All In the Last Few Days

 Josiah and Anna finished school a day early which allowed us to enjoy an afternoon together enjoying the new Unity Square in downtown Salisbury. Isaiah and Aliza had discovered the splash pad earlier and Isaiah could hardly wait to go again. Cookout shakes on the way home and ramen bowls for supper with friends made out first day of summer vacation perfect.

Sisters and friends.

 Saturday we traveled to Pennsylvania for my aunt and uncle's 40th wedding anniversary party. Aliza had one more choir concert over the weekend so she waved good bye to us and spent the weekend with friends. That was a weird feeling...our first family trip without her. 

I didn't take many pictures but it was a full weekend of visiting with extended family that I don't see very often. I got to help my cousin with the party setup and clean up. Anna and Isaiah particularly loved where we stayed at the retreat center and wished they had more time to explore. Anna shares my love for the mountains.

During the 6 hour drive home Jeremy and I noticed that the steering wheel was vibrating quite a bit at highway speed and the vibration could be felt on the passenger side too. I started getting nervous so Jeremy started researching and watching videos. 

After a while Jeremy said that he was pretty sure that the front wheel axels were worn out...and he could save himself $1000 by doing it himself. And so he proceeded to watch some more videos and figured out that all of the parts he needed were at the Auto Zone in Easton. We stopped in Easton, got the parts, drove the last hour home, unloaded the van and Jeremy got to work. 

The driver's side went smoothly and he took it out to test it. Jeremy turned out of our driveway and got a couple hundred feet from out house when the passenger side axel broke completely. Was that really how close we were to breaking down on the road? Jeremy and Josiah pushed the van back to our house. 

Removing the axel from the passenger side was no easy task.

And so the van sat like this until Jeremy came home from work last night. He worked for several hours trying to remove the broken piece. Then he went to a friend's house to get a tool that was supposed to remove it for sure. I kept checking on him and he was starting to say that he was afraid he was going to have to get the van towed to a garage just to get that piece taken out which sounded like a big hassle. I told Jeremy I was just praying.

It was right about 9:30 when I was praying and I told the girls we needed to pray that Dad could get this piece removed. Aliza started praying with Anna. I kid you not at 9:30 Jeremy sent me the picture and "Thanks for praying". It was his last try and it came out.

At 10:30 he had the new axel in and took it for a test drive. I drove it this morning and all is well. 

And so I will continue to tell the stories of how Jeremy keeps our 2009 Honda Odyssey with 315,000 miles running. lol

Also this weekend...our porches were stained. One of my ESL students stopped by on Mother's Day with flowers for me. I've known him for a couple years now and he is a painter. He asked if I wanted my decks stained. It's been on the "some day" list since the house was finished and "some day" just hasn't happened yet. My student said he would do it..for the cost of supplies. We argued a bit using google translate and he only sortof won. 

Yesterday he put the second coat of stain on and I am just thrilled with how they look and humbled by his generosity.

 

Husband Appreciation

 I'm the type of wife that dreams up ideas that I cannot accomplish on my own. Most recently I thought it would be a great idea to move a flat piece of deck that we had saved from remodeling back up to the house. Jeremy thought about it and watched some videos and this weekend he and Josiah moved it with a system of levers (other pieces of leftover deck and wood) and rollers (PVC pipe).

It was a slow, tedious process. Josiah and his Dad made a good team and they accomplished the challenge.

 That took a good chunk of the day and Jeremy was pretty tired that evening. His day wasn't over though! As I was coming down the stairs from putting Isaiah to bed, a bat was flying up the stairs. Ugh!! 

Anna had told me that morning that she thought she had seen something flying in her room that night and that she had come down and slept on the couch. I checked her room before bed, didn't see anything and told her it was probably a dream. (great Mom answer, I know) 

I came flying down the stairs "yelling" for Jeremy at a level that would hopefully not wake up all of the children. I had stayed in Isaiah's room longer than I should have because my book was good and was almost finished. I scurried into Josiah's room (he was still up) and closed the door. Anna joined me pretty quickly. She woke up when Jeremy was trying to stir the bat up in her room. She had seen the bat again as she was falling asleep and blamed it on her imagination (bless her heart). Aliza stuck her head out of her room and saw the  bat fly past. She shut her door and went back to bed (such maturity!). Isaiah slept through the whole thing. And Josiah was completely nonplussed and ended up helping Jeremy. It took a good 20 minutes for Jeremy to find the bat. It ended up downstairs in the curtains. So gross. Anna slept on the floor of our room. There was no way she was going back upstairs.

Sunday, when I pulled the door closed on our way out for church, the doorknob broke off in my hand. After a busy day of church and choir concert, Jeremy spent the entire evening trying to finagle a new doorknob to match our current keys. 

Monday, Jeremy worked from home. When he took a break in the afternoon, he cleaned out the washer drain because the water wasn't draining properly. There was a sock in a place where it was not supposed to be. He then spent the evening fixing a desktop computer for the girls that needed monitor and graphic card help. 

All that to say, I wouldn't make it very long without Jeremy. He works all day and then comes home to lots of people who love him like crazy...and usually a couple more things that I need or want help with. Jeremy, you are so loved! You are special and I'm so proud of you. Thanks for being my partner in life.

