It's GUUUURRRRREAT!!!!

 Another kid sick today.  Turns out it's hand, foot and mouth and it's going around.  

MY house apparently.

So I had a visitor in my room last night from 10:30 on with a high temp and wanting to talk about all their bad dreams.  It's been a rough night culminating into having Spongebob on my bedroom tv at 4am so I could at least get another hour or two of sleep.  And then finding out the bed is wet.  

It's going to be a GREAT day!!

The silver lining is fresh sheets ahead of schedule.

Last night was Leon's school concert.  Only Ryan and I could go but it was a good one and for a bit we wondered if Leon was actually IN the band, but then he ran in with his clarinet after everyone was almost seated. :)

Pouring rain and strong winds until around 11ish last night and then it turned into snow and strong winds.  School, work for others and daycare is closed today.  

Yay me for working from home... :\

My poor goose this morning!  

I'm not going out to set it back on the bench, so he's going to stay there until further notice.  The wind is still whipping around the house and he'd just get knocked off again.  I didn't really WANT to sew a parka for him this late in the spring, but if I knew where my sewing machine was, I might.

So I'm upstairs getting hunkered down with work and listening to the fam downstairs getting breakfast and their daily dose of Scooby Doo.

Did I mention that it's going to be a GREAT day?!

RICK!!!!!!

 Well not much happened yesterday...  Work stuff, a little housecleaning on my breaks, got to cuddle with Aggie for a bit after supper and I went upstairs to watch a little tv and fell asleep fully clothed.  I woke up at 9:30 pm wondering how that happened and then got ready for bed.  Managed to get back to sleep and woke up at 4am.  I'm on a caffeine diet at the moment.  SO time to get caught up on some things I missed writing about!

On August 31st, I attended a concert in the Chicagoland area with two of my sisters and a brother-in-law.  

WHAT fun day!!  We saw Tommy TwoTone (Jenny 867-5309), 

Paul Young (Every time you go away), 

the Hooters (And we danced) 

and the big draw of the evening was Rick Springfield (Jesse's Girl).

They were all great!  I could have listened to them/him all night but life and age catch up with you.  He was celebrating his birthday 74th birthday!  Can you believe that!!!?  He danced around on that stage (with no shirt) like a 35 year old...  

I was impressed. thoroughly.  

He came within 5 feet of us while crowd surfing and touching everyone during the Human Touch song.  THIS WAY!!!!  but nope.  Oh well.  

After the concert, I drove to one of my sisters homes about an hour away and slept on her couch before heading back the next morning, superty duper early.  Dog sat for Maddy and Matthew while they went to visit family for a few days.

And that was the last bit of my summer.

So... Many... Hugs...

I just realized that I hadn't posted anything yesterday...  It's been a madcap life at the McVal residence.

If I'm not getting Leon off onto the bus or going to end of the year concerts, I'm painting.  I also hadn't realized how blasted long it takes to paint so many sections of fencing...  I probably should have started this months ago.  No wait.  it was still snowing then.

Oh well.  It WILL get done!  

And whatever doesn't get done, I'll cover the offending areas with black and red tulle or divert the grad party guests eyes by jumping all around maniacally and screaming, "Look at what I can do!"

Last night, we attended Meri's LAST end of the year concert "where everyone cries".  I think it's labeled that on the school calendar.

She was crying before it even got to the end...

Being a Senior is tough.

Meri as well as another girl had a solo for this one.  WHAT a sad song!!!  I think the director was looking for tears on purpose...  Meri did a fantastic job!  I'm so proud of her.  The video is below.  She comes down front about half way through.  What a voice!

Then for the last song, the seniors crowded down front already in tears.  Some had younger siblings stand with them who were in 7th or 8th grade.  

After the NEW traditional ending song, Meri burst into even MORE tears and started hugging everyone.  First the Beast, from Beauty & the Beast high school musical fame with Meri, who happened to be standing next to her.  She sobbed into his shoulder.

Then a buddy for a lot of years got his shoulder soaked too.  We had the front row seats and everyone was pushing past us to get to their Seniors and kids.  We just sat still for a bit until the din broke down just a little.  

Meri was still hugging people.  We hadn't missed anything.  Ryan, Leon and I got in a "honestly" a line to hug her.  SHEESH!  JUST before it was our turn, someone called for a Senior picture.

REALLY?!

All the choir Seniors and their beloved director.  Tear stained faces all around.

