"Even when the rainbow seems to pass right by me....I'm still finding Gold in the clouds....."

14 June 2013

Nearing the End Faves


The end is near.....

the school year's end...........

and with it has come many activities.........moments in my life and in our 8th grader's life.........

I missed last week's FFF due to all these events......but I'm back to share my top five with you along with other FFF friends who link up over at Susanne's.

Come join in and share some faves from your week!

  • PERFORMANCES!  Saturday June 1st, Claire had the NYSSMA Solo Competition on violin.  (New York State School Music Association)  She performed Level 4 and earned an OUTSTANDING which is the highest grade. (26/28 points).  Then last Friday, she had the Academy of Dance annual show.  This year she studied Lyrical ballet as well as continuing in her 10th year of classes for ballet and her 2nd year of pointe.  She won the top solo spot and danced to the music of "I Do Believe in Fairies" from the Broadway version of Peter Pan. (she was Tinkerbell).  Her lyrical ballet class danced to the Broadway version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".  It was beautiful.  The entire show was based on a Broadway theme and the ballets were Ballet for Broadway.  We are very proud of her and her accomplishments and that is always a fave for any parent!


Posing on pointe as Tinkerbell
Dance friends 2013
from l-r: Sami, Alyssa (in Jazz costume), Claire (Lyrical Ballet), and Sarah (Tap)

  • TIME WITH FAMILY!  This is always a good thing of course!  Dave's parents (my in-laws), drove out from the south shore MA area to watch Claire perform her ballet.  They then joined us for a day in Saratoga Springs, which is just 20 minutes north of us.  We had so much fun showing them some sights, browsing in the Dance shop and toy store, and eating lunch at this amazing place.  Dave had been there before, but the girls and I had never been. I splurged and got hot corned beef on rye. Oh.my.goondess. Dessert was not needed.  HUGE lunch so I saved half the sandwich for work on Monday.
Courtney (19) and Claire (14) at The Parting Glass Pub
Saratoga Springs 8 June 

Claire with Grammy T admiring the horse sculpture outside near the Dance Shop
Saratoga, NY June 2013
  • HERB GROWTH!  My cinnamon basil is finally taking off!  The parsley is more slow-going. Not sure why as I've never tried to grow that herb before so it's kind of an experiment with me.  We'll see what happens. But the basil is lovely!
Container herbs on our deck shelf
  • DINNER DATE!  This was totally spontaneous on Wednesday evening.  Dave and I had to attend a wake, so after we said our condolences and chatted a bit with some old friends, we decided to go grab some dinner at this place.  Mmm....it had been a long time since we had eaten there. We did the 2 for $20 special and shared the Spinach Artichoke Dip as an appetizer.  Dave had the small sirloin and Iced Tea.   I had the Oriental Chicken Salad and Raspberry Iced Tea.We were relaxed and happy to have no other obligations for the evening.

  • NEAT HOUSE!  I have come home from work every afternoon this past week to a very neat house. Not a perfect house.  But a neat house.  My oldest, due to all the rain, had no work on Monday and Tuesday.  We were not happy about that as she needs the money for college books  and gas in August.  But, she did dishes, emptied the trash, straightened up cupboards, re-organized some things for me in the kitchen......it was all much appreciated!  Now if I can just get her to dust her bedroom.......... :)

That wraps it up for me.

How was your week??  Can you find a few blessings? and.......

Are you as excited as I am for the start of the summer season?? Summer officially begins on June 21st!!

Happy Weekend, everyone!




7 comments:

Paula said...

Just a few more days...hang in there, and then you can take a much-deserved rest.

How sweet of Courtney to help out around the house on her days off! You have done a good job training her.

Enjoy your weekend! :)

Laura@OutnumberedMom said...

Saratoga Springs is such a pretty town. Love the pictures of your ballerina...something I never experienced as a mom! (Maybe as a grandmom someday??)

Great having another daughter home, I'll bet, especially when the house shines like that. Enjoy your last few days of school and then revel in the summer, Faith!

Barbara H. said...

Performances can be exhausting, but so fun. Glad it all went well and the grandparents got to come.

So thoughtful of your daughter to do some things around the house with her time off!

Melanie - Author/Editor/Publisher said...

Claire is a beautiful ballerina!!

I love Saratoga, love walking around and eating lunch, etc.

Cinnamon Basil sounds neat, I should try growing some herbs

I LOVE DINNER DATES and a clean house ;)

JoannaTopazT said...

Cinnamon basil sounds intriguing. Beautiful dancer -- I always feel nervous for their toes when they go en pointe! And it's so nice of your daughter to be doing the housework for you in this busy season!

susan said...

Hurray, kudos, and congrats to Claire on a job well done for violin and dance. And how fun to share these moments with other family members.

I'e never heard of cinnamon basil -sounds delish though. I hope your experiment turns out to be a repeatable success.

Have a great weekend, Faith.

Susanne said...

It's such a blessing when the kids do something that really helps without being asked.

Family time is the best! We're having that this weekend and I'm so looking forward it before my Oldest goes back to her city and my son gets called to work on the rigs again.

I've grown herbs in containers on the deck before but have forgotten to do it in the last couple of years. I loved just reaching out and getting a handful when cooking. My favorite was a lemon thyme and cilantro.