April Showers...

I remember at the end of March looking ahead to April and thinking it would be a busy month and be gone before I knew it, but of course, I had no idea just how fast it could go!  I've already blogged about Spring Break, which you can read about here, so this will be a much shorter entry than previous monthly wrap ups.  This may not be entirely chronologically correct, because some of these things happened and I don't know when, so I'm going to do my best.

Astrid survived the prom and then we had another big event upcoming:  Leah's birthday.  She was turning 8 and after the success of the tea party we had in September for a church fundraiser, announced she also wanted a tea party with her friends to come as princesses.  My father was coming for a visit as well.  Leah was excited to have Friday off school so she could have a PopPop Day, so Astrid announced she was taking Thursday off school to have a PopPop Day.  It was settled.  PopPop Day for Astrid involved lunch at Wegman's and then a trip to Ulta, the make up store, her mecca.  Neither my sister nor I was ever into make up, so my father had been spared this indignity when we were kids, but as both Astrid and Leah are big time into it, he gamely played along for about ten minutes.  When he saw there was such a thing as beard cream and wardrobe tape, he had more than he could bear, so he handed me a $20 bill and told me to get Astrid something before slinking out to his car to hide.  She got herself a NYX tame-and-frame brow pomade.  She was so happy.  Later that evening, we went to have cheeseburgers at Cheeburger Cheeburger, and it was a very nice day indeed. 

On Friday evening, it was all hands on deck as we prepared for Leah's birthday party.  Our main goal for the evening was to watch a movie, eat pizza, and blow up literally hundreds of balloons.  I had seen some ideas on Pinterest for princess party decor with balloons, and was planning to make towers, but somehow it turned into a giant couple of arches.  We were blowing up balloons for a couple of hours, watched The Producers, and had a great time.

We were very proud of our handiwork.

The next day, at the princess tea, Astrid was pressed into service as a waitress again, and wore her St. Jude's gown.  PopPop brought a fancy outfit from his English country dancing to be the butler, and I was dressed in all black as the kitchen wench.  Leah had 5 friends come and they had a ball.  We hired a princess actress (The Bup's Aunt Mary Anne) to come as Sleeping Beauty and she did makeovers and games and party fun.  The girls had a marvelous time and what a beautiful day Leah had to celebrate her "champagne birthday". 

We also found out that our current Lieutenant Governor, Ralph Northam, was coming into town for a campaign event the following week.  I wanted to meet him, look him in the eye, talk to him about some of the concerns I had read about him online, and some of my concerns as a citizen.  I also thought it'd be really great for the girls to meet another official of the government, as they had already met the Speaker of the House of the state. Astrid and I offered Leah a quarter if she would ask Lt. Gov. Northam if he was going to win, and she happily obliged and was rewarded with money for the gumball machine. 

He was a very interesting man, well spoken, good listener, and I got a lot out of meeting him.  He was happy to pose for pictures with both girls, which was great.  I think they enjoyed it as well.

We also had the opportunity to attend a Passover Seder at the UU that week. There are a lot of Jewish people we know who attend UU and last year, they decided to have their first seder as a celebration of their faith.  Leah and I weren't able to attend, but we were excited to go this year and I thought it would be interesting and educational for all of us.  It was totally jam packed and the ceremony part of it wound up being quite long, so it was a bit hard for Leah to sit through, but it was really interesting and we all learned a lot.  We ate a lot of matzoh and we all absolutely loved the matzoh ball soup!  It was delicious.  The traditional readings and music were very moving and Leah and Astrid won a contest where something was hidden in the sanctuary and if you found it, you won $1. 

Afterwards there was a nice potluck meal and the food was just great.

Also at the UU after Spring Break, they had a celebration of Pagan and Earth-centered religions, which I know even less about than I do the Jewish traditions.  There was a woman who came and taught us dances of universal peace.  As part of this, we danced in a couple of big circles and did some chants.  It was really like nothing I've ever done before, but it was fun and interesting to learn about and create music and movement with the whole community.  If you click on the photo below, you can see an enlarged version of the photo and we are on the right hand side.

We were still a little tired from Spring Break, but I'm glad we went.

