Tabby Thursday

Tinsel's festive bow slid around to the front, giving her an Old West gambler's tie. She was obviously not pleased with the look.

State Champs!

Our high school jazz ensemble competed in the Iowa State Jazz Championships yesterday against top bands from around the state. Two bands are chosen from each class to participate in finals. The 4A class is extremely competitive, so we were ecstatic that our band made finals for the first time in our school's history!

But we were even more ecstatic when our band won last night! What a thrill for the kids, our director, and for the entire music program in our district.

As our senior year begins to wind down, I am feeling so grateful for the many opportunities our daughter has had to participate in a rich variety of instrumental and vocal music activities throughout her school years, and for the many fine directors who have provided her with such a great musical foundation.

What an amazing ride it has been!

Early Spring

I made a quick survey of our yard this weekend to confirm that my perennials survived the winter. Based on what I observed, I'm optimistic that most everything I planted last year is coming back, along with my old standbys. Snow must indeed be a good insulator!

I also noticed that many spring plants are in bloom or ready to do so very soon. Here are a few images captured around our yard:

Let's see if I can name them, beginning at the top left corner (click on the image to bigify):

1) Vinca groundcover -- A slow growing but pretty groundcover with simple purple flowers.

2) Daffodils (or jonquils?) -- This particular set has very tiny blooms.

3) and 4) Hyacinth --See if you can find Mr. Bumblebee! We received a pot of pink hyacinths when our daughter was born. These may no longer be from that same batch of bulbs, but they always remind me of her. :-)

5) Pasque (=Easter in French) flowers -- This unusual plant is one of the earliest bloomers each spring, hence the name.

6) Virginia bluebells -- Almost ready to bloom! My bluebells came from my late grandma's yard. She loved them and so do I.

7) Grape hyacinth -- Spreads easily...so pretty! Apparently makes good rabbit snacks.

8) Coralbells -- I have several different varieties around the yard. Love the color of this one.

9) Sedum -- Beautiful succulent, very hardy and heat tolerant. I've divided my sedum plants a few times and now have several!

Big project, simple layout

I've been working on older photos and was glad to finally scrapbook this particular set of pictures. Back in 2006, my daughter was an independent Girl Scout, meaning that she was not part of a troop but was working on her own on various Girl Scout projects. One of her projects was organizing our community's Thinking Day event. This is an annual Girl Scout day set aside for thinking of girls in other countries.

This particular year, she asked the scouts attending Thinking Day to donate school supplies to be given to needy children in other countries through UMCOR, the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Her part of the service project was to sew denim school bags for each set of supplies. As it turned out, the troops donated enough supplies to fill more than 50 bags, so she had a LOT of sewing to do!



She was only 13 at the time and was just learning to sew, but once her grandma got her started, she charged through this big project undaunted. We were (and still are!) very proud of her!

All good things must come to an end...

...Show choir being one of them. Today is the final performance for our show choirs, and the very last show for our seniors. It's the end of an activity that has been near and dear to my heart for many years. Anyone close to show choir will tell you that there is nothing like it.

In honor of the end of the season, here's a page I finished up recently about 8th grade show choir. Those same kids are graduating this year. So much has happened since those middle school days, yet it feels like it all passed in the blink of an eye. Sequins, hair spray, wardrobe malfunctions, trophies, long bus rides, blizzards, and tears...We've experienced it all and more!

So congratulations to all the kids who are finishing their show choir careers today. You should be very proud of what you've learned and how you've entertained us for so many years.

And even though your time in show choir is ending, I'm sure that many of you will go on to use your talents in musical theater, community plays, and more. And one day, you can sit in the audience as your son or daughter takes the stage for the first time.

You will be the perfect fan.

Feline Friday

It's been one of those weeks...

No, one of those MONTHS...

No, one of those YEARS around here!

Even Lily is ready for a break!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Reason #9 for my low productivity: Can't See Screen. :-)

A Different Kind of White Stuff

The spring storms have started! I barely made it home yesterday before we were pelted with a nice little hail storm:

Fortunately, the hail was merely pea-sized, not big enough to do any serious damage.

But it was a peculiar reminder of the OTHER kind of white stuff which has covered the ground for the past few months!

Time Flies

In going through my photo boxes, I ran across a stack of photos that our daughter took on the last day of 8th grade. She's still friends with all of these kids and of course, they're all graduating this year. Amazing how time has flown.

Of course, it's preferable to keep current with your scrapbooking and work on layouts soon after the events take place, but it's also interesting think about those events through the filter of time. Time can change your perspective on things.

I always do an "end of the school year" layout with her notes captured on a journaling card. It's interesting to read her thoughts about each school year, through the filter of time.

Sure enough, back in 8th grade (and even earlier, in fact), she knew she wanted to be a band director, and that's still her plan today.

Time changes some things, but not everything!

A Favorite Photo

In working on my daughter's albums for graduation, I came across this photo taken at one of those "old west" studios at a local amusement park. This was taken when the girls were in 8th grade, and they're still good friends. Over the years, it's been one of my favorite photos, so I took it out of the cardboard frame where it was stored and put it on a page.

I decided to re-use a Cathy Zielske digital sketch which I've used a time or two (notably here), rather than try a shabby, technique-heavy page that would be hard for me to do well anyway! My hoarded (striped) Cosmo Cricket paper seemed to be waiting just for this photo.

Here's to a productive weekend with many more old favorites!

Feline Friday: Lily Plots her Escape

As soon as the weather started getting warmer, the kitties took to lurking at the back door, just waiting for the opportunity to bolt out of the house, into the garage, and on into the wide, wide world. But as much as I'd like them to be able to freely explore, it's just not safe. They can go outside on a leash, but not unattended!

Of course, this is not the response that Tinsel and Lily want to hear! So Lily has been actively (I use that word loosely!) plotting her escape all week.

It begins with her sitting daintily by the door and meowing in her sweetest voice. "Please? Let me out!"

Next, she advances to lightly pawing the door. This doesn't last long, because Lily thinks she is much taller than she actually is!

She has been working for months at reaching doorknobs, and when she stretches, she can do it! Thankfully, she is still having trouble turning the knobs or she would have been long gone!

Eventually all of that stretching and reaching gets pretty tiring, so Lily resorts to camping out on the box sitting atop our dryer. She's waiting for some unsuspecting person to open the door so she can execute her great escape.

That is, unless she's napping. :-)

4 Sure Signs of Spring

We've been enjoying some unusually warm weather this week. So warm, in fact, that it feels like we jumped directly from winter to summer. This can only mean that spring is truly here!

Don't believe me? Consider the evidence:

1) Cheerful pansies for sale at the local grocery
2) Garden centers springing up overnight
3) Bags of shrink-wrapped mulch on the ready
4) Well-worn sandals ON!