First Recital! 🎹

Charlotte had her first piano recital last night. She performed "Gentle Thoughts."

She has the piece memorized, but Charlotte saw that other students were using their sheet music, and she wanted that saftey net, too.

This is what relief looks like.

We celebrated with ice cream afterwards. It's tradition. 

"Did you do your best?"

"Yes."

"Good! Let's go eat something!"

Keeping Busy 🎢

Flowers and Dutch Letters are not my thing, so on Friday night I stayed home while Charlotte and Daphne went to the Tulip Time parade at Pella.

When I have the house to myself, I like to make my favorite meal - grilled steak with onions.

On Saturday morning we went to opening of the Downtown Farmers' Market. It seems like I take this same picture every year.

Daphne and I shared a BLT pita from Breakfast Delights. The greens might make up for my Friday night dinner.

Char kept the Dutch theme going with an order of poffertjes. 

US. Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was there, too. I don't know what he ate.

After the market, we walked down to the Johnston library for Kites on the Green. We started in the barn where they give you a kit to make your own kite.

Getting some help from Mom.

Finished!

The only problem with Saturday's weather was a lack of wind. That made flying a kite tough, but we tried anyway. The kite did get off the ground.

Char's last level 3 swim lesson was on Sunday, and we squeezed in a trip to Adventureland between church and the pool.

We have been trying to get Charlotte on a rollercoaser for the past four years. Char didn't enjoy her first ride on the Tornado back in 2015, and she has refused to get back on the horse. Until Sunday, that is. Not only did Char willingly ride the Outlaw, she admitted it was fun. She even rode it again, and began discussing the merits of the other coasters in the park. 

Yea! Now we don't have to ride coasters alone while someone waits with Char on the sidelines.

Later, Charlotte received her swim lesson report card.

She passed level 3! Good job, Charlotte Manson!

Her's a link to Char's first rollercoaster ride ---> link

It's Dress Like a Teacher Day!

The students at Char's school are dressing like teachers in honor of teacher appreciation week.

Ironically, I don't get to dress like a teacher today. I had a fever last night, (101.9), and I have to stay home from school. 

Hunting Eggs

Last year Char wore a winter coat for the Easter Egg hunt at our church. This year she wore shorts. 

You just can't predict what the Iowa weather will do. 

Char had a good time until she discovered that most of the chocolate had melted in the morning sun.

"It's okay... we'll just put them in the fridge."

Last year Char argued and argued that the Easter Bunny wasn't real. This year she wanted to put out a plate of goodies like she does for Santa.

You just can't predict what your kid will do.

Blink and You'll Miss It - Part 9

Easter 2011 (nine months old)

Easter 2012

Easter 2013

Easter 2014 (Just a little grumpy about going to church.)

Easter 2015 (Pretty happy about going to church.)

Easter 2016

Easter 2017 - It's irresponsible to take a child with a fever to church, but she can still hunt Easter eggs at home.

Easter 2018 (Hmmmm. That dress looks familiar.)

Easter 2019:

Insert the "time flies" cliché here.

Actually, it isn't a cliché; it's a law.

The Secret of the Mystery Cake

"Hey Char, what's so secret about the Easter cake you made with Mom?"

"Open it and find out!"

What's in there?

How did you two do that?

Story Material: My Iowa Cubs Shirt

The teachers at UHS can wear jeans to school on Fridays if they follow the shirt theme. 

Today I am wearing one of my favorite shirts. I'll tell you why.

Grandma Deb, Charlotte, Daphne, and I went to Principal Park to watch the I-Cubs play in the summer of 2011*.  (Check out Char's Cubbie hat.)

We were sitting in a row of seats by ourselves in the general admission section. During the first inning, a large group of 20-year-olds chose to sit in the same row. They filled every seat, and the guy who sat next to me was roughly the size of a grizzly bear. He apologized, wedged himself into his seat, and then pretended that his left elbow and knee were not touching my body.

