Middle School Banquet

My little Chickadee went to her first middle school banquet tonight. Sigh. I promise she was just born.

Since she's no longer 'in a relationship' she had plans to meet to girlfriends there. I've been to three of these in a row and I've seen entertainment from a trivia game, a male beauty pageant, and a motivational speaker. This year there was a band. A band that was pretty good and engaged most of the kids. But was so loud I think some of my internal organs might have been rearranged.

My sweet friend Jalene who'd helped me with Ball pictures asked me to come help her with Banquet pictures. There weren't any posed pictures, but a place had been set up to take some for fun. I spent a lot of time there and caught some cute ones. I was trying out an external flash for the first time and we had our problems at first but eventually we bonded and ended the evening happy that we'd gone together:c)

Here are just a few of my favorites from the evening.
As I attended my fourth in a row I made some observations. Girls put a lot of thought into the evening. Boys...not so much. And most girls have never and will never wear their shoes again.

I love that:)

Is It Wrong...

...That I find this so entertaining?I was always glad when they sat up smiling:c)

Children's All State

After the Junior High All State concert on Saturday I came home and collapsed for two days. Living in a hotel for two nights and eating at wonderful restaurants can really take it out of you.

No really, late nights and early mornings and worrying about the people I left at home does stress me a bit.

After my two days I unpacked, washed everything, repacked, cleaned my house, and left again.

It was time for Children's All State!

This one was farther out of town so it took a bit more planning.

It was my 5th year so I knew everything that would be happening.

I knew what exit we took to stop for lunch.

I knew that we'd check in and get warm chocolate chip cookies.

I knew our rooms wouldn't be ready when we were.

What I didn't know was that we wouldn't get connecting rooms like we'd asked for. That was a problem since I try not to speak to the mom that was sharing my room and coming the second night. It's a long long story. The other two moms told me they'd make sure we spent lots of time in their room and left me to go to the car to get their luggage. (Kennedy's and mine had been delivered by the two guys from our school who'd made High School All State. They said they got some weird looks pulling pink polka dot and zebra suitcases:) I sat down and texted Shawn, prayed, worried, and couldn't bring myself to unpack. Luckily for me the other two moms are amazing and campaigned for me at the front desk and got us connecting rooms on the 18th floor! That's the top baby!

By the time we'd gotten moved it was time for the dinner break. Unlike Junior High where Bricktown is blocks away, downtown Tulsa doesn't have a lot to offer. Tradition means we race to Spaghetti Warehouse. It's close enough and we've figured out that if we tell them we're in a huge hurry and order our food and drinks at the same time, we can make it. We've had years when the students ate in a car racing back to the hotel. Not only did everyone have time to eat, we also had a few minutes to take our traditional shoe shine picture.

Those are some amazingly talented students and their fabulous teachers! I stole a second or two to take this picture. Makes me miss my clowning days when I was pretty good at balloon animals. That night while everyone was cuddled into bed I was up late reading a really weird book that I insisted on finishing. Around 1 am I looked out the window and found this. Our view was beautiful when we woke up! Soon enough the sun was shining and the snow and ice were melting. Thankfully. Shawn and the girls were driving up the next day for the concert. Walking two blocks to dinner that night was a bit hazardous though since we were hurrying and it was still a bit icy in the parking lots. Tennis shoes really didn't go with my whole ensemble.

Way too quickly the two straight days of practicing were over and it was dress rehearsal and concert time. And I'd been reunited with Shawn, McKinley, and little Reagan:c) Oh, and Mom and Dad! I love that they live close enough to come to the concert.

Our little Chickadee got her 3 year medal. We were so proud! Since it was my fifth year I have seen quite a wide assortment of guest clinicians. McKinley's first year was a very driven lady who covered everything from exact timing on the final bow to hunting down an alto that was off pitch every time they sang a certain spot in a song. The next year was an incredible man named Greg Gilpin who engaged them, entertained them, and excited them. He. Is. Amazing. The next years lady wasn't strict...but wasn't exactly as fun as Greg Gilpin. (Seriously. Go look the man up. He's pretty cool.) Last year they had a man who had a very unfortunate name who everyone loved. And this year....this year...it was an older lady. I'm sure she was encouraging and engaging in her time, but I think her time has passed. I know why she was chosen (by our music teacher no less) and she was an excellent teacher, but they need someone fun. A little comic relief goes a long way, you know?

Plus, when she talked, it sounded like Pop Rocks were going off in her mouth.

