Rock Band

Julia is in a Rock Band.

Shocked you huh?!

She sings classical, jazz, a capella (her Enchords group), and to the radio. During her All State experience, a girl tapped her on the shoulder and said, "You sing beautiful, just like a Disney Princess."


She attended her first class at college today for the Pop/Rock Ensemble class. There was a live rock band to sing to. Amazing singers. She's the only girl ... so far.

Pop/Rock = current pop rock.

No. It's the classic stuff.

John came in from swimming with the boys and was loving it! He is reliving his teenage years. Homework for the class: Julia - our Disney Princess - is singing the lead in Barracuda (from Heart). She is a bit nervous to sing with these talented "guys" (hopefully some more girls next week!) but is excited to work on developing a new genre.

Pool time!

Our community pool opened 2 days early! I'm so glad because it has been pretty warm since school ended.

I came home yesterday and told the boys that the pool was open. They quickly (and happily) did their chores. We made a treat to take to the pool and headed out.

I expected to stay for 30 minutes. Kendall is not too big into swimming.

4 1/2 hours later I have to drag both of them out of the pool to go home so we can make dinner. They left only after I promised we'd come back tomorrow.

They both went to bed at 7:30 without any complaints. 12 hours later they are still sleeping.

Our New Windows Welcome Summer

Today was a great test of our new windows installed by Certified Home Services. The high was 87 degrees F; maybe even higher.

We opened the windows last night to cool the house off. I shut the windows and blinds late in the morning today.

The inside house temperature reached 80 degrees. To me, that is not hot. I WAS IMPRESSED! We would have been melting by now if we still had the old windows.

It is now just after 7:00 p.m. and we are getting ready to open the beautiful new windows to let in some cool air to start our routine over for tomorrow (I DON'T miss the humidity in Chicago). Tomorrow we are supposed to be 89.

Have I mentioned how much I love our new windows?!

First Day? (Before the last?)

Julia's 1st day of college

Julia is taking 7 credits at one of the local community colleges this summer. I called the pre-registration specialist last week, faxed/e-mailed them Julia's ACT and they accepted her in a matter of 10 minutes.

Not so fast. No, she didn't graduate from High School. She is getting a jump start on completing some of the core classes required for college.

Julia had to juggle her schedule since she still had to take her high school finals and start college at the same time! Her schedule overlapped 2 days.

Kerst's last day

It was Kerst's last day yesterday. He was so sad to leave his amazing teacher, Ms. K.

She was a topic of many dinner conversations - about how amazing she is. We had discussions about how we could make her a member of our family. A permanent one. She IS AMAZING. When I visit/help in her classroom, the kids respond so quickly and they all adore her.

Kerst brought her our traditional end of the year gift. A perennial flower. I wish I remembered to take a picture of him with it. The pin flower was really fun. Tall towering pin type flowers that were purple. I remember having heard it called a pin flower (or that is what I called it when I grew them in IL!).

Here is what his "flower tag" said:

Kerst

Inquisitive-ina Pianist-olia

This handsome flower has a contagious smile with a sparkle in his eyes indicating something exciting to share. His hugs will melt your heart.

Description: Light brown hair with a couple of orange spots. Blue eyes. Huge smile. Cutest dimples.

How he grew: Showered with lots of love and understanding from his wonderful 3rd Grade Teacher, Ms. K. He learned multiplication and algebra, how to run a successful business in K-ville, Native Indians, and magnets.

Related Species: Julia, Jenna, Jaley, Kendall.

Dear Mother Nature,

Thanks for not sending UT's snow our way.

I think the wind yesterday was meant for March ... did you forget "In like a Lion ... Out like a Lamb"?

Even Wyoming would be impressed with the wind we had yesterday! I'm starting to wonder if CO weather is bipolar.

Love,
Me

(John is fixing the fence that blew apart down by the hot tub. Notice the chair hanging off of the patio? That was blown off of our deck and down the stairs ... from the second story - where I was standing taking the picture!)

It's worth it

when I discover my teenager highjacks my blog and posts this or posts a letter like this on "my wall" ...

"dear mom,

thanks for giving birth to me. and for being my best friend. and for always being there for me to vent to. and for dealing with my crazy driving. and for making delicious food. and for buying my expensive text books that i wanted SO much. and for always pointing out the silver lining to me. OH. and for being the bestestest mom everrrrrrrrrrr

love,
daeia :)"

Joy. That's what I call it.

Last day of preschool

It is Kendall's last day of preschool for this school year.

Here is his gift he is giving to each of his preschool teachers (it is an amazing team of 6 ladies with their masters degrees in a variety of early childhood education and special education areas).

The flower "label" says:

Kendall
DoubleDimple-ina Bookwormolia

This handsome flower has been known to demonstrate the double dimples in every possible facial expression. His infectious smile will melt your heart.

