Another Year Older, but Another Year Wiser?

Yes, another year has again gone by resulting in another birthday. But that's OK. I like birthdays! This year it landed on a Sunday so I went to BYC and then church. The YW sang to me, gave me a goody bag, and all signed a nice card. For dinner I planned my favorites: pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn. I remember always asking for that growing up. I still enjoy it. I planned ahead and baked a carrot cake from scratch the day before.

I received some nice gifts from my adoring family. Cards, A Portland pin for my hat, some nice lotion, and a Sheri Dew book from Jennifer in the mail.

Rachel painted me this garden stake in YW (also my Mother's day gift).Roses from Brian.A butterfly from me.The kids created this fun candle for my cake.

A Flaming Carrot!

I managed to blow it out, but in the process got frosting in my hair- but that's OK because it tasted good! It was a fun day. Thanks to all those that sent me birthday greetings!

So am I wiser? Maybe a little. I've learned that to get served what you want on your birthday, you make the plans yourself!

KOOZA

While Kevin, Jessica, and Melissa were off playing at Disneyland the rest of us decided to have some fun too! So I got us tickets to see Cirque Du Soleil's KOOZA. We thought we had an extra ticket when Jennifer's ride back to school decided to leave on Saturday (she was home for spring break), so Rachel invited Angela to come along. Then Jennifer's ride changed to Sunday so I quickly got on line to buy another ticket. Luckily there was one more ticket in our row 10 seats over so I bought it!I had seen the circus tent as I had driven over the Portland bridge, and thought it would be way cool to go so I am happy that we did. I was surprised that once in the tent, it was a lot smaller than it looked. I had bought the cheap seats, section 206, row R and was happy that we weren't all that far away. We only had to look around a pole now and then when the action was not downstage. The nice people sitting in our row all scooted over so Brian could sit with us! The acts were amazing and the live music was great. I liked the guys that walked inside the spinny hamster type wheels. The unicyclist was also great. The costumes were all unique and amazing. I bought a pin for my hat, Rachel and Angela bought a bracelet, and Jennifer and I oooed and awed at all the pretty masks and trinkets. It was a fun evening!

Winter Percussion 2010: POP

Jessica and Kevin both participated in Winter Percussion again this year. They practiced Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays 4-9pm and on Saturdays practiced some more or went to competitions. It kept them so busy that we hardly ever saw them- or ate together. But it has been such a great experience for them., and they loved it!

This year their show title was POP, themed around "pop culture". For their uniforms they headed to the Goodwill to find 80's clothes. They had a lot of fun dressing up.


Jessica played mallets in the Pit, and Kevin played bass drum #4.


It was a tough season - they competed in the Percussion Scholastic Open Division, but their hard work paid off- they won 1st place at the NWAPA Championship finals on April 3rd. It was a wonderful way for Kevin to finish off his Sr. year season. Great job kids- we are so very proud of you!!!!


Here they are set at the beginning of the show:



A good shot of the bass line. Looking good. . .Doing a little bit of Thriller. . .Jessica at work in the Pit.The Finish! During the Closing Ceremonies they acknowledged the seniors.

Here they present Westview High School with 1st place!A extremely happy group of kids!The bass line and their metals.The Girls of the group- (so much better than Jessica's Freshman year when there was only two of them.)Brother and Sister (Did we really look like that in the 80's?)Here is a look at Kevin's Eagle Project- doesn't it look great holding all that drum equipment?!

The end of another great Winter Percussion Season.

POP Championships

Here is the video Brian took of Kevin and Jessica performing POP at the Championships. On YouTube there are more views posted by others if you want a closer look.

POP PIT

Sometimes I was so busy watching the Winter Percussion show that I forgot to watch Jessica in the Pit. So I took this video so I could just watch her doing her thing. They sure are having fun! Enjoy

Beaverton Orchestra Festival 2010

Rachel had a fun day with her cello for April fools day. ACMA (Arts & Communication Magnet Academy) hosted the First Annual Beaverton School District Classical Orchestra Festival. She got to spend the day with 6 orchestras. They practiced and had sectionals. This was a good experieance considering the Meadow Park Middle School's orchestra only has 5 members. We enjoyed their performance that evening in ACMA's new auditorium. Each orchestra played a couple numbers, then they combined for 3. It was a nice evening.

Here is a picture of the whole group. Not too good of a picture, but the only one I took. Rachel is the one sitting on the outside of the last row in front of the bass wearing black pants and white blouse.

I have spent too many hours trying to upload the video- so I give up. Sorry.