Jack is a busy dude! At the same time as Big Fish he had a concert for Chamber orchestra. Here are some pictures from that show and unwinding afterward.

Then he also performed twice with the school's choir at a special concert downtown. I didn't attend, but a friend kindly sent video, and the school insta shared some photos:

Jack went on a school trip to California over spring break. The performing arts (theater, choir, orchestra, band) were all invited for a trip to Hollywood to see Beetlejuice with a Q&A session, to Universal Studios, and to Disneyland, including a learning session at the Disney Academy. He had a total blast. I don't have much to say, I'm just going to dump in some of his photos. Sorry these are in reverse order!

And here are Jack's instagram posts (some overlap in photos):

For the SECOND musical of the year, Jack performed in the pit orchestra for Big Fish. He was bummed to be back in the "black pit" but he still had a great time.

Here's some day-to-day photos from the first quarter of the year. (Yeah, as you can tell I've been super slacked about posting. My shift put me on day call so I'm trying to use this bonus time to catch-up).

It feels like there's always something breaking or something I want improved about the house. At least this toilet leak was a one-day job. Then I opened up our bathroom exhaust fan. There's a flapper valve that taps whenever wind blows over the top and the noise was driving me crazy all year. It took a long time to figure out how to gain access to the flapper, then it was fairly easy fix to add padding. Another long time to wrestle everything back in place, and ta-da! Silent bathroom!

The last project here was a longtime dream. Our living room is so dark, even with 5 lamps illuminating it. I can't embroider or knit at night because I can't see! I had an electrician install LED wafer lights and I LOVE it. I planned to do the drywall repair myself, having learned some basics after our basement repair and the kitchen wall disaster. I didn't do a very good job. I should have spent time leveling all the pieces, instead of assuming I could mud and paper them to blend in. I'm fairly unhappy with it and might scrape it off one day if it for a do-over. But after two days of work (mostly waiting for things to dry between layers) I wanted to move on. Good enough.

Sam participated in his school's Science Fair as a seventh grader. He wanted to study the best regions to pet cats. We solicited many friends and family to gather data for his research. I helped with with the study design and Ben help with the graphs. He put together a fantastic project board and did a great job presenting at the fair. The science teachers gave him great feedback during the fair. Days later he was surprised to receive an award for "winning" the fair! Way to go, Sam!!

Jack got his driver's permit in January and has been doing great! The first few weeks were a little wobbly, but now he has a good feel for driving around our neighborhood. We're slowly adding in driving on the freeway and working on endurance and focus. Ben is a great teacher! He seemed to really enjoy being a driving instructor. The pictures are of his first time behind the wheel, and the first time I rode with him.

I wanted a no-stress easy birthday this year. My regular massage therapist had to reschedule, but Ben whipped up a full spa treatment at home that soothed my muscles and made me laugh at his commitment to the bit. We had lunch out at a local chinese restaurant. For dinner I ordered a generous amount of meats from my favorite barbecue joint. The kids were big fans of this dinner, I might make it a tradition. I made lemon squares for dessert and they didn't turn out good. I don't know what I did wrong! The base was squidgy and the curd was too tart and not flavorful. Ah well, most of my other bakes turn out great and I've been a baking a lot this year.