Yeah, I Know...It's Been A While!

But I have a really good excuse!  In the past month I have been preparing for the trip of a lifetime!  If you didn't know, Ben's marching band had the awesome opportunity to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland.  Jon and I jumped at the chance to get to go along with him! So...things were a bit busy around here as we prepared for the big trip.

 

Here is a brief update on the happenings of the last month:

Trip meetings. More trip meetings.  And more trip meetings.

Doctor appointments:  And LOTS of prayers that my foot would cooperate on the trip!  New orthotics are on their way!

Band sectionals:  Abby's band had their district contest right before spring break.  They did great, receiving straight 1's!  Ben's band has their district contest next month

Marching band rehearsals:  Make that 7:00AM marching band rehearsals!  And, when you have a child that isn't able to drive yet, that makes for an early morning for Mom!  That's ok!  It's totally worth it!  I have never had to hound Ben about getting out of the house on time for marching band!  He is always up and raring to go!

Family time:  Everyone here (well, except Luke) became completely engrossed in Downton Abbey.  We had several marathon sessions.  Jon and I would try to sneak in an episode here or there when we had a chance.  Ben and Abby weren't thrilled about that!  We discovered that season 3 would only be on pbs.org for a few days, so it became a bit of a rush to watch it all before it was removed!  We finally finished all three seasons and life could then continue.

Snow day:  Yep.  Another one.  And completely uncalled for since we might have gotten an inch of snow!  But Ben and Abby didn't mind at all!  I was happy to have all of my kiddos (and a few of Ben's friends) home for the day!  I even got some of my own friend time in! (:

School:  Jon is pretty much always working on school work...

Solo & Ensemble:  Both Ben and Abby participated in Solo & Ensemble this year.  I always get so nervous on these days!  Both kids had worked SO hard on their music and I knew they would do great.  I was really nervous for Abby.  She had been really nervous for All-District auditions and got lost in her music.  I was afraid that was going to happen to her again.  It didn't!  She did great!  Abby did one solo and one ensemble and got 2's on both of them!  She was thrilled!!  Ben did one solo and three ensembles and got 1's on all four!  I am so, so proud of my musicians!!  They have worked so hard this year!

Band concert:  I already mentioned Abby's district contest, but what I didn't mention is that before the contest, they did a concert for the parents so that they would know what to expect on the day of the contest.  I always love listening to my kiddos bands!  This concert was especially exciting because this was the first concert that Abby was first chair!  Have I mentioned that I am proud of my musicians?  (:

Date night with friends:  Jon and I spent a fun night out with our friends, Heather and Andrew.  We were interested to Thai food.  YUM!

 Look at my beautiful girl!

 Luke finally got his turn at being the star student at school.  Apparently when you are 4 and you have to wait it feels like it will never be your turn.  The time finally came!  Luke was so excited!  He was like a crazy, wild man before school on his big day.  I had to wish his teacher good luck as she had to deal with the insanity!  (of course, I'm sure he was fine once he got to school!)

Miss Anne asked Luke several questions about himself and these were his answers:

Favorite ice cream flavor: Chocolate chip cookie dough

Favorite book:  Star Wars Star Pilot

I am happiest when:  I write my name all by myself.

My proudest accomplishments:  Good at flying an airplane.

My top 10 favorites:
Sport:  Basketball

Hobby:  Play

Toy:  My Larry Mobile

Movie:  The Incredibles

Food:  Hamburgers and tacos

Pet:  Cats

School subject:  Writing my name

Pizza topping:  Sausage

 

Luke LOVES Cubbies and finished his first Cubbies book this month!  I am so proud of him and his sponge-like memory!  He has been a bible verse memorizing machine!  I have loved working with him.  He loves Jesus, learning about Him and talking about Him all the time!  I am excited to start a new Cubbies book with him and continuing to teach him about Jesus!

I'm sure there are things that I have missed, but these are the highlights.  I will try really hard to get on top of a post about Ireland...

SNOW DAY!!

 You know that feeling when you are hoping for a snow day and it doesn't happen?  Well...three of us had that very feeling last Thursday.  We weren't expecting a lot of snow, but we have learned that, in Oklahoma, it doesn't take much to cancel school.  I checked and double checked the school listings before waking Ben. I was so disappointed!  I was really looking forward to a day at home to play games with the kids.  

Both, Ben and Abby, had to be at school early for band, so Jon took them.  It wasn't until almost 8:00am that I got a call from the school saying that school was cancelled.  Seriously?!  They were already at school!!  It was only a matter of a minute or two before I started getting calls and texts from Ben and Abby.

Ben ended up getting picked up by Emily's mom and went to her house, with friends, for movies and fun.

Abby came home on the bus and I made her breakfast!

Nothing is better on a cold, snowy, icy morning than a yummy, hot breakfast!

