Happy Easter!

This Week at the Remmers'

Well, I thought this had been a relatively quiet week until I started brainstorming everything that went on.  It never stops around here!

On Monday, we had little bit more work done on the house.  The ceiling in the basement bathroom was crinkled from years of built up moisture, so we had it replaced.  Unfortunately, this disturbed a nest of cluster flies, which had been hibernating somewhere in our walls.  On Tuesday morning, our poor Korean house guests woke up to three huge flies in their tiny bathroom, and we have been fighting them all week (the flies, not the house guests!), killing more than 6 per day (flies, not house guests).  I felt terrible for them (the house guests, not the flies), but there is nothing we can do except wait for them to die out (the flies, not the house guests!).

In better news, also on Monday, we held our annual Pi Party.  Nope, that's not a typo.  On March 14, nerds around the world celebrate PI (3.14) by eating PIE.  We had a HUGE crowd (almost too big for our tiny house!) and it was a lot of fun.

This year there was a special twist!

On Tuesday, Margie was invited to attend a special "parent input" meeting about the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Program (MYP).  This is something our schools are in the middle of implementing, and the official representatives wanted to get a sense of how it is going. Margie was worried that 1) she didn't know enough about the program to offer any good input, and/or 2) she was going to say something that made the school lose points.  Ack!  But it all turned out fine.  Whew!

Later that day, Lyn got her driver's permit!!!!  Ack!  Here we go on our next adventure...

She's permitted!

On Wednesday, Margie was excited for finally pick up her bike from the shop.  She had brought it in several weeks prior for a spring tune up, as well as some much needed repairs.  Unfortunately, when she went out on the trail Thursday morning, it was still broken!!  ARGH!!!  Margie was very upset and convinced Dan to go with her back to the shop and strong arm them into fixing it.  Turns out he wasn't needed, though.  They gladly made some adjustments, and she was on her way.

Top o' the mornin' to ya! Margie was looking forward to a St. Patrick's Day ride, but found out her bike was still broken the moment she got on it!

Due to the issues with the bike, we weren't able to celebrate St. Patrick's day in style.  We feasted on our Colcannon on Saturday instead.

On Friday, we said goodbye to both of our children. Lyn went on a long-promised solo trip out to the Pacific Northwest to visit family.  She had been wanting and waiting for this for some time.  Her cousin Emily had made the reverse trip a few years ago, and last year we promised Lyn that she could do it, too.  Unfortunately, Margie waited too long to buy the tickets last year, and it was cost prohibitive.  We are grateful we have such a patient and understanding daughter!

Lyn's first solo transcontinental flight!

John also left on a trip, but his was much shorter, camping with his scout troop.

With both kids gone, Dan and Margie got to go on a little date night.  We took the opportunity to visit one of our favorite restaurants, Hawwi (which neither of the kids like), in Old Town.  If you are local and enjoy Ethiopian food, check it out!

On Saturday, Dan and Margie went on a little bike ride along Accotink Creek.  It was nice to have two working bikes and hang out together, but it was cold!  Plus, for some reason, there were dead frogs everywhere.  Margie remarked that she thought she might be in Egypt!
 
After the campout, John headed over to help out with a friend's Eagle Project.  He built some furniture and helped out with some organizing projects--both of which he has a lot of experience with(!)--at a local Chamber of Commerce.  Meanwhile, Lyn seemed to be having a good time West of the Mississippi.

With Uncle Tom at Cousin Emily's robotics competition.

Skagit Valley Tulips.

Well, that's all our news.  Hope you're enjoying this first day of Spring!

This Week at the Remmers'

My goodness--I don't know where the time went yesterday!  I'm supposed to have lots of time in the morning before church, and my goal is to write this update then, but time got away from me--it may have something to do with the fact that I was SO EXHAUSTED from the jam packed weekend!

But let's start from the beginning...

Last Sunday, John performed in his Pre-Festival Piano Recital.  This takes place at his music teacher's home, and it is an opportunity for all her students to show off their stuff and perform in front of an audience before the big day, when they'll play and receive a score from two judges.

