Catching Up

 We've got some catching up to do! 

Around Christmas we bought tickets to a For King and Country that was here in Salisbury. We were just at a concert a couple weeks before, but this one was one we could not miss. As it worked out, the boys really didn't want to go so they spent the evening with cousins having Nerf Wars. Jeremy's parents were here for a few days that week and they were happy to use the boys' tickets. We sat with friends and Janell's family too.

It was such a fun concert.

There was an after dark Easter egg hunt with friends. The kids had so much fun!

Easter was different this year for us. We went to church and then spent the afternoon with my family.

There was another fun egg hunt. The cousins played for hours and the adults had a good time talking and being together.

And then there was dance recital weekend. I took pictures during dress rehearsal.

I can't believe how grown up Aliza and Anna are. Especially Aliza though. She is doing the dances that I enjoyed watching the "big girls" do when she was one of the little girls. A couple friends came with us to watch dress rehearsal which was before and after the dinner hour. That meant that it was McDonald's for supper on the way home. These girls were so cute together. They giggled and had the best time.

Before recital pictures...

Anna received her first trophy for 5 years. Aliza received her 9 year trophy.

Renee and Anna with their 5 year trophies and flowers from Grandma.

 

Our dance weekend was a little quiet without any of the Heslop's coming this year. To liven it up a bit, we had friends over for a taco supper after recital. The girls were exhausted, but enjoyed watching old dance recital DVDs. It was just the right kind of evening to finish off the day.

Anna's Room

 I just realized that I'm a lot farther "behind" than I thought I was! Anna's room makeover went a little quicker than the other rooms so far. The heaters in her room were installed against drywall so all we had to do was take out the pipes and heaters. There was some drywall repair to do.

Anna wanted a very similar color to what she had. The pink she chose looks different in different light.

We decided to take the closet doors off and use the space as additional room space.

With curtains Anna can decide if she wants her desk space closed or open.

With ruffly curtains, a chandelier, a fluffy area rug and fairy lights, this room is perfectly Anna.

I thought this was going to be the cutest picture of Anna and Isaiah. Instead it makes me laugh.

 The count is now 3 rooms finished, 4 to go. I'm counting it as halfway finished.

Aliza's Room

 The master bedroom has been transformed into a 16 year old girl's bedroom. Aliza has hoped and dreamed this day would come for a very long time.

Our bedroom has had a hard life over the last 16 years. It was in need of a lot of work.

Anna drew on the walls on more than one occasions in her preschool days.

The water based oil heaters were removed.

New drywall.

Jeremy did the mudding this time and he did a much better job that required far less sanding in the end.

Primed.

And painted!

The color was exactly what Aliza wanted.

Jeremy was able to hand the swing that Aliza has had waiting for over a year.

She says it's exactly what she hoped it would be and she is loving having her own space. 

2 rooms done--5 to go.
 

Joy Dare::March

 8919. Hanging lights in the trees

8920. Watching Aliza, Josiah, Anna problem solve together
8921. Studying Hebrews
8922. Giving Aliza her friend time
8923. Birthday party groceries
8924. Aliza had a very happy day
8925. Delivering lunch to Jeremy
8926. All the birthday cooking
8927. Isaiah was a great mopping helper
8928. Josiah said the evening was "really great"
8929. The best group of friends
8930. Winter bonfire
8931. First time having Jeremy's family in our new house
8932. Our house easily fits everyone for a family birthday party
8933. So much laughter
8934. Family word game
8935. Windows open
8936. Mom with me and water in the car when I had a vocal cord spasm in public
8937. Warm afternoon walk
8938. Flocks of robins in the yard
8939. Thinking about flowerbeds and flowers

8940. A productive painting afternoon
8941. Celebrating Jeremy
8942. Family game of Semantle
8943. Starbucks date
8944. When my planning actually goes as planned
8945. It was no problem to return the wrong paint
8946. Dinner and movie date night
8947. Isaiah making paper airplanes
8948. Quiet morning
8949. The children worked together to make cookies
8950. Rediscovered my Christmas gifts in the process of organizing to move our bedroom
8951. Showing up was the right thing to do
8952. the beginning of a hard ending
8953. Mom scrubbed the floor
8954. Aliza, Joisah and Anna were strong helpers
8955. We slept in our new room
8956. Walking around the yard looking at daffodils

