Recital, Birthday, Track Meets, and House Remodel-week 2

Piano Recital...
Ryan and Meggan had their piano recital on Saturday.  It is always great to hear them play pieces they've worked sooo hard on.  Of course, I've heard them hundreds of times by the time we get to the recital, but it is great to hear the performance.  They both did an excellent job--dynamics, expression, good tempos! Everything you want a pianist to accomplish during their performance.  I was really proud of them.

A Dog Birthday Party for Mandie...
On May 6, our pooch had a birthday!  She turned four years old--28 in dog years!  We still treat her like she's our little puppy. : )  Because our schedule during the afternoon was pretty open, we had a dog birthday party.  Mandie got to invite her best friend Lilly to go to Brown Dog Bakery in Ankeny, because she is such a good dog!

Meggan  --  Ryan

Mandie  --  Lilly

We met Lilly when a doctor in our town was looking for someone to walk her five month old golden retriever puppy.   Ryan and Meggan were hired, and they have been walking Lilly four days a week for almost two years.  On bad weather days (which is a lot in Iowa) Lilly just comes to our house and wrestles with Mandie for a few hours.  At the birthday party, both pups enjoyed sniffing lots of treats and  toys--Brown Dog Bakery has rows of buckets full of dog treats and bones.  Yummy, if you're a dog! They also have specially decorated treats stored behind glass just like cookies and donuts would be in a real bakery.  The dogs had a great time and got bacon flavored bagel treats and some peanut butter turtles.

Track Meets...
This is the last week of regular season track meets for my two oldest.  We only had two meets this week,    so my schedule already has a little breathing room in it again. Our district meet is Friday night. Brandon is on three relay teams that will likely go to state-- 4x100, 4x200, and 4x400.  Keeping the baton off the ground is the key factor.  Ellyn's running hurdles again this year.  Her shuttle hurdle relay team is the only event that could get her to state--the girls will have to be extra fast on Friday night to make it.

Our remodel project is moving a long.  This is the pocket door opening--a new way into our kitchen from the mudroom. That used to be a wall, with my family room on the other side.

It just keeps raining here.  I hope it stops soon...we've had four inches this week.  I haven't done any flower gardening, and I'm hoping to get some time for it when track ends.
Meggan and her friend on their way to piano lessons, walking in the rain: