Today, Angela spoke in Stake Conference! She spoke on faith in our callings and did a WONDERFUL job (as everyone expected)! 🙂 There were probably 900 people in attendance in the building with the meeting streamed over the internet to another 2 buildings in the area. She was a little nervous, but you couldn’t tell at all!
Great job Angela!
Today was Zachary’s final soccer game of the Spring 2010 season. The weather was perfect and the kids had a GREAT time! And… They won! They were so excited! They played really hard and scored 5 goals to the other team’s 3 goals. Zachary played all the different positions, including goalie which he hadn’t played before.
The humidity was up so it wore them out and it was funny to see how they volunteered to sit out for a little bit when we were substituting. 🙂 This year has been great! The parents have been really supportive of the kids, and my assistant coaches were wonderful (Coach Jay and Coach Pete). After the game was over, we took a team picture (since WAA only does official pictures in the fall).
Great job team! Zach was bummed that he wouldn’t get to play soccer again until the fall. We may actually have him try out football in the fall and see how he likes it. He’s built like a football player! 🙂
Today Sarah had Marching Band Leader tryouts and worked hard on her interview questions to be able to do well. She was a little nervous, but she said everything went great! Her teachers were very impressed (like they were last year). Good luck Sarah!
Tonight was the first annual Metea Music Awards where all the kids in the music programs came to receive their awards. Sarah got her letter for her jacket as well as pins for Marching and Pep Bands and her Tri-M pin for the Music Honor Society.
Great work Sarah!
Tonight, Sarah had her final Band Concert of the 2010 school year. They all sounded so good and we really enjoyed listening to all the bands in the brand new auditorium. Sarah played both the piccolo and the flute in the pieces that they played.
It is amazing to us every time we hear them play that they are only sophomore and freshman students. They will be absolutely outstanding when they get to be seniors! Great hard work, Sarah!
Today Brittany had her middle school Conference Track Meet. There were 14 teams there. Brittany ended up running 4 races… 1) the Medley Relay (where she ran the 2oo), 2) the 4 x 200 meter relay, 3) the 4 x 100 meter relay, and 4) the 200 meter dash. They really did well at the Medley Relay where the came in second.
Overall, I think that Still took 7th overall. They had some screw-ups with the timings and people were confused (i.e. the person named district champion in one particular event told one of Brittany’s friends that she actually came in 6th!) 🙂 Oh well, it’s all about having fun and growing athletically anyway!
Brittany is now looking forward to being a Lady Mustang and running track for Metea. She said she’s going to practice hard over the summer and throughout the fall so that she can be her best next spring. What a crazy track season, trying to juggle it with the Still Middle School Musical! It was nice of Brittany’s track coaches to let her still participate, even though she didn’t get to practice much.
Congratulations on a fun track season, Brittany! 🙂
Tonight, we attended Seminary Graduation for our Stake. This celebrates those who completed 4 years of early-morning religious study (there should be an award just for getting up every day and being somewhere at 6am for 4 years) and also honors those who have completed specific requirements. Sarah was one of those in the latter group. She received the Stake President’s award (2 years in a row). This award reuqires that she has 93% class attendance or 100% of all absences made up, scripture reading for 210 days or at least 10 minutes every day, and the memorization of 25 scripture passages along with other memorization skills.
She worked very hard this year, despite going to a new seminary class and leaving most of her friends behind (due to the opening of the new high school). She is quite the trooper! Congratulations, Sarah!
Today was an incredibly busy day! Most of it was taken up by the District 204 Fine Arts Festival in which all of our kids (except Ben, of course) were involved. Zachary had art that was selected to be displayed. Kirstyn sang with her choir, played with her band, and had art selected. Brittany had art that was selected, sang with her choir, and played with her orchestra. Sarah played with her band. The Fine Arts Festival activities started off at 8 and we didn’t finish up until about 4.
During that time, I had to miss a couple of performances as Zachary and I had our soccer game. He did well and had a lot of fun there. After the soccer game, it was right back up to the Fine Arts Festival for more activities. Here are some pics:
Brittany's Photo She Submitted
Brittany's Art Project She Submitted
Kirstyn with Her Band
Another one of Brittany's Art Projects
Kirstyn Singing with her Chorus
Kirstyn's Art Project She Submitted
Another one of Kirstyn's Art Projects
Zachary with His Gator Art Project
Brittany Singing with her Chorus
Sarah Playing with her Band
As you can tell, it was VERY busy, but VERY rewarding to see our kids participating in such cool and worthwhile endeavors! 🙂
After the festival, we came home and had to hurry to get ready for our Ward’s 1st Annual Talent Show and Men’s Gourmet Dessert Cook-Off. I made a trifle that had layers of chocolate pudding, cherry pie filling, angel food cake, vanilla pudding, and whipped cream. It looked really good and I actually one a $10 Dairy Queen gift card for the best looking dessert! 🙂 The talent show was AWESOME! We do have a lot of talent in our ward. There was much singing and performing. We had a great time!
