It's Kaitlin's Fault

Jared on the sledding hill.

Kaitlin has been driving the hour and a half to her dad's house all winter and has driven through some very bad weather.  So it's gotten to be a little joke around our house that whenever Kaitlin goes to visit her dad that it is going to snow.  True to form, when Kaitlin headed out for her dad's this past weekend, the snow started to fall.  It had been wonderfully warm the week before, and then suddenly here comes the snow.  By Saturday morning we had six inches.  At least it was a chance for Chuck and Jared to go sledding one last time.


Creative Ruth

Ruth has been doing some pretty creative things in her free time. I mentioned that she had gotten a video editing program for Christmas. Using that and Kaitlin's computer graphics program, Ruth has been working on designing her own animated character - totally from scratch.   She just finished one up this weekend and has started the slow process of animating it.  She posted her first try here:





She's also been doing a lot of writing and posting her stories on a site called Wattpad. She already has 50 reads on one of her stories.  You can find it HERE.

Talent Show

This week Kaitlin was sick.  Really sick, like the can't sit up can't get off the couch kind of sick.  Flu? Perhaps.

 I don't think I mentioned it last week, but on Saturday, we had auditioned for the city talent show. We messed up our audition, having to stop the music and restart a couple of times, and there were over 80 other auditioners, so we were not sure if were going to make it in.  I think it helped that I knew all the people in charge, and they knew me, and trusted that we could do better, that they put us in the show.

Our number was a mother daughter duet called "Don't Follow in my Footsteps" from a musical called The Goodbye Girl.  It is a little known musical and I struggled finding the music and an accompanist. Finally I just midi entered all the music, a process of many hours, and it turned out fine.  As the mother, I sing to the girls about not going into show business like I had, and they sing back to me how they are going to do what they want. We have little actions and movements and the whole thing is cute and funny. At least we think so.

Anyway, all week we were practicing our number, but Kaitlin got sick so a few days we just sang together, not doing the choreography because Kaitlin just couldn't stand.  The dress rehearsal was Friday, but luckily it was just a mater of showing up and doing our number and leaving.  Katlin was feeling a bit better on Saturday, so we double dosed her with medication and went to sing in the talent show.

We were #8 of 25 acts.  Kaitlin was very nervous because she had only half a voice, and Ruth was excited, but I felt strangely calm, barely a flutter in my stomach.  Kaitlin reached over and grabbed my hand, and as we sat watching the other acts I just thought about how lucky I was; I felt so blessed and so lucky to be able to share this moment with these two amazing girls. 

When it was our turn to perform, there was a little hitch with the music, which required me to do some fast thinking on my feet, but it all worked out and I doubt anyone noticed what had happened but us.  We were under spot lights so you couldn't see the audience at all.  It's kind of surreal really; like performing in a black void.  But the girls were great and the act came off without a hitch.

We had such a good time performing together, and it was a good show overall.  Once I get the video processed I'll post it here for the sake of the grandparents to watch and enjoy. 

Kaitlin dragged herself out of bed this morning to try a half day at school. It's nearing the end of the quarter and she doesn't want to fall any more behind.

Ruth is still busy with "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown".  Her performances will be May 2, 3, & 4.

Kaitlin also got asked to Prom this week! The dress hunt has begun.

Big Beginnings

Ruth sang in her first choir concert this week at the middle school.  There were 160 kids in her beginning choir. No really, there were really that many.  There was also a beginning orchestra and a band, both so large that they filled the entire stage, easily 80+ kids each.  We take music seriously in our town!

Denner

Jared's been put in as the leader of his Webelo den in Cub scouts.  He gets to wear the "denner cords" to show his new position. His new responsibility include organizing the flag ceremonies and giving other assignments to the boys. He is also supposed to help set up and clean up activities, visit new scouts and remind scouts about meetings.



Communal Shoes

It all started when Kaitlin discovered that she could wear Jared's shoes and started wearing them to school, or maybe it started before that, when Kaitlin and Ruth started sharing shoes.  Either way, it all kind of surfaced a few weeks ago when I had a $10 off a $25 purchase coupon to the shoe store, but only $20 worth of shoes to buy.  Both Jared and Ruth were clamoring that they should get to buy an additional pair of shoes.  What's a mother to do?   And so the communal shoes were born.  Together, Ruth and Jared picked out a pair of shoes they both liked and they were dubbed the "communal" shoes.  These shoes belong to everyone and no one and are in high demand. The only problem is, who gets to keep them in their room?  So they often sit in "neutral" territory between the two rooms.

Mustang Award

Kaitlin and Mr. Fletcher (right)

I forgot to blog a couple weeks ago about Kaitlin being awarded the Mustang Award at her school. She was the student of the month and was given the award for exhibiting excellent character.  She was nominated by her AP Spanish teacher who stood up and gave a speech about why he nominated her.  It was very nice, at least I'm guessing it was, because he gave the speech in Spanish! They served us a breakfast after the awards (the ceremony was held before school) and between bites Kaitlin translated what he had said for me.  He had talked about the moment a concept  had 'clicked' for her and how, at that moment, he felt that being a teacher had been worth it.   It's true.  A month or so prior, Kaitlin had come home from school so excited because she had finally understood a concept in Spanish that she had never understood before. Kaitlin has a real thirst to be fluent in the language, and perhaps it is that thirst that her teacher notices, because he often takes extra time to explain things to Kaitlin one-on-one, when the other kids are working on the assignments.  Of the ten kids in the AP class, only a few are non-native speakers, and of those there is only one other Junior. So while Kaitlin struggles, she also is always working so hard.   I am proud of Kaitlin, and so happy that she had gotten some recognition for her work.

I've been thinking of teachers lately.  I was so grateful for Mr. Fletcher taking the time to nominate Kaitlin for that award, and then last week I went with Kaitlin to a funeral for the mother of one of Kaitlin's long time friends, who died from brain tumors.  We counted three different teachers in attendance, and then another teacher sang and played the guitar.  How amazing that the teachers took personal time out of their lives to support a student like that.  I'm just so thankful for good teachers that sacrifice so much.

Kaitlin at BYU

Brigham Young University

Kaitlin spent this weekend with her cousin, Stacy, at BYU to get a tour and learn about college life.  She had a great time with her cousin but it was also really eye opening for her.  She's glad that she still has another year at home before considering going off to college.  It also gave her a chance to talk to Stacy about her major, as Stacy is graduating in Secondary Ed, which Kaitlin is considering as well.