Good Friday

 

March madness

Is it the end of March already?  This year got off to a slow start but is now starting to fly by.  

Evan and Hailey started their third and final trimester of this schoolyear.  The high school is bringing all the kids in - back together for the first time in a year.  We will see how that goes.  Hailey continues to be virtual.  Lately she is setting up her "school in a box" in the dining room. 

We took advantage of a nice day after going to Grama's to take a walk along the boardwalk at Pere Marquette.  It was nice to have a change of scenery. 

Hailey keeps telling us that she doesn't want her loft anymore.  I told her if she didn't have her loft we wouldn't get to see her sweet little face peeking over the edge anymore. 

Mostly sweet face that is. 

Warm days in March start the ice and snow melting and are Hailey's favorite times of year to play at the beach.  Whether she is four or fourteen years old, that girl can't get enough of playing in the water and with the ice. 

One random Saturday family game night.  We all wore stick on mustaches. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  This girl made certain that she would not get pinched.

Another lovely weekend Saturday.  We drove to a park that was about 45 minutes south of us to enjoy the weather and let Trent do a Geocache he had been itching to find.  Hailey found some painted rocks (we left them on the path for all to enjoy) and a little clam type shell. 

We were crossing our fingers and didn't dare get our hopes up, but Evan and his Allegros were able to put on their spring musical "Songs for a New World".  It was so great to be back in the theatre and hear the amazingly talented kids do their thing. 

Hailey and I put together bouquets for Evan and April. 

Because of Covid, we couldn't congregate in the lobby afterward to celebrate the performers.  We were allowed to be outside though and that's what we did.  

It is always so fun to watch Evan perform.  He has a performing style you can pick out from a mile away and he is always giving it his all.   He makes us proud!

Hailey and I went back to the matinee with Grama the next day. 

The middle school had a dress up day that was "business on the top casual on the bottom." Hailey fit the part perfectly. 

She looked like such a tiny businesswomen. 

I feel like so many days of our lives during this pandemic have been spent walking the beach.  We ended the month of March down there and I took this photo through a hole in a piece of driftwood. 

 It's definitely starting to feel like Spring is on the way and we cannot wait!

A Ripple of Hope

Due to Covid 19 and all the restrictions pertaining to social distancing and occupancy numbers, we knew early this past Fall that the Singing Christmas Tree would not be happening in 2020.   Because of the fact that these kids have missed out on so much already due to Covid, the school and the choir board worked frantically to come up with something that could "kind of" replace the Tree experience.  They hoped that postponing the concert until March of 2021 and setting up the Tree and rebranding the concert as "The Tree of Hope" would happen - unfortunately due to the venue not allowing more than 100 people inside (which wouldn't even cover the number of kids in the tree) that idea had to be scrapped and they went back to the drawing board.  They came up with "The Ripple of Hope" which was a concert held in the school's Sailor Center with the choir on one side of the bleachers and socially distanced limited audience on the other side. 

It didn't quite match the Tree experience, but it was something, and these kids really needed something. 

Trent helped out backstage and I told him to take pictures of Evan and his friends.  Grad boards are coming up.  I can hardly even fathom that. 

They processed in to their traditional Tree song of "Siyahamba"which was emotional.   It brought me back to times pre-Covid, when things were so much simpler. 

The show was great as it always is.  The talent of these kids is outstanding.  The concert was so necessary to spark just a little bit of hope in a long stretch of disappointments. 

Evan and his guys sextet group sang Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" as one of the breakout acts. 

Because of the limited number of tickets sold, they decided to live stream the show on Sunday evening.  Our tickets were for the Saturday show so we got to watch at home on Sunday.  It is always a funny experience to see your kids on "TV".  

I am always amazed and forever grateful for all our school administrators and teachers are doing to try and make things as normal as possible for our kids.  They will forever be heroes of this pandemic.