Theater Weeks

 24 hours of Tech Week practice and 8 shows over two weekends. A week later and I think Aliza and I have recovered. I was the chauffeur and spent some extra time with my Mom and Dad during practice and shows I wasn't attending. The theater is in Pocomoke, where Mom and Dad live, and half an hour from our house. 

The show was the Broadway Jr. version of Frozen. Aliza was double casted as Oaken. She was also a maid and featured dancer. Aliza can sing and act, but it is dancing that keeps her with this theater group. 

I'm always impressed with the costumes. The amount of detail they put into 40 cast members is amazing.

The character of Oaken was perfect for Aliza. Over the top happy energy! She played it to the full extent and the audience always loved it.

After the Oaken scene, Aliza transformed into a troll. There was a really fun dance break in Fixer Upper.
As soon as the Fixer Upper scene was over, Aliza had just a few minutes to change back into Oaken (that involved removing all of her gray makeup and reapply Oaken makeup) for the finale.

For one show, Aliza was Bolda, the lead troll.

A very special aspect of this show is that Aliza's cousin, Renee, was also in it. They have lot of memories together.

Over the two weekends I attended four shows. I never got tired to watching Aliza. I also volunteered backstage for one show which was a new experience. There were lots of bodies in a small space. Most of the time I did not feel very useful; however, that show was the fastest that Aliza changed from troll to Oaken. It was because I was helping her!

 

Joy Dare::April

 11,114. Going with Aliza to register for fall classes
11,115. My Monday time with Anna
11,116. Blueberry pie
11,117. A book that is making me think
11,118. A new month filled with things to look forward to
11,119. Jeremy's level headedness
11,120. Finding Anna's song on the counter

11,121. An evening at home that I wasn't expecting
11,122. Clean bathrooms
11,123. Blue sky and little green leaves
11,124. Lunchtime laughter
11,125. A little scrapbooking
11,126. Isaiah having lots of fun
11,127. A lovely brunch
11,128. Hearing all about the men's retreat
11,129. Getting steps with Isaiah
11,130 Catching up with Amanda
11,131. The girls singing while Anna plays guitar
11,132. Supporting Aliza
11,133. Leftovers for weekend eating
11,134. A beautiful warm, sunny day
11,135. Sortof seeing the solar eclipse
11,136. Website issues let us spend some extra time outside
11,137. Last pediatrician appointment for Aliza
11,138. Aliza comes home from theater so happy
11,139. Brownies
11,140. Having toddler squeals in our house
11,141. Making sandwiches for Caleb
11,142. Kids playing outside
11,143. Honesty and confession
11,144. Playing with Maggie

11,145. A little more spring yard progress
11,146. Dance Mom success
11,147. Crossing off some tasks I was putting off
11,148. Wishing a friend a happy retirement

11,149. Making a list and everyone working on it until it is finished
11,150. Aliza made the best banana bread
11,151. Anna.
11,152. Baptisms and testimonies
11,153. Leading and hosting Bible study
11,154. More banana bread
11,155. First flowerbed weeded
11,156. Guitar lesson on the deck
11,157. Morning walk with Isaiah
11,158. Spring weather
11,159. Stepping into Aliza's theater world
11,160. Closet shoe rack
11,161. Seeing Aliza's dances for the first time
11,162. Dance Mom friends

11,163. Isaiah feels proud of himself tonight
11,164. Power washed clean siding
11,165. Graduation party supplies
11,166. Outside antics making me laugh
11,167. Isaiah going to the store with me
11,168. Seeing all of Aliza and Anna's dances
11,169. After dress rehearsal McDonald's

11,170. All of my "Mom feelings"
11,171. Watching Aliza and Anna dance in the recital
11,172. Family evening with Grandma and Grandpa
11,173. Sunday afternoon nap
11,174. Grandma making sure Aliza got supper
11,175. Tech week car time with Aliza
11,176. Having Ezra for the day
11,177. Looking through photo albums
11,178. Tuition covered
11,179. Full moon on a cloudless night
11,180. Playing with Isaiah at the park
11,181. Making ice cream cups for Aliza
11,182. A short tech night practice
11,183. Watching Maggie and Aliza play with a caterpillar
11,184. Sitting beside Jeremy all evening
11,185. Finding pictures that make me laugh
11,186. Another clean flowerbed
11,187. Making a candle
11,188. Supper with Anna

11,189. Seeing Aliza in Frozen for the first time
11,190. Aliza's character complimented
11,191. All of the people supporting Aliza
11,192. Anna and Grandma Karen planning a fairy garden
11,193. Grandpa being so excited about the play
11,194. When we show up at church dressed alike

 

 

11,195. Aliza taking on extra responsibility without hesitation
11,196. Transplanting plants
11,197. Isaiah talking the whole time we walked
11,198. Perfect spring evening to be outside
11,199. So many memories in pictures
11,200. Getting another flowerbed finished with Mom's help
11,201. Iris blooming
11,202. Listening to ALiza, Anna and Isaiah carrying on before bed