally had everything for our First Communion retreat ready to go. 

Saturday morning brought the First Communion Retreat. I went early to get things set up. The retreat ran from 9-Noon. I think it went well. It's so hard to tell with these things.

 

Then as is tradition in my family: after mom runs a retreat we go to Olive Garden. 

After evening Mass where C ended up serving, M and I went to see Anastasia the Musical. We liked it. 

And yesterday was a pretty normalish day. It was in the 80s so the kids played with water guns. Then everyone was showered and in pajamas for dinner and screens went off because today and Wednesday they finish their state testing. I really don't give one little iota how they do, but I can at least make sure they eat a decent dinner and have a good sleep the night before. And a good breakfast was had this morning. 

Happy Monday friends! 

 

Happy Easter!

Our Triduum was lovely. We started out on Holy Thursday with Mass and then my friends and I went on the seven churches pilgrimage which was the perfect way to spend time with Jesus that night.

Every church that participated brought its own flair to their altar of repose and I am so glad that it was offered. It was a really nice night. 

Saturday we dyed eggs. It was a fine adventure. I didn't take any pictures of the finished eggs. 

Our family went to a neighboring church for their Vigil for many reasons but chiefly: they sing the Exodus reading. It's my favorite. The kids have never heard it live outside of me listening to it on Alexa constantly. So there we went. 

I took no family pictures. I did snap this one of the kids after Mass concluded. 

We got everyone into bed. The bunny came. 

And I proceeded to watch all the Deanery's live streamed Vigils to compare and contrast. I determined we made the correct choice. And true story, have a different conclusion as to where we will Holy Thursday next year. 

I took no pictures of us on Easter Sunday. We had a French Toast bake brunch. A prime rib dinner. Both were courtesy of Cracker Barrel take take-home meal that we picked up on Saturday. I enjoyed that immensely and the low stress of it truly is my favorite. It was just as tasty as our Thanksgiving meal was. 

2024 Easter will go down as the year I was apathetic. Not about Jesus, never apathy towards Jesus. But about all the extra. I didn't buy anyone a new Easter outfit. We didn't take a family picture. We didn't even make the bunny butt cookies even though we have all the supplies. I just didn't need or want any of the fluff. 

After a glorious 4 day weekend I am back at it. Not particularly with enthusiasm but here we are. Let's go April!