Winning Smiles

Sam, the weary traveler, poses with the Jazz Band's FIRST PLACE TROPHY!!! St. Louis was a great success on many levels. The school's chorus and jazz band took away firsts, while the honor band received a 4th place finish. While standing at the base of the Arch after dark, their director praised their hard work and gave them the week off from rehearsal.

The trip was loads of fun, and Sam has agreed to write up something about her experience for me to post here, so be on the lookout!

St. Louis Bound

After a terrific performance for incoming 6th graders at their middle school, Samantha's Jazz Band is headed to a national competition in St. Louis! We got her to Houston Middle School at 5:30 this morning to catch her bus, and I've gotten a steady stream of cell phone calls ever since. I have to say I expected it though. This is the first non-family accompanied trip she's ever taken. Between that and being the only bari sax in their jazz band for the competition, well, she's been pretty nervous. Fighting off a nasty flu made things only more difficult. But last night after the runtrough, a switch flipped. She went from being afraid to being super-psyched!

So no, the calls weren't asking us to come get her. It was more things like, "Wow, this bus has tray tables, cup holders, TV's (on which they were watching movies to pass the time), and a POTTY! She got a seat with her friend Jackie from competitive choir, and they're sitting near the band and choir directors which gives Sam a bit more comfort. Then around 11:45, I got a shrieking phone call screaming, "Mom, I saw the Arch!!!" Yep, she'll be just fine. Until she settled out, I didn't fully realize how uptight I was about the trip either.

They're spending some time today at the St. Louis Zoo before the choir competes late this afternoon. From there, it's to Union Station for dinner, and off to the City Museum. Tomorrow morning, the honor band and jazz band compete, then it's off to Six Flags for the day. Sunday morning, they get up and head home with a pit stop for lunch at a place called Lambert's where they actually THROW the fresh rolls to you. Hmm...sounds like the PERFECT place to take middle schoolers to me! The gang should be home around 4:30 in the afternoon.

The pictures I posted above are scans of their tour shirt. Geeky of me I know, but the odds of that shirt coming home clean aren't very good, and Sam's a scrapbooking nut so...

Hair's the Thing...

Wow, what a week! Our hearts go out to the Virginia Tech families. Monday's events were tragic in so many ways. Makes me ultra glad we just got the kids cell phones. It seemed a little extravagant at the time, but with their band trips coming up and all the craziness in the world, I like them having them.

Since I'm unable to drive, we spent the day running Samantha to various doctors yesterday. A neurologist diagnosed her nasty school headaches as migraines and prescribed some meds. As a precaution, he's also ordered an EEG. From that doctor, we grabbed lunch. Having some free time before the next appointment, we got her in for a haircut, something she wanted done before her April 27 band trip to St. Louis. The eye doctor was next on our agenda. Turns out Sam's prescription had changed quite a bit, but it's fully correctable, so there aren't any real worries there. Since her frames had snapped in two the week before and refused to hold a soldering job, we went to Pearle Vision and picked out new ones. She should have them tomorrow afternoon at the latest.

Finally, last night was a big night for Chris. It was his freshman band orientation. He met key people to the organization, saw a drumline and colorguard performance, and learned first-hand all the blood, sweat, and tears it's gonna take to be a part of a grand champion marching band. Much to our surprise, he was okay with the weeklong summer camp, the two days after school, and even the casual Tuesday summer practices that start almost the minute school's out. I think the discipline will be awesome, and in the words of the director, he'll have the most fun legally allowable at school. Samantha can't wait to get her nose into it all too. The pics I've included here are from Sam's new 'do. CJ had a haircut recently, too, but the picture isn't great. His hair is still wet!

Happy Easter!

Well the ham is in the oven, so it's time to pop out and wish everyone a Happy Easter! It's so weird now that the kids are older. You can't do as much of the fun stuff anymore. Easter egg hunts are a bit old for them even though I still find them fun, and we didn't even color eggs this year. We almost ALWAYS colored eggs!

We did do Easter baskets though, but even that was a challenge with two teens, one of whom doesn't like chocolate (laughs).

The picture you see here is one from Easter 2002 when we lived in South Dakota. The kids have changed so much since then!

Anyway, here's wishing you and yours a safe and wonderful holiday!

Preparing for High School

Okay, so I know I promised to stay in better touch with this blog, but it's truly been a crazy week. Chris is in the heat of making some big decisions regarding high school. What language does he want to take? Does he want to pursue a technical path, college path, or combined? And if he wants technical, does he want it in computers, automotive, marketing, or one of the other thirty thousand options? Ugh!

Now I admit I was a weird goal-obsessed child, but holy moly! Today kids have to make so many major decisions with lasting repercussions at such an early age. Why, if you don't set yourself up at the start of middle school/junior high for honors math, you may as well forget about hitting calculus in high school. And if you don't get your booty on the honors track for English, math, or whatever, AP (advanced placement) classes are out for you. That seems so wrong to me. Kids change dramatically during those years. There is no way you can convince a 6th grade boy who'd rather be the class clown that his grades in math could affect his choice of career and/or college.

That leads us to extracurricular activities. You can't get in to a decent college without a healthy handful of them. My work in Admissions at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst taught me that. The sad thing is, being a member of the award-winning Houston High School Marching Band requires a full year commitment. That's one less class period to add another upper level math class or to explore career possibilities even though the band meets outside of school hours. If you want to stay committed to band, you have to sacrifice academics. While I realize you can't have everything, that stinks. Totally.

Anyway, here's what CJ's fall high school schedule is looking like: Algebra I, English I, Physical Science, Wellness (the new politically correct term for PE or gym class), Spanish I and Marching Band. He had wanted to take German, but after speaking with a neighbor who has studied the language, we decided to switch back to Spanish. Not only is it easier to learn, but it's very practical, too, given how many Spanish-speaking people call the US home.

Tonight we visit the high school to learn about clubs, scheduling, athletics and such, and then tomorrow at 10:45 we have a private meeting with a high school counselor to go over his school-required four year plan.

It's exciting and fun in many ways, but I think it's also a bit overwhelming and scary. As for me, I'm having a blast coming up with a variety of four year plans. Guess I really miss my days as an academic advisor!