Over my head / I hear music in the air

It's been a lively and busy spring in Pueblo! We had Adele's preschool fundraiser/recital at the end of April. That's right, in order to hear the kids perform their end of the year songs you had to pony up $15 a mediocre plate for a fundraiser dinner. We weren't going to go, because we resent this sort of thing, but they were talking it up so much to Adele that she kept coming home talking about how great the fundraiser was going to be and how many songs she was going to sing and how there were going to be real airplanes (they held it in an aviation museum) so that we finally felt we had to attend or break her heart. I really miss Blacksburg United Methodist Preschool.... anyway, it really was a fun time. The kids did a parade, class performances, and then there was a little talent/kid karaoke time which was pretty hilarious. 

Of course, Adele didn't choose to perform a solo number. She may not seem it, but she's actually pretty shy, as I'm learning. I somehow have trouble accepting this about her, as she's so bold, brash and precocious about other things (and because her brother is so decidedly NOT shy), but she doesn't do performing for people or talking to unfamiliar adults or big event competitions/races/games. She's so wonderfully complex.

Miles (clad in his newest dress, with bicycle print!) enjoyed the evening too. He got to interact with some airplanes..

 And both were thrilled by the magic show. It was pretty cute!

We also made a recent trip to Lake Pueblo; I've been eager to get outdoors when the sun shines, lately. I sense that I probably won't live in Colorado forever, and I seem to have the impression that I can soak up sun to put in storage somewhere in my body for later years when I live somewhere cloudier. I knew when we were contemplating moving out here where we knew no one that the sun would make a huge difference to my mental health. I still underestimated how much I'd love the skies.

Koopa is so very loved. He has appointed himself guardian of our moods, and comes to lick us if one of us is feeling sad. I swear he hugs me. He and I still run together and I really just don't know how we did without him.
This morning Miles said, while being licked determinedly by Koopa, "Every day Koopa wants to give us 105 kisses. And every day, he fails. That's why he licks me so hard."

Adele says, "See? I'm a deer!"

We surprised the kids with a trip to see Godspell performed in a local dinner theater! It's their favorite play, don't you know. It was... mediocre! But the kids enjoyed themselves and quietly sang along.

Miles posed with "Jesus" after the show. It creeped me out a bit that the whole cast, besides Jesus, was like 13-16 years old (all local middle and high school students) but Jesus was played by a like 40 year old pastor. Isn't that a bit weird?

He seemed like a nice enough guy, though. Miles was a fan.

Someday we will see a production of Godspell with black Jesus. That will be a great day.

Last weekend we hit up the El Pueblo museum for their free day! Despite 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground. 😱

And that evening, I sang in the little ensemble that performed at the church luau. We had a luau, on the last Saturday of April, with inches of snow on the ground. It was absurd. But we kept our senses of humor.

This weekend we've done almost nothing because I am good and sick, for the first time since January, and because Jon is in San Francisco. We're on survival mode over here. I probably succumbed because it's been a stressful week. I had a very unpleasant job interview (which I later decided to reject... it's a long story. The job sounded like it would drain me too dry, in sum) and I was given a long-term substitute position! At last! And get this, it's not in secondary English, but in elementary Music, at Miles' school! The music teacher there has badly broken her ankle, and everyone but her accepts that she will probably not be back this year. It's very bad news for her, but good news for me. Still, I did have to cancel a lot of scheduled sub jobs to clear my schedule for it. I hate cancelling things and feeling like I'm letting people down. But this is so good for me and for us. I get to actually get to know the kids (though I see every class in the school, on rotation!) and make lesson plans and be in the same happy place every day. Some of the kids know a fair amount of music theory, but NO ONE knows solfege! I don't know if this is a regional thing or what, but when we talk about scales and I mention sol or do-re-me they ask me if I'm speaking Spanish.

They also don't know Spanish, which is another kind of absurdity. I digress.

So I have been channeling my inner Julie Andrews. If only I played guitar! We're having a great time and they seem to like and accept me ok. And I'm watching watching for the District 60 job postings! And also excitedly contemplating the end of the year and our June trip out east.

To conclude, a brief anecdote. Last week Adele and I were the last to leave the sanctuary and we took a moment to look at this window, our favorite, because of the giraffe in the upper right hand corner. And she noticed the monster Jesus is stepping on. I said, "That's the enemy of God. He wanted to be in charge, but God always wins." And Adele mused for a second and then said, "But Jesus comes in second place."

She's a winner, my daughter.