Happy Birthday Carolyn!

I hope you have a fantastic day!

Lots of love & hugs from waterfally Oregon :)

Tina

Connor - Student of the Month!

Wednesday morning as I'm going through the papers in Connor's backpack before we leave for school, I find an envelope addressed to Lee & me.

Turns out Connor was being recognized as a Student of the Month for his Perserverance, and his Artistic Ability.

Both Lee & I were able to get time off to attend, which was way cool.

Connor did very well with his peers, and it was nice to hear all the "good job, Connor!" and "Way to go, Connor!" comments as he made his way to the little risers.

Here's the video!

Talented Daughter Thing

Let me know if this works for you - I already have an account on the art website so it loads for me immediately. I'm hoping it just goes straight to the game without making you create an account...

Dress up Doll game

Diana made this.

Pretty cool, huh?

Samoas vs. Caramel deLites

Everyone but Trevor preferred Caramel deLites (from California) vs. Samoas (from Oregon). This is kind of a big thing, since Samoas are my favorite type of GS cookie!

The Caramel deLites seemed to be a bit more chewy, and they had more of a milk chocolate, vs. dark chocolate.

Interesting.

I also took the CA Thin Mints to my Service Unit Leader Meeting, and we compared them to the OR Thin Mints. The CA Thin Mints again had lighter chocolate, and the edges were a little scalloped. They also were just a little smaller, which meant there was another serving of 4 cookies in a box that weighed the same as the OR Thin Mints. And the Oregon Thin Mints were definitely 'mintier' than the California mints.

The reason for the differences is actually that Girl Scouts uses two baking companies for their cookies across the country. Oregon is with the Little Brownie Baker company, while California is with the ABC company. The Thin Mints name is the only one registered to Girl Scouts. The other cookie names are from the bakeries, hence the similarity of the cookies, but different names.

And there's your Girl Scout history lesson for the day. :)

Visit with Renee & Dan

Last Sunday, we got to see Renee again & meet Dan, her fiancee.

Dan wasn't feeling his best, so he was kind of quiet. Renee was her typical self, way too much to do & not enough time to get everything done :) I'm glad she was able to remember to come & see us & give hugs.

Here's a photo of them & Renee's car. It's an Audi, and very cute. With a BIG speaker in the back.

The character Inspector Gene Hunt from "Ashes to Ashes" and "Life on Mars" drives an Audi Quattro - I was tempted to say "Let's fire up the Quattro!" when Nae & Dan got ready to go.

I'm such a dork.

Try Outs

On Friday, I went to see a local production of a show called "Nunsense." It's a cute 5-woman show about a bunch of nuns trying to do a talent show to raise money. Diana's friend was one of the cast, so on Saturday evening, Trevor & Diana went to see the show as well. In the back of the program was information about a casting call for "The Producers." I was kind of hoping Lee would be interested in trying out. Community theater is fun, altho it is a good chunk of time you need to dedicate to rehearse & perform. In any case, Lee was not all that excited about being in a show, even though it's one of his favorites.

So I asked Trevor & Diana what they thought. Diana has had the community theater experience, but she was in Kindergarten at the time. Trevor has only just gotten to do some drama in Jr. High - but he has an awesome memory & knew the lines for everyone in the productions they did :)

Looking at the rehearsal dates & show dates, I realized if we're going to Canada for a chunk in June, Diana would not be able to do the show. She's set for the summer with her financing for school & her apartment, so she doesn't need to work. Trevor, however, has already been volunteering at the Boys & Girls Club. He is really looking to get some kind of work, so he would most likely be sticking around home anyway. Typically, the rehearsals & such happen in the evenings for these shows.

We eventually went & got Trevor signed up. He was supposed to bring some sheet music to sing. Trevor has a very nice singing voice, but he hasn't done anything to develop it. He decided to sing "Still Alive" which is the epilogue song for the game, Portal. In the game, it's sung by the AI program, GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System). The pianist had a harder time following the tune, but Trevor just continued singing unless they stopped him. They also checked Trevor's range. When he was done - the rest of the people trying out applauded :) Still Alive by the songwriter


Next they had to try the dance audition. Dance Audition??? There was nothing in the casting call information about a dance audition!

