And, The Band Played On....

Noah's 6th Grade Band Concert was last Tuesday night. They performed 4 songs, and did an AWESOME job! I was very proud of his saxaphone playing. The entire band has improved so much over the last 2 years of playing together. They did wonderfully! After they were finished, the high school band, and the high school jazz band (Noah's ultimate goal) performed also. They did a wonderful job. The Jazz Band was FABULOUS! I can definitely see why Noah wants to be a part of it! The band students were also given their achievement awards at this time. What a wonderful accomplishment for them all.

I definitely think this is the most charming alto saxophone player I've ever seen!

Laid Back Kind of Day

Today I didn't get anything very productive done. I take that back. I did get caught up on the laundry from the weekend. And, I did cook dinner. Outside of that, I just bummed around, and doing what, exactly, I'm not quite sure. The whole day has been wasted away, and I don't have too much to show for my domestic bliss. Well, there is this one thing......

SPONGEBOB OPERATION! Daniel and I played a rousing round of this game. And, it made me laugh, because he thinks of it as challenging. Which it is when you're a kid. I thought it was harder too, until I played it today and realized that it's pure steady hands and skill! Hee hee! It wasn't the winning that I loved....it was the smile on this adorable little 6 year old's face, as we played. I couldn't resist snapping the shot. So, I guess today was more productive than I thought. I helped make a six year old's afternoon a happy one!

Strawberry Festival Road Rally

Troy's Annual Strawberry Festival is a big tahdoo. It's the first full weekend of June. However, in the weeks leading up to the Festival...there are a lot of activities people can participate in. One of them is called a Road Rally Adventure. My cousin, Tracy, read about it in the paper, and invited a group of us to partake in it with her. Some ladies couldn't go at the last minute, so it ended up being me, Tracy, Buffy and Erica. We went into this activity blind, because we hadn't ever done it before. It ended up being a TON of fun, and we had a blast doing it together. It started off at an insurance company down town, and was very much like our own Troy version of the Amazing Race! (I love that show BTW!) You had to follow clues to take you to different locations, and then perform tasks once there. All the while, earning points, towards becoming The Strawberry Festival Road Rally champions. Also, enroute to each location, there were tons of trivia questions about what you see, and the City of Troy or the Festival to answer, which you had to turn it before leaving the location. ALSO, there was a bit of a Poker Run, where at each location, you drew a card at random, and tried to get the best Omaha Poker hand at the final destination. Our first location ended up being a small little bar between Troy and Piqua called Jester's. The task here was to shoot a game of 3 ball. Each of the 4 people on our team, had to complete each task. So, needless to say, shooting pool is NONE of our fortay. Our husbands, yes, but us, not so much! Buffy rocked this activity, and I didn't do great, and poor Erica, well, let's not talk about it! Hee hee! After that bit of slow torture, it was on to our next task. Over to Hole Hunters to play golf! OMG! Another task that is not our thing! LOL! We had to take a chipping wedge and chip it into these numbered clothes baskets. Buffy rocked this activity too! Next we were to go to task #3 which was Hillbilly Golf, or ladder ball for those of you who are more refined and civilized! hee hee! Tracy was nervous, because she'd never played this before. I can't belive that since we have it here, but I guess we're too busy doing other stuff to have done this. But, luckily Buffy and I rock at this usually, and we LOVE to play it, so all was looking up with the world, by the time we got here! Hooray! Tracy did good though, and for once, ME TOO!

Then, we were sent to a spa (my fave! LOL) and were asked to answer a questionnaire about all kinds of spa things! My dream! We rocked this one too, naturally! And, we played a game of chance by drawing numbers to see who could get the highest as a combined team. Needless to say, we got HUGE numbers, and so, basically we won this leg! Hooray for us! Last it was to a local restaurant called The Caroline. There they had a spread of various yum-o appetizers for us, more trivia, and then the announcing of the winners of the race. Thank goodness there was an open bar! Some of the other team personalities were a bit of a lot to bear, and the alcohol helped immensely! Hee hee! Needless to say, we had a great poker hand if we were playing Texas Hold 'Em, but not so much for Omaha. Drat! And, overall, we took 3rd place. Not bad for our innagural year! Next year we'll kick some Team Glover booty!!!!! All in all, we had a really fun time doing such a cool activity. And, just like the shirts say, we are Team Queen--Queens of Fun!!!!!

