Lex did a great job with thank you notes this year! Not only was he prompt, with a little encouragement from me, but he wrote clever and funny things too!
Is it weird to post his thank you notes online? Some of you may recognize some of these. 😊
The best part though is that he did them with no fussing or arguing!! That’s what I’m thankful for!! Maybe I should write him a note! 😄
It was a big night at school with the final concert of the year, and Lex’s final concert in elementary school! This year they split it into two concerts, K-2 last week and 3-5 this week. It made it much easier to find a seat and see your kid! Eve was ready to go in her black striped “jazzy” dress, and Lex even made his debut on the concert risers! I am so proud of them both!
The 3rd graders all made their own instruments from recycled containers.
Lex was excited for his band songs. Percussion is fun because you get to play so many different instruments and sometimes you get to switch instruments in the middle of a song. Lex really enjoys the team aspect of percussion as well. Everyone is working together in that back row!
Lex having a little fun with the symbols. He tells me about the various instrument all the time and some of them I have trouble picturing from his description (not the symbols, of course, I know what those are!) so he told me he would hold up each instrument in the concert so I could see it. :)
This concert, for the first time ever, Lex even stood up and sang with his class! There have been many emails in the past few months between his music teacher, his team, and his parents, all trying to help him feel comfortable and prepared for this concert. We had plans and plans for plans. Lex agreed to stand with his group, and *maybe* mouth the words since he “accidentally learned all the words.” This afternoon he said he might do small hand motions. This evening he totally go into it and had a blast!!!
Lex (in green) signing with the 5th graders. :)
Wearing shades for the final song (I totally forgot what it’s called and the kids are asleep and can’t remind me).
What a fun night! Mema and Grandpa Tom got to come share in the fun. Lex got so many compliments. I think he counted twelve comments, plus “Mom’s counts twice because she kissed me in public,” he told the school councelor. We all had a good laugh!
Plus, on the personal note, I got so many congratulations from the teachers on my new job. I’m so excited that everyone is excited to have me on board! They like me, they like me! Eeee! But enough about me, the kids did awesome, the music teacher is amazing, and I love our school!
You are my heart and I’ll love you forever. More birthday fun to come, but for now, adorable pictures of my growing boy. <3
We discovered a much more exciting way to walk Arlo today.
Who’s walking who here?!
This was his first time of it. We did it a few more times and he got faster and sillier. The girls both shrieked each time he pulled them. Fun for us, but probably not the best thing for the dog.
Naughty puppy with a dirty nose. :)
He needs some good exercise though, otherwise he gets very naughty!
Good thing hostas are hardy plants! (and good thing I don’t care much about my gardens — this year anyway!)
Eve and I participated in the final 5K for Girls on the Run. We had a super fun time. Eve ran the whole way (so did her friend!), and I ran most of it, only walking briefly on the two big hills! 😁
Hair spray. She was most excited for this!
Silly girl.
I love this girl. She's radiant!
Some of her GOTR team all sillied up!
These two are so cool.
I tried to get a good photo at the start line, but these silly girls weren't up for it. 😄
All done!!
Eve and her "battle scars." She is quite proud of them! She fell about a mile into the race, scraped up both knees and her side, but got up and kept on going!
After the race we stopped at Solar Show and Tell to pick up Lex, who was there with Alan representing the energy commission.
Time for some quiet "recharging."
They also had a bouncy house (solar powered!) at the Solar Show and Tell, so we hung out there for awhile while Eve got even more big muscle activity!! 😄
Then we got lunch at Panera did some birthday present shopping, came home for a bit to clean up, then back out to drop Miss Eve off at a sleep-over birthday party!! She is going to be a wreck tomorrow!! Most of the party girls were also at the 5K, so maybe they will all go to sleep early!