 Of course, my little outdoor lover couldn't wait to get out there and play!

 I love the look of the ice on everything.  

 Abby spent a large part of her day catching up on Downton Abbey episodes!  Anna came over and, this is so pathetic, they watched Downton Abbey on their Kindles!  I finally made them come out of the bedroom and be social and watch something together.  Nothing girlier than wedding shows!  I love it!

Jon made my day when he offered to take us all out to dinner at our favorite restaurant!  Hooray!! 

 

I love snow days!!

As I type this, we are under a blizzard warning.  It has pouring rain outside all day, which is supposed to change over to snow and turn into a blizzard!  We are expecting 3-7 inches of snow by morning!  I don't to get my hopes up, but I would love another snow day!!
(I'm sure Ben and Abby wouldn't argue!)

Winter Formal 2013

One of the things that Ben has most looked forward to this school year is Winter Formal.  He was looking forward to it so much that he asked his date way back in early December.

I was fairly concerned about Ben asking a girl to the dance so early.  A few months in high school is a long time!  Anything could happen in that amount of time!  Drama, drama, drama...  I made a prediction that something would happen; Ben wouldn't want to go with her or he would want to go with someone else.  I was almost certain that he wouldn't end up going with Jaden.

Of course, many things happened over the course of time and Ben really wanted to go to Formal with another girl.  (Emily!)  Thankfully, if teenagers won't listen to their parents, it is nice for them to have a wise friend that can talk some sense into them.  That is exactly what happened.  Ben called his friend and explained his predicament.  Ben's friend told him that he still had an obligation to take the girl that he asked.  He explained that it was ok to go as friends and that he would still have a fun time.  Thank you, Michael!!

Can it be possible that my baby is old enough to be going to a formal dance?  And with a girl, no less!  That's like...a date!  Ugh... There were many deep breaths by this momma!

The big day finally arrived.

 Aren't they adorable?!

Pictures were taken at Emily's house, so Ben and Emily had to at least get a few.

Beautiful!

I just can't believe how fast my baby is growing up!

 

After pictures were finished, Ben and Jaden headed off to Luigi's for dinner and then to Starbucks for dessert.  (Jaden had never been to Starbucks and has wanted to go for a long time!  I am so glad Ben took her there!)

How did Ben and Jaden get around town?  Well, by their chauffeur, of course!  Ben insisted that Jon be their chauffeur for the night.  He insisted that I could NOT be their driver!  He was afraid that I would be too embarrassing.  Seriously?!  Fine.  Be that way.  I will say, that at the end of the night, Ben informed me that Jon is not allowed to be his chauffeur next time!  "Dad was so embarrassing!"  Huh!

All in all, Ben had a really fun night! He danced like crazy and even got one slow dance in with Emily.  He was walking on air when he walked in the door.  I am thankful that Ben was able to make the best out of a less than ideal situation.  I hope he learned a lesson about how to do things next year!

Oh...and now that the dance is over, Ben and Emily are officially boyfriend and girlfriend.  I am SO not ready for this!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day isn't my favorite holiday, but it is super fun to fun things for.  With this whole wretched foot situation, I haven't had much motivation or desire to do a whole lot.   Especially fun, crafty things.  I decided that I wanted to break out of my yucky mood and have fun.  

Things were slightly different around here this year.  Jon's dad was in town and Ben's girlfriend was coming over for dinner.   As if I wasn't already planning fun little gifts and a "valentine-y"table, it's always fun to do fun things for even more people!  (Pinterest helps too!)

The flowers are Emily's, but I liked to pretend they were mine for a little while!  Plus, they made the table look that much prettier!

Ben was trying to teach Grandpa how to play the trombone.  (:

I splurged and made the famous fried chicken!  YUM!

Ben and Emily

These are two very sweet kiddos!  I just have to say...I am SO not ready for this whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing!  As if it's not weird enough for my baby to have a girlfriend...it was that much weirder for her to be over for dinner!  Being a mom of teenagers is so strange!

Emily, if you read this, I am glad that you were able to come over for dinner!  You are welcome over anytime!  You are such a sweet girl!  (: 

I told Jon that my one request was that I get a picture of the two of us before the day was over.  Unfortunately, Jon dove into his homework after dinner, I went to bed early and the picture never happened.  ):  That's ok.  I told him that since Valentine's Day was all about me doing for everyone else, that he owes me a real Valentine's day!  Maybe we will get our picture then.

Father/Daughter Banquet

Jon and Abby had the opportunity to attend the Father/Daughter Banquet this year.  I will let the pictures do the talking.  (I was able to be there to take pictures since I am on the Nikao parent board (:)

Good friends Anna and Dennis.

Jon and Abby were chosen to be contestants on the father/daughter version of "The Newlywed Game".

