Fiddles on Fire Once Again

Today was all suck-it-up-and-forget-about-the-stinkin’-illness because YOUTH ORCHESTRA TIME IS HERE! That’s right. Remember the area-wide strings orchestra Catholic Girlie performed in last year? Well, she auditioned for another more advanced group last spring and was selected, sending us off and running to more rehearsals again this year.

Total ear candy all over again – gotta love that!

Ok, so giddiness took over just then. *cough* That’s what happens to a person blessed with musicians in the family – you just go completely silly about it. Or maybe the nasal spray is just messing with my head? Nah. This is serious talent, nasal spray or otherwise. Stay tuned for more music posts!

Look Who’s Talking

One would expect the day after a person’s birthday to be a big let-down, but with this busy summer schedule we’ve got going in the Catholic homestead? Not even close. Instead, we kept up with our Thursday cleaning routine, now calling our crew the “Thursday Three Clean Peeps”, and whipped right through the house like a bunch of Tasmanian Devils. Then before lunch, we tested out my birthday Wii games: EA Sports Active and My Fitness Coach, getting our appetites extremely worked up in the process.

Side note: Neither Wii Fit nor Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum can touch EA Sports Active and My Fitness Coach. Finally, personalized fitness with improved Wii interactive response time. Two exhuberant thumbs up!

So then can you guess where the CK’s wanted to spend the afternoon? Yup. Poolside. No surprise there. Catholic Hubs with a day off from work stepped up to the challenge and took care of that little request nicely (thank goodness because I’m changing ethnicities with all of the sun exposure) while I made an errand run to the library for returning books and Target to pick up a few more necessities: Bagel Bites, drink boxes, chocolate milk, calcium fortified apple juice, chex mix, pop tarts, and pancake mix.

Ok so we’re all set for awhile now, right? Uh-oh… who forgot to write ‘paper towels’ on the list? *errg*

Finally, Catholic Girlie and I met with her cello coach at the Conservatory of Music where she experienced the Best Lesson Ever. Not only did Mark rave about the “cooking” she did while etude-playing, but he also mentioned that “word was getting around town” about CG’s talent. As it turns out, Mark received a phone call from another parent referred to him by CG’s Middle School orchestra teacher. The caller heard that CG made amazing strides while working with him and wanted to set up coaching sessions for another cellist. People are talking!

This just calls for a Root Beer Float Party.

Birthday Pampering

A 29 year old woman thirty nine year old momma couldn’t be more spoiled on a birthday than I was today. And with more spoilage going on at this very moment, I leave this blog post with a favorite photo of today’s party-going experience:

Father’s Day: Part 2

Our plan for Catholic Hubs’ Father’s Day celebration went off smoothly right out of the gate with a homemade French toast breakfast complete with sausage, bacon, and juice. While the CK’s and I read the Sunday comics together, CH browsed through the rest of the newspaper and licked his plate clean, the sign of a fairly decadent meal. Then it was gift showering time with gifts that included a Gorillapod, remote cooking thermometer and NEBRASKA t-shirt. What a perfect way to pamper that guy – we’re that good.

But we weren’t done with his Dad Day Wish List yet. Oh no we weren’t. With an afternoon of swimming at the pool for burning-off-energy goodness, Hubs’ favorite Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que ribs meal awaited. We got that guy completely sauced, and he loved every finger lickin’ minute of it… as did nearly every other Dad/Grandfather in town by the looks of the line waiting for tables as we left the building. Carnivores.

Father’s Day: Part 1

For Father’s Day this year, we actually have a PLAN for Catholic Hubs/Dad thanks to the swanky survey we created especially for him to fill out. The Father’s Day Survey consists of selections for all kinds of meal choices and events, complete with little check boxes next to each item. Not only that, but we even put that convenient “other” option with a blank line next to it for many of the selections just in case our options weren’t up to snuff. Then with CH’s completed survey, we set out to achieve all of his requests over the weekend. Aren’t we amazing? I know!

So here’s what happened today, the first half of Father’s Day weekend:

• Shopping, Dad-Dude Style: With a Sports Authority gift card burning a hole in Hub’s wallet, we took him to the shopping center where he bought a few workout duds. But shopping didn’t end there, oh no. Best Buy and Books-a-Million beckoned from the curb for us to bring Hubs inside for a little more perusing, for Dad of course. Ok, so I walked out with a BAM membership for future savings, but I had good intentions.
• Lunch at Subway: This seems to be a recurring Saturday event , so who were we to keep Hubs away from a usual favorite? We’d never do such a thing. The menu: toasted Italian Herb/Cheese turkey footlong (split between Hubs & me), pepperoni & cheese 6-inch on white (CG), ham/turkey/white American cheese on wheat (CS) all complete with Lay’s BBQ chips on the side with carbonated beverages.
• Pool Time & Mowing: Hubs wanted to mow the lawn this weekend, so I took the CK’s to the pool for a couple of hours as a way to keep people busy. The weather was perfect for both: a little overcast and free of rain showers. I even snuck in some reading time while checking out the over-abundance of tattooed people swimming at the pool. How fun is that?
• Mass, Frozen Yogurt, Barnes & Noble: Next, we took CH to mass where Father Chi bestowed a Father’s Day blessing on Hubs and all of the other dads in attendance. So nice to have our weekly obligation out of the way on Saturday so we can sleep in on Sunday. Then we headed over to TCBY and treated CH to a cup of chocolate frozen yogurt topped with Heath bar crumbs, while the CK’s slurped down strawberry smoothies and I savored a cup of white chocolate mousse with fresh strawberries, whipped cream and Lactaid on the side. Then finally, because it was nearby and why the heck not, we visited Barnes & Noble where I left without buying a single book for myself. Miracles do happen.

Next: Day #2, Sunday (6/21), the OFFICIAL Father’s Day

Gifts from Students

These end-of-year gifts are from students I’ve taught since 4th grade Catholic Religious Education, and I’m so grateful. How amazing is this? Now I’ll be making sandwiches/toast, purchasing books, and sneaking off eating the truffles that were conveniently excluded from this photo as they rested nicely in a safe hiding spot away from sneaky chocolate predators! Talk about spoiled.

Gift Swap Package

Gift Swap Goodies

This holiday season, I made the big huge leap and joined in with Becca’s Famous Gift Swap, and WOW! am I ever glad I did. Check out this amazing bundle of goodies sent by “Dory“, a fellow blogger and Chicken Lit Bookclub friend. Little did I know that by sending my list of gift likes/dislikes to Becca, I would be matched up with such a perfect holiday gift picker with:

Fuzzy socks! Barnes & Noble gift card! European deco stationery! Chocolates! Power bars! Photo collage frame! Holy presents!!!

Please excuse me whilst I calm myself a tad. But really, Dory, this has got to be the most amazing gift swap package a girl could receive. *sniff* Ok, now I’m getting all teary-eyed. Is that actually supposed to happen? Maybe I should put on those fuzzy socks…?

Thanks Becca & Dory for making the holiday so much sweeter.