We've also resumed our spring cook outs with my sister and her family and Astrid came along to Locust Shade Park to a couple of these.  We've been trying to get fancy with the food and do some experimental cooking beyond hot dogs and hamburgers, which has been fun.  A few flops, of course, but ultimately we've learned and tried some interesting things.  We especially enjoyed our foil dinners, and a stir fry I was able to make.  When we get our usual grill site, the kids have woods to play in and the playground to run around on, which is good fun for them, and the grown ups can keep an eye on them and still cook and hang out.  We've been talking about a little camping trip since the kids like being outdoors and Leah is asking about it, but for now we will stick with the park. 

We also had a wonderful opportunity to all go up to Washington DC on April 27th to attend WAMU's 10 Year Volunteers Awards Gala at NPR headquarters.Both my sister and I have been volunteers at WAMU for 10+ years and were among the honorees.  I had asked the woman in charge if I could bring both girls and happily she said yes!  It was an absolutely wonderful night, and I was so glad the girls could see me being rewarded for some of my hard work over the years.  They got to meet other people we have become friendly with through our work, they got to meet the volunteer coordinator, and one of the show hosts.  It was awesome.  And it was nice that we all got dressed up fancy and went out together.  It really was a super special night for me.

The girls and I with my sister and BIL with Joshua Johnson, host of 1A

Astrid was also cleared to return to soccer at the end of the month and has gotten some playing time in.  We have enjoyed going to her games and were thrilled she got to play for two weeks before the championships started.  The team has had a rough season, but they've persevered and worked hard together. 

FA Women's Soccer Team

No matter when I take her picture, she has her back to me!  Go #25!

The last game we got to see, the girls won 5-2, which was a BIG lift to their spirits, and Astrid even got an assist, which she was crazy proud of!  (As were we!) 

Leah and Astrid at the mall

We've had some fun nights as a family too, just quiet times at the mall, going to dinner, attending the FA band concert, church services, that kind of thing.  Leah attended Camp Rainbow, a camp for kids who have lost a loved one, and Astrid went with me to the final ceremonies and supported Leah there.  We went back to the We Are For America protest after the disastrous US healthcare vote.  Astrid is certainly getting an education in politics this year--as am I, because I have never in my life been so inclined to be politically active.  The latest protest was a bit smaller than the last one, but we had some supporters drop off Sugar Shack donuts and donations to Planned Parenthood while we were there, so that was pretty exciting!  Everyone generally considers this area a  pretty red stronghold, so it's nice to see progressive support!

"My feet hurt, Astrid"

Sisters

Letting the community know we are here!

Finally this past weekend was a busy one!  Astrid had her pre-return orientation with AFS this weekend.  She went up to Alexandria on Saturday and spent the day with the other AFS kids, and they had a great time doing a scavenger hunt and learning about how to prepare themselves to return home in fewer than 50 days (say it ain't so!).  Astrid's team won the Scavenger Hunt!  Way to go, team!  My sister Judy brought Astrid home Saturday evening, as I was hosting a dinner for the UU at our house, and there were a bunch of young kids running around.  Astrid immediately started playing with them, chasing them around the yard, toasting marshmallows, finding lost shoes and toys.  She just loves kids! :)

Astrid and Leah both ran in the 2017 Great Train Race.  Leah runs every year with her school, which hosts a running club and she loves it!  We went to packet pick up on Thursday to get her bib and running swag and I could sort of kind of tell that Astrid was keen to run it as well, so I asked the lady in charge if Astrid could also run, and she said they had plenty of room for teens!!  So we signed her up and Sunday morning, off we went.  Astrid's friend and Leah's favorite victim Chris was also running, so we got to see him and his family, plus two families from the UU and even a family from Camp Rainbow/Leah's toddler days!  It was pretty awesome.  The run is 1 mile long, and Astrid's goal was to complete it in under 9 minutes.  She did it in under 8!!!  Leah did it in under 9, down from her run of 11 minutes last year.  I was so proud of them both!  Chris also did very well and earned a trophy, which he proudly flashed around in Astrid's face. Hahaha  He was sweet enough to come with us to cheer for Leah through to the bitter end and pose for Leah's carefully arranged pictures and even hold her hand for the walk back to the car.  What a nice kid!

Astrid preparing on the Start Line

Leah on the Start Line

Astrid and Chris and The Trophy

Three Champion Finishers!