Mine was tear stained too.  The mother of one of Meri's longest friends was seated next to me and I may or may not have blown my nose on her sleeve...  Ok, I didn't.  But I'd warned her that I might since I hadn't brought any kleenex with me.

Caught up with Meri after that and gave her a solid hug.  I had needed it too.  Then she ran to catch her dad and the rest of the family.

So... many... hugs...

And today, back to the painting.  Wish me luck!

Popularity Contests

It was an emotional concert last night.  Meri is a Junior, but in viewing how close the Seniors were to the new director this year, I can see how next year is going to go...

I'll need an entire box of Kleenex with me then...

With the many speeches the Seniors gave and flowers and gifts they had for the director, you'd think he was retiring.  But it's his first assignment out of college.  After the concert, most of the students, regardless of age, lined up to hug him.  

Wow... to be THAT popular!

I can only imagine.

The power I hold

A few of us went to Meri's school vocal concert last night.  It was relatively short compared to the combined, vocal/band concerts.  Those can last all night... And Leon was with us.

We kept him busy with a tablet and the goat simulator game with the sound off.  Every now and then, he messed with the settings and all of the sudden music and goat sounds came from our row.  YIKES!  SHUT THAT THING DOWN!  

 The vocal director looked sharply at us once or twice...

Loved the music!

AND, Meri surprised me last night!  I knew her acapella group was going to sing at the end of "A" concert but I didn't realize it would be the first vocal concert of the year!  WOOHOO!  It wasn't even on the program.  

Since they'd JUST formed, they picked a simple song that everyone knew and they could easily harmonize with.  Coincidentally, it was also Meri's co-acapella leader's mom's birthday yesterday, so they sang to her from the stage.

After the concert, I was planning on going with Meri and stopping at the store for a few things.  Found out she had made plans to go out for ice cream with friends instead. 

oh.

So I left her a little money and she was upset that I seemed disappointed.  Being disappointed is more harsh than being mad, in her eyes.  Robb and the rest of us were out the door before she caught up with us and said, "plans changed, let's go!"  So she and I did a smidge of shopping together and got ice cream after all, just us two.

That inadvertent "mom guilt" is powerful stuff!

Loving the Jazz Hands

Ah... Valentine's Day weekend!!!  When Love is in the air!  

and the smell of mold as I discovered a few pieces of forgotten homemade bread this morning that had bit the dust.

I got roses and chocolates yesterday in the mail!!!  

Robb had sent them and Leon discovered that he doesn't like dark chocolate which is perfectly fine with me!  

KEEP YOUR MITTS OFF THEM!  

I've got the roses in my office during the day and in the house so I can enjoy them all the time.  Beautiful...  It used to be I got a dozen roses whenever a kid was born.  So when they started looking droopy, I'd tie the stems together and hang them upside down on the wall to dry.  Then leave them there with a ribbon tied to them as mementos.  I've still got a couple up.  

I wonder which kid's got knocked off when I moved the fabritainment center...  That might explain things...

Robb, Leon and I attended Meri's high school band, vocal and jazz concert last night.  It's the biggie that always lasts about 2 hours.  Yikes!  And Leon has school today!!!  

But he ate his supper of KFC popcorn chicken during the concert. SSH!  And played games on his tablet until the battery died.  ONLY then did he enjoy the concert.  

Although he did point out Meri a few times earlier.  Oh yeah, there she is!

 

These kids are so talented!  The whole thing was great!  I recorded as much as I could until the battery on my phone started flashing red.  Then Robb recorded the rest on his phone.

 It's a wonder why so many people leave between the vocal part and the jazz band.  Don't they know that's the most exciting part?

I get to hear them perform again on Saturday and Monday. WOOHOO!  I'll have those songs memorized before the end of the year.  One of them I already know as Maddy played it when she was in hs jazz band.

 This is what happens when the batteries die and Leon is tired of you playing jazz piano on his back.

But I love it!  And since today's theme is love, it's pretty appropriate...  :)  

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Flooded with music

Robb's working on the Christmas letter and I'm scheming on Christmas presents...  

Oh, speaking of Christmas presents.  I want a flat of shingles for Christmas!  The winds this fall have ripped some off our garage and even though there is tar paper underneath, the torrential downpour we got this year has it being pretty drippy into the garage.  UHHHGGGGG!

So I dragged out the ladder and climbed up into the garage attic a couple nights ago.  It's NICE up there!!!  Except for the drippy spots, it's quiet, peaceful, with no children or clutter!  Also no floor, but I haven't watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation a billion times for nothing!  I put out some boards and/or jumped from beam to beam to get to the tight spots where the leaking is happening.  

