Region Champs!

Wednesday was another hopping day. Patrick administered his AP practice exam so he and Anna had to be at school pretty early. On Monday night he whipped up home homemade cinnamon rolls for his entire class, frosting and packaging them on Tuesday night after the concert. He's also been very busy at the State House this week as a couple of his bills were going up for debate. That meant lots of prepping the law makers who would argue for it. They meet well after 5pm during this time of year, so he had to tune in a couple of times from home or track to keep an eye on how things were progressing. It means juggling runners in front of him and lawmakers on the phone!

I got my exam started and then grabbed my parents from their hotel to run a few errands. Once I dropped them off, I picked up Kathy to take her to lunch at Beacon. Meanwhile, Paige was at school and Anna was running back and forth from school for classes, Senior Cookout, race prep, etc. She also tried to squeeze in some AP exam prep as those are next week. I kept checking in on my students for the exam who fortunately, seemed to be doing fine with the exception of the FIVE students who didn't submit it on time. Yeesh!

We all met at the Ridge View track, not far from my house. I got the girls all set up, visited with an old friend whose daughter now competes in track, checked on grandparents, did hair, said the good luck stuff before the races, cheered in my designated spot, saw the throws so I could cheer for an old friend of Paige's and generally walked around that dang track about 5 times. It was nice to get my steps in!

The weather was pretty decent and while it was warm, it certainly wasn't the hottest meet we've been at. It was also moving rather quickly which is all good and well except the athletes barely had any recovery time between events. In fact, Patrick was plotting to help slow it down! 

Anna and Paige were up first with the 1600. Anna's goal was to get the new school record and a PR which has been a long time coming. Over a year in fact. Paige wanted to the freshman school record which was set by her sister and she's been one second away from it. Both girls ran smart races. Anna went out fast and kept her pace. She was clearly the front runner and drug the field out with her, but Paige knew enough that she didn't try to follow too closely. She kept great contact with her main competition, a senior from Westwood that she's been trying to beat. Anna kept widening her league and pressing so she could reach that PR. With nobody to race with in her 3rd lap, she really had to work. Fortunately, she came across the line at 5:07 with a new PR by 4 seconds. Paige was just steps away from Christina and came in with a time of 5:31. Not the record, but very close and had another consistent race. I was definitely proud of her because she was fighting sniffle, fatigue and the heat. 

The girls rested up for a bit but one hour later, Paige was in the 800. Patrick wasn't expecting much considering the turnaround. Paige didn't go out too fast, made some moves and finished with a solid time of 2:31, another very consistent race. The clock at one point said 2:36, so I when I saw how chipper she was after the race, I thought: ok, she's grown in terms of her race results not upsetting her! Turns out she would have been so mad if that was her time. Ha!

Anna finished her evening with the 3200. Patrick told her that her job was to win even if it took 15 minutes. She was seeded a full minute faster than anybody else so that was pretty easy to do. By the 2nd lap she had cleared the field behind her and was even smiling when she passed me at my cheering spot. She cruised into the finish at 11:30 something and won with a wide margin. 

In the midst of the girls running, Patrick's phone was blowing up because they took up his bill at the State House for debate. He had to keep checking in and making sure nobody needed more info from him. Well, it passed unanimously! And when Senator Hembree reached out to Patrick about the bill to say it had passed, the first thing he did was congratulate Anna on her win in her race. With Anna spending time at the State House this spring, he knows both Patrick and Anna. I thought it was so sweet for him to remember her. And yay, Patrick, for all his hard work getting to the finish line!

The girls team creamed the competition with a total of 216 points and over 100 points from the 2nd place team. We got home around 9:45pm, after grabbing chick fil A for dinner and then hopped into bed to get some rest for our marathon week. Next up is state qualifiers where things get serious! Fortunately, they are at night this year-whew. Stay tuned!

Spring Orchestra Concert

Oof, it's been a busy week! On Monday, I finished teaching my last classes for the term which is good because things are picking up pace as we get near graduation. Woohoo! My students took their online final exam on Wednesday into Thursday and of course some of them didn't log in to take it so now I have to track them down. Fortunately, I will enter final grades in by Friday and be done for a while. 

Paige had orchestra rehearsals on Monday so I prepped dinner after work and then picked her up from school to take her to the Performing Arts Center. It's our new district auditorium and it's very nice! I helped with the rehearsals which didn't go particularly well and Paige was upset afterward. But we managed to talk her off the ledge and then get into bed for a busy Tuesday.

Anna had her last day of work/internship on Tuesday. It was sweet for her boss to take her to lunch. I emailed her boss later to thank her for providing Anna the opportunity and mentoring her this year. She had the nicest things to say about Anna and it really warmed my mama heart. She mentioned how bright and intuitive Anna is, that she dependable and thoughtful in a way that makes her stand out. She loved that Anna was always willing to jump in and take on more, grew in confidence and stepped into her work this year in a meaningful way. They were so glad to have her and she made an impact on their office. Cue the mom tears!