So that brings us to today.  Today is, as I say, 49 days till she leaves us, as she determined this morning.  I have a full array of activities planned and our weekends are jam packed between now and D Day.  She has of course the soccer post-season to finish up, sports awards to go to, we have a painting party for the UU planned, she has a birthday party to attend, we've got trips to Kings Dominion and Natural Bridge upcoming, as well as celebrating Memorial Day at Wolf Trap and the F'burg Illumination.  SO I know that May will be gone before we know it.  It is a bittersweet time of year, knowing we have a lot of fun left, but knowing it is closing in on the end.  As the Buddha may or may not have said, in one of the great controversies of the Internet:

We'll keep being grateful for every day and saying our "I love you"s every night :)  See ya in a few weeks!

Halloween and Happiness...

We've had an interesting and fun couple of weeks since my last update. 

Astrid has been super busy finishing up the cross-country season with her team.  She did really well at each of the meets and got to go all the way to the division finals last week.  The team had a really nice party one of the kids' houses in Fredericksburg city and we had a great time.  I talked to two families who are interested in hosting exchange students--as long as they are like Astrid.  That made me feel so proud!  She's as awesome as I know she is and everyone else recognizes it too!

Cross Country Team Photo

Cross Country End of Season Dinner

This week the team travels to the state finals.  Several members of the team qualified, and although Astrid didn't, she still wants to go, so plans are in the making.  Then next week she will start the swim team.  So it's always something keeping her busy and active.  But I'm kind of glad cross country is over.  It was a lot of work and strain on her.  She persevered and I'm so proud.  But I'm also ready for something different. :-)

Right after we got back from Philadelphia, we hosted a murder mystery dinner party at the house.  This was an auction item fundraiser for our church, meaning the people who came paid for the evening.  For those who aren't familiar with how it works, you can purchase murder mystery kits. You invite guests over, and then assign each of them to be a particular suspect.  You decorate your house to look like the scene, and there are menus provided or you can make up your own dinner menu.  Then you and your guests set about solving the mystery!  One of the guests is the killer, and everyone else has to figure out who that is.  The murder we chose was called Pasta, Passion, and Pistols and I prepared lasagna and carbonara for the main entrees.  The rest of the guests chipped in for appetizers, salads, breads, wine, and desserts.

At first, we didn't have a role for Astrid, so I asked her if she would mind being the victim.  We had her lie down on the floor and made an outline of her like a real crime scene.  We scoured Goodwill for costume parts, and made a coat and shirt with a gunshot and "blood", and a fake mustache sealed the deal...   She cleaned up pretty well as "Pepi Roni", a restaurateur who was shot in the back by one of his inner circle.  The other guests arrived and everyone was really dressed to the nines!

The evening was one of intrigue and fun.  The people involved were the perfect mix of individuals for various walks of UU life, and we had an absolute blast.  Only one person managed to correctly deduce the murderer and his or her motive, and we had a great meal and a wonderful time.  As an added bonus, one of the ladies called out sick, so Astrid got to step into an actual character role and be a suspect, which she was happy about!

Solving the crime...

After dinner, Astrid taught everyone to fold their napkins into flowers

We had another evening of fun with some friends at the UU when we invited a couple of families over to have a bonfire and dinner in our backyard.  I love lighting up my fire pit in the fall, and now that it is (sort of) getting cooler, we've had more of a chance to do so.  We'd been wanting to have Bup's parents over for a while and added in JP and Stefan after the fireworks spectacular last month.  The party was on.

The Bup came over the day before and so we decided to prepare a special treat for everyone.  He helped make something called Monster Munch, a concoction of peanuts, popcorn, candy corn, and Reese's Pieces, covered in Almond Bark.  Almond bark was something that totally mystified Astrid.  It is nothing more than melting chocolate--in the case of Monster Munch, we used white chocolate.  She told everyone at the party about it.  She really enjoyed making goodies with the kids and we had fun eating the treats as well.  The next night, Bup was back with his parents and JP and Stefan arrived.  I made chili, and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, played with glow sticks, and had a great time together. 

By the end of the night, Leah had gone back inside.  She said she was cold, but when we all came in, we found her totally passed out on the floor and couldn't resist a group picture of us all piled around her.

