Kelly Times Two

On a hectic Friday, with a typically tightly packed schedule, we squeezed in time to celebrate Christopher turning sweet 16.  The morning of October 4 began with seminary at 5:40 am, and I sent in treats for breakfast for his classmates, some savory quiche Lorraine tartlets, and mini banana chocolate chip muffins, and individual bottles of Simply Orange brand orange juice. Seminary ended at 6:30 am, then the band rehearsal arrival time started at 6:45 am. Friday band practice ended at 8:30 am, and school started at 9:05 am.  School continued until 4:10 pm, with band call time starting again at 4:30 pm, where the band kids get a pre-ordered catered meal before boarding the buses for the football game. It was a home game, which kept them either practicing, on their feet marching, or playing in the stands for several hours to keep the crowd enthused. They arrived back at the high school by 11 pm, and were at our house around 11:15 pm, almost everyone in the trombone s...

Christopher, 10th grade, and Hannah, 5th grade, are very eager to begin a brand new school year. This will be Hannah's last year of elementary school. Christopher will be getting his drivers license during this school year, assuming he will meet or exceed our family requirement of getting at least an 87 or higher in every class.   They hope to have perfect attendance this year, and my fingers are crossed that they are well enough to reach that goal.  I always look forward to this time of year to get into new routines and habits. We had root beer floats to celebrate last night, and gave them a pep talk for success this year, followed by two beautiful father's blessings from Kelly. Best wishes to our wonderful children for an awesome school year. We love you both and are so proud of you.

Our family had a memorable time in Washington, District of Columbia, from Thursday, April 11, through Monday, April 15, 2013, as we had the once in a lifetime chance to see our son, Christopher, march in the famous National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade with his high school band. We enjoyed beautiful weather and the opportunity to visit these famous national sites. Traveling with a twelve-month old baby and a nine-year-old was fun, but we had to be creative with our time to squeeze in naps for Isaac and to get the kids to bed each night at a decent hour. Parade day, we showed up more than an hour before it was to begin to insure that we would have a good place to watch for Christopher. It was a good thing because people squeezed in all around us by the time the event began. Work it, girl! This band was hilarious to watch. They were jamming and completel...