6-13-07 POW

Well, we made it. The school year is over and yes: it took 2 whole days before I heard, "I'm bored....." Ha! My guess was that it would take 3 days, but apparently I was wrong. The girls were supposed to go to Atlanta on Saturday to stay with Steve and Yvonne for 5 days, but they changed their minds and didn't want to go. They are now playing nonstop with all the neighbor kids with daily sleepovers. One day I have 4 kids, one day I have 2 kids (with one not being mine) and one day I have none (that was last night). One thing I am remembering about Summer Vacation: I forgot how much food we go through when they are home - yikes!
Let's go back to last Friday - awards day. Alyssa had "graduation" at her school and I've yet to figure out why they do this for 5th grade. Anyway, she was very happy and probably only slept an hour the night before... she was so excited. Here she is before school with our next door neighbor, Justin. I'd never seen Justin in a suit. Poor kid. Oh, and the polka dots on Alyss'a dress are "diamonds" - ha!. It was a VERY hot day and all of the dressed up kids (and parents) were miserable. We got to her school at 8:30 and it was standing room only in that room. The kids sang a song and then the 2 1/2 hours of awards being presented began. Alyssa's first award was a physical fitness award for improvement. Next she got the President's Education Award, complete with a letter from the White House. Here's a link to more info on that: http://www.ed.gov/programs/presedaward/eligibility.html . I wasn't expecting her to get one so you can imagine my surprise. Her last award was the Certificate of Graduation. Her teacher is one one handing it to her, the principal is lady with the sling on her arm and the vice principal is the guy next to her. We had a luncheon in the UN-airconditioned gym after that (Subway sandwiches, chips and cupcakes....woo-hoo!) and it must have been 100 degrees in there. They set up a little photo-op center which was quite popular and after waiting quite a while, this is the one we got. We were (are) so proud of her. She'll go to middle school (junior high) next year.

After that, Brent and I got to go home for about 30 minutes and then it was off to Sidney's school. This one was not a dressy affair and the gym was air conditioned (thank God!). The bleachers were unbelievably hard, or maybe it just felt that way because we had been sitting in hard chairs at Alysss'a school for so long already. Anyway, Sidney had already received her Track certificate in May, so today she ended up with a President's Education Award (again, I was surprised!) and her much-coveted Perfect Attendance award. She looked very proud standing up there with so few kids getting that award. This ceremony only lasted about 1 1/2 hours so it wasn't quite as uncomfortable.

Brent and I went home after that and waited for the girls to get off the buses for the last time, Lys at 3:00 and Sid at 4:15. It was funny: Brent said, "I can remember getting off the bus the last day of school. I jumped and screamed and couldn't get off of that bus quick enough! It will be fun to see the girls when they get in the house." I said nothing, just smiled. He had no idea what would happen next.....I did. Lys came in with swollen eyes and a tear stained face. I just hugged her and said nothing. The confused look on Brent's face was priceless. I took her into her room and talked with her a bit. Sidney came home next, same look on her face, but she was still actually crying. This blew Brent's mind. I comforted Sid for a while and after she left the room I explained it all to Brent. "They won't see their friends again for the whole summer and most of them are going to different schools next year (Sid's middle school feeds 5 different high schools!). Sid didn't get to see Brianna before she left and Lys won't be seeing Victoria, Lauren or Brittany next year at school." He still looked confused. "OK, let me explain it this way: it's a GIRL thing.". He shook his head and still couldn't understand. He's such a GUY!

When the girls made their plans to be in Atlanta, I made plans for myself. When they canceled those plans I told them they had to find a place to sleep Sunday and Tuesday. Brent and I went to the beach for an overnight Sunday and it was FABULOUS! Just a couple hours down the road, but it was FABULOUS! I was going to write the POW from the balcony, but their were too many other things to look at....like this!

The other one of my overnight plans was supposed to be yesterday. I was going to fly to Newark, spend the night with Brent and then meet Heather after breakfast today and spend the day shopping in NYC, flying home after dinner. Ah, the best layed plans.....such a dream. I went out to the airport for a 2pm flight, boarded it, it pushed back from the gate.....and we sat there.....for 2 hours (thunderstorms in the Newark area). It came BACK to the gate at 4:00 with a supposed update on the departure time in an hour. One of my coworkers was working the flight alone and of course everyone was lined up in front of her because they were now going to miss their connections. She looked at me, I looked at her and said, "for a dollar I'll help you" and laughed. She laughed and half-heartedly said no, but she was swamped. I signed in to a computer (in my casual street clothes, mind you) and started to help. Long story short, they kept increasing the delay until they finally canceled it at 7:00. I worked non-stop for 4 hours at that gate, rebooking and rerouting. My supervisor was VERY happy I was there and said he would pay me time and a half for those 4 hours. Yea! I guess some good CAN come from some bad. I didn't get to shop in NYC, but I got the house to myself when I got home. I called the girls I told them I was home, but they wanted to still sleep over at their friend's house. No problem!!!