You may have noticed in these pictures that Astrid's hair is a crazy mass of braids.  She and her friend decided to put the braids all in during class one day, and she wore them proudly for almost a week.  She finally took them out and her hair was a mass of crimping that would have set any late 80's teen girl's hair dreams on fire....  Astrid also gave me a much needed haircut this month and she did an amazing job. 

We finally began making preparations for Halloween.  Dipthi, our welcome student, sent me a message early Halloween week asking if she could spend Halloween with us.  We all thought that was a great idea!  The Friday before Halloween, we went quickly to a local farm in town and picked up our pumpkins.  Astrid had a super busy Friday planned with a trip to a local high school football game and then a lock in at school for her theater class, so we had no time to waste.  I got this lovely picture of the girls while we were there.  Leah was a bit upset that we didn't have time to go and get pumpkins out of the field, but we were just so busy, we had to settle for going into the farm stand and just buying what they had on hand.  We got some great pumpkins though!

The weekend before, the city of Fredericksburg sponsors a downtown trick or treating event for local businesses.  We had gone last year, but we went late and most of the candy was gone, so we decided to go first thing this year.  It was a blast.  There were tons of kids and families running around and each store had the chance to enter a scarecrow competition.  They were a lot of fun to look at while we were waiting on candy...

Sunday evening, we finally got our pumpkins carved.  We got a stencil kit at Walmart so we could make fancy designs if we wanted to, and Astrid said that although she had carved pumpkins before, it was her first time carving something other than a face.  She picked out a ghost design to do, Leah designed her own face, and I made a fancy face from the pumpkin designs we had. 

Afterwards, we sprinkled pumpkin pie spice in the pumpkins and lit them, and the house smelled divine.

Monday, Dipthi arrived and Leah had decided in advance that she was going trick or treating with the teenagers and I was going to stay home.  So I got out the firepit and planned to just hang around by myself, but then Dipthi's host mom Laura invited herself to stay, and I was thrilled for the company!  We had a lot of fun gabbing around the fire, and just as the girls were ready to head out, our neighbor from down the street arrived with his two boys and they were all able to go together with an adult at the helm who understood the ways of American Halloween.  Leah dressed as a witch, Astrid was a cat, and Dipthi was Eeyore.  So ADORABLE!

We didn't get many trick or treaters this year, fewer than 20, so I was glad when it got cold and they were back and we could call it a night.  I was a little bit sad we hadn't made it out to Belvedere for the fall festival before Halloween, but we decided to go the following weekend.  All in all, it was a VERY satisfying Halloween week.  We really had a lot of fun.

The girls grinding corn meal

This past weekend, we did indeed make plans to have a bit more fun for fall.  I decided first to take the girls over to the Salem Church Library, as the local  Patawomeck Indian Tribe was doing an Indian village and cultural display.  We had decided earlier in the week to go out to Standing Rock, ND to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline with the Sioux, but AFS shot that idea down, saying that they didn't want to accept liability for Astrid being there and they felt the situation was too unstable.  I thought it would have been an awesome opportunity to experience Native American culture first hand, as well as to have a civics lesson on peaceful protest.  We had been offered a slot volunteering with a medical corps away from the front lines of the protest, but AFS still felt it was better to be cautious, so we are watching and sending support from afar.  However, this deal with the Patawomecks came up and I thought it'd be great if we could at least see some Native American culture here at home, particularly with Thanksgiving coming up and that being a big part of the Thanksgiving story.  There's not much to say about it--there was a small "village" set up in front of the library with a shelter (it wasn't a teepee or a long house, but sort of a rounded tent type of structure covered in animal hide--there's a picture on the homepage of the website) where you could go see how they lived, they had some drums you could beat, a canoe to sit in, they were drying venison over a fire, and you could grind corn into corn meal using native tools. Inside they had a display of native artifacts, you could learn a few words of the Patawomeck language, and then they had a craft station where you could do coloring sheets or make arrowhead necklaces.  Leah went for a minimalist necklace--one arrowhead on a string and she was done, but Astrid made a really love necklace with beads and all kinds of things.