John did a great job.  In fact, he did so great, that we were a little worried that he peaked too early!  Last year, as you will recall, he fell apart in the recital, and we chalked it up to "bad dress rehearsal, good performance"--and that's exactly what happened.  This year, he did so well that we were concerned that the opposite would be true, but luckily it wasn't.  I'm getting ahead of myself, though!

On Monday, John and Dan bagged food for the needy at Arlington Food Assistance.  This was part of John's community service hours required for his Civics class.  They had done this once before, and it was a great experience.  John still has some hours left, though, so he's planning to learn how to usher and house manage at LTA.  That's still to be scheduled, though.

On Wednesday, Margie attended her very first scouting Round Table.  Since it finally became official last Sunday, I guess now is a good time to let the cat out of the bag--she has been called and sustained as the new Cubmaster.  This means she oversees the cub scouting program (boys 8-10) for three of the congregations that meet in our church building.  It is a HUGE job, and she's terrified and overwhelmed, (and why do they keep asking her to work with little kids?), but she's been training/working on it for a month now, so she's beginning to settle in a little bit.  Anyway, the Round Table is a monthly meeting of scout leaders in the area, and it will allow Margie to meet others, get trained, get ideas, etc. 

On Thursday, we attended a potluck put on by the North Franconia Civic Association (NFCA).  We do not have an HOA in our area, so this group is an opportunity for our neighborhood to have a united voice to local legislation in civic matters.  We also get group discounts and stay informed on what's going on in our community.

Though we are long time members of the NFCA, we don't usually attend their social gatherings.  This year was a little different, because they had as their guest speaker, Jeff McKay, who is our district supervisor, and they asked us to submit questions in advance.

Margie is on a mission to get our street name changed. There are 9 homes on Franconia Forest COURT that are numbered 6200 through 6208.  ALL of these homes have a house with a corresponding number on Franconia Forest LANE.  As you can imagine, this situation is extraordinarily confusing for visitors.  We get eachother's mail, packages, pizzas, service workers, etc.  Basically, anyone who wants to come to our houses on the court needs special instructions about the difference between the LANE and the COURT.  Deliveries are frequently missed because the driver comes to the wrong house.

Jeff's answer was that we needed to submit a petition, which would be reviewed by the board of supervisors, and then, if approved, submitted to VDOT.  Since it only affects 9 homes (well, 18, if you count the corresponding houses), I'm not sure how much attention we'll get.  Margie will have to talk to the neighbors and find out their thoughts.  Margie has noticed, however, that most people are more likely to tolerate a bad situation than she is.  She is frequently baffled at this fact and wonders why more people don't stand up and make a change!!  Anyway, not sure what will come of it.  Stay tuned!


We left the potluck a little early so that we could head over to The Little Theatre of Alexandria and catch the performance of The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged).  Margie had seen it in New York many many years ago, so she knew it would be a treat for the whole family.  It was very funny, and the kids loved it.  If you're in the area, there's one week left--check it out! 


On Friday, our busy week turned into a frenzied weekend.  As part of her duties as Cubmaster, Margie plans and executes a monthly Pack Meeting, which is a time for the boys and their families to get together for fun, games, and awards.  Unfortunately, John's Festival performance was scheduled for the exact same time!  So, she planned the whole meeting, got everything set up, and then let her committee run the evening.  She heard great things!

This month's theme was "Thrifty" (one of the points of the Scout Law), and the evening was centered around reusing, recycling, and re-purposing items.  As people gathered, each family was presented with an identical "genius" kit, which contained a variety of items such as pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, buttons, aluminum foil, etc.  They were instructed to "build a house, fit for a mouse."  After the opening ceremony was presented by the Bears, the Webelos performed a skit about re-using tin cans and some string as a telephone.  Awards were then presented, and everyone got to talk about the creative things they were able to come up with for their mouse house.  This was followed by a presentation of several items which volunteers got to think of creative uses for.  The evening ended with refreshments provided by the Wolves and served in unusual containers.  A great time was had by all!

