One Sunday Evening

Jaclyn felt crafty,
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and ready for school to start.
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So she embroidered and applique'd new subject labels onto a binder from last year. I think this one used to be for French class (the previous label was Sharpie-d onto the spine).

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I am enjoying her blending of Arts & Science. (It's cracking me up a little.)

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Telephoto Lens

(file under essential equipment for parents of older children)
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I borrowed my mother-in-law's telephoto lens this week for two reasons:
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1. To avoid embarrassment. (ie: Is that your mom???)
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Jaclyn signed up for rowing this summer. (Ken's reaction: 'How Ivy League of her.' )
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2. For my own personal safety. (ie: Not getting tackled.)
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Steven made the Bantam team last night! (Equipment hand-out tomorrow followed by a practise. We're arriving early to make sure this year Steven gets a helmet that comfortably fits his melon.)

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Now or Never

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Our new baby:
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Well, at 5'10" she's no baby, but I'm keeping the leather booties on her foot pedals for now, regardless.
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The piano doesn't belong to Jaclyn, but the timing of buying it does. Jaclyn completed her RCME Grade 10 Piano with First Class Honors (84!) and is now preparing for her ARCT Performers Certificate which will likely take her 2 years to accomplish.

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Why would I buy a grand after she moves away to college?

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(Unless I bought it 2 years from now to keep her home for college.)

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(OH!)

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(Too late now.)

A little Stampede entertainment

(the other side of Chloe)



I only caught a snapshot, but her aunt has video. It gets entertaining around 35 seconds and then really everything after 1min15secs. She drew quite a crowd!

Chloe's baptism

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The most anticipated baptism in our house, without a doubt. Chloe says she waited for this day since she was six, and I'm sure it's true. She pulled the executive secretary by the hand around the building until she found her dad so that they could set up the baptism interview. She planned the baptismal service in her 'book', and then called her aunts, uncles, and grandparents to ask them to participate as she had planned.

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And yesterday she was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by her dad.

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We had wonderful support from the ward: our home teachers were there, a past and present primary teacher of Chloe's, a friend from primary, as well as the primary president.

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Congratulations, Chloe. We are proud of you.

Road trip(s)

Ken at Ride the Rockies a few weeks ago

Today Jaclyn and I are off to YW's camp, and Ken is taking the rest of the kids to celebrate Canada Day.
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Happy First of July everyone!

CAMP CHLOE

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Chloe celebrated her birthday today (a couple of weeks early) with her friends before they all head off for summer vacations.
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We invited them to CAMP CHLOE for the afternoon. (Love the dollar store.)
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Carmen and Chloe and Jaclyn worked hard all morning getting ready for the camp. Here Carmen and Chloe pretend to roast marshmallows on the Oreo Sippers campfire cake.
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The campers were so delighted to make their own trail mix and shake it up in a ziploc before we headed out for our hike.
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We walked together to Fish Creek. The hike back up the hill earned them their hiking badge.

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My Alberta rose.
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Jaclyn taught camp songs to the girls while Carmen prepared the nature scavanger hunt. Jaclyn and Carmen were the best camp counsellors!
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I printed out the scavanger hunt list onto paper bags for each of the campers. (I'm sure I saw this idea from someone on my sidebar . . . )

Once the campers found everything on their list they earned their nature badge. You totally couldn't do this party with boys who are really going to be cub scouts one day - the value of the badge would be totally lost.

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Ojo de Dios - a classic camp craft. Later Carmen made a mini one for a necklace pendant with toothpicks and embroidery floss.

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Erica was only serious about the craft - silly for everything else, of course!

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The cookie campfire was difficult to blow around - leaving Chloe with 4 boyfriends, much to her horror.

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And of course the final gift had to be opened with her teeth. It is funny to me when the kids create their own traditions. I really don't know where this came from?

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Happy Birthday (Party) Chloe!

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See you next year!

Just when I think I can't love our school or our teachers more, they go and do something like this:
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As we pulled out of the parking lot today on our last day of school all the teachers stood at the corner to wave and call good-bye to us as we drove off. I almost teared up over it - I can't imagine what it will be like leaving this school for the last time seven years from now.

Most Dedicated

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Last night was our jr. high awards night - Steven kept me hopping in and out of my seat with my camera throughout the evening. He was awarded the Phys. Ed. Award, Jr. Boys Basketball Most Dedicated Player, Citizenship, and a drama award for sound tech. He was also recognized for being an honors student and got a certificate with 26 winnet (participation) stickers.
I love that the Phys. Ed. award is an 'academic' award because it is an honor for the top mark in the class. (Although until this year I sorta thought it didn't belong in the academic awards. Ha!)

Outstanding Female

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(We like to think so)
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A few weeks ago Jaclyn was notified by the school that she had been nominated for Grade 10 Citizenship, Grade 10 Outstanding Female, and the Principal's Award. And then, days later, someone from the awards committee gave me a call and invited me to the academic awards ceremony for grade 11 because Jaclyn would be receiving the French 20 Award, a grade 11 subject she studied this year.