Description: Beautiful Blue Eyes, Brownish Red Hair.

How he grew: Showered with lots of love from his wonderful Preschool Teachers. Loved book buddies, reading books, learning about seeds and animals and learning to write his name.

Related Species: Julia, Jenna, Jaley, Kerst.

In Awe

Kerst is fun to watch play the piano. His fingers quickly move over the keys playing it prestissimo - as fast as possible ... even when he is to play the piece andante - rather slow, a walking pace.

At the recital it was fun to watch him in awe as his piano teacher, Donna C., played a "Kerst Speed" music piece with fun fast prestissimo/allegro movements mixed in with a bit of andante.

You have a Front Row Seat!

Jaley and Kerst had a piano recital yesterday. They were ready! They both practice all of the time ... and I LOVE IT!

Enjoy!

Kerst has been taking piano lessons since January.

A duet with his teacher - Silly Dilly.

Toymaker's Dance

He struck a deal with his teacher and could play this song inbetween the suggested "walking speed" and "Kerst speed"

Malaguena (a Spanish dance)

The bow ...

Jaley was beautiful and full of grace. Her hands glide over the keys without any effort. She has been playing the piano for almost one year. Practice practice practice - here is the proof!

Burleske

Tarantella

Corrido ... and the bow

Super proud of them!

What? In May

Last week ... (and it was after Mother's Day ...)

May 12, 2010
Dear Mother Nature,

I'm ready for Spring (to stay).


Love,
Me

Smarty Pants

She took the ACT test 3 weeks ago. She thought she bombed it

(didn't study ... but how would you anyway ... AP classes helped I'm sure ...

.. rigorous early preparation in Naperville Schools).

Score: 30 (Geeze the 27 in Science pulled it down ...). Top 96% in the state!

Way to go Jules. We are proud of you!

Side note - she is signed up to take it again in a couple of weeks ... the writing portion included this time - which is "recommended" for certain universities.

1,548 Days -- or -- 221 Weeks and 1 Day

That is how long Jenna has had to endure ... Minus 3 weeks break during phase one and phase two when she had to make the decision to have 2 permanent teeth removed ... or have jaw surgery. She picked removing 2 teeth.

Before ... 5th grade is when she started wearing braces.

During

On the way to the orthodontist to have her braces taken off!
After

She's a beauty!

Pests

We were eating dinner and the doorbell rang.

John answered it and was gone for a minute or two.

He came back to the table. The kids asked him who it was.

"Oh, just the pest control man."

What did the man want? The kids wanted to know.

"He told me that our neighbors are dealing with some pests and wanted to know if we wanted to have some treatments too."

Imagine wide eyed kids looking at him from their seats at the table ... bugs. Yuck.

John continued, "I told him I wanted to keep all of our pests (aka - the kids)."

He makes me laugh.

Mother's Day Card

A sweet card Kendall made me ... colored and glued on the heart (message written with Jaley's help).

He tried to write "I Luv U" at the bottom - backwards (phonetically!)

Happy Star Wars Day

We missed it ... Jenna told me about it. It was the day before Cinco de Mayo.

May the Fourth be with you ...

Cute, huh?!

Collage

I have been working (for too long) on the Choir Banquet DVD. I usually use the Microsoft Movie Maker ... it is simple and easy. Another favorite free program is Photostory.

We have Adobe Premier Pro. I needed to learn how to use it. After many frustrating hours and trouble shooting (thanks Shannon for helping me make an action in Photoshop to resize my pictures), I am nearing the end of my too many hour long project. Jenna told me today that it is a good thing that I don't procrastinate and put it off until the day it needs to be done.

Premier Pro has some really neat effects and I have only scratched the surface.

Here is a sample of one of the sections on the DVD

Julia at All State Choir ....

Kerst's speed

Kerst has been taking piano lessons for 4 months. He practices all of the time. The piano has some kind of magnetic power and attracts him everytime he passes by (or even thinks about it).

Kerst is preparing for a piano recital in just over a week. He was given his songs just over a week ago. I wish I had done a progression video of him learning the song. After 24 hours he had the two new songs down.

Enjoy ... the first version is about the speed his teacher wants him to play although he should probably play even slower. The second time he plays it is "Kerst speed" (don't be alarmed when you hear him say "I'm kind of tired of doing piano right now"... he had been "practicing" for 30 minutes already this morning). Remember ... he has only been playing since January!


As I was typing the above journaling Kerst yelled out goodbye to me as he headed to school. The door shut. I hear it open again seconds later and I hear him play one last song .... and then heads out .... again. He was NOT tired of doing piano! He's so cute!

Holy Boly

That's what Kendall found!

A Holy Boly

It took him a while to be brave enough to hold it. It is now in a cup and is named Kendall. You can find Kendall saying "Hi" to Kendall out on the front porch.

Love that kid!