Band Concert

Over the past few months, I have felt the need to be very critical of decisions that our school district has made. I know it probably seems to our board of education that all I do is complain. So in an attempt to not always be a complainer, I have decided to post a sunshine and rainbows report of my daughter's band concert. Two years ago, we got a new band director...this also happened to be Mallory and Madison's first year in band. This director is so young, that when we attended the meeting to pick instruments, Jim asked who the "kid helping" was. He is fresh out of college, and has such a passion for music, and it shows in his band kids. We really have enjoyed watching both of the girls progress from never having touched an instrument in their lives to being pretty good little players! Tonight's band concert was great! They sounded fabulous! The best part of watching this progress is that he keeps the kids so excited about what they are doing, that I have never once had to nag my kids to practice - they just do it...they want to please their teacher, and they want their band to sound great! I really hope that this director is here for a long, long time. Next year, Colin is wanting to play the drums! I hope that the drums are as fun for him as the flute and clarinet have been for the girls!

Sturgis?

Yesterday was cold and rainy, so the kids only got a little bit of outside time. Grandma set them free for a muddy little outing. She took this photo of Preston and Quincy playing with their friend, Cole.

It has been a bit crazy around here, as usual with the kids activities, and the parents activities as well. Jim and I have been trying to set a good example to our children by being involved members of the community, the school, and whatever else comes up where we are needed. All of this example setting makes for busy schedules though! Tonight the girls have a band concert. Last year, the district got a new band director. He is wonderful! The girls have really enjoyed being in band, and it is really hard to believe that they had never played an instrument 2 years ago....at all! They play pretty well! We enjoy listening to them. Madison is in the choir, and they are performing tonight as well. It should be a fun evening!

Home Alone?

Preston and the "Blue Angels"

photo updates

Hey Grace, If pigs are smart, why do they always stand in their water?

Colin with "Jenius"

KATY PIGGY

More...

As I said, yesterday was my cousin's wedding. I took several photos of Preston in his tux, and also have several photos of the new baby pigs, Preston's t-ball team and a few others, but we are having a little downloading difficulty, so I will just share this photo of Preston with my sister. Aunt Amy doesn't really enjoy wearing dresses, so she got a lot of torment from my children about looking so pretty!

The wedding itself was really nice. Everything went off smoothly, and everyone who was supposed to be there (groom) showed up! The reception was a little on the interesting side, as the tornado sirens went off and there were rotating clouds above the city of Lawrence. Jim and I decided that it was clear enough for us to take the kids and come on home, and we didn't have any trouble, or even hit any real rain. The folks at the reception didn't fare quite as well, and had to take cover in the basement of the reception hall. Nobody was hurt, and most thought it was a memorable wedding reception! I guess Kara and Ted will always remember how a tornado graced their first hours of marriage!

We had a great time at the 4-H swimming party today. And we were lucky enough to get our whole swim time in before the storms hit yet again, and they closed the pool! The aquatic center in Lawrence is really nice, and they have so much stuff for the kids to do, it is really fun! Quincy and Preston hung out with Madison on the slide and the boys spent almost the whole time perfecting their backflips off the high dive. I quit watching them after a few minutes, they kind of scare me! The more I fret, the more wild the dives seem to become. The easiest thing to do is let the lifeguard watch their antics!

Wedding...

My sister took this...I thought it was really sweet. Preston was an awesome ring bearer (with a little bribery). I will download my photos later today, but for now we are headed to a 4-H swimming party!

Update

Photos will be attached soon! I promise!
I just wanted to do a quick update to let you know that Preston's t-ball team got a name! They are the Blue Angels. He is pretty excited about that - even though he wanted to be the Power Rangers!

Also recieving names this week: 4 baby pigs. Mallory named her's "Katy Piggy"

Madison's is "Sarah Piglin"

Colin has "Jenius" (because his tail forms a "J")

Cameron named his "Doc"

The pigs seem to be handling their move well, and they are starting to get used to us being around!

We have had a full week, and the weekend is bound to be a little bit wild as well! My cousin is getting married, Preston is the ring bearer, Mallory and Madison are going to be acolytes. Preston's tux is very cute, and he wants to keep it forever. I told him we would take lots of photos instead!

Preston's playing t-ball

After 4 1/2 years of watching the big kids play baseball, and esentially growing up at the ballpark, in the gym, on the court, and beside the pigshow arenas, Preston is finally getting to participate. He is on a t-ball team. Tomorrow's mission: NAME THE TEAM! I can only imagine what this will be like- trying to get 3 and 4 year olds to vote on a team name! The coach is a very patient woman, and she is also very creative, so I am sure it will be fine. I will update on what name they pick, and take some photos at his practice. He is so proud! We found an old glove in the garage, he thinks it is new...poor boy - always with the hand-me-downs!

This year is a little bit wild with 5 kids playing on 4 different teams. We are excited to start summer though! This part of the school year seems to drag on forever. I am definitely excited about some warmer weather!

We have also started the paper work for Cameron to attend Lawrence Virtual School next year. He is really excited, and so am I! I am looking forward to trying my hand at homeschool, but I am also feeling much better about it since we will have a learning coach and some backup from the school. We have made this decision in an effort to not have our kids spread out all over the county. The other 3 kids will be attending classes in Carbondale. Cameron, if we didn't homeschool would be attending school in Scranton. We have decided that it is unacceptable for our family to have them spread out everywhere. I am going to give this a try for a year and see how it goes!

I will post some photos of Preston's ball team tomorrow.

First time ever!

For a few years now, I have been following some of my friends blogs, and have been saying 'when I have the time..." Today I decided that there is no more putting this off! I am a terrible scrapbooker, and I am not really any good about writing things down. That being said, I am hoping to use this as an online journal, a place to write down things that my family is doing, ways to keep up with family and friends, and a place to utilize the photos that I take and never do anything with. I am new to blogging, so I hope you will stick with me as I figure out how to use this new tool! Keep your fingers crossed that I can keep this updated, then maybe someday I can just print it all out for my kids or something! At least that way when they find their baby books still shrink-wrapped in the original boxes they can look at this and say 'well mom tried...'



This weekend, we visited some friends pig farm and purchased our summer 4-H project hogs. The kids enjoyed picking out some babies, and looking over all of the possible selections. Baby pigs, I have to admit are pretty darn cute! Here are some photos, although our 4 are in these photos, I can't tell you which ones we picked out for sure...I will post some photos of our hogs after they get delivered later this week!