Since we can't get up onto the roof like Santa in his rain jacket, I had to do some deep knee bend squats and acrobatics on various beams to seal it up from underneath.  At least for the time being... Until it's dry enough and we have some shingles to fix it from up above.

I think I left my good glasses up there...

Also, I scratched my scalp on some of the nails poking through the ceiling boards...  Whoever built our house has some 'splaining to do!

Anyway, no more leaking into the garage for now!  Plus the rain stopped, so WHEW!  The creek in back has swollen up past it's banks too.  It looked less this morning.  I'm glad we live on THIS side of the creek now!!!  Talking about THIS.

Last night I took Meri to her school concert.  Vocal and band.  Robb had picked up Leon and stopped to pick up his mom.  But some time before he got to the school, Leon barfed.  So yeah, he's sick...  Robb dropped his mom off at the school, switched cars with me and took the boy home.  He's much better today and squirrelly!  BUT the menfolk missed the concert.

Meri and one of her besties.

It's funny... The percussion, during the concert band, aren't as squirrelly as they were a few years ago when Maddy was in it...

Now we know where Leon gets it!  His aunts.

I could hear Meri's beautiful voice above the other kids.  And her hair is the LONGEST of any girl, or boy for that matter!  Well, that we could tell.  She told us later that there is one other girl with longer hair, but she wears it in braids and it's just hard to tell.  Plus she was playing an instrument in the back so we couldn't see her.

My camera battery died JUST after this photo...  So I didn't get any of the band...

Well, that's the news from the almost lake woe-be-gone...  

NOT in the Christmassy spirit yet...

SHUT UP THOMAS!

It's been a long/short weekend.

On Friday night, Robb and I attended his company Christmas party.  LOADS of delicious food...  And fun company to sit with at our table!  It was good to see my old co-workers when i got to see them face to face.  With telecommuting for an entirely different company, I still haven't met anyone I currently work with.  Seems weird, but if I met them now, that would seem weirder.

On Saturday, Robb ran his mom to a brothers house for the weekend and when he was almost there, an hour away, I realized they'd forgotten her main suitcase.  Oops!  So Robb turned around and I met them half way.  That put a slight crimp into our plans for the day, but oh well.  I raced back home and finished packing and got the kids ready to roll.  Meri wasn't going to be able to come with us, but Ryan, Jen and Leon did.

An hour headed north, Leon had to use the restroom.  None around, so he did his numbers in the ditch.  He enjoys that... The feeling of the cold tundra on your bare backside...  But when he got done, he said he needed new pants.  Oh... yeah...  Using the ditch potty has it's drawbacks at times.  So Ryan changed his pants.  So his extra casual pants that were intended for the next day.  ok.

An hour later, after Leon had spent 2 solid hours, apart from the potty break, on his tablet playing the Goat simulator intensely, eating goldfish crackers and milk/juice, he suddenly threw up.  and then again.  And then again.  Pretty close together.  Let's just say, his tummy was very empty now.  So Ryan and I cleaned him and his car seat up.  The car smelled of vomit.  and so did my hands.  Everyone else in the car was retching mildly for most of the rest of the car ride.  Leon sat in his undies.  We couldn't risk him vomiting on his only clean pants left, his church pants.  He played with Legos the rest of the trip up.  We figured he had gotten car sick.  I get that way when reading for long periods of time in a moving car too.

We got there in time to have lunch with Maddy and Matthew.  Leon felt better and was wearing his church clothes for lunch.  Afterwards, Robb took him and his dad and Jen to the hotel where they were able to check in early and get the boy down for a nap.  They washed his clothes out with shampoo and let them hang in the shower to dry.   Finding a clean pair of pants in the meanwhile that we'd forgotten about!  Whew!

Maddy and I attended a harp/flute concert for her roommate.  BEAUTIFUL!  Then we headed to the hotel too.  

The roommate.

I stayed with the sleeping boy while the others went to the lobby to talk.  I intended to take a brief nap too.  But as soon as I laid down on the other bed, Leon suddenly pushed himself up, surprised that we were the only ones there!  sigh.  so much for a few minutes of relaxation!

Ryan took Leon swimming for a little bit.

The water was VERY cold and they didn't stay long.