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We weren't invited to the grade 10 academic awards ceremony, which was held an hour earlier, but we decided to attend anyhow to cheer for Jaclyn's friends.
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Well, it's a good thing we did, because they don't have you stand at the front this long for the French 20 award. I had to scramble for my camera when Jaclyn was honored as the Outstanding Female for Grade 10 in academics and school & community extracurricular involvement.
They just forgot to call and invite us to the Grade 10 Awards.
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It was awesome, actually, because it was such a surprise, and I couldn't stop laughing about it all through the next hour at the grade 11 awards. I'm glad Jaclyn is such a good friend, and maybe good sport, that she would want to go to an awards ceremony she didn't think she was involved in. I would have been choked to have missed this!

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Pancake Breakfast

One of our favorite school teachers is heading to Africa this summer to inservice local educators on teaching methods. As a fundraiser for her trip our school put on an early Stampede Breakfast for $5/plate.



Carmen was the only kid in our family to hear the announcement that the fundraiser was a western theme. Chloe jumped at the chance to dress up, and was even more delighted that Carmen's out-grown boots were up for grabs. (The fringed vest has made several more appearances at school since then.) Steven was not so excited to dress western - he was a little concerned no one else in the junior high would even know, let alone act upon, the 'boots-optional' dress code. So he played it safe. (If you took his sisters out of this picture would he look western at all? No, he would not.)

Jaclyn got sick this week, which shouldn't have come as a surprise considering she got sick during finals week in January also. (From now on she is starting a COLD-FX regime at the end of each semester.) She wrote her last school final today, but has her Royal Conservatory Grade 10 piano exam tomorrow morning. The Royal Conservatory is a nation-wide music education and examination standard in Canada. Quoting your Royal Conservatory grade might compare to quoting your SAT score. (?) (I don't really know if it compares at all.) (It's the closest thing I can think of, but we don't have ACTs or SATs or the like here.) Mostly I just threw in the comparison because I bought Jaclyn an SAT prep book this week and I wanted to tie it in somehow. She's planning on going "somewhere warmer than here" for college so we are rapidly learning about American college-entrance examinations. It is crazy to think that 6 months from now my baby could have an SAT score.

Steven has no exam writing in his immediate future. In our junior high if you achieve honor roll in a class you don't have to write the final exam, and he is completely exam exempt! Yee-haw! (to stay in keeping with the cowboy spirit of this post) (although my real reaction was: Hallelujah!) Today was his last day of classes - he will spend the next week-and-a-half trying to sleep through Carmen and Chloe getting ready for school in the morning. Although, I'm thinking maybe I should get to sleep in and he can see the girls off to school. (Just checking to see if you're reading my blog, buddy.)

I'm so done with school

My stress level and frustration with homework is suffocating me.
It is time for summer break!
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Homework in June is not as fun as it looks.

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Today I scrubbed a thousand feet of tile grout

But last Saturday I got dressed up and went for a walk in the park with my family.
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We met up with a talented photographer, Tere (say: Terri). She has an adorable personality and made the family photo shoot really fun. The kids were happy to do it (that's how good she is) and they're volunteering to do it again next year (shocker!).
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As amazing as Tere is, she still had to deal with pulling together six people into natural poses and smiles. I don't know about your family, but in my family that's a challenge.
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It was easier to get good results with smaller groups. (da girls)
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Me and my man.
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Da boys.
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Individual shots went the best:
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Jaclyn
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Steven

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Carmen
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Chloe
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Another stab at a family shot.
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And we're done!

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Next time I'm going to have to hire a videographer to capture Tere at work: "Work it baby!" "I luove it!"

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Playing Cat and Mouse

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The girl:

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Her piece:

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Her performance:

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Check, check

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I think I've figured out why kids break up into isolated groups in high school: jocks, artsie's, brains. Eventually a kid has to choose what he likes best, and I suppose there he makes his friends.

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This week on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, Steven worked from 9am to 6pm (9pm on Thursday) as the sound tech for the school play. In the middle, on Wednesday, he went to Track & Field Divisionals for hurdles and the 200-metre sprint. Meanwhile his classes marched on without him, so he spent evenings and into the nights doing school work he normally would have done in class.

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Steve told me he knows he's had a busy week because he has no idea of what the standings are in the play-offs.

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Me: Which play-offs? (But I didn't think to wonder until after he'd gone to bed, so I don't know the answer. Basketball? Hockey? Both? Is it even still basketball or hockey season? I'm proud to say I know it isn't football season.)

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Chloe wrote her own skipping poem:

Chocolate, chocolate in a s'more!

How many marshmallows did you score?

(Hot pepper) 1, 2, 3, 4 . . .