They did very well!  They, actually, won!  It made me so happy that the two of them know so much about each other!

One of the best parts of the evening!

Jon and Abby had a very good time together!  I love the fact that they were able to dress up and go on a very special date together.

All-District Honor Band

I had two very eager kiddos audition for All-District this year.  Ben and Abby got their music way back in May and worked on it like mad.  Between practicing at home and lessons with their instructors, they worked hard.  They both sounded amazing!  Being Abby's first year, she was a bit nervous about auditions.  That whole "fear of the unknown" thing can be so daunting.  It was cute, in the days leading up to auditions, listening to Ben and Abby talk about what it would be like and what Abby could expect on that day.  I loved listening to Ben be the big brother to his little sister.  It was so sweet.

Ben had a little bit more of a fire in him this year than he did last year.  He made it last year, but really wasn't pleased with his placement.  He was determined to do much better this year. 

The big day finally arrived.  Ben and Abby had to be dropped off at the school just around the crack of dawn.  They loaded up their backpacks with bananas (apparently bananas are supposed to help calm nerves) and we said prayers for calm nerves and great playing.  I assured the kids not to be nervous because the Lord already knew the outcome of the day.  I think I was speaking more to myself that to either one of them...

Ben called very early in the afternoon with the exciting news that he had made first chair in the first band!  He had to repeat the news multiple times before I could finally understand what he was saying.  He was so excited that he was screaming on the phone and jumping up and down!  WOW!!  I couldn't have been more proud of my boy!

Abby called a few hours later with slightly less exciting news.  She was chosen as first alternate in the 7th grade band.  Not terrible news, but not great either.  I tried to encourage her and let her know that that was still good.  There was still a chance that she would get to go.  I don't think it did much good.  She was pretty disappointed.  I think her nerves got the best of her.  She knew her music like nobody's business, but once she got into the room with the judges, she got flustered and kept getting lost in her music.  My poor baby girl.  Is it bad that I was hoping that a kid would get sick or not be able to make it so that Abby would be able to participate? 

A week later we headed down to Claremore for the All-District concert.

Poor Abby was so sad to not be sitting up on the stage performing.  It broke my heart!

She should have been up there!  ):

I told Abby that I am going to start making her play her clarinet in front of everyone I know!  She is going to have to get used to playing in front of others!

Luke was more interested in playing games than in listening to the music...

First chair trombone!  (Farthest right)

There's my boy! 

These kids only had eight hours of rehearsal time together!  Seriously!  So amazing!

Jubilant Flourishes
(Travis J. Weller)

Childhood Hymn
(David R. Holsinger)
See if you can pick out a popular tune in this piece.

Hypnotic Fireflies
(Brian Balmages)

Fearless
(Ryan Main)

This last piece was so cool!  The conductor actually composed the piece for this particular group and then got to conduct them.  How cool is that?!

I am beyond proud of, both, Ben and Abby!  They both love music and are doing so well.  I love to listen to both of them practice and perform!  I look forward to what the future has to offer both of them!  God has truly blessed them with musical talent!

Missouri: Christmas/New Years

I've said it a million times.  I hate living so far away from my family.  I still believe that living far away makes our times together that much more special.

Since we live so far apart, and we were all able to, we met halfway to celebrate Christmas together.  There isn't much to do in Sullivan, Missouri, so we were able to spend our time together just being together.  (:

Of course our time together started out (rather quickly) with lots of pictures being taken.

Of course, who doesn't love opening presents?!  That's always fun!  We all exchanged names, so it was fun to see what everyone came up with for the person that they chose.   The gifts were great!  We are so blessed!!

I'm telling you, it was SO nice to get to just hang out and visit!  I was so happy to just get to be there with my mom, sisters, brother-in-laws, nieces and nephew!  (And my husband and kids, of course!)  I didn't need to do anything.  I just wanted to be with them!

We saw our first snowflakes of the season (Yes, at the end of December!)while we were in Missouri and Luke couldn't have been happier!  That little guy couldn't get outside fast enough!  He wanted to "make footprints" in the snow.  Grammy was happy to take him out and Luke was able to convince Daddy to take him out again later.  Luke loves everything about being outside, no matter how hot or cold it may be!

We didn't do nothing the whole time.  We played a lot of games!  I laughed SO much and so hard!  Gosh, I love being with my family!!  We have so much fun together!

We had dinner at a local eatery.  YUM!!

See, more playing.  This is actually how we spent New Year's Eve.  What could be better?!  The people working the front desk at the hotel probably weren't thrilled that we made ourselves at home in the breakfast area, but it was so nice that we were able to spread out and hang out without being all crammed in hotel room.

And, of course, there were more pictures!

 

It is always hard to leave and drive in opposite directions, but I am so thankful that we were able to get together and have so much fun together! It was the perfect way to end 2012 and start 2013!