That's all for now. I'm off to cut the grass before the rain comes. Have a great day!

6-3-07 Picture of the Season - Ha!

I'm not even going to ATTEMPT trying to catch you up in any kind of detail. Neither of us has that kind of time -- ha! I will, however, give you the highlights since I last had time to write....way back in April. You know, this happens every year. The last 2 months of school are SOOO busy and I have been working more than double my normal hours. That doesn't make for a good combination.

OK, let's begin. April 14th Mom and Jim flew to GSO for a weekend visit. It was Alumni weekend at Greensboro College and they were dedicating a Hall of Fame for the atheletic department. Long story short, Ryan had been helping them (even way back then) with the A/V hookup of it all and it finally came together. They were kind enough to put a small plaque on the wall above the plasma TV with his name on it and Mom and Jim got a nice award to take home and hang up. It was very nice. To see more pictures: http://www.gborocollege.edu/weblog.php?action=showpage&page=article&aid=1948&offset=0 . I'm actually in one: the third one down (in the pink sweater). Yea!

Sid had two more track meets in April. She didn't finish as well as she would have liked, but she still did really well in my book. They ran against tough schools and won. I'm very proud of her.

April 24th she got her bottom braces put on and some pretty colored rubberbands. Now she is all set for Spring!

May 1st was her last ever band concert and it worked out that Dad was here visiting so he got to hear her perform. He was impressed, even took a moment to congratulate her band director. She is giving up the oboe and flute for a life of Track. She wants to run year-round starting in the Fall and has even heard about a camp she can go to this summer that will prepare her for "cross country" running. Say goodbye to the band geek and hello to the jock. Ha!

May 2nd was the last track meet of the season. Her school won that one, too, and ended up being undefeated for the season. They beat all 8 schools, boys and girls, so they are the Conference champs for 2007. Here she is modeling her most prized possession: her conference T-shirt. They all went out to Fuddruckers for dinner and to get their medals. She has quite a collection on her wall now.

More about Sidney (sorry Lys, you don't do as many things!). She and Ashley (across the street) had their "Combined Birthday Party". It was so much fun, even though it rained the entire time. I never realized how big my tiny garage was until I saw the 40 kids in it! They played games in the rain, we cooked on the grill and music blared until 11pm. Rumor has it this party was the best party of the year! How cool....it was at MY house. Ha! Here are lots of pictures from it.

May 8th was her last choir (chorus....sorry Sid) concert for the year. They sang songs that they would be competing with later that week at Carowinds (our "Disneyworld" http://www3.cedarfair.com/carowinds/index.cfm#actions) with other local middle schools. They performed on Saturday morning and received 3 Gold ratings and 1 Silver. After they sang they rode roller coasters until the park closed. It was a long day!

May 19th. FINALLY something with Alyssa - the GOFAR race! It was such a beautiful day and a record 400 runners were there, representing 4 different schools. There were some parents and siblings running, too, so it was quite crowded. Lys ran with Hayley (of course, her BFF) and finished much better than she had in the past. Sid finished 12th in the "adults" girls category, but was disappointed because she cramped up at one point and had to walk, making her finish much slower. She has been running a lot since then getting ready for the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta July 4th.

May 22-24th, Fran and John came to visit. We had so much fun! John even made a birthday cake for Sidney (quite a treat!) which made it her 2nd birthday party. It was nice to see them both again and hopefully they will visit again soon!

May 26th was opening day at the water park. Don't you know, we were almost first in line when it opened at 10. It was me, Brent, Sidney, Brianna, Alyssa, Hayley (of course) and a new girl: Shannon. I'm sure you'll hear more about her as the stories continue. Her dad is the station manager for Delta airlines in Greensboro and they live very close to us. Anyway, the day couldn't have been more perfect. It was hot and sunny and the crowds weren't as bad as I thought they'd be. Brent got sunburned (I thought I covered him enough, but I guess not!) and was quite miserable on his 4 day trip that started the next day. Oops! The kids had a blast, though, and that's the REALLY important part. We stayed until 4:00 and I think the girls were asleep by 9. Ha!

