Festival at the Oaks 2013

Festival at the Oaks 2013

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for April 14, 2013

Winter is still hanging around like an unwelcome houseguest.  It's April 14 and it has snowed every day for the past week including a whopping 6 inches of snow on Wednesday which made the new commute to work last an hour and a half instead of the usual half hour.  I'm ready to move to Florida!  At least until hurricane season.

The poor birds seem especially hungry this year so Miss Sheri and Luke just started pouring the bird seed all over the porch.  This way a bunch of them can eat instead of just one or two that can normally fit on our bird feeder.

The other problem with the bird feeder is the fat squirrels usually hog all the food.  By pouring the food on the porch, it also gives Sunny a much better chance at catching one when we suddenly open the door after whispering to him "Git da Squirrel" over and over again.  Ahhh, who are we kidding.  Sunny will never catch one of them...

On Saturday, the boys were excited to attend the Festival at the Oaks Middle School Band Competition.  It was the first time a program like this had been put on in Prior Lake, so we really weren't sure what to expect.

We dropped the boys off first thing in the morning so they could attend some workshops and practice for their performance.  We then showed up a few hours later so we could watch them perform.  Of course when we found Luke, he was hanging out with friends without his instrument anywhere in sight.  Not sure what we're going to do with that kid!

Avery was up first to perform.  At home he told us he didn't want us to watch him while he did it, but right before he went in the room his friends asked if they could watch him and he said yes.  So I said, "Hey, what am I?  Chopped Liver?"  So he let us come in and watch also.  I was glad he let us, because I thought he did a great job!  Even if I am just a piece of meat.

I'm thinking Avery might have regretted his decision to let us in the room after I asked the judge if could snap a photo of the two of them together.  We later discovered that the judge gave him the highest mark of superior, so I guess he wasn't offended by my request.

Luke could care less if we came in to watch him perform which made me glad, because his performance also earned a superior ranking.   Their mom has been making them practice every day for weeks which caused an awful lot of belly aching, but I guess the practice paid off so the boys owe their mom an apology.  But we're not holding our breath for that.

After the concert, Grandma Linda was excited to come over and show us her new car.  Although she still struggles to reach the pedals and see over the steering wheel with this one, she seems happy with it.

Happy Easter!!  I know it's a couple of weeks late, but we finally received this photo from the church photographer who took it on Easter.  I just wish they would have used a more colorful backdrop.