8957. Looking through my "treasure box" with Anna
8958. Aliza sitting beside me to do math
8959. Catching up with Maria
8960. Warmer days
8961. Aliza worked so hard to make supper
8962. It's so fun to buy clothes for Anna
8963. The Grace Case
8964. Slowly sharing
8965. Really starting to work on Aliza's room
8966. A day at home--working, playing
8967. A hard, good ending of our church
8968. The children's participation
8969. Decompressing with a bath
8970. Anna made lasagna
8971. Seeing a bit of growth
8972. All the choir concert dates
8973. Remembered the cake in time to make it
8974. Didn't wake up when Isaiah crawled in bed beside me
8975. Playing outside after supper
8976. Aliza drove to all the errands
8977. Car inspected and tagged
8978. Wednesday evening friends
8979. Talking to Chrissy!
8980. Painting time with Aliza
8981. Friday.
8982. Aliza excited to spend time with her Dad
8983. Having a long phone call with my mother in law
8984. Lunch with Janell
8985. Seeing Aliza's paint color on her wall
8986. Isaiah fell asleep snuggled in
8987. Trying a new Sunday morning routine
8988. When I thought the concert was ruined--it actually got better than expected
8989. A really fun concert and family day  with friends
8990. Freedom to let everyone sleep in
8991. Mom being able to help
8992. Bed feels so good after an evening of painting
8993. A long talk
8994. Seeing Aliza's dances
8995. Homemade bread
8996. Hearing all about Aliza's day
8997. Steam cleaning carpet
8998. Seeing Anna's dances
8999. Thank you note
 

Hits Deep Night

 Six months ago, Aliza and I were talking about who we wanted to see in concert and in the process we started looking up concert tours. Toby Mac and the Hits Deep Tour was coming to Baltimore the end of March. We got some friends to buy tickets with us and we waited. 

Last Sunday, March 27, finally arrived and we loaded up the vans--boys in one and girls in the other. We drove to Baltimore and ate at Chipotle without a care in the world. All of a sudden I looked at my watch and it was 6:30 and we were not at the arena yet. 

We got in a little after 7:00 and Terrain was already singing. As soon as we walked in the door, Isaiah  started reacting to the sound. I knew taking him was a big risk, but I really wanted to have this adventure as a family. We got to our seats on the very top row of the arena.

I had a bag of one use earplugs. They didn't help. It almost amplified the bass. Jeremy gave Isaiah his noise cancelling air pods. That didn't help either. Isaiah continued to get more worked up. He was crying, covering his ears and then his tummy started hurting.

I took him to the bathroom which was empty and quiet. We went in the wheelchair stall and he sat huddled in the corner. I'm pretty sure he felt like the sound had taken over his entire body. I was quickly envisioning my next 3 hours of sitting in the hallway with Isaiah and I was sad. There was no calming him down so I sat him down beside a nice lady at a vendor table and went to tell Jeremy and grab my purse.

I took Isaiah all the way to the end of the hall so that we would be completely out of the way. Then I realized that each of the seating sections on the first level were closed off by curtains. I convinced Isaiah to sit under the stairwell with the ipad where I could stand in the doorway to see the stage.

I completely missed Cochran and Co. CAIN was singing by the time I got Isaiah settled. It wasn't a bad view. I peeked in the curtain and decided I could still enjoy the concert.

Crowder was next and the red lights interested Isaiah. He started kind of peeking in with me and he was talking constantly. Over the next few songs we talked about the lights and the instruments and we realized that the entire section of seats to the left was empty. I don't think those seats were even for sale because they were technically past the middle of the stage on the side.

Isaiah was ready for a picture. And then we sat down in the seats to listen to the Feed the Hungry presentation.

At intermission the girls came down to visit us. They decided that it wasn't a bad view of the stage at all and tons of space and next thing I knew everyone moved down with Isaiah and I!

Toby Mac and the Diverse City Band started playing and we had the best time.

We all knew almost all of the songs. Isaiah didn't complain for even a second. He stood on the steps and didn't stop dancing.

Aliza didn't stop dancing and singing. Anna was loving every second. Josiah may have even been caught singing and tapping his toe.

the concert ended with confetti at 10:30pm.

We had just enough smiles left for one picture before we left.

We got home at 1:15am. The morning was a little rough and we didn't quite finish a full day of school, but it was worth the experience.