The next day (Sunday), Alyssa went strawberry picking with Hayley and her family. They were sooooo sweet! I wish I could have gone. She brought home a bowl full of them for Sid and I and I don't think they made it through the day. After they picked the berries they went back to Hayley's house and played with chalk. Good thing it's washable!

Moving on. Heather and Billy came down in their plane on May 30th for an early birthday party for Sid. We had party #3 that night and had a blast. They were expecting a leisurely morning the next day, but I had other plans.

Early on the 31st (Sid's REAL birthday) we got up (6am) and hung posters all along her bus route. She wanted one, but we made 4. Now EVERYONE would know it was her birthday. After that we scooted off to Alyssa's school. It was Field Day! Again, a perfect day: blue skies and lots of sun. There were 22 different "stations" throughout their day (they stay 10 minutes at each one) and we wanted to do a "wet" one, so we signed up for the 3 Sponge Race. A line of kids, 3 large car-washing sponges and a bucket of water 20 yards away. They run to the bucket, dunk the sponges, one goes under their chin and one under each arm pit, run back to the start and hand off the sponges. There's no real strategy to this game, it's just to get wet. There were two lines of kids so we set them up to race against each other and Heather and Billy were the "drill sergeants" in front of them, yelling and screaming at them to run faster, wet the sponges and hustle back. They were so great with the kids, they all had a blast! Alyssa was 1st runner-up in the bubble blowing contest. The lady in the green shirt next to her is her teacher. We were there from 9am until 12:30 or so, then finally got to leave for lunch. They flew home not long after that and the girls and I had birthday cake #4 that night.

That brings us up to June (wow!). June 1st was the 8th grade dance. Sidney searched long and hard for "the perfect dress". After her countless hours of searching she came up with this one. It was a dressy affair, but not "prom dress / tux" attire. The kids all looked so nice, I hardly recognized them. Sid didn't have a date, just her BFF's Neha and Brianna, along with several other girls. She chickened out on the "girls choice" dance, never picking a boy, instead choosing to chat with her girlfriends. She looked beautiful, though, and I'm sure there were tons of boys who regretted not having the guts to ask her out. I guess they are afraid....of ME!

OK, how did I do? That brings you all somewhat up to date and now I can maybe get back into doing this once a week or so. I've scaled back on my hours at work so perhaps I can start returning emails and such. The last day of school for the girls is this Friday so I'll be sure to write about that. Have a great week!!!

4-13-07 POW

Happy Friday the 13th! For those of you who had forgotten....sorry. Think positive: at least it's not a full moon, right? It's been a while since I wrote this and I won't write a novel to try catching you up, I'll just give you the highlights.

On March 28 Sid had her second track meet. She was excited about it, as always, but they were running against a tough school. She didn't finish in the top 3, so she was upset. I think it motivated her to try even harder for the next one. The next meet is next week and it will be against 2 other schools (they call it a tri-meet) and one of the schools is our toughest rival. That should be exciting to watch. I'll try to take

some good pictures.

A few days after this meet they girls boarded a plane to Phoenix for Spring Break. They stayed with Mom and Jim and LOVED the warm weather. They even had a birthday party for Mom (her birthday was the day before). The pool was a big hit, as was the hike through the desert. Do you remember Morgan (and her sister Megan) who used to live a few doors down? Well, she and her family moved back to the Phoenix area last summer. Sid and Lys got to spend the night at their house one night and had a blast, just like old times. One bad thing happened during Spring Break, though. Alyssa got chicken pox! Yes, they both had the vaccine to prevent it, but apparently this was a good, strong strain. Hayley's brother had it a few weeks ago and Lys had spent some time at Hayley's house (because I thought she'd be fine), but no such luck. She came home from Phoenix looking like this. She missed the first day back at school (she didn't mind) and was back in class by Tuesday. Hayley was in Disneyworld on her break and got them, too! Poor kids.

Report cards came home this week. Alyssa brought home one certificate for perfect attendance and one for making the A/B Honor Roll. I was very proud! Sid did really well, too, bringing home 5 A's. I'm glad the days of eating at Golden Corral are over. This time we went out for Italian food to celebrate.

One last thing and I'll let you go. Sidney's school is getting an award today. They are the first school in our county to be added to the state's "Schools To Watch" list. It's a big honor (here's a link if you want to read about it: http://www.ncmsa.net/stw-criteria.html . All the news stations will be covering the ceremony today, and the governor of NC and our mayor will be in attendance. The kids are very excited and proud.

Time to go to work. I hope you all are doing well!!!