We ordered pizzas for supper.  In the middle of eating, Leon suddenly shouted, "SHUT UP!"  Everyone looked at him shocked.  He yelled "SHUT UP" again.  LEON!  Then he yelled "SHUT UP THOMAS!"  ?? In the distance we heard a train whistle and train noises. LOL!  The train didn't obey him as it would the conductor.

After supper, Maddy had checked some puppets out from the library so she and Matthew played with Leon for a while.  

They had a blast!  I have videos but no way to download them at the moment.  

Maybe later this week.

I rode over to the college with M & M and we put Leon's clothes in Mad's dorm dryer.  Hanging in the shower just wasn't cutting it.  Then we went met up with the rest at the chapel.  

We took up a whole row of seats between Matthew's family and mine.  We got there an hour early just to get half decent seats so Robb and I protected the row while the others played pool in the game room.  But then everyone finally got there.  I got to sit with Matthew's mom and we swapped lots of stories about the kids.  ;)  His sister was in the choir too and I was able to see her clearly from where I sat.

  

Dead center.

NOT as easy to see Maddy, but if the tall guy in front of me reached for something low, I could sometimes catch a glimpse.

It was a beautiful concert!  Not as long as last years...  But still beautiful!  

Ending with Maddy's choir humming the last song around the fountain.  

I can't wait for their Christmas cd to get released so I can listen all day long if I want!

We stopped by the dorm to pick up Leon's clothes, but they still reeked of vomit, so she Febreezed them.  Then back to the hotel.  

After much visiting, I worked on getting Leon to sleep, the others met in the lobby again.  

In the morning, we went to Matthew's home church, about 20 minutes away.  His dad is the minister there.  Then back to campus town for some lunch and win tons of tiny toys at Happy Joes.  Matthew still has a bunch of tokens leftover so he and Maddy are planning a date to the mini arcade again soon.

Then home!  I'm exhausted.  BUT lots to do this week so no rest for the wicked!  I'll tell you about my literal style show entry for next weekend, tomorrow.

Concerts and Troopers

He's a trooper!

THAT'S what a stranger said to me last night after Ryan, Robb and I failed at keeping Leon from singing along with Meri's concert.  Two hours of sitting there trying to keep him quiet and not throwing his juice cup at the pianist...  We were in the front row.  And he did once...

I asked her if that is what people call a pistol these days.  She just laughed and said that she's a child development teacher at a local college and Leon impressed her.

So anyway...  besides taking Leon to the bathroom several times and retrieving thrown sippy cups, we enjoyed Meri's last concert of the year.  The last song always makes me tear up...  

A friend of ours from church is one of the teachers and he is retiring this year.  So they asked him to play the bass guitar and sax with the chorus for a few songs.  

Sad news yesterday, which made Meri even more emotional during the concert...  Her final two bunnies died.    I'm guessing they caught a bug as they both died within hours of each other.  She was pretty broke up about it.  I think their funeral is after school today.

I've discovered that I'm not that great to talk to if you're feeling down...  

Well, maybe just if you're a teenager....

I need to finish up my nieces dresses tonight.  Ryan has put Leon down for bed the past few nights, so Leon has been grandma/cuddle deprived...   I'll make it up to him at lunch time today.  I am too.  

He'd been a little upset that I wasn't putting him to bed, but I told him I had to work on the dresses.  He said, "Okay..."

 

What a trooper!

Band of Valentines

Band and vocal concert last night for Meri!  

 She caught me snapping a photo!

This kid is in everything and that is the reason we never see her anymore!  Well, it's rare...

One of their songs stunned me.  It was a combo of the opening song of the movie Frozen, mixed with Fairest Lord Jesus (aka Beautiful Savior).  Meri had mentioned that they had been working on a song from Frozen, but I expected something totally different.

Beautiful.  Unfortunately my computer is taking it's own sweet time uploading to Youtube.  I'll see if Facebook will load it any quicker...

During the Jazz band portion, Maddy called me on my cell.  I always have it on vibrate because I'm always on call, so I saw the call coming in.  Knowing that I couldn't talk, I just opened the phone and let her listen to the band along with me.  After about 10 seconds, she hung up and tried again.  So I did it again...  

When she gave up again, I texted her just with the words, "You sounded so much better!".  She responded with "What is going on?"  So I replied with "Jazz band".  

She texted back, "I thought you were being murdered by horrible organists".  

??  My speaker on my cell phone must NOT be as good as I thought! 

In other news!  Robb and I have a date lined up to celebrate Valentine's Day!

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend and remember why you fell in love in the first place.