Z Good Life

marching band

Summer's knee problems and subsequent surgery essentially ended her 10-year stint in dance classes. She felt a little sad about giving it up, but said she was ready to move on to something different. At my suggestion she picked up my old clarinet, took a few private lessons, and jumped into marching band late this summer! After 6 weeks of lessons, it was time for band camp at the high school. She was so glad her former dance buddy also quit dance and joined the band as a flutist. It's not quite as scary to start something new when your buddy is there!

This photo was taken on the last day of band camp. The kids learned (memorized!) 3 songs with field choreography and performed 2 of them for the parents that afternoon. We were so impressed! Summer is on the left in the black tee-shirt and navy shorts. After two days of playing a new instrument and marching nonstop on a sore knee, Summer was close to giving up. She stuck with it, though, and has had a wonderful season. In fact, she won "The Most Improved Rookie" award!

This photo is from one of the home football games. (Yep, the band is a small one.)

At the beginning of November, the band competed in Auburn. I rode along with the parents of Summer's friend. What a blast! Ever since I was a child, I loved marching bands. In fact, our city used to host a drum and bugle corp competition every Independence Day. How I looked forward to them each year! The competition in Auburn was thrilling. (It was freezing cold, but I hear it's the first time it hasn't rained in MANY years.) It made for a really late night getting back home, but it was totally worth it.

This is as close of a close-up as I could get with my Blackberry from way up in the stands. Then I cropped it in tight using Photoshop. Summer is in the middle of the trio. Sometime after I took this photo, the plume fell out of Summer's hat. She was DEVASTATED! I could see the look on her face, and it looked like she was going to cry. That's the 2nd time it has happened, but it's a bigger deal when you're in competition. Fortunately, no points are taken off unless a band member stops to pick up the plume. A judge grabbed it, and that was that.

It was so interesting to watch each performance! There were themes such as Elvis, Avatar, Tron, Wizard of Oz, Dia de los Muertos, outer space and Nutcracker. There were most certainly costumes involved, and plenty of props. At this time, our band is pretty small. There's no color guard (people twirling flags), and there were no props. They chose to focus on perfecting their choreography and music, and they were wonderful. The percussion won the best percussion award in our division. The kids were all VERY proud. 

I like that Summer has found something fun she likes to do in place of dance. She has made wonderful friends, and she loves the sense of accomplishment that comes with working hard together. Jay is feeling inspired by the drums. He started basic snare drum lessons this month. If he enjoys it and sticks with it, just maybe he'll be in band as a freshman when Summer is a senior...

 

veterans day assembly

The first grade classes sang a wonderful song at the Veterans Day assembly at school. It was called "Oh, I Love America," and each student held a red, white, or blue heart. The song was both darling and meaningful.

A shout out to my uncle, my grandfather, and my cousin's husband -- and anyone else who has served or is serving now. Thank you from the bottom of my heart...

...and from the bottom of Lily's heart too!

lily's pre-k performance

Lily's pre-K had their end-of-year performance on Wednesday. Only 1 more week of pre-K until Lily's SUMMER VACATION! Summer and Jay are in school until June 18, so they're plenty jealous of Lily's head start.

I only videotaped two songs, and I'm glad I happened to catch this one. SO CUTE!

Download Lily Pre-K Hallelu Hallelujah

Hopefully, that link will work. I still haven't figured out the best way to post videos. If it doesn't, I apologize, and I'll keep working on it! LOL!

I LOVE it when you leave comments. However, if you recognize any of the other children, please respect their privacy by not posting comments with names, location, or name of the school. :o)

Ah, and here are the two sweetest pre-K teachers you could EVER ask for. Thank you, Diane and Melody! Your love for Jesus and your love for these little ones is evident. We will miss you so much!

 
(Sorry it's out of focus. My batteries were running out!)

