Thinking ou Loud- sort of

Man of La Mancha has been over for a week and we are all thankful for that. The show was fun, I got to meet many people that taught me some cool stuff- but the biggest lesson I learned was that I can't do shows at this point in my life. bummer, yes... But being at home and hanging out with Sofia and Vince was close to impossible those last weeks and I realized that it's not worth the "fame". Singing on stage again was so fun and rewarding, like when a stranger came up to me and said... "Where you in Man of La Mancha? What a wonderful show! You did a great job." I think I'm retiring for a while on the "big" stage... bummer, yes.... but I'll have another chance some day. It's a sacrifice that is difficult to make, but spending time with my family will be just as fun and much more rewarding. I got to "dream the impossible dream" and I'm thankful for that, but I "follow the quest" daily with Vince and Sofia and that's much more important.

I think the part that will be the hardest to give up is the singing, so we came up with a plan. Yesterday at mass, Sofia and I went up to the choir loft for the first time. I got to sing with them for the first half (Sofia missed Papi so we had to come back down). While I was up there, I truly enjoyed the moment and I got the same feeling that I get on stage. It was so beautiful to sing out towards the altar and the tabernacle. I loved it and I hope to get to sing up there more often.

In other news, I was given my teaching assignment for next school year and I, along with at least 5 other teachers, will be teaching five different classes next year. Here's my schedule

Spanish 1- one session
Spanish 2- one session
Spanish 3- two sessions
Spanish 4H- one session
Spanish 5AP- one session

It's incredibly intimidating to look at my schedule and I start shaking anytime I start thinking of the load I'll have next year or even the thought of perhaps doing substitute plans for one day. Did I mention we're going to try again for another baby??

BUT- the BEST is that we are going to DISNEY WORLD IN THREE WEEKS!!! Yes! Yes! Yes! Vince, Sofia, and I will be enjoying 6 days at the different parks and I'M NOT TAKING ANY WORK WITH ME! I'm looking forward to seeing Sofia see the Castle for the first time, her reaction to everything really, and getting Vince his dream picture with Princess Jasmin from Aladdin. I just want to ride as many rides as possible with Sofia, she's going to love the Dumbo ride! I promise a plethora of pictures!

3 more...

There are 3 more Man of La Mancha shows left!!! Sofia and I can't wait to have Sandra home more often. Monday and Tuesday she had off before the shows picked up again wednesday and run through Mother's Day. Monday we had 2 softball games and Won Both Games. WOW. We have already won more games than all of last year. Sandra went 1 for 3 and had 3 walks in the 2 games. I had a hit and a walk.
This weekend should be fun. Sofia and I are going to see the final Man of La Mancha show on sunday and then having dinner with my mom after the show. Its celebrating Mother's Day and also the end of the show when Sofia and I get Sandra back.
Also it is less than a month until we head down to Disney world in orlando. Thanks to our tax return money and my college friend who got us a hotel in Orlando for $45 a night. It should be a noce Griswold family vacation as we are driving down there. Anybody want to babysit Louie for us while we are gone? Let me know. Have a great Mother's Day everybody. Everybody has a mom, so Let her know she is loved.

WANTED

Have you seen this woman? If so, please contact Vince. He hasn't seen her in a few days. Reports say that she has gone crazy and is on a rampage to get as many family and friends to come see Man of La Mancha. Scary!!

practice, practice, practice...

Have you seen Sandra??? I haven't. She's been at practice all week and it will only get more hectic as the show starts one week from tonight and Tech week starts sunday as they get ready for the Big Show. Sandra is tired, but having a good time and thats all that matters.
Can't wait to enjoy the nice weather this weekend. I will enjoy it a lot more if the Cubs get their act together and beat the Cardinals. Milton Bradley- the Cubs outfielder who signed a 3 year $30 million dollar contract in the offseason is batting .043 -That is 1 hit in 23 at bats. OUCH!!!
I wish I could make $10 milllion a year for doing so little. Sandra calls him Monoploy. It is kind of fitting cause after he makes an out he goes to jail when he heads back to the dugout.

Sorry blog fans...

Sorry we haven't posted anything in a while. We have been pretty busy. Sandra has had practice for the Man of La Mancha play that starts May 1st at Peoria Players. It will only get worse as the next 2 weeks she will have practice every night during the week.
We went to Mt. Vernon for a funeral yesterday. My step dad's dad passed away last week. Grandpa Roy was a great guy and will be missed dearly. Sofia did great in the car for the 4 hour drive and brought many smiles to people that were mourning the loss of a loved one.
Upcoming this weekend:
Sandra is help paint the set for Man of La Mancha Saturday morning. I'll be at work :)
Sunday we are taking a bus trip up to Wrigley for the Cubs/ Cards game and will be on a rooftop watching the game and trying to stay warm and dry.
Oh yeah we saw a turkey in our backyard last night after we got home. See if you can find the turkey!

















These are terrible pics, but I will try to explain where this turkey is. On the left pic, the turkey is hiding behind that pile in the middle of the pic. On the right pic, the turkey is clear back of the property past that small paved square where the fountain is. GOOD LUCK! I know it was there when I took the pic, but I can barely see it now...

Spring!!!

It's Friday and I'm almost done with work for my Spring Break. Vince, Sofia, and I have a full schedule the next couple of days..

Friday- Harold coming over about Knight stuff, fish fry at St. Bernard's, Frank & Kathy's

Saturday- Co-workers wedding

Sunday- Auto Show

Next week I have play practice two days out of the week and Vince and I will probably go help with set building. We are also planning to paint Sofia's room current room. We've had paint for it and I patched up the holes already, but haven't had a chance to paint yet. It's going to be light yellow and the green from the kitchen. It will look nice with the baby jungle bedding that Sofia has. We may even have time to strip the wall paper in the bathroom... YUCK!

Anyways, our daffodils are coming up for the spring and I took a picture of them with my phone. There are more on the way!

I realize it's a bad picture, but trust me they look so beautiful!

Snow, 3D, homemade BBQ chicken pizza!

What a great weekend!! Strange at some points. On Saturday, Sofia went to a Baptism and got to party it up with the abuelos. She was dancing to all the songs and the mariachis at the party even dedicated a song to her!! So fun. Since Sofia was with the Abuelos, Vince and I took advantage of it and went to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D and also went to Basta to have dinner. Funny that we went to see a little kids movie- shows that we are STILL YOUNG! We had a great conversation about our upcoming plans to possibly Disney during dinner. Here's a picture of us at the theater with our 3D glasses!!

Sunday we woke up with fresh snow on the ground. Apparently something went wrong with spring. Even the birds were dumbfounded just staring at the trees and the ground. We even had a bird go into our garage, but I scared it off with our air horn!

Sunday I decided to make a homemade BBQ chicken pizza. I turned out pretty yummy! I used the Pillsbury pizza dough, Sweet Baby Rays sauce, onions, green peppers, and chicken. I actually made two and I hope that's what we have for dinner tonight, yummy!

Hope you all have a wonderful week. My spring break is next week!! YES!