School

Today Brittany had her track meet at Waubonsie High School.  Right now she is trying to juggle being in the Musical and running track at the same time.  She hasn’t been to many track practices and the coaches have been really good about this.  With not much practice, however, she got her personal best time in the 200 of 32.96 seconds!  We are very proud of her!  Just think of what she could have done if she would have been practicing every day!  🙂

She also does the triple jump and the 4 x 400 meter relay.  The 200 is her favorite, however.

Go Brittany!

Brittany made the High Honor Roll for the 3rd quarter!  She was so excited!  She got above a 3.8 and we are very proud of her efforts!

She worked very hard all the way through the quarter.  She told us that she was going to do it this quarter if it killed her and she stuck with it the whole time.  It was challenging but she breathed a big sigh of relief at the end!  🙂

Great job Brittany!

Today, Sarah marched in the parade at Disney World!  She said they had an absolute blast!  They were getting a little nervous that they might not make it because on the way down on the bus, they got caught up in a HUGE traffic jam where a semi truck carrying 44,000 pounds of bacon jackknifed in the middle of the interstate and ended up on its side and sideways blocking ALL the southbound lanes.  They couldn’t turn around in the median because they were in buses.  They had to sit for over 6 hours on the freeway!  YIKES!  🙂

They did make it on time, however (with not much to spare) and thoroughly enjoyed the activity!  We have some friends who just happened to be down there that day and both families were able to see her and cheer her on!  We’ll post some pictures that they took as soon as we get them!

Go Mustangs!

Today Sarah and the Metea Valley Marching Band boarded buses for Orlando!  They are going to march in the Magic Kingdom Main Street Parade on Sunday afternoon and they are all SO excited!  They have been looking forward to this for months!  I’m sure they’ll keep themselves busy during the 36 hour drive!  🙂

After Sarah got dropped off and we did a little house cleaning, Angela took the older kids (I stayed home with Ben while he napped) and went to see “How to Train Your Dragon” at the theater.  They really liked it.

We’ll miss you Sarah!  We can’t wait until you get back home on Wednesday!

Congratulations Brittany and Sarah!  Today we found out that both Brittany and Sarah made it into higher audition groups in high school next year!   They are so excited!  Sarah was the most worried she wouldn’t make it but was extremely relieved when the results of the auditions came back!

We are very impressed with the music programs in our district.  Sarah has just loved band at Metea this year and is looking forward to being in it next year (hopefully also as a marching leader in the marching band).  Brittany is looking forward to orchestra at Metea, because we have one of the best orchestra directors in the country.  Mr. Liu was at Waubonsie last year and came to Metea this year.  The kids at Waubonsie are still really sad that he left, but what a blessing for us!

Tonight, Sarah and the rest of the Metea Valley High School freshman and sophomore fine arts students performed the school’s first “Collage” concert in the new auditorium, with more than 300 students participating in two consecutive shows to accommodate the massive crowds that poured in.

We were all awestruck by the sounds of the various instruments from the Symphony Orchestra, String Quartet, Symphonic Bands, Symphonic Winds, Jazz Ensemble, Steel Bands and Percussion Ensembles. Accompanying the musicians were the Cecillian Singers, Bass Chorus, Concert Choir, Vocal Jazz Ensemble and United Voices.

The various ensembles were strategically positioned around the auditorium to awaken the senses of listeners as the various lights and sounds moved about the room.

It was amazing that a school right now of only sophomore and freshman students did so well.  It sounded GREAT!  Angela volunteered to help out with the programs (she directed people as they came in the main doors) and I brought the kids.

Keep up the GREAT work, Sarah!

Today, Kirstyn had a reader’s theater in school, where she acted as Master of Ceremonies!  She was very excited to do this and did a GREAT job!  The theater was a collection of readings about famous African Americans.  They were:  1)  Phyllis Wheatley and the Famous Poets of Yesterday, The Tuskegee Airmen, The Great Migration, and The Scientists Hall of Fame.  Not only was she the MC for the entire program, but she was also the main narrator for the Tuskegee Airmen reading.  Unfortunately, I had to work, but Angela was able to go see her performance.  Go Kirstyn!

Today Sarah went to Downer’s Grove North High School and participated in the Illinois State Solo and Ensemble Festival.  She played a very hard piece that her private flute lesson teacher had given her (at least it looked incredibly hard to me)!  She did a great job and the judge was impressed!  🙂  Naturally, she said that she made some mistakes but if she did, I didn’t hear them.  I just want to be the proud dad!  🙂

Keep up the GREAT work Sarah!

Today, Brittany was involved in the regional Solo and Ensemble festival which she has participated in in the past couple of years as well.  This morning, she sang in a girls ensemble of 6 girls and they did a GREAT job!  🙂  Brittany sang alto.

She then went back in the afternoon and played a violin and base orchestra duet with a friend of hers.  She did a wonderful job in that as well.  She got top scores in both performances and she was very happy!  Great job Britt!

Kirstyn had a GREAT band concert tonight.  The three elementary schools that their band teacher teaches at, were combined together at Scullen Middle School for the concert.  It is hard to believe that the kids have only been playing for about 6 months!  They sound GREAT!  I know, I know, I said this with both Sarah and Brittany as well, but it still never ceases to amaze me!  The kids and the teachers work really hard to help the kids be the best they can be.  Kirstyn loves playing the clarinet and enjoys practicing whenever she can.  So far, we haven’t had to push her much to practice.  She’s still in that honeymoon phase and I’m sure we’ll have to start reminding her all the time soon.  🙂

Keep up the GREAT work Kirstyn!

Today Brittany participated in the District Science Fair for our school district!  It was held at Waubonsie High School and there were a hundreds of kids who were there.  Brittany really enjoyed her science project for school, so much that she decided to take it to the Science Fair.  It was titled “Men vs. Women:  Do You Have Your Placard?”  Over the course of about 3 months, she observed people’s parking habits in handicapped spaces.  She noted from all the data she gathered, that women are more likely to abuse handicapped parking spaces (parking without a placard) than men were.  🙂  This was a shock to her as her hypothesis stated that she thought men would be the most dishonest when it came to this.  She drew up all her conclusions and then made a nice presentation board.

She did a GREAT job and we are very proud of her for her work.  She learned a lot about research and analyzing data.  Angela and I went over to the high school toward the end and looked at a bunch of projects.  There were some other really cool ones as well such as how and what types of Wii games affect heart rate the most, the power of a simple hello, and smart behavior.  There was even one that partnered with a college lab and analyzed staph bacteria.  😐  It took us back to the days when we participated in the Science Fair at our schools!  (only without the staph)!  🙂

When the judging was all over, Brittany was awarded a first place finish and received a ribbon and certificate.

She was a little sad that she didn’t get picked to go to the next level, but it was a great experience for her!  Great job Brittany!