If I had a Facebook account these would have been my status updates.

How come the day before and the day after a track meet we have gorgeous weather, but the day of there are gale-force winds and the temperature drops to the 40's? 

Do I REALLY have two 14 year-olds?  Happy Birthday, Emma and Leah!

It is really unnerving to be able to look your child in the eye.  Yes, three of my four kids are as tall as I am.  And I'm sure the fourth isn't far behind.

First Glenn, then his niece, and now my sister.  Can the need to have brain surgery cross family lines?

Almost lost it when I got the text that Jill was out of surgery and all had gone well.  Unfortunately I was walking down the hall at school at the time.

Completely lost it when I called mom after school to see how Jill was doing and she said, "You want to talk to her?"

Really wish the girls would let me post the video they made with the Young Women for New Beginnings.  It's not every day that you see them reenacting "Tangled" with their friends.

CF Fundraiser tonight at Max & Erma's! Bring in your flyer and 20% of your order goes right to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation!

Got a call from Glenn while I was at Max & Erma's that his car had broken down on his way over and that he was going to call a tow truck. I said I'd be there after I finished eating.  I mean, it's not like a tow truck shows up immediately, right???

The best thing about a car breaking down on the busiest night ever?  I got out of going to pack meeting.

Glenn is the proud owner of a new (to us) Hyundai.  And all I had to do was drive him to Elyria to pick it up.

How come it is ok to conjure up some fictional story about Mitt Romney bullying a (supposedly gay) classmate but no one blinks an eye at Obama's habitual (by his own admission) drug use in high school and college?  I love the double standards of the liberal media.

Parent's meeting for the 8th grade DC trip tonight.  They get to stay in a Doubletree.  I don't think I'VE ever stayed in a Doubletree.

Emma and Leah modeled their Civil War Ball gowns for Grandma Brooks and Aunt Jill.  Jenna and Callie thought they were princesses and wanted to dance with them.

Brooke was nominated for a theater camp scholarship from the Beck Center by her acting teacher!  Makes sense as her teacher is pretty much Brooke in an adult form.  She is very honored just to have been thought of.

No swim team for the girls this summer.  Focusing instead on running.  It was hard for me to give this one up.  Me, not them.  So what is that saying?  Proud of my kids for making their own choices, and proud of myself for letting them.

So glad that I don't actually have a Facebook account as I am sure I would have to see disturbing pictures of myself from the recent Activity Day Girls Mother/Daughter activity.  For all of Brooke's many talents, putting makeup blindly on her mother's face is not one of them.

Another round of laser surgery for Emma and Leah.  Missing school until the bruising goes down.  They are going crazy being cooped up in this house with each other.  Hoping that Mary Kay can help them get back to school on Friday.

Baseball has started back up!  Andrew pitched his first two innings ever --no walks, and he only gave up one run.  Great first showing, Andrew!

There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about attachment parenting.  I am sure glad Heavenly Father didn't practice it!

Music a la Mode today...camping out at the high school from 10 till 4.

Three different graduation celebrations next month.  All four kids are moving up to new schools.  I think I liked it better last year when everyone stayed put.

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Wow, I just covered four incredibly crazy weeks in just a couple of sentences!  Maybe there is something to this whole Facebook phenomenon...

And the concerts keep on coming...

Emma and Leah had their fair share of performances this spring as well. No pics of Leah because she is usually in the back, and looking ticked (as you can see in the jazz band videos). Why I didn't snap a pic while she was in the front during jazz band, I am not sure.

8th grade choir

Here the band is playing a song from the soundtrack of one of the Pirates of the Carribean movies. They played a different one at the fall concert that I thought I was recording but actually wasn't (so yes I was holding the camera up all the time for no reason), and I was so disappointed because the band sounded so good. When the director introduced this song, he said that people were emailing him asking him to stop performing the Pirates songs because they were getting tired of them. I was glad he didn't listen, because I got my recording. The director is hard on the kids sometimes (according to the kids) but he gets great results.

The jazz band played at the 7th grade concert, so while it meant yet another night at the PAC, it also meant that we got to see a little of Sydney! The jazz band is really good too.

And that wraps up the Spring concert season...we are done until our marathon concert day on May 12!

Brooke's big night.

Brooke had quite the night last month for her spring concert. She performed in orchestra, Greensleeves, choir, and (cue cheering) Parkside Performers! Brooke tried out for the group again in January and made it.

sidebar: when she tried out last semester and didn't make it since only 14 were chosen, her response was "i'm sure i was number 15."