The rows in front of us and in back of us were empty, so there wasn't any reason their group couldn't have split up. But no, he just sat there looking away from me as his frame slowly invaded more of my personal space. I shook my head at Daphne and said, "Sorry, but we have to move. I can't watch the game like this."

We picked up our food and all of the baby stuff and moved back four rows. While we were leaving, bear-man smiled at me and stretched his left arm across the backrest of my empty seat.

Again, the rows in front and in back of us were unoccupied. So, you can imagine my frustration when a group of three men then chose to sit in the seats directly in front of us. Ten seats were open on either side of them, and these jokers sit smack dab in front of us. 

To make matters worse, the guy sitting in my line of sight had a melon so big I couldn't see the pitcher or the batter. And he wasn't even wearing a hat. I couldn't believe my luck. We had to move again. This time we slid down to end of the row. 

The inning was over by the time we got reorganized. I don't think I had been seated for more than 30 seconds when I heard the whoomph of the t-shirt cannon. I looked up, and what do you know? A rolled-up shirt landed neatly in my lap. 

I held the shirt above my head in triumph as Grizzyman and Mr. Melon looked at me with envy. I looked from one to the other and hollered, "Thanks!" I don't know if they knew what I meant.

So, that's why this is one of my favorite shirts. It reminds me that you never know when life is going to throw something good your way.

*Because she passed away so early in Char's life, we don't have a lot of pictures of Grandma Deb and Charlotte together. This I-Cubs photo is in heavy rotation in our digital picture frame. I see the picture quite a bit, but due to the rule of thirds, I catch myself looking at the guy in the upper left of the photo. I keep thinking that he is never going to get a bite of that hot dog.

April 10 is Kindness Ninja Day!

Planning this outfit was easy. We already had the materials. 

Charlotte hasn't participated in martial arts for awhile, but she might want to try it again. If not, that's okay. She earned the shirt and belt she wore today.

I was hoping for an action pose, but there were quite a few people in the hallway. I'm lucky that she would take a moment for an embarrassing picture for Dad.

I think that was her first act of kindness for today.

It's Been Awhile

The Animal Crossing game that I bought for Charlotte didn't come with an official Nintendo memory card, but I had an aftermarket card that we could use.

I kept an eye on eBay, and it wasn't long before we had an Animal Crossing memory card and a manual to boot.

The cool part about getting a second memory card is that Char could help me start my own game of Animal Crossing. Then she could put my memory card into the GameCube's second slot and take the Animal Crossing train to visit my town. Charlotte learned about this by reading the guidebook.

I named my town Smakdown, and Char likes to come over to talk to the different characters who live there. She also makes fun of my barely furnished house.

I have since picked up a few more GameCube games, but I don't want to mess up our Animal Crossing memory cards. So, I bought another secondhand memory card at Jay's CD and Hobby. 

Guess what? The previous owner also played Animal Crossing, and his game information was still stored on the card. I deleted all of his other game info, but I left his town of Malibu intact.

I tested "Jack's" game before showing it to Char, and it worked. Malibu is covered in weeds, and while I walked Jack around town, most of the characters weren't very nice to him. They said things like, "Who are you?" and "I'm sorry, but I don't recognize you." 

One animal commented, "Where have you been for the last 144 months? Do you hibernate?" Kody said something similar.

So did Freya.

The 144 is spaced differently, and it looks like an accurate number generated by the game's internal clock feature.

144 months? That means Jack hasn't played Animal Crossing in 12 years. No wonder the characters acted like they had been abandoned. I'm guessing Jack now lives in an actual apartment. Instead of paying Tom Nook, he pays real bills.

I don't know if it is weird to continue Jack's game more than a decade after it was forgotten, but when I dropped Charlotte off at school today, the last thing she said to me was, "I can't wait to visit Malibu tonight!"

Looks like we have some virtual weeding to do.

I Never Have

As seen at Menards while Charlotte was at a piano lesson:

When was the last time you used the word "enrobed?"