I was so proud of Eve and her confidence yesterday! So happy that I was there to witness it. Yesterday was our final Girls on the Run practice before the big 5K race on Saturday. We were running laps around the field and the goal was to get 12 laps, which equals three miles. We joke a bit that our team should be called Girls on the Walk, because they aren’t real motivated to run this year, but yesterday Eve decided she was going to run the whole time and get those 12 laps! That alone was awesome. She was running with her best friend for a bit, then her friend started walking and Eve kept running. She caught up with me (and by caught up I mean I was a full lap behind her!) and, quite upset, told me that her friend was crying and mad at her because she wanted to keep running but her friend wanted them to walk together. She had told her friend that she was trying to do her personal best (something we talk A LOT about) and that she had set a goal for herself and wanted to achieve it. I totally encouraged that!! She kept running when I had to stop and walk too. I caught up with her friend soon after and we had a nice long chat. It’s hard to tell girls to just do their personal best and not try to compare, because they do compare and her friend was really upset that Eve’s “best” was better than her “best.” She was also upset because she wants to run the whole 5K with Eve and cross the finish line together, but since Eve can run it and she can’t, she thinks it won’t be fun. I felt bad for both of them. Eve wanted to run, but didn’t want to make her friend sad, and her friend just wanted to hang out with Eve and be together. I chatted with both of them and Eve made a plan to do her best, then jump back on the track when she saw her friend finishing so they could cross the finish line together (Eve for the second time).
I was so proud of Eve for standing her ground and working hard though. She ran 13 laps and was so proud of herself! She is now confident that she can run that 5K and excited for Saturday. Growing up is hard to do, but I’m so happy to see her growing confident and strong and still being a good friend. She often finds herself in tricky friend situations because she wants to be friends with everyone, but she’s hit the age where the drama begins. We talk a lot about how to navigate that scene while still remaining true to yourself. I’m so proud of her!
Arlo was out on his lead this morning, like he often is. He loves being outside. I came downstairs from my shower and said, “Has anyone checked on Arlo lately?” I like to keep an eye on him when he’s out there. Lex looks out the window and says, “He’s fine. He’s just sitting in the garden. I wonder why he’s not on his lead?” My heart jumped! What?! Not on his lead?! I looked out and yes, sure enough, the lead was on the porch and the dog was in the garden. I opened the door and called him and he came running inside. Good dog!!! Then I saw this:
I guess that “not for tie-out” lead we’ve been using, and leaving outside in all weather, finally gave out! I was sooooo happy that he didn’t go anywhere though! He just sat in the garden, which is how far his lead usually goes, and came right back when I called him. Whew!!
I bought a proper tie-out lead today. :)
I am so far behind on blogging that I’ve started a list of things to blog about! I have a few minutes right now so here is a quick one.
Last weekend Alan and I took a long overdue weekend getaway! Friday night we drove to Burlington for a sweet, grownup weekend to celebrate our anniversary. Did I even blog about that?! I’ve been slacking. We celebrated 16 years last week! That’s a long time! Not as long as the 36 that my parents celebrated though. :)
We had to pull over for this beautiful sunset! So many colors!
We used to take us-pictures everywhere we went. That was before we had cute kids to take pictures of instead. :)
This is the Winooski Dam… I think.
We got in really late so we had a fantastic dinner and the hotel bar and then passed out in bed, watching the TV shows that we wanted to watch instead of the usual Teen Titans Go! I think we watched Friends. :) Arguably about the same level of quality as TTG!
The next morning we took a long walk along Lake Champlain. It was a perfect day and the lake is just beautiful!
Alan at the end of a long, narrow, rocky pier we walked out.
I’m so pretty. :)
Burlington is a great city and so pretty.
After our walk we went back to the hotel for showers, then headed up to the Church Street area. We had lunch at the Vermont Pub & Brewery, on the deck, overlooking a hopping farmers market in City Hall Park. After lunch we wandered around the market, then up a few blocks to wander around Church Street. We bought souvenirs for ourselves and others and checked out each restaurant as we passed, looking for a good dinner option.
Hahaha… oh, Vermont!
This t-shirt made us laugh on our anniversary trip. :)
We ended up back at the hotel for a quick rest, then off to the Vermont Comedy Club to see some stand-up comedy. It was so funny and so much fun! I’ve seen comedians before, but always in an auditorium, never (that I can remember) in a comedy club with food and drinks. We had a blast.
Posing with photos. I think we should have swapped sides. My Colbert impression needs work.
At the Vermont Comedy Club, waiting for the show to start.
The next day we woke to this ugliness, which was just fine because it was time to head home anyway!
Not a beautiful day!
I’m so happy we had a beautiful night and an perfect day for wandering around the great city of Burlington. We both agreed we should go back again soon.
