Kade participated in the orchestra at school for 7 years! That's the longest time possible through our school district. He went from really early morning classes as a middle schooler to during the day as a high schooler, with some time playing on Zoom for school during COVID. One of the few viola players, he stuck it out and thoroughly enjoyed his time playing. I was happy that he got to attend some after-school practices this year and play on the electric viola, though they never performed. He also participated in the pit for the high school spring musical, which was a treat!
Following are some pics of his last concert and I'll include his favorite song they played, plus the song the seniors played together. I think this was the best the Concert Orchestra has sounded in a long time!
These are the seniors.
Some of his besties.
Then we attended the last orchestra banquet for Kade. Jason and I got there a little late, so we couldn't sit next to each other, but we sat at the same table and I got to sit next to Mr. Edwards, the director himself! I would have been more emotional than I was, except for the fact that Austin will be rejoining next year after his year off to check off some other classes he needed to get in. I really love the orchestra program! Way to go Kade!
May is just about as busy as December, maybe more so. This week took the cake for May. The only reason we had 2 track meets to attend rather then 3 was because of the crazy amount of rain we received on Tuesday. However, on Thursday, Jason's birthday, the track meet was not cancelled.
Despite the busy schedule, I wanted to make his birthday special, so I ordered food from Ruckus Taco, a place Jason has been wanting to try, and I got to try it for my birthday with a friend. Jason got home just in time for Austin and me to eat dinner with him. Erik was already at the track meet and Kade was resting for his orchestra concert that evening since he had a late night at work the night before.
After eating, Jason and I went to see Erik run. It was extremely hot and Erik had to run an extra race since some kids were out on a field trip at Cedar Point for choir. Erik did his best, despite the heat and it only being his second track meet ever. (I'll post more about his track season in another post.)
Since there were fewer kids there, with a bunch being on the field trip from our school and the other school, the meet ended earlier than we expected, and we even got to go home for a bit before going to Kade's orchestra concert. I actually waasn't home more than 10 minutes, since I was volunteering to manage the balcony at the concert, but hopefully Jason got to relax for a little while before bringing Austin to Kade's last performance. (Erik was beat and didn't make it.)
We enjoyed a beautiful concert on Jason's birthday, which also ran surprisingly faster than normal, so we got home before 9! (I'll post more about the concert later, too.)
We had cake and opened presents before rushing off to bed. The kids had carefully selected their gifts for Jason, and I think he really enjoyed our short celebration and his gifts.
When I had asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he told me that he wanted the kids to get him candy that only he could eat and not the kids. The funny thing is, they all like the same candy. I'm the one who likes different candy than everyone else. Since he never told me what else he wanted, I got him a big candy dish to put his candy in on his desk. Enjoy your sweets, Jason!
This was the night before Jason's birthday, just after Erik's band concert (remember: busy week!)
After Kade's concert.
Even though we have bunny ears, this was the best pic of the 4 of us!
I got him a tire candy dish!
I loved his face here!
Though this one shows the bottom of the shirt from Kade.
This shirt is from Austin. We were comparing it to the smile he had on his face 5 years ago when he got the plain yogurt as part of his birthday gift!
5 years ago, yogurt smile! (I guess his Dr. Pepper smile was more of a laughter smile, but he sure did love getting that yogurt!)
Kade has been in the Arts Academy during his 4 years of high school. (It seems like a lot longer than 4 years since he's been in high school!) When he first applied, he didn't have any close friends going into it, and I wondered about that decision. Now, he has totally different friends that he has made in the arts academy. I feel like I can't even remember when they weren't friends. It has been a wonderful experience for Kade.
The best friends!
One of the features of the Arts Academy is the Capstone class they take in their Senior Year with the head of the Arts Academy department as their teacher. Most of the class is dedicated to a final project of the student's choosing and presented at the Art Symposium.
Kade had pretty much known all the years through high school that he was going to do a comic book about a world he created with original characters for which he created story lines. He even created their language.
The comic itself isn't finished yet, but he only had to present his progress at the Symposium with some samples.
This is his poster board.
Such a talented kid- he amazes me!
Below are comics that inspired him.
I realized I didn't get close enough to the language or the map, so I took this screenshot of the language on top and the map of their land below.
Here's a screenshot of some of his characters, too.
