Clippings from our pretty bushes!

 

5/11/21

 First band concert in 18 months!!

Appropriately social distanced, with a variety of mask choices.  (The kids were allowed to lower their masks when playing their songs for the concert.  I cracked up at 3 boys who just scooted their masks over their noses!)  The band is much bigger than shown.  I just couldn't get more in my lens without moving to the top of the stands.  (Ken suggested this and we cracked up, knowing Anna would have died of embarrassment in a way only a middle-schooler can!)

A close up showing Anna and her best buddy Aliyah (2nd row on the left).  Unsurprisingly Anna has a ton of flute friends :0)  Good for next year when they bond as a "section" in marching band.  Matthew definitely demonstrated a feeling of trumpet-section adoration back in the day.  (They made instrument specific t-shirts for example.)

Here Anna is standing with the other folks who participated in solo-contest.  She received a 1+ (top) rating.  (In looking at her award, Joel asked "Is 1 PLUS even a thing?"  I said, "It is for Anna! (I guess the older kids are used to just a 1, 2, 3 rating system.))  As a flutist, I am very proud of her flute playing skills!

5/2/21 Court of Honor: Take 2

 Joel's troop had a regular Court of Honor and added the Eagles at the end a few months ago.  I thought that would do the trick, despite being a little unsatisfying.

Then Joel's buddy Levi decided to have a real Court of Honor and welcomed Joel to join.  This COH was lovely.

The Celebration was held at the Scout Center and this building was beautiful.  It was donated since we moved to Ankeny by the Maytag family.

Anna did the closing prayer

Here is Ken with the 4 boys of the from his Cub scout troop.  All Eagles now! (quick off and on with masks)

Joel grew up with these boys!

Here is my neighbor, Ruth, showing me where to trim my bush.  She has a thumb so green that her yard is  like a garden paradise.

She gave me advice on how to trim back/ remove my bushes.  The bush below took Ken about 9 minutes to take out on Saturday.  (I did some prep of moving rocks etc., but he did the heavy digging.)

This similar bush took me 90+ minutes to remove on Thursday....and it was the smaller of the 2 bushes!

Here is my larger bush after much trimming.  All the tiny bushes on the left side have all been removed now!!!

I produced 8 bags of brush and twigs in 10 days!  Very fulfilling work!

 

4/23/21

Ken received his 2nd vaccine today!  Worth the drive!  (especially now that he has returned to travel for work!)

 

I finally figured out my camera.

Anna!

 Because the blog has been the "joel show" for a few days, I had to post a picture of Anna.

She isn't in any extra-curriculars right now, except girl scouts, so not as many photo opportunities.  This will end next year as she is my first child doing both marching band and show choir in high school.  Previously I wanted the kids to choose....well not Matthew because he never sang except at church.  I knew Carolyn would also want to do drama and Joel sports, so having 2 musical things that are very labor intensive didn't sound good.   They both chose show choir over band.  Anna loves her flute and show choir is extremely fun, so she wants to do both.  Anna agreed not to do drama and I don't think she will do sports, so I think going music crazy next year will be fine.  It seems less daunting anyway, since 2 kids are away at college.  When all the kids were home, I wanted them to pick their extra-curriculars wisely, so I didn't have to live in the car.  Now Joel keeps his own schedule, so things are much easier.