.7

Sometimes we don't pay attention to the small numbers. In this case, it was the difference between 1st and 2nd place! Congratulations Cascade H.S. Marching Band, Division 1, State Champions!!!!

Your hard work, long hours and endless practices have paid off and you are all CHAMPIONS! (I've never been so excited and soooo cold at the same time!)

Happy Birthday...

to my baby...errr....big kid. Where oh where have the last 12 years gone?! It makes me want to cry, but I see glimpses of the man he's going to become and it warms my heart...and still makes me want to cry.

I finally got a good shot of these monster eyelashes! I know many that would KILL for eyelashes that long! And I wonder why I have such a hard time getting a good shot of his pretty eyes!

Craft Fair part 2

Day 2 started much the same as day 1...except that I woke up every hour on the hour until I finally got up way too early! :) And punk #1 wanted to come with me. I warned him it would probably be 4am...after he had competition the night before, he said he wanted to come help. Day 1 was really long...after working up at church for umpteen hours, I went and worked a booth for 6 hours...in bed (and sore), by 8pm, I wanted day 2 to be just as awesome as day 1...and it was.

It was a chilly walk for him...I was comfy in my capri's and sandals! ;)

He was even an apprentice under Bob, "the eggman" for a while! This picture just makes me smile!

Meanwhile, punk #2 snagged a booth job for a while selling kettle corn...as he checks out the competition!

It was still early on Sunday morning!

Amazing Grace never sounded so amazing!

How many churches have you seen the 10 Commandments prominently displayed on the front of their building?!

Great crowd! I love how we all stood out in our shirts!

It was an AMAZING weekend. If you weren't "touched" or "blessed" by some part of it...you are in the wrong place!

Craft Fair part 1

I am just coming back to life. I spent a good part of yesterday vegging on the couch, even though the weather was amazing. I can't begin to tell you how much of a blessing this weekend was. It sure did start early though!

I really was cursing the fact that I am a bad sleeper when I woke up at 345am Saturday morning, knowing one of the guys was already up there starting breakfast. So I got in gear and walked on up to help. It sure beat laying there tossing and turning when I was doing God's work!

Once the sun started to come up, I did sneak out for a couple quick pictures.

My cooking buddy...finally cleaned up from our early morning!

It was still early and it's already busy!

But our free/clean bathrooms were popular all day long! No porta-potties here!

Blessings abound and amazing things are happening in this church!

Grace

It's been a crazy week in this small little town. (When your town size of 300 jumps to 100,000+, you KNOW it's going to be nuts!) Now I know why we left town last year!! Funny how God changes things up on us. Fall break isn't until next weekend this year and Punk #1 still has band competitions until next weekend. Plus, I don't think we were ready to learn the lessons we're learning this year. Lessons we didn't know we "needed" to learn? There's some that are struggling with accepting them and learning from them. It's hard for people to accept something that's "free"...no strings attached. It's also hard for some people to accept the notion of NOT taking any donations. No donations requested, required nor accepted. "But 'how' ...will we...I don't know. It's not my job to answer that question. The road to the unknown is by Faith.

I know I am learning about Grace...and boy is it amazing. I was beyond Blessed by the few people I met yesterday as they came into park their RV's and trailers. I saw Grace given to a couple that showed up expecting their booth (that they paid for a few yards over) was gone. We showed them Grace and found room for them at the "inn". And when the light bulb went off in his head as to what we were saying...he walked away in tears because he "got it". Grace is all around us...have YOU seen it? Will you recognize it?

Dear God, Thank You for our beautiful fall colors and our awesome weather this weekend.

Check it out!

Hanging around

We had just finished up the Egyptian extra credit 3D project last night...and the conversation went like this..."mommy, can you make belgian waffles for breakfast? Because you know I love them and you make THE BEST ones! *insert groan* And yet I woke up and made them...it's hard to say no to this face! (But I DO do it from time to time!) :)

Champions!