Unfortunately, we missed it.

Instead, we headed to the neighboring town for Piano Festival.  On our way there, we stopped for dinner at the local Byzantine Catholic Church, Epiphany of our Lord, which, every Friday during Lent, serves a traditional, Slavic meatless meal of Pierogi, Halushki, and Soup.  We typically try to get take out there every year, but this was the first time we have eaten in. It was fun!  We enjoyed a leisurely meal, and then sauntered out to the car.  We planned to have lots of time to get to the Festival location with extra time to find parking, find the performance space, and be there early to test out the piano and relax.

But as we walked to the car, suddenly Margie realized--WE FORGOT JOHN'S MUSIC!!!!!

John had the pieces memorized, but we needed to provide the music to the judges so they could follow along, as well give them the judging forms to mark.

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes, having a race car driver in the family is very handy!  We raced back home, John ran in to get the music, and then we raced to the performance location.  Our hearts were pounding!!!  Miraculously, we not only got there, we got there with plenty of time to spare.  We were able to find the room, John was able to test the piano, and we all had a chance to breathe and relax.  Whew!


We won't have the results for a week or so, but John did extremely well in his performance. He suffered a little bit from the poor piano.  It was not as responsive as ours, so he had a difficult time expressing the dynamics in his pieces--as did everyone else in the room.  I suspect the judges will note this on the form, but I don't think he'll lose points for it.  He did very well, and we expect a high mark.  Dan said that one of the judges had a huge smile on her face during one of the pieces.  That's a good sign!

There was no rest for the weary, however, as Saturday we headed into John's Odyssey of the Mind competition.  This year, for their long problem, his team presented their version of an Aesop's Fable.  They chose one called "The Bear and the Two Travelers".  (Google that if you've never heard of it--we certainly hadn't!)  John played the narrator.  They did a great job and got some great feedback from the judges.  The set they build was a giant book that opened into the story--so that was pretty cool.  Their overall score was 80%, which is decent, but not likely to send them on to the next round.  We'll find out the rankings at a later time.

John sat out of the spontaneous round.  This is the one where they all have to come up with creative solutions to a problem that is either verbal, an object, or both verbal and object.  They had six members of their team and only five could participate in this round.  John had previously said that if it was verbal, he wanted to be the one to sit out.  He said that it's verbal every year, and he prefers the other two.  This is unfortunate, because this round is where he excels!!!  The question this year was "If someone left a box on your front porch, name something you wouldn't want to find inside."  As we were brainstorming in the car on the way home, we said your typical things, like "a severed head," "poop", "a bomb"--you know, things you'd think to find in a box.

We then asked John, who was in the room, but not participating, what he thought of that his team didn't say.  He responded with things like "a paradox", "a black hole," and "doubt."  THIS KID CRACKS ME UP!!!  We suggested that next time, he not sit out.  He's just too good!!!

After the competition, we raced home so the kids could change clothes, and then we took them to the church to prepare for the annual Youth Service Auction.  This is the one fundraiser that the kids do each year to raise money for Summer Camp.  They serve a spaghetti dinner and then auction off various services like babysitting, car washing, lawn mowing, etc.  There are also baked goods that they make and auction.  This year, John offered Chess lessons and cookies.  Lyn offered homework help for elementary school kids and a family portrait.

It was a fun evening, but it had been a long day, and we were all pretty exhausted when we finally got home.


On Sunday, we were all pretty tired from the weekend's events, and it didn't help that we lost an hour due to the time change.  In addition to our regular three hours of church, Lyn, John and Margie all had hour long meetings for their various callings (Lyn is Mia Maid President, John is Teacher's Quorum Secretary, and Margie, as you know, is Cubmaster), and Margie and Lyn had choir practice.  So I guess that explains where the time went!

I hope you all are doing well and looking forward to the coming Spring!

This Week at the Remmers'

As always, things were hopping at the Remmers' this week.  It actually seemed like kind of a quiet one until I started writing things down for the blog!

