Events of late

Marian is busy with rowing daily, getting ready for her last regatta (although it might be cancelled due to predicted thunderstorms), singing in choir competitions (her middle school choir made 1st place and best overall), working on her Chaco tan and looking forward to the end of school.

Gabriel is also busy with end of the year events.  He has prom this weekend and then leaves on May 8th for the International Science and Engineering Fair.  He won the regional division (below) and is competing at the next level in May in Phoenix.  He is also thinking of new and creative excuses to being tardy nearly every day for school.  (Common excuse "Family Issues" and "Carpooling problems")  Graduation is June 2nd and I keep telling him he just needs to get thru the next month. He is headed to Rice University in the Fall (Houston, TX) and is very happy about the decision.

Anna is finishing up classes and has signed up for summer session.  She will come home for a short break before summer session starts.  Still looking for a good and reliable part time job...

April

Cold temperatures, despite it being April.  Flowers and trees can't quite figure it out.  Grass is already, but not growing as quickly with the cold temps.  It was actually 35F this morning!

Gabriel is slowly hearing from colleges about financial aid packages.  He has to make a decision by May 1st about where he's going next year.  He is leaning toward GA Tech or Rice, but still waiting to hear from GA Tech about financial aid.  He did get a good package from Northwestern, but that's not his first choice.

Marian has 2 more regattas of this spring season, and then she's done for the season.  She has had a good time rowing, but lately it's been more tiring and more work.

Anna is looking at summer and fall schedules for classes and getting that in order.  She is also looking for a part time job.

Pictures from production of Joseph

What's been happening here

In no particular order, other than as it comes into my mind.

• School spring break for Marian and Gabriel, it's been a relaxing break and weather has been mostly good (a couple of major rainstorms in there too)
• Marian's first spring regatta of the season.  She did well, coming in 3rd place.  Gabriel has decided not to row this last season of senior year--a collective decision as his whole quad also left.
• Gabriel has heard back from all but one of the colleges for next year.  He's gotten accepted to Northwestern, U of TN, U of NC (Chapel Hill), and GA Tech.  He is leaning toward GA Tech, but still waiting on word from Rice University.
• Our spring musical was a huge success and loved by audiences all around.  Many commented on the professionalism of the cast and the talent of the students.  Of course, they loved the costumes too :) It took about a week to clean all the costumes and then get those few back from the dry cleaners, they are all organized and back at the theatre. Phew!
• Bed bug saga continues...we have had issues with bed bugs since January and finally thought we were out of the woods, only to find more last night.  I am so sick of these creatures and Marian is very much sick of sleeping on the couch.  
• Bogdan attended a conference for radio astronomy (his hobby) in AZ in March and had a good time there and was able to visit his family as well.
• Girl Scout cookies!  Still have so many to sell and our season is "officially" over.  But, that doesn't mean I'll not sell any more...it just means it will be at regattas and other events that aren't official.  
• We have a German student coming here for 3 short weeks.  It is part of an exchange between our high school and one in Germany.  It will be a whirlwind, and there are 10 of those days that he will travel with his group to Nashville and Atlanta, so we won't see him then. 
• Upcoming events for us: Spring Regattas for Marian, Catholic Women's Convention for Karen, College Decisions for Gabriel, Visit to Wisconsin for Karen and Bogdan, Spring and Summer Semesters for Anna (as well as finding a summer job...), Chorus Trip to Ohio for Marian, Work as usual for Bogdan

Too busy to blog

Been extremely busy with the stuff of life.

GS Cookie season.  My troop sold over 1,500 boxes of cookies, and they are all getting delivered.  We have 3 "cookie booths" coming up these next weekends, so we'll be selling the last legal drug--GS cookies :)  Marian has sold over 200 boxes and will likely sell many more at cookie booths.

Gabriel has been very busy with his internship and has a big presentation next week.  He's off to WV snowboarding this weekend and taking a little break.  He definitely has senior-itis and is busy with so many things.  Still waiting to hear from all the colleges, have submitted all the paperwork for scholarships.

Bogdan is working as much as ever and stressing out about work on a daily basis.

Anna is doing well at ETSU, she turned 20 this week!!  She is active in a fraternity, that is service oriented and they do a service project each month, that is a good thing for her.  She is eager to receive her GS cookie package from us.

I am busy with costumes for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  What a great show! There are a lot of costumes, but I think that it's about average for a musical.  I think the greatest number is 8 costumes for one of the characters.

We did Breakout Knoxville last night.  It's a combination of a Murder Mystery Party and a lock in.  You get locked into a room and have to solve the mystery in an hour.  TONS of fun.  We didn't solve it, but we were SO CLOSE!!

Happy Birthday to both me and Anna!!

Happy Birthday Marian

Marian's wish came true and we have a snow day today.  It's still snowing and they are predicting now 3-5 inches of the white stuff.

I think she's about 4 or 5 months in this picture, what a cutie!!

New year is flying by!!

It is a cold day in TN and I don't dare ask "Can it get any colder?" (Because then it will!)

School has begun for all the kids and Anna is back to college. She is taking part time classes and has a part time job at the campus bookstore.  She is liking her schedule and we hope this will allow her to focus on her classes more and succeed.

Marian made the finals for the Bijou Awards and here is a picture of her singing.

She sang a song from "Newsies" called "Watch What Happens" and wowed the audience and judges.  She did not win, but thoroughly enjoyed her experience.  (There's a video of her performance on Anna's Facebook page.)

Marian turns 13 tomorrow and an official teenager.  We are scheduled for some snow and she is hoping for a snow day, and a day off from school for her birthday.