And of course, the battery on my camera was dying as the Parkside Performers began, so I only got a few (not-so-great) pictures.  Good thing we still have Music a la Mode in May.

A girl very happy to be on stage...

The last lap.

Ahhh, our last Pinewood Derby. We've run the gamut during out stint in Cub Scouts...last place the first year, first place last year, and this year, Andrew settled nicely somewhere in the middle. Actually I think he ended up in 4th or 5th place.  But it doesn't matter.  All that matters is that Andrew was happy with the outcome, and that we have successfully completed our derby career.

21 Gun Salute.

Not only did we finish up basketball season, but we also finished up an intense spring concert season as well. There are lots of videos that I will be posting, but every so often one performance comes along that deserves a post all its own.

The 8th grade choir tried something new this year. There's an all-girl rock band comprised of 8th grade students that the choir director recruited to accompany the choir. They also have one of the choir members playing acoustic guitar. Now it's not perfect--the amp is up too high, and even though it's off camera, you can tell when the bass player misses the key change because all the kids singing start to chuckle--but it. is. awesome. The soloists are amazing, the band and guitarist are great, and it's a Green Day song, for crying out loud! And oh yeah, the choir sounds fantastic as well.

I salute the choir director and the kids for trying something new and for being so talented. It made my night.

Basketball Wrap-Up

Another basketball season is over. Glenn claims this is his last year as head coach, since next year Andrew moves up to the 5th/6th grade teams. We'll see. The season started out promising as they were 3-1, but the second half was tougher with a 1-3 record. But hey, they finished at .500, and in this town we are thrilled if our sports teams can achieve that.

Here is a look at some of the action:

Andrew and two of his buddies also participated in a 3-on-3 tournament. They practiced a lot and came up with several different plays. The boys worked really hard as a team and finished 2-2. We took them to Menchie's (our newest frozen treat obsession) to celebrate their achievements.

And now a little breather until the fun of baseball starts!

Substitute FAIL

One week ago I was in a 6th grade classroom, teaching math, of all things.  I knew that his particular class had a few lively kids sprinkled throughout, and this coupled with the fact that the intervention specialist would be in there to give her kids extra support made me a little nervous.  Plus, it was MATH.

But it turned out to be awesome.  I totally brought it when it came to finding out the volume of a triangular and rectangular prism and a cylinder.  We had to redirect the kids a little, but it ended up being a great lesson.  The intervention specialist even complemented me on my explanations and how I was able to bring the in kids who were a little more challenged.  Plus, it's always nice to be around people who share your Hunger Games obsession.  I went home that day on a substitute high.

So you would think that being in a kindergarten classroom would be cake, right?  I mean what's a bunch of cute little 5 and 6 year-olds compared to rowdy pre-pubescent 6th graders?

Little did I know.

It was a full-day kindergarten class, so there's one strike right there.  I know there are benefits to it, but that is a loooong day for those little kiddos.  They were dropping like flies by 2:00.  "My head hurts."  "My stomach hurts."  "I'm hungry."  (This in response to my direction for a child to stop gnawing on his shirt sleeve.)  "I'm tired."

And this particular class is chock full of personality and all the issues that come with it, both diagnosed and undiagnosed.  There were chatty girls who could not focus on their assignments.  There were kids who tattled on someone every 5 minutes.  There were kids with behavior charts that I forgot to finish filling out and send home because I was so busy moving everyone from green to yellow and back again.  And then back to yellow.  There were kids who had their arms wrapped around another kid (most of the time without protest) every time I turned around.  There was the kid who loved ending every sentence with the word "butt."  And then there was the precious little darling who asked when my baby was going to be born. 

My only consolation is that several regular teachers reassured me that this is typical and not just a result of poor behavior management skills.  The music teacher hard a hard time with the kids today too, and when she saw Brooke later in the day correctly predicted, "Those kids are going to wipe your mom out."

She wasn't kidding.  I've been a zombie since three o'clock.  I brought myself around long enough to take Andrew to a friend's house and pick up Brooke from school, and when Glenn unexpectedly showed up at 4, I told him he could pick the girls up from track practice and I high-tailed it to bed.  Dinner was mac-n-cheese for some, cereal for others.  And the ironic thing is that my four kids were in strong competition with those 25 kindergarteners for the "Biggest Contributors to a Headache" award.

In spite of all this, there was one success today.  I learned for certain that a full-time kindergarten teaching job is not in my future.