Winter's return and prom

After a delightful week of warm weather, snow just about all melted, including a high of 68 on Tuesday, the weather changed and Friday the weather became colder and we woke to snow on Saturday morning with a total of over 6 inches by nightfall with a bit more this morning. Of course this was also prom weekend, so yesterday 74 girls in beautiful long dresses ventured out into the weather with a daytime high of 36 and snow pretty much all day long. It was wet, cold and not very prom-like. It was fun to see the girls coming into the high school for grand march with prom dresses, sweatshirts and mukluk or ugg boots.



The girls attending with Rachel.

Rachel attended with friend Scott Ducharme. They were in speech together and at one point had agreed to go together as the state speech meet is usually the same day as prom and thus difficult for anyone who qualifies for the state speech meet to go to prom as well. Scott ended up dropping speech this year and Rachel didn't qualify, but by that point there weren't many unattached who planned to go.


The group of ten.


Rachel had a wonderful night and enjoyed the experience. She had two women come along side and help her get ready. Debbie Griffith was her Sunday School teacher last year and has always loved Rachel's features. Scott is her nephew and when she found out they were going together, she took charge. She did Rachel's makeup and convinced another woman, Pam Rooney to come and do Rachel's hair. I was grateful as I had to work until 3pm and pictures were at 4. Thank you to both of these women for their assistance.

Rachel and Scott were part of a group of ten who went to dinner together and then after post-prom (at 5am today) went to one of the boys house to watch a movie, doze and have breakfast before she came home at 10am for a bit of sleep.



The theme was Secret Garden. The woman coordintating the decorations went all out. The kids all came out these 'garden gates' for the march.




The bridge the couples posed on during the march. Many of the girls were afraid they would trip and fall. (No one did.)

The last week

Whew! What a week! We were busy all week. Jeff continues to just barely keep up with the writing, recording and editing schedule to get the bi-weekly podcasts out for Icebox Radio Theater. He has some cool plans for the theater for the summer, including a number of live shows around the county. He is also working on a pilot radio show with another radio host for fall.

Rachel is speech captain and the end of season get together was Saturday. She was trying to figure out what to give the team members when she decided to give them all llamas as one member learned a song about llamas at a meet and they ended up singing it regularly the rest of the season. But when we went looking for cheap llamas to buy, we struck out, so being the insane people we are, Rachel and I designed out own and made a dozen llamas this week. They were a hit.







On Monday night, the swim booster club held a meeting and I officially relinquished my position as girls swim team concession coordinator. We also worked on organizing the first of what we hope will become an annual Baby Broncos swim camp.



The weather this past week has been good for the melting of snow this past week, but we had a lot of snow this winter and that means a lot of water now present. But crocus are blooming in the back yard and a bee was visiting the blooms when I tried to photograph them.




This weekend I worked in the junior room on Saturday for one of the part-time employees who wanted some vacation time. I took in the fabric and pattern pieces for the costumes for Sarah and Rachel and got most of the pieces cut out. Now to get sewing.

This morning Rachel and I worked in the sound booth at church and then I went back to the library again. The library was given the chance to offer a second photography workshop for adults by a professional photographer. But the only days available before the end of the fiscal year were weekdays (which wouldn't work for most adults) and Sundays. So we offered the class this afternoon, but that meant I had to open the building and be there during the class. Then tomorrow night we have the opportunity to host author David Housewright, a Minnesota award winning writer of mysteries set in the Midwest.

A busy time at the Adams household, but I don't know if we'd have it any other way.
May God bless your week.
Diane

Emotional End to Speech Season

The speech season is over for Rachel. The section meet was Friday in McGregor. It was moved to Friday afternoon(we think because the state meet for single A is Friday). Rachel felt like she had done fairly well and was confident she had qualified for the finals. But she didn't. She was very emotional when she called to let us know. But she recovered enough to go and support her good friends from other schools who did make finals. (She ended up 9th, top 8 were in finals).

After receiving scores and judges sheets, we decided that she had bad luck and ended up with three judges who didn't get her creativity. They talked about her professionalism, her great enunciation, her poise and confidence and then ranked her 4th, 3rd and 2nd, with percentages in the low 90s. She hasn't been that low all season. She had also beat every contestant who made the final round at least once this season and several she beat more than once. It was a traumatic experience. But has made her stronger and more determined than ever to do better next year. She is already exploring options for doing a different category or at least playing around early in the season in a variety of categories.

Yesterday she laid low most of the day. This afternoon she was able to get together with Trelawney (good friend from across the river) and they filmed to create a short promotional film for a library contest for teens about why they need the library. I was able to go over to the library with them as they spent 4 happy hours creating, shooting, lighting, directing, acting and lots and lots of laughter.

Now they'll both attempt to edit it in the next two weeks to get it submitted.

Jeff also worked on the next radio production with Dave (Trelawney's dad and sound effects director).

We had a yucky weather day. High of 35 with snow, rain, hail, wind and generally damp conditions. The sewer drains are backing up, the lawns are flooded and the bones are cold and creaky. The weather should warm up (to the 40s) and dry up by the end of the week. I'm ready.

I'd hoped to start seeds in the house this weekend, but discovered I didn't still have potting soil leftover from last year, so we got some today. Hopefully I can get tomatoes, herbs and maybe squashes (I'll need to make newspaper pots too) started this week.

Hope your spring is progressing and you are beginning to see new life. We are still trying to melt our snow and thaw the ground.
Diane