Happy Sunday evening! It has been a glorious weekend, and we have all been taking full advantage of it. Working outside sprucing up the yard, grilling, exercising. It felt SO good to finally have warm and sunny weather. I could definitely get used to this.
Well, it has been quite the few weeks here. Jim started his new job, and, as anyone who knows him would expect, he hit the ground running. Every day, he comes home with a new story about some improvement he either identified a need or one he is going to implement. In the first few weeks, he has gotten a feel for his team, his colleagues, the processes, and the culture. I know he was nervous before he started, but I think the fact that he is already getting praise from his team for slight changes he is already implemented has done a lot to make him feel better about the move.
Connor has been keeping very busy. Not only is he studying for upcoming AP exams, he has at least two track meets a week. As this district insists on holding them during the school week, it means some majorly long hours for him. Impressively, he has PR’d in at least one event at every meet, and this past Thursday he won the 800m race. He also attended his last Forensics meet this past Friday. It happened to be the state meet, and he had the second-to-highest score in his category. I know he has been struggling with self-identity and self-worth lately, so it was good to see him excited about his successes this week.
The past two weekends were, as mentioned in a previous post, two of the four dance competitions for the year. Holly has done an outstanding job in both of them, and her whole team has more than held their own. It is always fun to watch the girls dance, but when they are on – there is an electricity to their dances that makes them indescribable. Those are the performances that make you cry or bring goosebumps no matter how many times you have seen the routine. In addition to competition, rehearsals for the ballet are beginning to heat up as well. Holly had two extra rehearsals this weekend, and I attended a planning meeting to plot out scene changes along with the other choreographers, stage manager, and set designer. It is going to be an amazing show, but we have a lot of work to accomplish before June.
Life keeps moving ahead at rapid-fire pace. Earlier this month, Connor brought home his band schedule for the entire 2016-2017 school year. This is both good and bittersweet. I like having everything on the schedule as soon as possible, but at the same time, I dislike seeing my fall completely booked even though it is still April. Also, it had the 2017 graduation ceremony on the schedule…I may have shed a tear adding that to the calendar as it will be the only year we attend the ceremony only because next year we will be parents of a graduate. Gah!
My work schedule has continued to be bonkers lately, so I am not able to sneak in any writing time these days. I have several reviews I need to write along with one extra non-book-related post. We shall see if I get to them this week. Even though writing has been furthest from my mind, I still posted two What Are You Reading? posts for week one and two. I also shared my thoughts on Flawed and Glory Over Everything. I had two Fabulous Friday posts as well for week one and two and finally gave an update on my one word in another Making the Grade post. It wasn’t a great two weeks for posting, but I’m just impressed I had content.
This week, Jim and I will be getting the house ready for a house guest. One of Jim’s friends will be homeless for six weeks after his wife and he finalize the sale of their current house on Thursday. The wife and kids will be living with her parents in Iowa, but as the husband works at Jim’s former place of employment, we offered up our guest bedroom for that time. It gave us a great excuse to finally finish that room. All we have left is curtains and some welcoming touches, but I’ll need to make sure the pantry and refrigerator are stocked for a fifth mouth. The rest of the week will be more track, more dance, and who knows what else.
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and are easing into their Monday preparations. Have a great week, and I will see you back here next week!
I know what you mean about getting those calendar dates ahead of time. I like to have them but filling up 2017 before I am done with 2016 is a little much. Plus, I find with my daily planner I need to repeat stuff too much between the monthly view and the daily view. I may go back to monthly. I don’t know.
I was told that my daughter would be in advanced choir next year… the first time they are doing this because there are a lot of siblings in there who plan to follow their older siblings right into high school choir and the director doesn’t feel that what she does with the lot of them is enough for them to compete and get in so yes… advanced choir will mean more competitions but the Teen’s schedule will no longer be an issue for me so maybe it won’t be so bad. Plus, she doesn’t want to do track in 8th and she wants to go back to acting. Ugh.
Prom is behind us now. The show is next week. It’s all happening fast.
I thankfully only added a few 2017 dates, but it still seemed a bit odd. Because I usually have dates scheduled so far in advance, this is why I love my daily view – because it reminds me of something I may have scheduled 6 months ago.
Holly is still deciding whether she wants to be in band next year. I do know she definitely wants to participate in marching band. What other activities she wants to do will hinge on her dance schedule next year. I am trying not to think about that just yet.
We have one more weekend of dance competition and then a breather until June. However, we still have prom, birthdays, BEA, and lots and lots of rehearsals before the first show in June.
It never ends, does it?
Finally some wonderful weather! I was so happy to get some sunshine and fresh air. I spent hours spring cleaning on Saturday and it was glorious.
That’s wonderful that the new job is going well for Jim! And that Connor is doing so well in track! I’m glad you had a good weekend – you certainly needed it after such a busy few weeks!
I started the whole “Clean in 30” schedule so didn’t spend the entire day cleaning, which was nice. I did do some redecorating to add some lightness to the house as befits spring. It could stay this way forever, and I would be ecstatic.
Sounds like you had a great week–busy tho. I always want to say: I remember those days—but then I’d sound way too old! But I do–and I kinda of miss them. I’m glad you are enjoying them.
Always busy. It never really ends, and I honestly do not mind it. There are times that are more exhausting and challenging than others, but watching my kids perform in all of their activities and seeing their excitement when they do makes it all worthwhile.
It’s awesome that you’re able to host your friend/coworker like that. We’ve been really grateful to the people who have helped us when we have a short period between houses/locations that way. Sometimes even just a few days helps, so you don’t have to do that whole hotel thing. 🙂
It’s beautiful here, too, though not in the outdoorsy way. It’s been thunderstorming for days and supposed to keep going for a couple weeks. Woohoo!
I love to help out friends. I wish we had friends who could have helped us when we moved from Ohio to Wisconsin. Those six weeks in a hotel really sucked!
I believe we are supposed to get some of that rain starting tomorrow. After these past few days, I cannot complain at all.