One Hundred Pounds

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Steven delivered 100 pounds of aluminum pull-tabs to the Ronald McDonald House of Southern Alberta today. (The boy only weights 90 pounds himself.)
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This year Steven headed up a school-wide project to collect tabs from beverage cans for the RMHSA. The House sells the tabs (which are worth more than the aluminum can they were pulled from!) to West-Can Recycling and uses the money to support the programs at the House. To motivate the students in his school, Steven set up bi-monthly contests with prizes for the classes that collected the most tabs during each contest period. The competition seemed to work well because the receptionist at the Ronald McDonald House was a little shocked by so many tabs from a single source. Our school did us proud.
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For Steven, initiating and leading this project means he has 22 hours completed towards his Chief Scout Award - he'll continue the project in the 2009-2010 school year to finish his hours.
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(It's been great to do the scouting thing with Steven, and yet at the same time, I'm glad to have only one son.)

Mother's Day

Our ward has a tradition of passing out a token of appreciation to all of the mothers after sacrament meeting. We always receive a package of 3 Lindor chocolates.
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Today after I got my box of chocolates Carmen said to me, "If there were 4 chocolates in that box you'd give them to us, right?"

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I totally would.

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(Good thing there's only 3.)

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How preoccupied I've been

I was going to try to write a post this afternoon, but blogging got bumped by napping. Blogging's been bumped by a lot of things lately.

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Like trying to decide if I should buy myself a second copy of my current favorite t-shirt so that when my belt wears a hole in the one I have now, I'll have another one. It's a blue baseball shirt with navy blue sleeves. No photo today, but I'm sure I'll get a photo of it sooner or later. Especially if I buy another one.

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Or on Tuesday how I spent the afternoon doing ironing, mending, and alterations. I bought this really cute girls' dress that was on clearance at Winners, but it was size 16. I managed to take it apart and cut it down to fit Carmen. I'm so proud of myself.

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I've been working more. We're short-staffed right now and I keep getting sucked into taking on extra days. (I'm trying not to complain about it too much considering the economy.) My general attitude when I agree to extra work days is that I'm doing my office a huge favor - then I remind myself that they are paying me.

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Jaclyn had an opportunity to accompany a friend of her's in a music festival. Maddi competed in a solo vocal class and was awarded a 90. The adjudicator took the time to praise the use of a pianist rather than recorded accompaniment, which was nice for Jaclyn to get some recognition on the side, considering it wasn't about her. Maddi expressed her appreciation with a $50 i-tunes gift card which I'm betting has been completely redeemed by now.

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Steven finished school badminton season. He and his doubles partner, Mitchell, made it to quarterfinals for their division which Steven was mildly disappointed to lose. Worse yet was that with badminton over he was once again without a sport. The boy needs exercise, competition, and male companionship. He needs sports. So we bought him a junior membership at the golf course near our home and now he can walk over whenever he wants, which judging from this week should be all the time.
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Carmen and Chloe's choir has pretty much wrapped up for the year. They had their final rehearsal last week (followed by a celebratory trip to The Chocolate Bar) and their final concert for the year was tonight. Carmen is so serious and sincere about her choir performances. Chloe is such a clown. I tried to make a quick get-away after the concert but I still had someone catch up to me as I was pulling out of the parking lot who wanted to comment on Chloe's antics. I was secretly hoping I was the only one who noticed Chloe's facial expressions because everyone else was busy watching their own child. Guess not.

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On the field Chloe's enthusiasm is her greatest asset. She's happy to be on the blue team again! Last year they were the Blue Rock Stars. This year they are the Bluebirds.

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And finally, I just want to say how great it is to have big kids. Ken went on an 80 kilometer bike ride on Saturday while Jaclyn did this:

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She got the grass in the backyard all raked and bagged! My Grandpa N used to say something about kids growing up just to where they're useful, and then they move away. Actually in the case of girls I think he said something about a 'long face' coming along and taking them away.

High School Talent Show

I walked into the school theatre on Wednesday evening, looked around, and thought: what a motley crew of young people. It was a bit of a freak show. Shame on me for judging.
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I had just found a good seat for filming Jaclyn's performance when the leadership teacher (an old college friend) approached me to warn that the first two acts were going to be very loud and I might want to join him in the hallway until battle-of-the-heavy-metal-bands was over. It was good advice: we could hear the music just fine from outside. It turned out, though, that the bands were in fact acts 2 & 3. Later I was sorry to discover I missed the one-man skit of the life of a raindrop. I have to give credit to the panel of students who oversaw the selection process at the talent show auditions: they certainly opted for variety. (As best they could - Jaclyn had warned me - there was a lot of guitar.)
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Jaclyn was the only classical music act in the show, and it was certainly different from her usual venue. More audience participation than I've ever seen at a piano recital.
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Jaclyn introduced her number, then after I hit the stop button on my camera a boy from the audience shouted out, "That's my favorite song!"
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They were a very appreciative audience. Again, shame on me for judging them. Here's her performance (don't feel compelled to watch the full 6 minutes) of Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique 1st Movement. You'll hear a small hoot of audience participation at about the 42-second mark, and then the crowd really got into it at around 1 min 30. I should have turned my camera on the boys sitting in front of me who started banging their heads to every chord Jaclyn put her weight behind. Perhaps Beethoven is the original head-banger music.