Weirdest thing. After an amazing concert it was time for the pictures. Not the best set up, not the best background, but it's tradition. (Who's singing the Fiddle on the Roof song right now??) But incredible students and great teachers. We are so blessed at our school! This is Kennedy's last year with her sweet teacher. We have one for Kindergarten-6th and another for 7th-12th. Hopefully Reagan will follow in her sisters footsteps and I'll continue my yearly trip with Mrs. Adams. I would have withdrawals without it:c) And it frightens me how good this girl looks in mascara. Seriously? Could we just freeze time here?So proud of you Chickadee!

And a HUGE thanks to Alisa and Lori for making it a wonderful trip and saving the day!

On This Day

For those of you who know what today is....I don't have any thoughts.

But I do have a story.

In Pre-K the students of course learned what this day meant. Kennedy's best friend Meredith took it to heart. When their family was doing their devotions for that day it talked about liking and being nice to people who had a different skin color than you. Meredith said, "I like Kennedy and she's brown."I wonder where she got that idea.

Half Birthday

On April 23rd, 1985 I sat at my most favorite teachers desk on my birthday lunch date. As just the two of us enjoyed our special time I made a remark I would later regret. "Mrs. Unruh, when I grow up and get married and have children, I will never have one born in the summer because they wouldn't get to do this." At the time, I meant it. With all my heart.

12 years later when I was staring at another negative pregnancy test, I'd forgotten all about that. Several months later I forgot all about math and held my fertility prescription in my hand. The next month I was pregnant and just so overjoyed that I didn't think about a July due date.

So what did I do?? I had a child born in the summer. But at that point, I was just glad I'd been able to have another one. McKinley was a big surprise, and Kennedy was over a year of trying. Go figure. (We did pick a cool birthday though. 7-8-99)

Having a summer birthday has its advantages though. She's always had a pool party and her sisters have had to postpone parties to have a pool party. But when half the people can't come, it is a bit disappointing. And several years we haven't even been here on her birthday. But celebrating in Colorado has been fun.

Since she'll never be able to celebrate at school we often do a half birthday party. I've served half cupcakes and drawn 1/2 on birthday balloons. It is unique:D But now that she's in middle school, that's not cool anymore. So this year we went to Pop's after school today. Since Shawn was still at work we bought him this one. He grew up not too far from the Blue Whale.I went with something different this time...never a good idea for me. I went to the red section and was going to get my usual Diet Black Cherry but was distracted by the retro type and the cool shape of the bottle.
Sadly after a few drinks I saw the word Splenda on the side. Dadgumit. If I'd wanted to ingest chlorine I would have just gone out to the pump house and eaten it with a spoon. I payed for it later.

The girls chose their drinks while I secretly ordered this. Cailee was surprised:)

After we were stuffed we headed down to the red barn so I could impress them with it and take one of my all time favorite pictures.

Each time I'm there I'm amazed. The bottom floor is a gift shop with tons of information to be read. But upstairs you'll find this. Hand written and drawn.

Love it. Oh, and my favorite picture?

There it is.Happy half birthday Chickadee!!

42 Minutes

I've mentioned before that Kennedy was in a 'relationship'. When a 5th grader starts a relationship these days it means the question is asked and then the couple texts back and forth daily. That's the 'relationship'. But with Kennedy and Caleb they did actually talk in person. They exchanged gifts. And they went on an actual date. To a musical. It was so cute. But one night at dinner she got a text, rushed to finish eating, and left the table. I didn't have time to ask what had happened until we were at McKinley's choir concert. Very casually she said that Caleb had broken up with her. Then after a brief pause she asked if she could go out with someone else. Yep, the word had already spread and she had a new prospect. I quickly explained that it would be rude to Caleb. She was okay with that. (Sorry Christie.) I caved because we were in the middle of a song and I knew that as a 6th grader the ramifications of what was happening weren't really going to make a difference.

Ramifications. We're getting pretty classy around this here blog, aren't we?

So within a matter of minutes she was again in a 'relationship'. And at this point, since she's now in a third one, I can't even remember the second boys name!

After the concert she was telling McKinley all about it. McKinley also had a 5th grade 'relationship'. Hers was literally just writing notes. I don't know that they ever sat together or spoke a word out loud to each other. When it ended (and I'm not sure how we knew) she was concerned that it would hurt his moms feelings. Sweet girl, isn't she? Well, that sweet girl did some quick math and very loudly said, "She was only single for 42 minutes??" Since then that simple fact has made McKinley quite crazy. We've all just sat back and giggled.

So Kennedy is now in her third 'relationship' in 8 months. (Are we tired of the quotes around relationship yet? I'd quit but feel it would look like I'd forgotten.) All I know about this boy is he is much cuter than his 5th grade yearbook picture. And let me just state for the record, if I'm not friends with his mom, I don't see how it will work out.