Sam’s fifth grade orchestra and band performed for parents and their whole school today. The audience were definitely hyped for winter break starting tomorrow afternoon!
Sam took his warm-up seriously while the classes filed in.
Then they performed a short program, with narration by the principal. Please enjoy!
We had a quiet, restful Thanksgiving at home this year. The boys helped me cook more than ever! It was so nice to have their help in the kitchen and getting ready. We didn’t do anything unusual.
We watched the parade and the dog show. I had a fun new puzzle. We ate a traditional dinner with turkey and cranberries. We had pumpkin pie and played a new dice game.
I proposed a new tradition – a Mario Kart Grand Prix! The kids were super excited to compete. I’m pleased that Ben won the tournament, but he has some real competition coming his way!
The day after Thanksgiving we had a beautiful snow. I went to Boulder for a charity dance jam (90 minutes, multiple teachers, all proceeds and time donated). The kids once again were a big help in getting Christmas decorations up indoors. Ben and I did some Christmas shopping on Saturday.
The holiday was wonderfully peaceful and fun. I only wish we could have teleported to visit more family, and that the break was longer. It was VERY hard to get out of my cozy bed this morning. Luckily the next holiday break is only a few weeks away!
We enjoyed a GORGEOUS fall this year, until a big snow storm two days before Halloween 😀 Oh well, you can’t kill the Halloween spirit in these kids!
Our first snow of the season, so I made our traditional celebrator liege waffles. It was fun to look in the garden to see animal paths during the night.Pumpkins! I got only a single, small jack-o-lantern variety pumpkin to grow this year. My sugar pie pumpkins did better. So the kids carved store bought pumpkins. It’s so nice they are old enough to do their own carving. We watched Over the Garden Wall while we worked.I had fun wearing my costume a couple dance classes. They haven’t posted the group photos on social media yet. I’ll share them if they look nice.Jack’s Revolutionary era costume came out quite dashing! We took him to a friend’s party and I was tickled to see them walking together in breeches. Sam is a Cat Wizard. All those applique were annoying to sew, but he was happy with the result. Jack 3D printed the crystal at the top of Sam’Sam is a Cat Wizard. All those applique were annoying to sew, but he was happy with the result.
Jack 3D printed the crystal at the top of Sam’s staff at school. He is excited to be the TA for his STEM teacher next trimester and hopes to do more printing projects.Dressed for school and work Halloween morning!I went to the school parade – it’I went to the school parade – it’s always super cute! Then I helped with his class party. I mostly monitored the mystery box station.Ben took the kids around the neighborhood for trick-or-treating. They got so much candy! I stayed home to pass out treats and play the new Mario video game.The kids gobbled their candy and we finished the Over the Garden Wall episodes. It was another Happy Halloween!
Tonight we all attended Jack’s first concert of his 8th grade year. They held it in the gym because the younger grade orchestras are so big, the auditorium couldn’t accommodate them.
Jack enjoyed being the only cello in the 8th grade group (aside from one girl who mainly plays viola, but joined him for one song as a beginner).
I think he sounds really great! He loves that vibrato and really goes for it. I hope the video sounds good – in person we could clearly hear his instrument on the parts when it was only cello+bass.
I forgot the name of one song. I’ll try to update it when he tells me later.
Sam had a wonderful birthday last month. He asked for a fantasy adventure party to play his ongoing RPG with his two best friends. We decorated the living room for a medieval atmosphere. He had a wonderful afternoon playing with his pals!
He created a birthday hat for himself. Chocolate castle ruined by the nature dragon!
On the actual day of his birthday we opened presents in the morning. The big gift was a new chromebook that he knew was coming and he loves it. But we surprised him with an electric scooter to help him commute home from school. It works great and suits him perfectly!
It was a regular school day after presents. He asked for me to cook a spaghetti meatball dinner, and we took them to Dairy Queen after their piano lessons.
Happy Birthday Sam! You are such a cool, kind, and clever kid!
We had some gorgeous lighting from storms today, so I took some updated photos of the garden. I think it’s fun to see how it changes over time, and in most of the photos I shared yesterday my plants seemed so small. I also took pictures where the “after” was missing.
Stepping stones installed:
My battered shade garden:
Trumpet vine progress:
Wide shots of the yard:
Small features and beautiful morning rain:
Our little rain gutter creekyarrow, grasses, rudbeckia, and lavenderMorning shrooms!strawberries, leeks, mint, sage, and buddleiaThe kids’ gardenIncoming raspberries!Columbines, dwarf spruce, echinacea, thyme, alpine strawberries, sea holly, snow-in-summer, and moreChocolate flower, partridge featherrudbeckia, poppies, bee balm, mystery snapdragonmystery sunflowers, rose shrub, agastache, bee balm, and magnolia saucer treeGroundcherries came back strong!Morning sun over the forsythia and lilacssteam coming off the fence!Bindweed everywhere, it never stops. I pull it every 2-3 days, and it comes back all the same.older bee balm, winecups, grass, and mystery sunflowerTall buckwheatLike ornaments on a holiday displayThis cuke is looking goodBuddleia, alpine strawberries, soledad, and liatriscalendula overload, with parsley and asparagusI love my hot pink buckwheat variety
Here’s some photos I didn’t share yet of the landscaping work. I dumped them in no particular order, sorry! They sort of go backwards in time, so scroll backwards for a happier viewing 😉
Latest addition – Arctic Blue Rose (supposed to be drought tolerant)Rudbeckia are poppin’!strawberries plantedColumbine, penstemon, dwarf alberta spruce, and moreBig planting day photo finishI love columbines! Accidentally knocked this bloom off, so I had to memorialize it.first berry!Ice plants are awesome!Ben and I planted the front porch borderCoral bells (I’m obsessed) and boxwoodSo. Much. Bindweed.Big planting day photoColumbines, dusty miller, petunias, thymeSam learning from the professionals how to plant a treeMy magnolia saucer! I yearned for this tree. I hope it blooms next year!First day on the jobedging done!the pros did the brick, I did the flat linerCompost!!!yard shaping, a blank canvas
This is just a collection of our garden visitors. It’s so fun seeing who comes! Some are more welcome than others 😉
sphinx moththey love the four o’clocksbutterfly?beefuzzy beechubby beebig boy beeblack bee?sleepy beebee bee beehummingbirdhummingbirds love the agastachedragonflyladybugbaby bunnysomething ate my groundcherries!skunk villain
After getting most of the yard done, I continued to tear out grass. We carved out a space for the kids to own. Jack planted lettuce, peppers, and a watermelon that’s M.I.A. I think a rabbit ate the sprout. Sam planted strawberries and a kangaroo paw plant. We sprinkled clover all over too.
blank slate
Under the locust I wanted a little shade garden and short-cut pathway. Using up the last of our fence posts and some landscaping spikes, Sam laid out a “rustic” path and together we Jack we installed it. I planted some adorable coral bells, sweet woodruff, columbines, forget-me-nots, lupine, leadwort, and creeping myrtle.
I don’t have a more complete photo…but you get the idea 🙂
A family of skunks have been digging for grubs in the garden, and caused a lot of damage to the plants. Combined with the late July heat, the plants are looking a bit ragged. I have high hopes that they will recover and we’ll have a lovely shady border in a couple years.
Recent Comments