We Interrupt Marching Band Posts....

to go back to a very important summer event -> the arrival of Peanut!

There are lots of summer events to catch up on but this one is most important.  He is the son of my sister, Shantel, and her husband, Joe.

Peanut arrived on 7/16 at 5:42 am,

weighing in at 8 lb. 6 oz and 20.75 inches long

 

My mom, Joe's mom, Joe's sister, and a couple of Shantel's friends were able to be there with them during the birth!  I came up for the weekend right afterwards.  Shantel and Peanut came home from the hospital that Saturday, July 18th.  I've got a few pictures from that day.  (The roses were from Joe.)

Hanging out with Joe's sister - a lot of visitors came by that weekend.

 

They came to Nashville for a visit during the weekend of 8/14 - 8/16.  We all attended the Bruce Ware conference on parenting at our church Friday night and Saturday morning, the WCBC Chicken dinner and Radio Hour on Saturday night and then church and lunch with friends at Pie in the Sky on Sunday.

Here are a couple of pictures of Peanut with his Aunt and Uncle taken during lunch on Sunday.

P.S. "Peanut" is one of the nicknames they were talking about using for him.  (See his bib!)  Not sure if they landed on a nickname but, as already know, I don't post kids names on this blog so I'm going to use "Peanut" for their son.  If they decide to go with another nickname, I'll switch to that one. :)

never give up, never surrender, EPICA -> Matt Hodge

We continue to pray for Matt Hodge and his family.  Matt is a senior in the Page marching band that was in a serious car accident in August.

Recently, Miss K helped out with a Sonic Window Wash fundraiser for him and his family.  They had a sheet to hand out to people that tells what happened.  I've typed it here as it is written better than my writing.  I invite you to also keep Matt and his family in your thoughts and prayers - I've included the Caring Bridge website for him if you want to track his progress.

Matt Hodge website

Matt Hodge is a 17 year old Page High School Student.  He was in a serious auto accident on Saturday afternoon, August 22.  His car was struck by a train.  He suffered no broken bones nor any internal organ damage, only a severe trauma to his head.  He was unconscious at the scene and as of this writing is still unconscious.

Matt is a member of the Page HS Band, who has come together to pray for Matt and support him and his family.  [verbage about the window washing at Sonic]

The friends of MATT HODGE thank you for your prayers, your faithfulness and support!

Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.  GAL 6:2

P.S. Matt is a member of the percussion group of the marching band.  EPICA is a word that only percussionists know.  The meaning is top secret so no one outside of percussionists knows what it means, however, from what we've observed, it is said before every performance and means a lot to them.

Marching Band -> First Football Game

The first football game of the season was an away game for Page, against David Lipscomb Campus High School.  This was also the first performance for the Page High School Marching Band -> the Guard girls wore black tank tops with their black practice skirts and then the band members wore their band t-shirts with shorts.

Here are a few pictures of the football game and the band performance.

Marching Band -> The Beginning

Miss K has been talking for a long time about a desire to participate in Marching Band.  Long ago, we had all decided that she didn't have time to take on another instrument so we weren't sure what that "participation" would look like.  At one time she talked to the band directors and thought she might participate through the percussion pit, doing the symbols or some other percussion instrument(s).  Then she saw the band march at football games last year and she started thinking about participating through color guard.

Well, last fall we traveled to Indianapolis to see the Page High School Marching Band participate in the Grand Nationals, in the new Lucas Oil Stadium.  Wow, what an experience, to see all of the bands performing there and the level of their shows!  Seeing all of those bands, along with their color guards, and their displays of pageantry, pretty much sealed the deal for Miss K.

We discussed at length with her, the committment to a marching band, especially since Choo has first hand knowledge of participating in one when he was in high school.  We also discussed it as a family as this would be something we would ALL be committing to and participating in marching band life; in some shape, way or form.  Anyone who has been in marching band knows the amount of work, time and fundraising efforts that go into supporting a band.  Also, we knew this was just the start, as Michael had already been planning to participate through Percussion, when he gets to high school.

So Miss K took step one and participated in the color guard tryouts during early May 2009 and she made it!

The next major event was the Percussion and Color Guard camp in early June - this would be the deciding moment. Five days of Color Guard, 10AM - 7PM each day.  At the end of day 2 I remember picking up Miss K and even though she was very tired, she was smiling and very excited.  She was hooked and couldn't wait to keep going with more of it.

Later in the summer, right before school starts, is Band Camp, where everyone in the Marching Band participates to start learning the show for the 2009 football and competition season.  Then, from that point onward, begins a very rigorous schedule of practices - color guard, specifically, practices Tuesdays (3-8PM), Thursdays (3-6PM) and then most Saturdays (8AM-5PM).

Practices for the color guard are always outside, except they occasionally practice in the gym when it is raining out.  It happened a couple of times during Color Guard camp and whenever they practice in the gym, they have to practice on a very large mat - it weighs about 500 lbs. and takes all the girls to carry it around.

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls hauling the mat back to the band room from the gymnasium.  The image of the girls is not as large as planned as I took this quick with my phone camera. (The blue trailer to the right of them is the band trailer - it travels to every event the band travels to.)

Back to School

The kids went back to school Thursday, August 13th.

Here are some pictures of them on their first day. Also, check out the back to school picture from last year - to see how much they have changed!

Back to School 2008

Time for the Bus! This year they have to get on it at 6:20 AM.

Summer Hiatus is Over & 1 Year Old Now

The summer blogging hiatus is over - there was just too much going on to keep up with the blog. And, all of it soooo much more important than being on the computer!

Here are some of the summer highlights....maybe I'll blog a little here and there about them at some point...and, maybe not, depends on time!!

• Miss K started colorguard with Page High School Marching Band - she had colorguard camp at the beginning of summer and then band camp towards the end of summer
• Most of Team Lee (Choo, Mr. M and I) went on vacation to Iowa to visit lots of family and friends (those pics are loaded on facebook)
• Mr. M attended the Annie Moses Fine Arts Summer Academy for 2 weeks
• Miss K spent 4 weeks in Iowa at Village Creek Bible Camp
• Mr. M and I went to New York City
• My sister and husband welcomed their baby son into the world in August - I went up to visit and saw him come home from the hospital
• School started
• My sister and husband came to Nashville for the Bruce Ware conference and CBC Radio Hour
• Family reunion in Iowa over Labor Day
• Lots of school happenings and 3 football games under our belts

Also, while on hiatus, this blog turned one year. I'm not promising regular updates but check back as I keep at it and pass along the happenings for Team Lee!

NCC Touring Choir Trip to St. Louis - Day 4 (5/3), Concert

Before heading back to Nashville, the choir traveled to the Kirkwood United Methodist Church as they were singing in their service on Sunday. We arrived at the church early so that the children could practice before the service. The chaperones were offered coffee and breakfast while the kids practiced - Rhonda P. and I also snuck out for a walk downtown. It was good to get out and stretch our legs before the bus ride back.

During the service, the NCC choir sang a song at the beginning, two songs during communion and then a song at the end. It was a beautiful church and wonderful opportunity for the children to sing there.

And, again, this church showed wonderful hospitality to us by providing us with box lunches to eat on the ride back to Nashville - thanks, everyone appreciated it!