The corn meal the girls ground up

Afterwards, we finally had time to go get some sushi for lunch, which Astrid wanted to have for about a week before we finally found the time, and then it was time to go down to Belvedere Plantation, for the annual fall harvest festival.  I love going to Belvedere, mainly because I think the Corn Maze is so much fun.  This year, the maze was designed as Snoopy sitting on his doghouse (you can see the design here).  We headed straight for it and were lost inside in no time, which led the girls to discuss for an hour what we were going to do to survive, because we were otherwise surely going to die in there.  (insert Mom eyeroll here!)  They give you a flag when you get into the maze and if you get scared or truly can't get out, you just wave the flag in the air and they will come and rescue you.  But this really did not impress the girls very much.

Eventually we made our way out, despite their dire predictions that we would have to survive on feed corn and our wits alone.  They both especially enjoyed the small side maze with the slide and went up and down the slide quite a few times.

Entering the maze, attempting to use 1/4 of the map to find our way around

Scattered around the maze are rubbing stations where you can add pieces of the map to your rubbings.  If you find all the pieces, you get a complete map on the inside, but otherwise, you can complete it when you get out

View of the entire maze from an overlook in the back part of the maze.  I think we covered most of it

View of the maze from the ground

Enjoying the slides!

It was a pretty warm day, so when we got out and discovered we had some time before the pig races began, we decided to take a break and get drinks.  Because we hadn't made it to the state fair, I thought it would be nice for Astrid to try her first American funnel cake.  I ordered one and brought it to the table.  Astrid had never seen such a thing, although it was quickly devoured by all 3 of us.  She loved it and asked if she could see how it was made.  I told her I would take her by the tent on the way back.

Baby's first funnel cake

After funnel cake, we went and enjoyed the pig races.  Belvedere has 16 racing pigs, not quite piglets, definitely not adults, and they make quite a show of 4 races of 4 pigs each trotting around a small track.  The pigs get distracted and some just sort of wander in circles till a farmer enters the track and moves them along, but some are quite fast.  They were cute and it was a lot of fun to watch. 

The girls also went down a big slide that Belvedere has installed in a hill, and after the pig races, Leah rode around on tractor tricycles for half an hour.  Then we walked back over to the funnel cake tent.  I asked the girl at the counter if they should show Astrid how to make one, even though we hadn't bought one, and they agreed, although I don't know that she actually got to see much.  However, when it was done cooking, they realized they had an extra funnel cake with no one who actually bought it so they wound up giving it to us!  That second funnel cake didn't last any longer than the first one. :)

We headed for home and went over to Wegman's to grab firewood and supplies for a little party I was throwing that evening.  I had my friends Amber and Andy over and we fired up Ol' Sparky again and roasted marshmallows and gabbed for a couple of hours. It was an absolutely perfect day as far as I was concerned. 

Yesterday, the girls had pageant rehearsal in the morning.  I think we will all be kind of glad when the Christmas pageant is over and we can sleep in a bit on Sundays, but they have been attending very diligently and I'm sure the pageant will be a success.

Pageant rehearsal in full swing

Afterwards, we had the service and then Astrid headed off to another local farm, Sneads, for an afternoon with the youth group.  I had my class, and by the time Astrid was back, we had decided to spend the rest of the afternoon shopping.  I've been invited to a fancy dance, so we looked for make up for that, and Astrid was on the prowl for perfume-free shampoo and soap, which she found.  She had also heard of the mysterious Walgreens and the even more mysterious Rite Aid on some YouTube DIY videos and wanted to check those places out, as well as CVS and And That.  We finished the day at Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner, then headed home.  Leah went to bed and Astrid and I checked out another episode of My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which my friend Lesley recommended to us.  At first I didn't think too much of it, but as we are getting further into it, I'm enjoying it more and more!

So that brings us into November.  This is a great time of year--we will soon be celebrating Thanksgiving and Astrid will get to meet my dad.  My niece has a birthday coming up, we're going to hang out at Westmoreland State Park with Dipthi and her family, we have a baby shower to attend, we might give the Breakout Room another chance, and who knows what other marvels we'll get up to!? It's a busy time of year and will probably not slow down now until after the New Year, but given how quickly time has been flying by, I can't imagine it going any quicker!  Hope you enjoyed this post. :) See ya again in a few weeks.