On Sunday night after church, Margie attended a preparedness seminar hosted by one of the congregations that shares our building.  I guess the National Guard experience last week really brought home the need to be prepared in case of an emergency.  One valuable take away she learned was to put "ICE" in the contacts in your phone.  This is "In Case of Emergency," and it provides first responders with a quick an easy way to reach your loved ones if something ever happens to you.  If you don't have one, put it in right now!!!

On Tuesday, there was no school due to the Primary elections, which were expected to have a "historic and unprecedented" turn out.  There was no line when Margie voted, so I don't know if the school closure was really warranted after all.

John's Odyssey of the Mind team took advantage of the extra time, however, and held another practice.  I hear they made good use of it and are feeling good about the competition coming up next weekend.

On Wednesday and Thursday, John took the 8th Grade Writing SOL (Standards of Learning) test.  We will not get his results for awhile, but hopefully he did well.  Margie is especially nervous since 5th grade is supposed to be "the writing year," and that's the year he was homeschooled.  He did write a lot that year, but since he didn't take the SOL, we don't really have a baseline measurement.  Fingers crossed!  By the way, his essay topic was "the pros and cons of competition."  That seems like something worth writing about...

On Friday, Lyn attended her first costuming meeting for Once on the Island.  She says things are going well, and she is especially looking forward to costuming the gods.  Both she and Dan, who was at rehearsal the next day, say that the cast is really ahead of the game.  Dan is particularly impressed with the choreography.  We're looking forward to a great show!

That night, we hosted a Doctor Who Dinner Party.  Last Halloween, you will recall that John dressed as Doctor #11.  We attended a church function that night and found that there were two other Doctors there (#10, and another #11).  We figured they were cool people we wanted to get to know better, so we invited them and their wives (neither couple has children yet) over for dinner.  Of course we had to make all the food Doctor Who themed!

We had celery in honor of Doctor #5, Roasted Fez Peppers and Bow Tie Pasta in honor of Doctor #11, Adipose Tofu with Broccoli in honor of #10, and of course "Fish Sticks" and Custard for dessert.  This was in honor of #11, but instead of fish, Margie used Walkers Shortbread Sticks, which is a product of Scotland--where the actors that played both #10 and #12 are from.

To drink we had Rose Lemonade (in honor of the Doctor's companion, Rose Tyler) and Jones Soda (in honor of both the Doctor's companion, Martha Jones, and the British Prime Minister in many episodes, Harriet Jones).  Margie even decorated the glassware with Doctor Who characters.

We all had a great time eating and getting to know each other.  They are, indeed, pretty cool people!

John with Drew Bahr, the other #11, Halloween 2015.

John with Mike Hill, #10, Halloween 2015.

Yummy, Doctor Who-themed food.

...and beverages.

When people chose their drink, they got a character.

Only one person really dressed up, but Margie joined the fun with the marking of the Silents.

Saturday started with Dan heading over to the high school to begin work on the set for Once on the Island.  A student had designed it, and while it looked cool, it wasn't very practical to build, so Dan is going to have to do some adjusting.  Luckily, he knows what he's doing.  The other dad that typically helps build the sets there is not available for this show.

Dan also helped John's Odyssey of the Mind team build THEIR set.  He's not allowed to build it at all--just provide insight and advice--so John took charge.  It's a good thing John has so much experience from putting together all our new furniture!  He was a natural with the drill.  He even used the circular saw.  Yikes!  It's a good thing mom wasn't there to watch...

Tonight after church we are headed to a Pre-Festival Recital at the home of John's piano teacher.  This will give him an opportunity to play for his peers and their families before heading to the competition (Festival) next weekend.  Hopefully it will go well, but if it doesn't, that will be fine, too.  Last year, John entirely forgot his music at the recital, but then played perfectly at the competition.  We'll see!

Hope you all are doing well.  I don't know about you, but we are certainly looking forward to the lion to head out and the lamb to head in.