Sunday night

My family gets a breather now on massive amounts of outside activities, at least until next week.

Last week, Allie's Norwegian show went well, but she'll probably never think of it that way. Allie was one of four bellringers who performed the Westminster chimes at the start and middle of a Norwegian song about clocks. Each time the foursome rang the bells, they did the series of tones twice. The fourth time they did the tones, Allie, who had the task of ringing the first bell, didn't. It was just a momentary pause, rather sweet really, but she said it was humiliating. It'll probably end up being one of those things that still make her face flush in 30 years (witness me still remembering the time in first grade when I went to the board and worked a problem even though Mrs. Shallue hadn't called on me after all). And that's too bad.

Allie's 5k run was postponed until tomorrow because of thunderstorms. She's very worried about it. Today, she said that she wished she could painlessly break a bone so she didn't have to try to do it. And that's too bad and sad. She's putting too much pressure on herself.

Meanwhile, Julia is going for her master's degree in screeching at the top of her lungs when Allie does something she doesn't like or takes something from her. Of course, my response is always to yell at them both. There's gotta be a better way.

This afternoon, the three of us did have some fun. We went to the second of the weekend's two parades through downtown and very much enjoyed it. The parade lasted 1 1/2 hours and had (we counted) 16 live bands. That's a lot of music. There were also horses galore and no Shriners (that was my favorite part, no Shriners). Beautiful weather, if a little cool.

I didn't get any corn-on-the-cob this weekend, but I did donate blood on Friday. So that's 64 donations given over the last 25 years. A slow pace of donations, but hey--at this rate, I'll have given 16 gallons by the time I'm too old to donate anymore. That's a lot of blood if you picture it lined up in milk jugs. OK, scratch that thought--that's just gross.

Update

We have officially entered THE BUSY TIME as far as the kids are concerned. I think school's administrators, teachers, and parents group have all noticed that there is "only" a month left of school and so they're madly scheduling things every five minutes. Actually, every two days, but still. Add in a few birthday parties and it's quite the challenge.

This past weekend, Julia got to attend her first friend birthday party, which was held at the local bowling alley. She thought it was the awesomeist. These brave people invited her entire class of about 18 kids and there were 16 that made it. Julia's goal was to beat the bowling score of the birthday boy, and for the sake of it being his day, I'm pleased to report that he got an 80 and Julia got a 79.

Allie has been attending a course called "Girls on the Run" for the last eight weeks. It's a girls empowerment course coupled with running exercise, with the goal of completing a 5K race after 10 weeks. In her case, that race will be the Susan Komen Race for the Cure. This Wednesday, she's running a practice 5K on a neighborhood trail. You go, girl!

That same day is Julia's birthday. Not actually. Just at school. Her teacher sent home a note saying that she picks a date for kids whose real birthday is in the summer and that's the day that the class celebrates Julia. Oh, and if you want to, send cupcakes.

This Thursday, Allie is involved in a special program at the local senior center, celebrating Norwegian culture through song and dance. This town is overflowing with Norwegian descendants of the people who settled the place 100 years ago or so, so she's learning to be a Norwegian (even though she's half German and half Irish/English). Allie is a bell ringer and she's excited.

Friday, there's a local blood drive that I'll be sure to make it to. This donation will top off my 8th gallon of blood, which is 64 pints and 64 donations.

Also Friday, I have to bake a pie. This weekend is our community's biggest festival, Syttende Mai (Seventeen May - or the closest weekend to May 17th, which commemorates the day that Norway earned it's independence from Sweden way back when). What does that have to do with pie? Our local library holds a pie sale as a fundraiser and since I spend a lot of time using library services, I figure I can bake a pie.

And these are just this week's events for our family. What's on your schedule for the week?