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!!!