That afternoon, I grabbed Paige from school and she quickly ran, did homework and ate dinner all in an hour before we headed back to the PAC. I helped back stage and then was able to watch the full concert from the audience. It was nice to have both sets of grandparents in town. The kids brought it all together and played beautifully. It was such a fun concert because there was a dancer, drummer and even aerial acrobats! At the end, all the orchestras came together on stage to play one last piece. So that's 130 students with no music stands because they had all memorized the piece. Seriously cool. 

I have loved watching Paige thrive in orchestra this year. She works very hard practicing at home and it is something that doesn't come easily. Most things for her do and she is a very talented musician, but it requires time to get to her skill level which also comes with frustration. I don't love the struggle, but in the end I am so thankful for the opportunity for her to learn that some things you just have to work through to get the result you want. She has really grown in this skills and has agreed to continue next year. Yay!

After the concert, we got pics and then got home to get our tired selves into bed for another busy day. 

Friend pics

Thankfully, it was a little bit of a slower week because next week is CRAZY! Everything seems to have landed on one week and we are gearing up for all the celebrations, competitions and concerts. Fortunately, the only thing out of the ordinary this week was the many Senior Nights for other sports that Anna and Patrick attended. Anna also made posters for each of her friends who were celebrating their senior sports so that took her a bit of time. Paige also had one evening where she was taking a practice AP exam which means the end of the school year is fast approaching! 

This weekend, Anna scheduled me to take grad pictures of her and her fellow graduate friends. Everybody was free so we headed to the school early on Saturday morning so snap some photos. They were so cute together and cracked me up. These girls are pretty no non-sense and also really talented in their perspective areas. Their banter is witty and they have each other's backs. You really can't ask for more from a group of besties! 

Fortunately, Anna had the ideas and I just executed them. They were all very keen on getting onto the football field which was locked. I made a couple of phone calls/texts without much luck. I was TRYING to set a good example! In the end, we all decided to break in, with one of the girls slipping under the gate and letting the rest of us in through the locker room. Thankfully, the principal texted me later and said he would send bail money. Ha! Gotta love a little good trouble. 

The pictures turned out cute and I think for now, I am all done with official grad photos. 

Happy Birthday Teddy!

Our sweet, bearded boy is 6! Teddy celebrated his birthday doing all his favorite things: getting pets from his humans, napping, napping with his humans, squeaking his lambs, taking a walk, eating treats and barking at anything that might disturb him. He even had a chance to play with his puzzle toy. The girls got him some new lambs which he gladly opened with enthusiasm. Hard to believe we've had him for this long as we just couldn't imagine life without him. He's a funny dude and we sure do love him!

Senior Prom

And the big moments just keep coming! Saturday was Senior Prom for Anna. I hosted the girls' pre-prom gathering at my place with food, drinks and a deep cleaned bathroom for them to do all their hair and make-up. At one point, I am pretty sure I had nine people in that bathroom! The girls enjoyed their refreshments, made their bouquets and got all dressed up. I was in charge of Anna's hair again and I swear I will pay somebody the next time because I may be good at lots of things, hair is not one of them. In any event, we managed to get it done and not kill each other although it was close. 

The entire crew took off for the Horseshoe downtown to take pics. Patrick was sweet to drive all the girls because he could drop them off and they wouldn't have to walk far. He even ordered a chauffeur hat which got here just as we were about to pull out of the driveway! I was in charge of photos so we did lot of those along with all the other prom people who were there. Thankfully, it was an overcast day so the lighting was pretty and the girls weren't dying. I also brought along a cooler of water and a fan so that helped. I'll admit that being on the Horseshoe for a tour with my youngest the day before and then taking senior pics with my oldest the day after was a bit trippy considering that's where Patrick and I met 27 years ago. Wow.

Anna then went off to dinner at California Dreaming with her friends. Despite making reservations for them they were still behind, but they enjoyed dinner and then headed off to the dance. Patrick and the rest of our teacher crew chaperoned, and they had fun seeing all the kids dressed up. This year they actually stayed for over an hour so that was impressive. 

After the dance, Anna met up with Brantley and went to Sonic for some ice cream. It's where all the non-party kids go after the dance. Then they met up with a couple of friends at Brantley's house for snacks and fun. I was passed out by then, only to wake around midnight, expecting Anna to walk in the back door any minute. Well, she got home before 2am which was fine except Patrick told her 1am. So Paige is rejoicing that she's "in trouble." Patrick and I are not actually upset about this considering she was just down the street and she never does anything she shouldn't, so we were kinda glad she's a normal kid. We totally had to act the part of the disappointed parent though. Ha!

This morning we are all feeling the prom aftereffects. All that socializing and staying up late has us wanting an early bedtime tonight. We can check another senior moment off the list!