Anna Grows

Anna & Choir Friends  It was an eventful week for Anna.  For the past few months, she had been looking forward to the spring choir trip.  Due to COVID, this year's trip was limited to Virginia (past trips have gone to New York and Florida).  The fact that there was a trip at all was a success.  This year's trip was to Williamsburg and Virginia Beach with stops at Great Wolf Lodge (an indoor waterpark), a day at Virginia Beach, and Bush Gardens amusement park.  Standing between Anna and the trip was homework and a potential concussion. Monday Anna was not feeling great and had a headache from her fall the day before.  She came home from school a bit early and took a break from Jammers and swimming during the week.  She was also working through her homework requirements (her mom put some key deadlines that needed to be hit before she could go on the trip).  Wednesday, she sent a text from school that she hit her head again.  Actually, one of her friends was goofing around and

Anna Post Lifeguard Training  It was quite a busy week.  Monday, March 14 was officially Grandpa's 80th birthday.  Theresa got to enjoy breakfast with her dad before catching a plane home.  It was a fun weekend of birthday celebrations.  You can check out photos from the family gathering  HERE . Theresa made it home in time for Anna's theater class performance on Monday night of The End of Civilization as We Know It.  It was a one act comedy that her class worked on and was quite fun to watch.  They performed the play three times that evening so that the cast could rotate.  Anna had one of the main parts in the first performance, which meant that Joe and Theresa had time to stop by the college prep night for Sophomores that happened to be going on afterwards.  That was enlightening and a good reminder that time is flying by quickly! Tuesday night was a high school choir concert.  The choir had to do a state assessment later in the week and performed their competition pieces.  O

It is hard to believe two years have passed since the pandemic started.  Looking back at the first blog post during that time, we seemed so innocent.  The start of virtual school and remote work.  The hikes in the woods.  Stocking up on paper towels and toilet paper.  We thought it would be short term.  Fast forward two years and we all look older.  Our lives are forever changed in many unexpected ways. Courtney, Rod, Aidyn, Tim, Jim & Karen, Theresa, Grandma & Grandpa Perhaps it was fitting that the two-year anniversary was marked by a celebration of Grandpa's 80th Birthday.  Why was this fitting?  Well, it was the first time the Kohler family was all together in almost two years.  Actually, it was more like almost together as Joe was unable to join the trip due to lingering effects of COVID.  Anna stayed behind with her dad and Theresa made the trip to Ohio for the celebration.  We made the most of it and celebrated with those that could make it. Grandpa's birthday ce

 March is here, which means Theresa celebrated her birthday on March 1.  It also happened to be Mardi Gras, so she made her first king cake to take to the office.  It turned out good for the initial try, although there were several people that wanted to know if there was a plastic baby in the cake (according to tradition, whoever has the baby in their piece of cake needs to bring the cake next year).  Unfortunately, there were no plastic babies on hand when this idea went into production.  The only option was the small, red, plastic Darth Vader action figure that Joe pulled out of the drain a couple of weeks ago (see prior post).  Theresa thought that would send the wrong message and decided to forgo the baby. On the celebration front, Joe made a delicious fish dinner and picked up some mini-bundt cakes at Nothing Bundt Cakes.  Anna got her mom some snacks for the office and the big gift was roller skates. After trying them in the house, it quickly became apparent that a different size