Cheap Thrills, They're the Best Kind!

I LOVE READING!!!!! Books, magazines, you name it! I love it! And, I am so very glad that I have instilled this love of reading into each of my 3 boys! Hooray!

I finished a book today! It's taken me a while to read it, for whatever the reason, but I finished the 2nd in the Inkheart Trilogy. It was pretty good. A little slow moving at first, but then, it picked up. I have the 3rd one to read, but I think I want to take a break from this series for a bit, and read something in a different genre. I always have a stack of books at the ready to read. I can't almost quit having a stack of "back up" books to look forward to! Silly!

Onward to my next book conquest......"Scarpetta" by Patricia Cornwell. I love this series, and this is the latest! I've saved it since Christmas!!!! What the heck is wrong with me??? LOL!

Read on, friends!!! Read on!!!

A Great Subscription

I recently got an "invitation" to try out a brand new magazine. It was offered by Parenting magazine. When the kids were babies, I really used to like this magazine. But, of course, as they grew older, I naturally didn't have a use for this magazine anymore. However, they have introduced "Parenting: School Years" and I LOVE IT! I have gotten 2 issues, and I have to say that this is a fabulous magazine! I am so glad that I subscribed to it! The information in this magazine is completely relevent for my children's lives and mine too! If you haven't gotten the opportunity to check it out, you definitely should! It's awesome!!!!

Laughter = the Shortest Distance Between 2 Hearts

We got tickets to take our family to something really fun. BUT, we didn't tell any of our kids about it. We just told them that we were going to have a family night, and that where we were going was going to be a surprise. Side note.....the boys have discovered (through one of Noah's friends) a very funny comic on YouTube, named Tim Hawkins. He is a Christain comic and the kids find him to be absolutely hillarious beyond all hillarity. I haven't ever seen him, but John has. So, when I found out that he was going to be at a church here locally, I went and got the 5 of us tickets. The kids were bubbling with curiosity last night, and kept asking, "Where are we going? What are we doing?" John and I never caved in!!! We got to Ginghamsburg Methodist Church to pick up our tickets, and we had a very LONG wait ahead of us. BUT, we were the 2nd people in line, so it was pretty good that we were going to get good seats! The kids were still clueless, and I said,"Well if you look around this lobby, then you just might get a clue as to what we're doing tonight." So, quickly they started scanning, and Noah spotted the billboard for Tim Hawkins first. (Gasping) With a big grin on his face, he said, "Is THAT what we're doing tonight?!!!?? Awesome!" Jackson soon followed, and Daniel recognized him by the picture on the billboard. They were VERY excited to say the least!!! We did in fact, get great seats!!! In the front, 3rd row back behind all of the reserved section. Tim Hawkins was, beyond funny. He was beyond hillarious! We all laughed so hard, that our faces hurt! Stomachs hurt! Bodies hurt from the laughter!

Of course, at one point, during intermission, I think, Daniel fell asleep! Which was funny and weird in itself, because he slept through all of that riotous laughter!

My very favorite sound in the entire world, is the belly laughs on my children. I was sure I was in Heaven last night. Seeing their happy, joyous faces. Listening to their squeals of laughter. That is what Heaven is gonna be like for me. Filled with the laughter of these 3 kids. John's face was lit up too, with the biggest smile, from the comic, and from just watching the faces of our children. What a wonderful evening. We did indeed get the DVD's that were offered, etc., to hopefully bring some of Tim's quirky comedy into the house. It's very rare to hear a comic who is clean and family friendly. I loved that about him. It was something we were excited to share with our kids. We got to meet Tim Hawkins after his performance. He signed their DVD's and CD and even paused to take a picture with them. What a fun night! I really do believe that laughter is the best medicine!