My goodness but we are busy. Rachel had her spring band concert last Thursday. I helped organize and serve at the reception following the concert to thank the community for their support of the band and its fundraising efforts for the students trip to New York.
Jeff is neck deep in preparations for the Spring Fling Icebox Radio show next week. I am trying to get summer reading ready to go as I am taking most of the first week of May off to spend time with my parents visiting from Washington. But of course we have been very busy at the library and short staffed with illnesses and vacations.
We are beginning to see the grass green up and my tulips are pushing through the leaves I covered all my beds with last fall. Yesterday I spent time outside raking in the front yard and uncovering plants, just in time for snow this weekend :(
Rachel is helping with the baby broncos swim program after school for three weeks and is in the IBRT show as well. She is hoping to play soccer following the show over in Ft. Frances again. This will be her last year in the youth league.
The little we hear from Stephen sounds like he is busy but basically happy to be where he is, doing what he is doing. He has come down with a cold and is struggling to maintain energy and keep going. He spent last weekend in Park Rapids South Dakota at a computing conference and participated in a contest Friday night. His team placed third at the competition and won $100 for the school and $100 to split among the team of three. He was pretty excited.
We still don't know what he will be doing this summer. He has looked for jobs all over the state and elsewhere as well. He would really like to be doing something in his field.
Take care and enjoy your spring.
Diane
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
State Speech Meet
We had an eventful weekend with a trip to Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota where the State Speech tournament was held on Saturday. Rachel drove down with the team on Friday morning and Jeff and I followed Friday afternoon. It was great to see the camaraderie among the teens. Many have known each other for years. As someone commented to me, they were speech bff (best friends forever).
Here are a few photos from the State Speech meet as we were waiting for the list of students who made finals to be posted. It was an agonizing wait. They said they would be posted by 2:15 and at that point only the three categories with draws were posted. The remaining categories weren't posted until 2:35 with the first speeches to be starting at 2:45 all over campus.
By the time they posted the list of those participating in final round the room was packed wall to wall with people. The results were posted on a computer that was projected on a large screen. We all could watch as the guy came up to the computer and loaded the file and opened it and set the parameters. The tension in the room was palpable. Then as each list came up, cheers, clapping, screams of delight or groans of frustration could be heard.
Rachel was excited to be at state. She watched and learned and began gaining experience that will stand her in good stead in future years. She has already begun thinking and planning next year's speech. She is tossing around ideas and keeping her eyes open to possibilities and stories.
The trip home was uneventful and we are glad for a slow day today. Hope this finds you all enjoying spring and looking forward to summer.
Diane
Here are a few photos from the State Speech meet as we were waiting for the list of students who made finals to be posted. It was an agonizing wait. They said they would be posted by 2:15 and at that point only the three categories with draws were posted. The remaining categories weren't posted until 2:35 with the first speeches to be starting at 2:45 all over campus.
By the time they posted the list of those participating in final round the room was packed wall to wall with people. The results were posted on a computer that was projected on a large screen. We all could watch as the guy came up to the computer and loaded the file and opened it and set the parameters. The tension in the room was palpable. Then as each list came up, cheers, clapping, screams of delight or groans of frustration could be heard.
Rachel was excited to be at state. She watched and learned and began gaining experience that will stand her in good stead in future years. She has already begun thinking and planning next year's speech. She is tossing around ideas and keeping her eyes open to possibilities and stories.
The trip home was uneventful and we are glad for a slow day today. Hope this finds you all enjoying spring and looking forward to summer.
Diane
New York/ State speech
Hey everybody,
I know I haven't been on here in a while sorry about that. but here is a little update about what my life has been life for the past few months. for all of you who didn't know I got ans amazing opportunity to go to New York City with the high school band! I had lots of fun and loved seeing the big apple. Madam Tussuad's wax museum was probably my favorite thing in the city. If you are going to New York any time soon I would definitely go there.
My other exciting piece of news lately was me qualifying to go to state speech, I didn't do very well but it was still really cool to go and be one of the younger competitors there. I got fifth in my first two rounds and sixth in my last one (there were six people in each round). One of the seniors on our team (Anna Remus for those who know her) got first, so we now have a state champion!
Me getting second at Section Finals and moving on to State
Sunday, March 29, 2009
A Week of Just Two
Jeff and I have had the week to ourselves. Rachel has been in New York having a wonderful time (we have talked to her a couple of times). So Jeff and I worked, played and had a delicious dinner at The Spot on 53 restaurant on Thursday evening to celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary. Rachel will return late tomorrow evening.
This afternoon we entered the living room and our two cats were sitting in Jeff and I's chairs and looking pretty smug at us. So I used our new digital camera and snapped a picture of the cats.
Hope your spring is beginning to look like spring. We are very slowly losing our snow coverage although more may be on the way.
Take care.
Diane
This afternoon we entered the living room and our two cats were sitting in Jeff and I's chairs and looking pretty smug at us. So I used our new digital camera and snapped a picture of the cats.
Hope your spring is beginning to look like spring. We are very slowly losing our snow coverage although more may be on the way.
Take care.
Diane
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Rachel ready for New York!
Look out New York City. Rachel is ready to leave with the high school band for a week in New York City. She is very excited and ready for Tuesday morning to come. Here are a couple of pictures of her empty suitcase (now filled) and the bed with stuff to go in the suitcase. Then there are a couple of pictures of Rachel in her new dress for the theater and symphony in New York. Sometimes it is hard to believe I have such a grownup daughter.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Globe Theater
One of the big projects for ninth grade English class students is to create a model of the Globe Theater. Rachel completed hers but we didn't get pictures before we took it to school. She brought it home on Tuesday and before we disposed of it, I took a few photos to show it off.
The photo with the cat head in the background was because our male cat took a liking to the theater when we brought it home. He like to sit on either side and curl up to sleep. He also discovered he like shredded wheat (the roof). We will be finding shredded wheat all over the house for weeks to come.
The photo with the cat head in the background was because our male cat took a liking to the theater when we brought it home. He like to sit on either side and curl up to sleep. He also discovered he like shredded wheat (the roof). We will be finding shredded wheat all over the house for weeks to come.
Revised description of photos
Well, the photos loaded in the opposite direction I thought they would. The top photo is looking out my window towards our house, the next is looking south east from library.
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