Stay tuned for Memorial Day Weekend madness!

a bow, a birthday, and baseball

Last night we attended a concert at the middle school. It's thoroughly enjoyable to watch Summer play violin, and great to hear how much they've improved since the last concert. The 6th grade orchestra played songs with a lot of different harmonies, and they sounded wonderful. Summer was definitely concentrating the whole time. She barely looked up at all!

 

Jay's 9th birthday is on April 6. We planned to have his party on Friday the 3rd, but it turns out several of his friends will be traveling during Spring Break. Some are actually skipping school and leaving on Friday. Bummer for Birthday Boy! After a few phone calls, I discovered that ALL of the boys on his guest list would be able to attend if I moved his party up a whole week. That gave me 3 days to plan his party! I'll have about 10 boys here tomorrow (Friday) at 4:30. Here's hoping I can pull it off! Most of all, I want Jay to feel super special, super loved, and I want him to have a super fun time!

On another note, Jay had his first baseball practice of the season on Wednesday! (The same night as Summer's concert. Sometimes I wish there were 2 of me. I digress.) We LOVE to watch Jay play baseball. He's such an active, athletic guy -- totally in his element on the ball field. Also, we're delighted that Jay gets the same coach he's had for several years! Chris is a FABULOUS coach, who encourages the boys to have FUN and to be a TEAM.

Signing off for now. I'll be up and at 'em early, since I still need to create some sort of Lego cake out of the 3 different sizes of lemon cakes I baked today... They're in the freezer, wrapped in Saran Wrap, while I wait for inspiration to strike. I'm thinking lemon butter cream frosting and cupcakes are in order. I can pull of a "giant Lego" look with cupcakes and lots of frosting, right? I guess you'll find out the answer after I post pictures! :o)

what we've been up to

1. Burying our bunny under the apple tree -- her favorite place to play.
 

2. Cozying up at home in fleece pajama pants to ride out the freezing cold!

3. Having snow fights. (It was too dry to form snowballs.)
 

4. Trying a new sugar cookie recipe, and discovering the importance of taking them off the cookie sheet before they cool. (Our first batch were sugar crumblies, but they were absolutely melt-in-your-mouth scrumptious!)

5. Going to our church Christmas Concert. Lily sang in the preschool choir! Sorry the pic is so fuzzy, but it was dark and we were sitting far from the stage.
 

6. Taking care of a snuffly, coughing Lily-girl. It's taking her awhile to get over the cough, but everyone else is back to normal.

7. Buying a distressed hammered tin star to hang above my stairs. (50% off at a local crafting store.) I always thought a tin star would look pretty there -- and I most definitely chose the barn red one! :o)

first middle school concert

Summer played in her first middle school orchestra concert this past week. She said she messed up once, but we certainly didn't notice. The 6th grade orchestra sounded great to us!

 

The day after the concert, Summer came home extra motivated and excited about orchestra. The teacher told the 6th graders that they were good enough to learn a song intended for older students! Summer is very pleased and proud.

and the lucky winner is...

 
Congratulations, Chantel! Use the "email me" link to email your mailing address to me. Or, if you're planning on going to Scrap Nite on Friday, I can bring the CD at that time.

I apologize for not posting the winner right away this morning. I was racing around because today was Lily's first day of pre-K! I'll post a picture tomorrow. Wednesday is her first dance class, and I'm almost as excited as she is! Yep, I'll be sure to take pictures. :o)

Thanks to everyone for playing along with my Blogiversary Giveaway!! If you still want Janet's new CD, I would be happy to purchase one directly from her on your behalf. They are $15.

blogiversary giveaway!

I can see that you've been anxiously awaiting details for my blogiversary giveaway. The number of hits on my blog have nearly doubled since I made the announcement! *laugh* You guys are AWESOME! :o)

I thought it fitting to give away this CD since it was just released a week ago. That, of course, isn't the only reason. It's no secret how much I love Janet Drew -- she is a very dear friend! However, she is also a gifted singer, songwriter, and musician who is using her God-given talent to glorify the Lord. Her songs tell stories of faith and family, and she is not afraid to sing about brokenness and the healing God brings. The overall "sound" of this CD is a mix of pop/country, bluegrass, and ballad.

