1st Communion, Final Concerts

Joseph received the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist on Saturday May 17, 2008. He did a great job! Alex and I played in a little string ensemble for the mass and Kristen was an Altar Server (book holder). It was a beautiful mass and had tons of friends and family around to wish Joseph well. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! We spent a lot of time grillin and visiting out in the backyard!

On Sunday the All Saints String Ensemble had their final concert for the year. Kristen did great! Alex forgot his music and I was so stressed out worrying about Alex that I even started playing the WRONG SONG on one of the pieces. AY! Other than those few little things the concert was great. I was able to play the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 with the Advanced Group and it sounded great! Maybe next year when Alex is a little older I'll get to stop worrying about him. Kristen was such a huge help!

On Monday evening Joseph and Alex had their final Cub Scout meeting for the year. Alex received his fishing belt loop. He should have also gotten his Bobcat Badge and Joseph should have gotten his soccer belt loop. But there was some confusion and they'll have to get it next go around. The were able to launch their very first rockets that they built with their dad. Both rockets launched successfully. Coming down was another problem. Apparently we launched them in a very tree-filled area and they got caught up in the branches. Frank and I laughed that the next big wind storm comes through and the ground is going to be littered with rockets!

Last night Kristen had her end of year orchestra concert for school and she did phenomenal. The whole orchestra did a great job! It was a successful year for the string program at All Saints. Looking forward to next year.

Whew! I think that gets me caught up to today. Business is picking up. I wrote a contract last night and have 3 new loans. So having business is always a good thing. Memorial Day weekend is coming up. Indiana Jones is coming out...looking forward to a great next few days!

Sandy Lake Orchestra Competition

The All Saints School Orchestra went to Sandy Lake competition yesterday and I accompanied them. The school played two pieces: Rhythm and Blues and the William Tell Overture. They did a great job. Their overall score was a "1" which is the highest ranking you can achieve. I am so proud of them and, of course, especially proud for Kristen. She did a great job!

I am posting a picture of the orchestra with their trophy, and an extra picture of Kristen in Downtown Dallas...standing next to the grassy gnoll and in front of the area where Kennedy's motorcade came down all those years ago.

Today I am going on the KINDERGARTEN field trip to some kind of play. Alex isn't real excited about it because he said this play is Cinderella...not masculine enough for him!

Mother's Day Eve

So this is the first Mother's Day weekend in a few years where I didn't have to share Mother's Day with Frank's mom. She didn't come here and we didn't have to go there. I was so looking forward to this! Instead I got to spend the day cleaning the hnouse so we could get ready for Frank's family to come visit us NEXT weekend. Oh well. Maybe some day....

I coached my last volleyball tournament this morning. We won the 2nd place trophy! Woo hoo. A lotta good volleyball this morning! Kristen did great. Break now for summer.

Dallas Holocaust Museum

I went on the 6th grade field trip, today to the Dallas Holocaust Museum. If you ever question why you ared on this earth...just watch a bunch of 12 year olds learn about the deaths of MILLIONS of jews. And then tell them that their OWN country had asian concentration camps, and genocide STILL OCCURS in places like Bosnia and Rwanda. We had lots of tears shed...do you want to know how K-Ban reacted? She was pissed! She asked how could we let millions of women, children, and men be killed for no reason? How could we listen to one man named Hitler? She said, "Mommy, I'm not sad. I'm mad! Not on MY watch!" That's my girl. I told Frank what she said and he asked "Yeah, what's she gonna do about it?" Gimme a little time and I'll show you!

We got some summer enrichment books for Alex. He is 3rd grd math, reading, science, and social studies. 2nd grade spelling, 1st grade writing. We're still debating the whole "skipping 1st grade". Guess we better decide soon. When Alex saw the books I brought home he devoured them! They won't last a whole summer. Hmmm... And he keeps moving ahead with his cello. He's brilliant!

Joseph is at his 2nd sleepover tonight. I wonder how he is...

I think tonight Frank and I are gonna watch I am Legend. He's gotta put in a new battery in my car. My car left me stranded last night. He left to go pick up the battery and Kristen from her last schooldance of the year.

Oh Look! It's yet another primary Tuesday!

I watched an episode of Daily Show with Jon Stewart where he was making fun of the Democrats that split GUAM! "They SPLIT GUAM! EVEN GUAM COULDN'T DECIDE!" So Barack will "take" North Carolina and Hillary will "take" Indiana. Feels like we're playing Red Rover. No offense to my family in Florida....but the dems there MESSED UP by not having a "normal" primary that would count! Oh well.

Frank and I registered Kristen for her BIG leadership trip to Washington, DC this summer:
http://www.cylc.org/jrnylc/

She's going to be staying at the University of Maryland. I hope it turns out as great as I think it will. Should be really interesting since it's an election year. Of course, they might just send her back saying "That child doesn't need ANY leadership training!" We shall see. I'm going to pick up our future leader from school a little early. She has an ortho appointment. I think she gets her bottom braces today. Stay tuned for a new picture.

My favorit You Tube video for now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8lvc-azCXY

Soccer Bumps and Bruises

I'm so glad Geoff came to my last game...because people always ask me when I tell them we've sent 3 women to the hospital "What on earth are you guys doing out there to get so hurt?" You know...we PLAY. And we play HARD. And there's a lot of bangin into each other and tripping and head crashes. We play to win! And we have fun. But we pay for it the next day, that's for sure!

We play in the North Texas Women's Socer Association (www.ntwsa.org) Our team name is SOS. We play in the Over 30, Division 5 (Wimpiest of the Wimps). We won a couple of games in a row and thought to ourselves....hey we might even move up! But then we lost 2 very brutal physical games in a row...and now we're thinking we're pretty well placed in our correct division. GO SOS!

Goalkeeper fiddling mom

So I played goal keeper today and was concertmaster during a Mass performance today. Talk about covering all the bases. The kids were good and Frank seemed happy with the weekend.

Seems like I've found my calling as a soccer goalkeeper. I loved it. Yeah we lost 2-1. But I finally had fun playing soccer today! And I didn't get any new bruises! I hope the team keeps me!