Kendall on the Steinway.

Kendall has been taking piano lessons the past few years.  This year, Miss Diane retired from teaching lessons.  We were super sad about this, but managed to find a wonderful piano teacher.  Miss Margaret took over the lessons.  Kendall had a recital on Wednesday.  She got all dressed up for the occasion.

 

There were about 12 students participating in the recital.  Each of them played two pieces.

They had the opportunity to play on a beautiful Steinway & Sons grand piano. 

Grandma Terrell bought her a bright bouquet of flowers to celebrate the occasion.  What a talented young lady she is!

Her First Loss and Rendezvous.

Kendall has been a member of student council since second grade.  She has loved it.  This year, she had the opportunity to run for school president next year.  She jumped at the chance.  She made a few campaign signs and wrote her speech.  There were three students running for president;  Kendall, Kaylee and Pierro.  The candidates gave their speeches last Wednesday, and the students voted on Thursday.  All of the parents received calls on Friday, while the students were still at school, to let us know the results.  We got the call on Friday that Kendall had not won the race.  We had to break the news to her that evening and prepare her for the announcement to the school the following Monday.

 

She was heartbroken, of course.  My sister was here visiting and had some very wise counsel to offer.  "One has to learn how to lose, in order to learn how to win."  We talked with Kendall about that.  Up until this point, she had won every race/contest she had entered.  This was her time to learn a different kind of lesson.  This seemed to resonate with her.  We told her to take as much of the weekend as she wanted to be sad.  However, Monday morning she would need to walk into the school and be supportive of the winner.  She did just that!  We also told her that she should be very proud that she had the courage to throw her name in the hat.  Out of 700 students and over 100 eligible candidates, only 3 stood up and gave it a shot.  That is remarkable!

 

 

Grandma Karen was in town for the baseball tournament.  She decided to skip the game on Friday to join Kendall for the largest field trip of the year...Rendezvous! 

  

 

They both had a very fun filled day and came home sufficiently happy and tired!

Baseball and the Bus.

My brother-in-law coaches the Lakeland varsity baseball team.  They made the state tournament again this year.  Way to go!  I was on a work trip the first day of the tournament.  My family came down to stay with us.  Kevin and I talked my sister into hosting a BBQ for the team on Thursday evening after their first game.  I arrived home from my trip to see a tour bus in front of my house.  The cab driver was a bit surprised! 

The boys had lost their first game, so a BBQ was just the thing to pick them up out of the slump.  One of the assistant coaches was super appreciative.  He said it was just what the team needed instead of going to the hotel to sulk.

They ate a ton of food and then had some fun.

Kendall showed them how to play tetherball.  She is quite competitive that girl.  They were not going to take it easy on her either.

Pretty soon, they were all joining in on the fun.

 

Dylan's girlfriend, Heather, came down with my family as well.  The girls made signs for the players.  Here is Heather and Dylan with the sign she made for him.

After a few hours, they headed back to the hotel to get some rest for the next day.  Sidney was super happy to have her cousin here.

 

Hallie has been the team manager this year.  She has enjoyed every moment of it.   

 

Sidney joined in on the sign making fun as well.

Talent Show 2017.

The girls participated in the talent show this year.  Kendall decided to try something different than singing this year.  She did a gymnastics routine.  Grandma Karen and Aunt Stephie happened to be in town to watch the shows.

Kendall and her tribe after the show.  She has such a great group of friends. 

Sidney participated for the first time.  Kevin and I always wonder if she will follow through when she signs up for things like this.  She is becoming more and more consistent.  She practiced often and did not let us see the final routine.  She did a dance/gymnastics combination. 

She did an absolutely beautiful routine to Lost Boy. 

I am so proud of all of the kids that participate.  I appreciate the school for giving them the opportunity to get up in front of their friends.  What a great experience!

Food and Friends.

Terrell bought the girls an American Girl cookbook at the Spring book fair.  They love messing around in the kitchen, so it was quite exciting for them.  Kendall and her friend Cortni decided to make spaghetti and meatballs from scratch one evening.  Sidney made garlic cheese bread to go along with it.  They had a great time, pressing garlic and pretending they were Julia Child the whole time. 

Our house smelled of deliciousness the whole evening.

The girls invited their neighborhood friends and Grandma Terrell over to enjoy the feast.

I always volunteer to do the cleanup when they cook.  I marvel at how many dishes they can go through while they are cooking.  I am certain I washed at least five sinks full of dishes.  Efficiency in cooking is not their strong suit.

Lemonade, The Mall and Mother's Day.

Our neighborhood had their annual garage sale a few weeks back.  Kevin and I did not have much to put in the sale.  In fact, I had just taken a load to the youth ranch.  The girls, however, were super inspired to clean out their closets and rooms.  They also spent the evening before the sale baking 120 chocolate chip cookies.  Here they are selling their food and wares.  They had a great time and made a ton of money.

 

So, do you think they invested that money wisely?  Umm, no.  They wanted to go to the mall.  They had such a fun time strolling around going to different stores and trying things on.  I had geared up for this trip.  History has shown me that these girls can shop me under the table. 

The one beauty of the mall trip was that Kendall was in the mood to shop for clothes.  It is rare that I can get her to participate in that.  She has a very specific and unique taste in clothes, so this was a score.  Double score...Crazy 8 was having a huge sale!  We bought a ton of items to put away for next school year.

Kevin took Terrell and I out to eat at Andrade's for Mother's Day. Sidney made me an absolutely beautiful poem.  I loved this so much, because of the words she chose to describe me.  I asked if they were given words to choose from.  She told me no.  They were just supposed to have a certain number of syllables, but they could choose whatever words they thought described their mom.  What a beautiful gift.

Kendall bought me this amazing picture frame.  She had also selected a few pictures to go in it.  I remember the day she bought it.  She had just been given her allowance.  She asked that I take her to the store for some art supplies.  Apparently she found this and could not resist.  She hid it from me, so I did not know exactly what it was.  I just knew it was something for Mother's Day.  It killed me to watch her spend the small amount of money she had earned on me, but I knew it meant the world to her.  Therefore, it meant the world to me!

Silent Film Star.

The girls Sunday School class made a silent film that was shown in church a couple of weeks ago.  It turned out really well.  The story was of David and Goliath.  Sidney played the role of David.

 

The kids had a great time putting the film together.  The church had a great time watching it.

STEM Night Success!

This year, the girls school started a STEM program.  They started on a very small scale...one teacher, one classroom.  I had the pleasure to be actively involved in the program.  I also had the "pleasure" of helping them organize a STEM night for the students and their families.  I say "pleasure" loosely, because I had no idea whether this thing was really going to come together.  Well it did, and it was AMAZING!

 

The Micron STEM bus spent two days at the school and stayed open for the STEM night so that families could walk through it. 

RedBuilt sent a ton of volunteers to help run activities.  CWI came with explosions, fire, an liquid nitrogen.

 

 

Micron and RedBuilt teamed up to run a variety of activities.

The kids were so engaged.  They could not get enough of it.

 

Four colleges showed up to represent and talk with the kids.  The botanical gardens and the Environments Quality board also came with activities.  The whole school was buzzing with excitement.  I was so happy that the families were exposed to the program.  There are five more Desert Sage teachers that will go to training in June along with 19 additional teachers from the district.  Awesome!