Track banquet and Memorial Day fun

Anna started her summer break on Friday. It was a bit of a letdown with rainy weather and finding out her favorite teacher who is a mentor to her will not be returning to school next year. Definitely a bummer! We hung around on Saturday while it poured outside, and it was nice time to take a breather from the business of last week. 

Saturday night was the track banquet. Of course, it wouldn't be Anna if we didn't have another fashion meltdown because she had to attend an event that didn't allow oversized sweatshirts and spandex shorts. One day we will fix this problem! If I wasn't so mad that it was happening again, I would have laughed at the absurdity of the outfits she was coming up to wear to this thing. In any event, we made it there along with 200 other people. 

She cleaned house with several awards including breaking 3 school records, Most Valuable Distance Runner, Region, All-State and of course, winning the state championship. It was nice event with yummy food and it moved along quickly considering the coach had to recognize both girls and boys. Patrick was there for several hours helping to set-up, but it looked nice and I think the athletes and parents felt like it was nice ending to the season. 

The next morning, we got out the door to my parent's house for the long weekend. It was still raining and cold, but managed to break that evening, enough for the girls to hop on the paddleboards. I was glad to catch up with my parents and we had the Currys over for swim time and cookout lunch. The kids happily splashed for a few hours and I was glad for the sunshine finally. As we were getting ready to head out, the Powells dropped off Caroline on their way home from TN. Caroline and Anna get to stay an extra couple of days and I will pick them up on Wednesday. I know they'll have a great time together. 

Paige and I set off for home with Teddy while Patrick made his way to TN to be with his dad who will have surgery on Wednesday. I'm glad he gets to be there with them during that time. We're looking forward to Paige's school award ceremony on Thursday morning and will be surprised to hear what accolade she has earned. School is finally wrapping up for the year and I can feel the easy breezy summer days upon us. Now I just need to get this home reno project finished up! It's been keeping me busy as I gather supplies, check in with vendors, paint things, sort and deliver stuff and make decisions on stuff. But it's coming together nicely! I even got to move my pantry stuff back into my pantry after I painted out the shelves. Woohoo!

6th Grade Orchestra Leadership Award

We have been celebrating ALL the things lately. Tuesday night Paige had her Spring Concert. The 6th grade band, orchestra and dance class all performed. She was definitely nervous, but did great playing three songs. I love that she is the only bass because I can hear her! We also loved having Ryder and Rusty there who ended up biking to the school after Rusty's truck broke down. Now that's commitment. 

The coolest part was when Mr. Evan's started talking about a particular leader in the class who was always in class, prepared and keeps people on track, including him. It ended up being Paige!! We were just so proud of her. 

On Wednesday, I was able to attend the 8th grade promotion ceremony for BHS. Sweet Caroline asked me to attend when she had an extra ticket and I was so happy to be able to support her and Brantley, my adopted daughters. 

Then that afternoon, I went to pick up Anna early from school for a doctor's appointment. That's when they had the school parade for being state champs. The drumline marched through the hall and the track team followed them with banners and signs. All the kids came out of their classes to cheer them. It was so fun! Although I think Anna would disagree. She found it totally embarrassing. Ha!

And now my work continues with the renovations at the house. I'm doing little things to keep it going like picking up our orders, finding flooring, re-covering my command center and dropping off donations. It's been busy for sure, but it's coming along. 

Happy Anniversary and reno has begun!

Yesterday, Patrick and I celebrated 19 years as a married couple. We've actually been together for 24 years which just seems crazy. The girls asked how long we had been married the other day while we were eating dinner and Patrick looked at me to answer the question. He knows full well how many years, but I tend to forget and had to do the math really quickly. At least I got it right! 

We went out to dinner at Hall's Chop House and used the gift card Patrick received for the Teacher of the Year banquet. It's a VERY nice place where apparently all the legislators go in between sessions and such because it's located just across the street from the State House. While it was certainly a nice restaurant and the food was good, I didn't think it was worth the price. They had a ton of people working, but I'm not sure what all they were doing and in the end the food was saturated in butter. I woke up in the middle of the night dying for some water! Regardless, we had a great time together and we feel like we're in a good spot these days. 

Also of significance, our house reno started yesterday! Brian our contractor came out to do some demo and I picked up the kitchen sink for our counter top guy who will come out probably next week. The girls are full or curiosity and questions. Teddy is full of angst and grumpiness. I'm excited to see the results although it's supposed to take 4-5 weeks. 

And of course we are still basking in the glow of the state championship. Anna returned to school yesterday, although not happily because she just wants to be done despite the fact she has four exams this week. I knew the school and teachers would celebrate their victory and it would be fun to share that with everybody. Patrick made sure to put in a request for the announcement which was broadcast all over the school first thing in the morning. There was much clapping, cheering, yelling and congratulations. Anna walked into her first period class and a friend yelled out: STATE CHAMPION! She wore her state champ t-shirt and letterman's jacket. So all in all, it was a fun day. They will do a little school parade for them on Wednesday afternoon. I'll leave you with some more pics from the day. 

Right after they finished and realized they had won.