Christmas Cheer

Christmas concert tonight.  M and three classmates (and friends).

Band camp 2013

Maggie attended a week long music camp at Luther College in Decorah, IA, and had the time of her life!!  Dorm living, d-hall food, pool/dance party, hours and hours of music.  It was her first time away like this, and it was a piece of cake.  I don't think she was even remotely home sick.  :-)  That's good.  Here are two songs from the end-of-camp concert, one with the concert band and one with the choir.  In Maggie's words, the choir was EPIC!  It will be a let-down to be back with her school band.  Actually, the rest of summer may be a let-down after the fun she had. 

Track Season

Here are some pics Mama/Grandma got at the 7th grade girls' state track meet.  Our girls came in second behind a much larger team from a much larger town!  Plus it was the most miserable of days: 35 - 45 degrees, sleet, rain, snow on the infield.

 

Groovee!

Maggie was one of three selected from her school for a regional Honor Band program.  Here is one of their songs: Groovee.  Of course, I forgot the regular camera and had only my phone, but it worked pretty well.  You can't see Maggie at all...she is second row on the right, third saxophone back.  The only girl! 

Jazz Band

Maggie has a solo!  This is called Chili Pepper 101, and Maggie said they played it waaaaaaaaaaaay too slow.

XC

 

Maggie is doing cross country this fall.  Her friends are all doing it is well, and it seems like she's having fun!  But this picture shows the agony of the first meet, at which is was nearly 100 degrees with horrible humidity.  I only saw one girl vomit.  Maggie survived, and this week in the cooler weather she was the most improved on her team!  Go Tigers!

 

 Serious at the start!  Check out Mairead and Phoenix on their mark!

  

It was a beautiful setting this week!

First movie trailer

The two Ms amused themselves mightily making this trailer.  One of Maggie's first movies on her new school Macbook!

Annie

Much of Maggie's summer (and ours) was devoted to the community theater production of "Annie." She was Pepper (the mean one!). She had a fantastic time, and I thought she did a great job! I was also pleasantly surprised at the quality of the show. Cuz y'know...community theater. Some of her best buds were in the show, which made it extra special. My mom and dad and sis Noelle came to to town to see the show, and my mom got some good pics!

Piano recital

The latest musical extravaganza!!  Maggie at her piano recital. 

5K!

Maggie ran her first official 5K with her dad a couple weeks ago.  She got a nice prize of a free tuneup for her bike at the bike shop!  That's Phoenix's dad and another professor (who is a long distance runner) with them.  She is thinking about running cross country next year at school.

I had a great Mother's Day yesterday!  The fam prepared a delicious breakfast (complete with breakfast dessert and Top-Chef-inspired presentation!), and then we took a family bike ride around town.  I took Max to his swim lesson and then took Maggie to the outlets...she has woefully few summer pants/shorts that fit her.  Grilled brats for dinner and a trip to Dari Barn with our international student (so we went twice in one weekend...squeee!) finished the day.  The weather was beautiful, and even though it's a cliche: I really am blessed with an amazing family!  (And that includes all of you, too!) XXOO

Joshua

Maggie specifically asked that I record this for her new cousin.  She is standing sort of above the music stand.  Only one more concert to go before the end of school!!  Four out of five done!  Whew! 

Andantino

From M4's violin recital yesterday.  His teacher is accompanying him.  He did a great job!! I am so proud of his progress...sometimes it's hard to tell from practice how he's doing, so to hear him at recital in comparison to the other kids is fun.  Many of the other kids are much more advanced, so I hope it's inspiring him to see his future!

M3 also ran her first 5K with dad yesterday.  Of course, they did it at some pace I could not maintain for three miles.  She's thinking about running cross-country next year. 

Also, I signed up for a 20K June 2.  It will be my 43rd birthday present to myself.

Ya'll will like this one...

From M3's band concert in March!  She has had a good year on the saxophone: she was the only 6th grader rated "outstanding" at a solo competition, and she was one of four selected for the Coe College Honor Band.  She's there today, actually, and we'll go see the concert later.  She'll get to meet other band kids from all over the state!

Cool Swim Photos

From the state meet, by my mama:

Accomplishments

Well, allow me to brag a bit:  I am so proud of this girl.  Her life is pretty busy right now (and I know it will just get more so in the future), but she is handling it all quite gracefully at the moment.  On Saturday, she had to play at 8am for her solo instrument competition at school.  She was the only 6th grader to receive an outstanding rating!  

Then we had to whisk her over to the state swim meet, for which she was the only girl in her age group to actually qualify at state level by times (each team could bring its fastest swimmers in each event, even if they didn't qualify by state times).  It wasn't her best meet, but she was still consistent with her season times.  Her relay team cut quite a few seconds, and they were very excited about that. She had a good time. 

Her coaches also selected her as the female All-Star swimmer from her team, which was a special honor.  She just puts her head down and works hard, and that doesn't often get you noticed.  So I'm grateful to her coaches for choosing her.

I'll put some actual swimming shots up soon!  But I just want to say that I am proud...middle school can be kinda rough, and so far she seems to be on a pretty even keel.

D'oh! The cake...

And now she is 12...

More music

M3's 6th grade choir had a concert with the high school choirs.  Here is their rendition of "Bridge Over Troubled Water." See how tiny they look in comparison!!

Faireality

M3 was inspired by this book:
to make some clothes (fairie sized) out of plant matter. Here are some of the results:




She set them on a photo in a book for the background. Pretty cool!

When the spirit moves you...

I guess when you feel like practicing, you just feel like practicing!