 

As much as I love you all, I do not love you enough to give up my copy of Janet's new CD. I bought a CD for one lucky winner! No matter where you are on this planet, if I pick your name, I will mail this CD to you. It doesn't matter whether you live in London, Seattle, Manitoba, New Jersey, or Las Vegas.

If you would like to contact Janet, please use the "email me" link on my blog. She has given me permission to give out her email address since her new website is not yet up and running.

Here it is, folks! Anyone who leaves a comment on this particular "blogiversary giveaway" post will be automatically entered in a random drawing for Janet's new CD! Leave your comment before midnight on Sunday, September 7. I'll hold the drawing on Monday, September 8, because I know some people only check blogs once a week.

School starts for Summer and Jay on Tuesday. I'll certainly be back to post pictures before I draw a winner. :o)

papa. pouring rain. poppy. pooped!

I don't have a picture for this posting, so here's one Summer took when she was experimenting with the macro focus on our digital camera:

The big news around here is that my dad, Steve, had his right hip replaced on Monday. He was released from the hospital on Wednesday, after which my sister drove him here to continue with his recovery. Summer's room has an attached bathroom, so it made most sense for Papa Steve to take up residence there. For the time being, Summer is sleeping on Jay's top bunk. (LegoLand is gone for awhile!)

Dad seems to be recovering well, but I've never really done this before. *laugh* When Monday rolls around, we'll be going to the lab 2x/week for bloodwork and seeing the physical therapist 2x/week. (Kristal or I will drive him, depending on her work schedule.) He's doing his exercises, walking a little, and doing lots of crossword puzzles. If we keep up on the pain pills and ice pack, his pain is manageable.

As for Janet's concert last night, YES it was raining, and YES it was great music!! The friends and family who braved the rain were huddled under the big trees or sitting on camp chairs with umbrellas and blankets. I was telling Janet today (we carpooled our kiddoes for VBS this week) that her rendition of "Be Thou My Vision" has been running through my mind ever since last night. What a great song to have stuck in my head! I truly enjoy hearing her sense of humor and her beautiful spirit come through in her music. The minivan song was very funny! (Thanks for the dedication, Janet! You're my fellow Minivan Mama!) Hey, the CD release concert is on the south side of town on August 24th! We can certainly hope for better weather, right?

Erich's parents have been out in the San Juan's sailing with friends this week. Guess where they ended up this afternoon? Yep! Our harbor! We picked them up at 3:00 and brought them home for a visit. For dinner, we ordered pizza and had salad from the garden. Poppy's birthday is today, so we had his FAVORITE for dessert -- angelfood cake with raspberries, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream. YUM! Erich drove them back down to the boat this evening, as they plan to sail out of town at 6 a.m.

See? It's definitely been busy here. :o)

shameless plug

Janet's new CD is going to be released on August 24th! (We are SO going to the CD release party!) 

We'll be attending her concert in the park on Thursday (July 31st) from 6-8 p.m. We love the concerts in the park, and what a treat to have our Janet singing for us this week! (The concerts at our neighborhood park are FREE! Email me for details!)

Here's what Janet has to say about this CD:

This is a collection of my original songs. These songs are "Americana"- somewhere between Country, folk and pop, and all are stories from my life about my personal journey, my family, my faith.  Songs such as "Fly me to the Moon", about my Dad and his grandsons, and "Hold On" about struggling through times of darkness and finding hope and everything in between.

I've already done a couple of posts about Janet (here's one). She's not just a talented singer and songwriter -- She is also a beautiful person, with a tender heart and a passion for Christ. I love this girl!!!

Remember to email me if you're interested in her concert at the park this Thurday night. Janet and her family sat with us last week. I have the most precious picture in my head of Elijah and Lily spinning and dancing their hearts out in front of the gazebo...