So here's Trevor, on stage with 9 other people, trying to follow the choreographer in a tap dance routine. For those not very familiar with our son, lack of coordination is a marker of Asperger's Syndrome. I would not have encouraged him to try out for this show had I known the choreographer was so ambitious! The dancers (in their jazz shoes & flowy attire) were having a tough time keeping up! But I was so proud of Trevor for being up there, not giving up, and attempting as best as he could to follow along. He didn't fall off the stage or step on anyone, so we're gonna call it good.

He's only trying for a chorus part anyway! They want 50 people, it's all male except one female role, and I estimate there were 25 people (both sexes) trying for the roles. There was a number to call for call-backs this morning for principle roles (which didn't include Trevor) but that's fine. In the message they said they will let the chorus folks know later. Since the choir guy thought Trevor had a nice range & could stay on key, there's a good chance he'll be selected. Plus on the application, he put that he speaks German :)

I'm hoping he gets in (chances are good) so that I can see him on stage. I missed that with both of my kids in High School - both Lee & I did stuff like that, and I'd love Trevor to have the experience :)

Yard Stuff

This was our Sunday project.

We dug out all the grass & stuff that had grown along the wall here, & put in the stone border & filled it with bark mulch.

This is the deer in the neighbor's yard. They eat the bottoms of those juniper bushes - ha.

This is the area we're working on now. I've been moving my strawberry plants over to the planters & we're making little beds for the planters to sit.

This area gets a LOT of sun, so we're hoping it will be good for the strawberries & maybe some tomatoes. The stepping stones are so I don't get too wet in the morning when I water before work :)

Lee put the shelf in on Monday. It will be for whatever else - more strawberries? Flowers? Herbs? I haven't decided yet :)

Happy Mother's Day 2009

Last Sunday, my mom & Connie headed back to Canada. Since I needed to bring Diana back home anyway, we left in two cars in the morning, and took off to Eugene. My mom drove with me, and Diana drove with Connie.

I wanted to take my mom to brunch at the Oregon Electric Company, but they weren't doing brunch. Diana suggested Olive Garden instead.

It was a lot of fun and we (mostly) enjoyed the meal. The pork tenderloin wasn't tender :( After we ate, we went over to Diana's place so Connie & Mami could see where she lives. Then we went over to the UofO campus to show them where she has the majority of classes. It was kind of a rainy, wet day, and a bunch of people were out wearing aluminum heat blankets. We thought that was weird until we figured out it was the Eugene Marathon :P

I think Mami & Connie thought the campus was pretty neat, and hopefully the morning gave them a good start to the two-day trek back home.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, Renate; Lee's mom, Rita; my sisters, Connie & Carolyn; Lee's sisters, Donna, Karen, & Myrna; our sister-in-law, Nancy; and all of our friends who are moms!!!

I'll be working in the yard most of the weekend, and going to see the new Star Trek movie :)

The actual event - Communion

It was a very nice day - my Mom & Connie had come down from Canada on Friday (LOOONG trip!), and we had the family over for dinner at our house before everyone went in to church for 5:30 Mass.

We filled up a whole pew - Lee is sitting in the one behind ours to talk to Myrna.

They had Connor walk down with Itzel, a little girl with Down's Syndrome. I would have put them with a typical peer partner, so that someone could coach them if necessary. As it was though, they walked nice & slow, stayed next to each other, bowed at the front, and then didn't know what to do next. There had been a table at the rehearsal right where they bow, but it got moved back so they were at a loss. The kids that came behind them told them what to do instead, so it all worked out.

You have to click on the last two photos to see Connor receiving the Body of Christ, and the Blood of Christ. For those not familiar with our Catholic traditions - that's a wafer of bread & a cup of wine that have been transubstantiated into Christ during the Mass. They still just taste like bread & wine :P

Connor is already excited for next Sunday Mass, when he can take Communion again - "No more just Blessing!!"