On April Fool's Day, Margie likes to make fun "fooled you" food. This year, for breakfast she made what looked like egg on toast, but was really apricot and yogurt. For dinner, she made mashed potatoes that looked like a banana split and mini cakes that looked like baked potatoes. It was so fun!
Lyn was busy rehearsing for her role as an Oompa-Loompah in Willy Wonka, which ran April 4-5. The kids did a great job and she had a great time! She also managed to squeeze in ballet and church, and her month culminated with a trip to New York City with her Advance Drama class. It was a long day (4am Saturday until 4am Sunday!), but she had a great time. She attended workshops and saw Newsies and Wicked on Broadway! She was also cast in a 10 minute play festival and started rehearsing for that. She really loves theatre!
John continued in electronics club, this time focusing on computer programming and designed a game of snake. He also continued with track, church, and scouts. He and Dan attended Spring Bingo while Margie was at Willy Wonka, and he won a free meal at Noodles & Company--one of our favorites. That same weekend, John got to attend his first Priesthood session of General Conference (and the accompanying ice cream social)--that's a special, twice a year meeting for all men twelve and older. The following weekend, he attended a Boy Scout Camporee, where he participated in several Scottish Games, including throwing knives!! (This is why moms are not in charge of Boy Scouts--yikes!)
Dan has been hard at work, bringing home the veggie bacon and making possible all the fun things we get to do in our lives. He took one day off during Spring Break so we could have a Family Fun Day. We had intended to go on a little vacation, but found we had to book our stay 60 days in advance, so we decided to go this summer instead. As an alternative, we compacted our Spring Break into one day of fun. It started with a leisurely brunch, then in the afternoon we went to a local trampoline park that that recently opened up. In the evening, we drove up near Baltimore to visit Medieval Times--a dinner theatre complete with horse show and jousting. It was so fun! We were really impressed.
Dan is not currently working on any shows. He had decided not to do any until the house remodel is finished, but the folks from Rocky Horror Show twisted his arm. After all, he gets to build a science lab! But that won't start until the fall.
Speaking of the remodel. We wrote our very first check to the construction company! They are working on the design, and we'll soon start shopping for fixtures and appliances. You won't recognize our house when it it's all done--a portico, new siding, new windows, new front door unit, new flooring on the main level, new kitchen (with a new footprint), extension of the family room off the kitchen, remodeled master bath (also with a new footprint), new hall bath upstairs, new stair rail, hardscaping the back yard, pool/hot tub, new driveway, and complete landscaping. They should break ground in September, and all the house work should be done by January. We have to find a different contractor for the outside work (know anyone?), but we're hoping to be swimming in our pool next summer. Yay!
Margie stayed busy holding everything together, as usual. She is really enjoying her volunteer position as secretary of the children's organization at church. She also serves the PTA as the Honor Roll Assembly chair, which requires putting on a reception for the honor roll students each quarter. (FYI, Lyn has been on the all A honor roll every quarter this year!). Also this month, Margie attended an organ workshop put on by our church. Since we are an all volunteer organization, we have no paid clergy and no paid musicians! So for the most part we rely on people who just have an interest in learning the organ, rather than people who have actually studied it. The workshop was very interesting, and Margie learned a lot. Now it's just a matter of finding time to go practice at the church. She hasn't touched an organ since she was a little girl playing on the one in her grandmother's living room!
Also, as a family, we attended a church potluck that included a food storage cook off. Dishes could be in any category (main dish, dessert, etc.), and all the ingredients needed to be non-perishable. The top three winners of the contest would compete at another, larger event in May. Margie won third place with her great grandmother's "Wacky Cake," which uses a reaction of baking soda and vinegar, rather than eggs and daiy.
After the cook off/potluck, Dan and Margie headed to LTA to join in an 80th anniversary party. The evening included a fun show featuring music and play scenes from across the decades, followed by and a nice reception. It's always fun to hang out with our theatre family.
Finally, while Lyn was in New York, the three of attended a fund raising dinner and auction held to raise money to send our church youth to camp this summer. The teens served a delicious pasta supper and auctioned off services like mowing lawns, babysitting, etc. Lyn offered to take a family portrait and to read to children. John made a plate of cookies that were sold in the silent auction, and also offered chess lessons. They were all a big hit! Margie was not planning on buying anything, but when she heard camp was about $300 per kid, she suddenly thought buying $50 worth of housecleaning and lawn raking was a pretty good deal.
Last, but certainly not least, this month brought us Easter. While out shopping for Easter supplies, Margie started experiencing some mysterious back pain, which got worse and worse each store they visited. It got so bad that they had to cut their errands short, and by the time they got home, she couldn't move. It lasted for about 10 days, with Margie barely making it even to church. Luckily, our family rocks, and Dan and the kids put together a fabulous Easter dinner of strawberry poppyseed salad, steamed artichoke, Ukrainian egg bread (Aunt Annie's!), vegan ham with grape-rhubarb compote, and lemon parmesan potatoes, served with sparkling grape juice. Yum!
We hope everyone is doing well!
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