We will also sleep good tonight as well! 🙂
Tonight, Zachary, Kirstyn, and I went to the Kane County Cougars baseball game. Tonight was one of the “Ozzie Reading Club” nights where school kids can get free tickets, free hot dogs and drinks, and free t-shirts for reading a certain number of books! 🙂 When we got there, we found our seats, which were about 3 rows up from the field on the right field line! We’ve never had seats that good before! We then went and walked in the parade around the field with Ozzie, the Cougar’s mascot. The kids loved being down on the field with all the crowd cheering for them! 🙂
We then went and got the free food for the kids (I had to spend about $12 for my stuff) and their t-shirts. The line was long and the stadium was crowded! The game was great and we had a wonderful time! The Cougars won by a large margin which made the kids happy!
What they liked even more, however, was the fireworks show after the game (first one of the season)! Every Friday night they do this and it’s quite the popular thing!
Tonight Brittany had her final chorus concert at Still. She sang both with the 8th grade chorus and her honors chorus groups. They sounded great! We’re not done with the Still Middle School music program, however, as Kirstyn will be here next year doing both band and orchestra.
Brittany sure has loved being in music at Still. She has learned a TON and has made a bunch of new friends! 🙂
Tonight, our family held its 6th annual Teacher Appreciation Dinner. It’s getting more and more difficult to coordinate now that we have 4 kids in school! 🙂 All the kids invite 1 or 2 teachers they feel have impacted their lives in a good way during the year and we invite them over for a dinner in their honor. This year, Zach invited Miss Kalvaitis and Mrs. Lent. Kirstyn invited Mr. DiNatale, Brittany invited Mrs. Pakkebier, and Sarah invited Mr. Devany. Unfortunately, there were other teachers invited who could not come, and that was sad for the kids. 🙁
We had dinner, and then held a “version” of family home evening with the teachers. We had opening and closing songs and prayers (it was weird for just our family to be singing with 4 music teachers there 🙂 – because we didn’t have enough books), and the kids provided the entertainment. Zach sang a song and read a poems that he wrote for his teachers. Kirstyn played her clarinet and also read a poem she wrote for her teacher. Brittany played the violin and read her teacher a letter she wrote to her. Last but not least, Sarah played her flute and read a poem she wrote for her teacher.
Zach and Miss Kalvaitis
Kirstyn and Mr. DiNatale
Brittany and Mrs. Pakkebier (and family)
Sarah and Mr. Devany (and family)
After the entertainment, we all had ice cream sundaes and took pictures (we missed Mrs. Lent because she had to sneak out early). When it came time for the teachers to go, we gave them all hanging flower baskets as an additional “thank you” for being our kids teachers. We love doing this as we know it’s important to recognize those people in your life that make a difference.
Thanks teachers!
Yesterday, Angela went down to Indianapolis with some of her friends from the ward to the Indy Mini (half-marathon). She was going to run but decided to cheer her friends on instead. It was freezing cold and she was shivering the whole time. They had a great outing and had fun together. There were also a bunch of other people from our ward who went down and ran as well. It was quite the gathering.
They came home after the race and Angela was dead tired (and she didn’t run)! 🙂 Her body got a workout from being out in the cold and trying to stay warm.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Zachary and I went to his first soccer game. Our team was a little short but we had fun. The kids were freezing and some wanted to sit under blankets on the sidelines instead of play. We kept telling them that the more they ran, the warmer they would get, but it didn’t help much. 🙂 It’s tough for 5-year-olds to play in that kind of weather. Hopefully it will get warm soon!
Tonight, Kirstyn had her final chorus concert at Gombert. She loves singing, and will have a great time next year in Middle School both singing AND playing her clarinet.
She also had a speaking part which surprised me because I had no clue (normal). 🙂 They sang some pretty complicated songs which had multiple parts and interesting rhythms. We are very blessed to be in a school district that has so much talent. To be known around the nation for the music and arts is a great thing and it really forces the kids to work harder and be better than they may be otherwise.
Great job Kirstyn! 🙂