True to the past 17 years, minus a few around COVID, the Dancin' Feet dance recital was this past weekend. Since I joined the Lady's class again this year, I got to perform in it. The biggest difference this year was that, like last year, Victoria wasn't in it. There was a soccer game for Erik that I had to miss, and a track meet for Austin that I was planning to try and catch his 1-mile run, but timing didn't work out.
So, going into the weekend, I knew it would be busy, but enjoyable. I loved performing the tap dance that we learned and practiced since January, and seeing a few of the younger girls that I know from Victoria's time there, girls from church, and connections through school. The recital was special this year because it honored Mr. George, since he passed earlier this year. The girls performed a special number with various dances he choreographed over the years. They were wearing his favorite color- purple.
Here's a recording of my dance.
I helped with the bake sale and kept the 4 and 5-year-old dancers occupied backstage until their dance numbers came up. I was exhausted by the end of the day!
Erik's team got another win, and Austin got another pr in his mile of 4:36. Jason arranged for Erik's ride to and from his game, saw my dance number, and saw Austin run. Kade got to hang with friends, and both he and Jason presented me with bouquets of flowers when I returned home last night.
Here are my flowers and Mother's Day gifts.
At church, Austin gave a talk about honoring mothers, retold some stories of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and said some nice words about me.
After church, my kids initiated the family picture together! They will make me a salmon dinner and we'll play games together, but I'm writing the blog now in the downtime.
I think I've made up for the blogs I missed during my travels. While I was catching up with all those, I spent some time at Austin's track meets and trying to figure out the best way to document his season so far.
That boy is a wonder! I sometimes refer to him as "a freak of nature" because he keeps defying all that would be natural for a child from such a basic family who juggles many things, not just running.
Here's a quick review of the season. I'm already forgetting details, so I need to do this now!
His first meet, while sick with a bad cold, Austin ran the mile in 4:40, a PR. He's 24th in the region for the mile, as a sophomore.
His second meet, while still sick, he ran the two-mile in 9:58, another PR.
He missed the third meet because Coach wanted him to get better.
He then had a slightly injured hip, yet he still ran the 4x8, a relay in which each of the 4 guys runs an 800, which is 2 times around the track. He ran his segment in 2:08, which is just an okay time, but he closed up a 30-yard gap with the guy in front of him, so it was fun to watch.
The next race, his hip was still hurting, but it was the most entertaining of all! He ran the mile, didn't get a PR, but he beat the senior in front of him, who was leading by about 40 meters! He came in first in that race with a 4:43. They both had a similar PR for the mile, and Austin heard the guy, Jack, say he was going to go out quickly and string Austin along to tire him out. Well, Austin wasn't going to fall for that. He also knows his body doesn't do well going out too quickly. He does much better kicking it in the end. So he just ran the race, feeling no rush, even with his coach yelling at him to hurry and catch up because he was letting him get away. The 4th lap, though, the guy in first probably started to tire from going out too quickly, and Austin used his reserves to kick it in gear. He passed that senior with flying colors in the last 100 meters of the track!
Finally, yesterday, Austin's hip was no longer hurting. He had to run twice at a big invitational. He stepped in for a teammate, Max, who has an injured knee, for the 4x8 with the best 800 runners on our team. There was some pressure because they wanted to qualify for Regionals, and Austin had to run faster than his previous 2:08. He did! He ran 2:06, and the other 3 in the group pulled through as well. They got 8th yesterday, so will get medals, and qualified for Regionals! Now, Max has to get better. Especially because Austin also ran the 2-mile, his best race, and got a 9:51, another PR!! He's now 11th in the region and 2nd for Sophomores in the 2-mile! I think the hardest part about yesterday was that he ran in one of the first races and one of the last of the meet. He was at the meet for 8 1/2 hours! Trying to make sure you eat and drink the right foods at the right time and stay warm enough (or cool enough if it's hot) to keep in your tip-top shape would be hard!
Here's the last lap of his 2-mile run yesterday. It's probably my worst recording because of so many heads in my way. It was a big meet, and a lot of people were there!
We're getting to the end of the season, so it'll be interesting to see how he does now. He'll be going to regionals for the 2-mile (aka 3200), and could possibly go to States. We shall see!
(Below is the link to Austin's YouTube Channel where he posted 3 of his videos. The first 2 are the very entertaining ones of him closing the big gaps!)
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