Marching band competition continues. Last week it was in the cold/rain and we came in 4th. A lot of different bands and band sizes. Yesterday was competition #3 and all of us went. We didn't play until 630pm and awards were at 730pm, so we didn't lose the whole day sitting around waiting. Plus we were able to watch all 4 bands in our division.

We are ranked as a 5A size band, one of the larger "small" bands. (And the largest in our group of 4.) We have 83 kids and of those, approx 35 are freshman and 8-8th graders. Pretty amazing to have such a "young" band.

These kids have worked so hard and it's paying off...and they're getting great upper body strength when they have to do pushups when they're screwing around! :)

Waiting

Their new uniforms really look awesome

Finale...Hard work pays off. As we wait for the final trophy...

We took home: Best in Class awards (based on size): Color Guard-1st, Percussion- 2nd, Field Commander-1st, Best in Class for Band-1st, Best of the Best (against all the bands): Color Guard-1st, Field Commander-1st, Division I Champion-Band

Middle Tennessee Small Band Grand Champion!!

Congratulations Cascade Champions...you truly are Champions!

p.s. The trophy was so tall that they had to open the ceiling vent on the bus! I really need to go take a picture of their trophy walls. Yes, I said walls! For a 13 year old band program, that is self funded (NO school money received), they truly are amazing.

Bribery

My kids have gotten good at bribery...shoot, who am I kidding, they're always trying something! It USUALLY doesn't work. But this time it did and it benefited both of us. Punk #2 was bored and wanted to go running and couldn't find anyone to run with him. RUNNING?! HA! Well, THAT wasn't happening! But I told him I would go on a bike ride with him IF he let me take some pictures. Alrighty, he was good with that and I got an awesome picture!

FYI...I did NOT touch his eyes at all...that's all reflection from the clouds. Always look for the light!

Lessons

Sometimes it's hard being a kid and learning lessons. At least I hoped he learned a lesson. (I'm sure he did, but he was still mad at me! ;) There was an invitation to play airsoft from some friends after church. We said sure, no problem and dropped him off, with a reminder that we would pick him up at 3:50pm for the church youth meeting. There were several other youth there also. He was quite irked when we did follow through and picked him up, even though no one else was going. That kinda irked me, but it was not my place to judge others. I just know my boys made a commitment to show up each week and they are going to follow through. Youth is always on Sunday afternoon, always has been and until they change it, it always will be.

After they left, we went on a short Sunday drive discussing it. There was a little disagreement about it and I explained my feelings on it. What if it was US as VOLUNTEERS and kids didn't show up? I would be angry that I spent my time planning and preparing and then the kids decided they had a better offer and didn't show. (This game was not planned in advance, it was just set up on Sunday morning.) I can't help what other parents do, but I can make sure my kids show up when they are expected. He may not realize it now, but I guarantee they will remember the boys that showed.

Exploring

After our division performance, we decided to skip the next 4 bands and go get some dinner. We had about 2 hours and wanted to be back to see the last 4 "big" bands before ending with the awards ceremony. Vandy is on the west side of Nashville and very close to Centennial Park. (We were parked right across the street from it in Wendy's parking lot.) And much to our surprise, there was a huge craft festival going on.

I have wanted to come to this park for a long time, but have just never done it. The Parthenon is located here and it's a great place to explore. Unfortunately it was closed for a private event, but we walked around and got some good pictures. We'll come back another day and explore.

We couldn't have asked for a prettier day!

It is an exact replica...and is huge!

I wish I had taken a small detour as we were leaving that night to capture a "night" shot of it all lit up. But I would have needed a tripod...guess I'll have to go back!

Tightrope walking the "police tape"...and of course I heard "I wanna do that!" :)

I "snuck" this picture. He was on the phone and still drawing. I'm still confused as to the drawing of Lincoln. When I saw him from a distance, I expected to see a side view of the Parthenon and the field in front of him, but drawing Lincoln is from memory, because there was no statue of Lincoln anywhere in the area.