Sing, Sing a Song - Jr. High Final Choir Concert

The final choir concert for the junior high at Cathedral 

happened the other night!

8th graders in choir

It was so lovely!

Seriously, is there anything better that warms your heart and soul than hearing 

junior high students singing and giving praise in Church?

A number of parents attempted to video the

concert with the iPhones.

Mr. Tennis did a short portion, but then I quietly reminded

him that it's really distracting for others behind you.  

Plus, you're not really enjoying the moment when you're trying to hold your iPhone steady!
Last year, a woman in front of me held up her iPad the entire
concert!  Looked to me like the best images she was getting
was of the bald guy in front of her!

One of the really big things about the concert is that the students

do not have to wear their uniforms!

Yippee - -a chance to wear a dress for more than 

one occasion!

But wait . . .

does anyone else have a difficult time finding appropriate

dresses for 14 year olds that are not dorky

and do not look too kiddish or too old ladyish?

Please, tell me I'm not alone!

Luckily, we have a found a couple that work

with a denim jacket (as they are too bare), 

but Maddy and I are wondering . . .

where are the cute dresses for girls her age

that meet the criteria above?

So, now talk amongst yourselves and give me your advice!

Coming up soon . . .

8th Grade Graduation!

Bless This Nest

A couple weeks ago

Maddy and I noticed that a bird had built its

nest hidden in one of the bushes near our front door.

Upon closer inspection,

we noticed 4 itty bitty blue

with black/brown speckled eggs!

We were so excited and have been 

eagerly checking on the nest daily.

But . . . 

sad news to report. 

We never saw a mother bird and believe that a 

neighborhood cat must have done her in.

Plus, it's been very, very chilly here lately so

there is no way that the little birdy eggs

have been warm enough to develop.

We are kind of broken-hearted! :(

Baby Dorothy

My newest little granddaughter, Miss Dorothy,

was baptized a couple weeks ago.

Miss Maddy was her Godmother!

What an honor!

It was a really sweet Baptism and

Dorothy did fabulously.

She's such a pretty baby!

We love her so!

A Favorite Coach!

Sometimes a coach makes a huge difference in an athlete's life, abilities

and confidence.

We've been blessed to have the most amazing tumbling coach

for Maddy for the last year.

She worked with Maddy weekly and together they

perfected front walkovers, front flips, roundups and backflips.

These two worked and worked on getting the tumbling moves just right!

In addition, she helped Maddy develop confidence in her

own ability to master these tumbling milestones.

It may look easy peasy when gymnasts or cheerleaders

do a front or back flip -- but it takes a lot of physical

work, coordination and confidence.

Maddy's coach just graduated from the University with

a 4.0 gradepoint for every year!  

She managed that honors gradepoint while working almost full-time

with competitive cheer teams and also doing private lessons!

She already has a job teaching

3rd graders in Las Vegas -- her dream job!

Rachel has been such a wonderful and positive influence

to Maddy.  She helped her so much during 

cheer tryouts and celebrated with her

when Maddy made the freshman team.

We said goodbye and good luck to Rachel last

week as she heads out of Nebraska -- yes - there were tears all around.

She will definitely be missed!

Big Red Star!

A few months ago, I received an email from Maddy's school principal!

No, she wasn't in trouble --
he wanted to nominate her 

as an outstanding 8th grader to receive a Big Red Star

from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

I gave him some details of her background including the sports, clubs

and volunteer work she has been involved in and he added

the academic information.

About a month ago, we received the news that she and 

another student from her school were selected as outstanding 8th Graders!

Last week we attended the Big Red Star awards ceremony

with about 320 students from all over the

State of Nebraska!
(We thought it was just a Lincoln event, but there were only
about 12 students from Lincoln and
the rest were from various cities around the state.)

There were presentations on getting ready for college and

what to think about and classes to take in high school to prepare.

The keynote speaker, Peter Ferguson, was funny and

kept every one's interest. 

Near the end of Pete's address, he mentioned

how his daughter (who is a high school freshman)

constantly does the "teacup" pose with her friends and

he thinks it is SO odd!

He also mentioned he's been mistaken for Michael Jordan!

Well, we saw him on the way to lunch 

and what did he and Maddy do for their photo?

The teacup pose!  :)

It was really a super proud moment for us and Maddy.

I've always thought of her as an
outstanding 8th grader.