Taking the good with the bad

Just for the record, I have been trying to post this update for a week and have had one problem after another. Fingers crossed that it works this time.



It's that time of year again. We are full on into tax season, but life still demands our attention. Sometimes it's a little overwhelming.

Addison and I recently spent the weekend on the coast. I took her to meet up with some friends to go watch a hockey game. The view from our room was quite nice.

She and Abigail also competed in the county fair's life skills division. Addison made a lot of food and Abigail entered some art work. There were blue and red ribbons received.

One of the entries that Addison made was lemon marmalade. It's pretty good stuff, and we've still got several jars.

Kirsten competed in an area art competition and received a score of 4 out of a possible 4. She was thrilled. Then they lost her artwork.....which did not thrill her. But, word is that it has been found so we're just waiting for them to let her know when she can pick it up.

Unfortunately, there's also been bad. While Addison and I were at the coast, one of our dogs got really sick and Dax had to rush her to the emergency vet. However, her kidneys were failing and he had to make the tough decision of putting her to sleep. Even when something is irreversibly wrong, and you know it's for the best, it's still a hard choice to make.

Then, less than a week later, Abigail had to make the same choice with her guinea pig. He had developed a tumor that could not be removed and that was causing more problems and it was obvious he was suffering. 

We still haven't gotten adjusted to their absences. 

We look forward to better things, and now it's time to start planning for Junior/Senior Prom.

The Results Are In!

On Saturday they had the UIL competitions for our district.

Addison and Abigail were the only two of my children competing.

Addison was competing in Modern Oratory. She texted me before she was headed into the competition to tell me that she was nervous. I assured her that I had no doubt that a competition that involved talking was certainly the right one for her.

After she was done, she texted me again telling me that she had bombed and forgot her talking points and was all over the place with her speech. She was pretty disappointed about it. However, once she found out that she got fourth place she decided she deserved for me to make cupcakes for her.....which of course, I did.

Abigail competed in the art competition. Her work was sent in prior to the competition so she didn't have to be there on Saturday. But that also meant that she didn't find out the results until Monday. She won 5th place! She's proud of that placement, but we both know that she probably would have placed even higher if one of her more recent watercolor paintings had been used. I think she's got a talent for art over all, but watercolors seem to come quite naturally to her. I'll take some pictures of her recent work and get them posted soon.

Anyway, we're very proud of them for competing and for doing so well. Good job girls!!!