Twice as Nice

Nicholas and his choir director Mr. Thomas Wilde

Nicholas won the "Outstanding Singer" award at his choir concert tonight. Eighth graders are nominated by and voted for by all of the students in choir. The award is for superb singing and excellent leadership skills. 2 students in each 8th grade choir class are given the award, and their names are engraved into a plaque that hangs on the choir room wall. We are so very proud of Nicholas, not only for being a great singer, but also for being a positive example to his peers.

This award is especially heart warming to us because another young man (whom I'm also very proud of) had his name engraved in the same plaque 2 years ago. Who you might ask is this young man? Well it is none other than Nicholas' slightly bigger brother (who casts a much larger shadow) Christian. I am very proud of both boys. You guys are awesome.

Christian and Mr. Wilde in 2007

What Have I Been Doing With All Of My Time

What is it, you may ask, that you do with all of your free time Mitzi? Well I will respond WHAT FREE TIME WOULD THAT BE????? OK I know it's been over 6 weeks since I've updated the blog, and some of you (aka my father) have let me know it. So what is it I've been up to? Well...

Awards Ceremonies-Christian and Nicholas have really been excelling at school. Christian lettered in vocal music, and honor lettered in drama. He also received the awards for "Best supporting actor in a one act" and "Best supporting actor overall" as well as "Captain of the improv team" and was handed down a parody song that he has to write about drama for the next two years. Nicholas was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society, received the Presidential Award for Academics, and was elected to student council.

Auditions and Performances-Christian auditioned for and made the play production group. He also made the Varsity show choir (Free Spirit) again, and was named the Junior vocal captain (a Senior is always the primary vocal captain). Nicholas also auditioned for show choir and made the Junior Varsity show choir (In Motion). All 9th graders must start in the JV show choir. Both boys have had chorus and show choir concerts, Nicholas had a band concert, and Christian participated in the Play Production performance of "Willy Wonka".



Driver's Ed-Whew am I glad this is over. I can't even begin to explain what a nightmare this was. First we had a hard time finding a class that didn't interfere with all of Christian's activities, and then it was the problem of getting him to class at 3:15 each Tuesday and Thursday. I had to leave work early and check him out of school to accomplish this. Thankfully my new job offers me plenty of opportunities to work after hours so I could flex my time. Anyway, he took his driver's test and passed, and now all he has to do is go to the DMV the day after his birthday and get a photo made. According to him it is some universal conspiracy that his actual 16th birthday falls on Memorial Day.

Car Shopping-What else follows a new driver's license better than a new car? OK, it's new to Christian, but it is actually a 2002 Ford Escort ZX2, and he is in love with it. He actually named it Beatrice????? Whatever.

Loss- On April 11th, my manager at Children's Hospital passed away from Pancreatic Cancer. He was 55, married, had two adult daughters in California, a two year old daughter, and three elementary school aged step sons. His memorial service was held after Easter, and was filled with Hawaiian shirts, scrapbooks, Beach Boys music, and his surfboards. He was originally from California and he was the ultimate "Surfer Dude". I have lost one supervisor each Spring for three years in a row. Now I'm starting to get antsy when the snow melts.

Easter-This is where I get to be the doting Grandma. Alyssa and Logan were here for Easter, and I got some quality cuddle time. Logan is getting so big and so darn cute. I can't believe he is 7 months old. He loved his Easter Basket that the Easter Bunny was smart enough to deliver to Grandma's house. He really loved that the basket was K-State purple, Go Wildcats. He started pulling his toys and sun glasses out as soon as I sat him down. Did I mention that he is adorable. He loves to jabber, but hasn't said much more than baba yet. Alyssa is trying to teach him mama but he likes to say ggggggggggama. I'm just kidding, but he does go gggggggrrrrrrrr. Anyway he had a fever on Easter Sunday and Alyssa took him to the doctor when they got home. He had an ear infection poor thing.

Manhattan-Alyssa, Andy, and Logan closed on their house and will be moving in at the end of May. Yes, we will be going down to help, but I have insisted that I am the "babysitter". It's a hard job but someone has to do it :-)

Logan gave everyone quite a scare last month when he had an episode at day care. He stopped breathing briefly, but was fine. He ended up in the hospital having lots of tests done on him to find out what the heck is going on. Because of his feeding issues, and reflux history, I believe he aspirated. None of the tests in Manhattan were conclusive, but he is going to Kansas City to have a consult with a feeding specialist. He's fine, but he sure did scare everyone.

Alyssa and Logan will be home this weekend to visit with my dad and Geneva. They are driving through on their way to Seattle, and an Alaskan cruise, to drop off their dog. I will be dog sitting while they are away. They haven't seen Logan since Christmas so they will be pleasantly surprised.

OK, my fingers hurt. I think this catches us up for now, and I promise I'll try to be better about updating the blog.

Grandma's Little Kewpie Doll

They say a picture is worth 1000 words.
I'll let these speak for themselves.

See the resemblance?

One Night Only

Last night was opening night for "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". If you've never seen the musical, you should rent it. It is hilarious.

Christian got a lucky break and got to fill in one of the lead roles. Christian's friends Sawyer and Nick were in a forensics competition, so Christian and his good friend Kevin got to take their spots for one night only. Normally I would feel bad that someone had to miss performing, but I was happy for Sawyer and Nick for qualifying for state. I was also happy that Christian and Kevin got to step up in their roles, so win-win right? Besides, Sawyer and Nick will still get to do 3 performances.

Both Christian and Kevin were extremely nervous because they had only had 2 weeks to prepare. Two weeks may seem like a lot of time, but they had very large parts to learn, and as Christian said "The lines were no big deal; it was the blocking (stage movement) and dance numbers that were so difficult." Christian and Kevin's regular roles only had about 4 lines with limited stage time. Sawyer and Nick's parts were larger and they were onstage almost the entire play. Oh, and did I mention lots of complicated dance numbers???

Anyway, both boys performed FANTABULASTICLLY!!! I was so proud of both of them and of the entire cast. The show was a hit. I have to tell you, I am so happy that we landed here. The school has such a strong performing arts program, and the kids are so engaged because of it. It feels so good to go into that auditorium and see the same sold out crowd every year supporting our students.

Red-Headed Step-Child

Today, Christian became a red-head. This weekend, he is in his school's musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and for Thursday night, he has to fill the role of a "brother" because the person who normally plays the role is in a forensics competition. Unfortunately, the part calls for red hair, and as you well know, Christian's hair is almost black. So...off to the hairdresser we went.

The really tricky part of this process is that he has to go back to his normal part for the 3 following nights of the play, and he doesn't really want to be a red-head. I think he's out of luck on that one.

If you know Christian, you know that he has a thing about his hair. He is a fanatic about getting it exactly how he wants it. Needless to say, Christian was very nervous about dying his hair. So, that is why we went to our hairdresser Leslie instead of trying to do it from a bottle.

He whined and drove us crazy the whole time. Here he is after Leslie put the color on. He was under the hair dryer yelling "This hurts" "You're burning my scalp off" "My brain is melting" (too late for that one I think).

Finally, it was time to rinse, and Leslie rinsed him with some conditioner that had a little mint in it, so he proceeds to yell "This is cold". What? Just a minute ago he was complaining about the dryer being too hot, now he's whining about the conditioner being too cold. I give up.

Here he is with Leslie. The time for complaining is over, it's done. Viola! REALLY red hair.

Good thing the Sun was out so we could find him.

Congratulations Nicholas

"I pledge myself to uphold
The high purpose of the National Junior Honor Society
To which I have been selected;
I will be true to the principles for which it stands;
I will be loyal to my school;
And will maintain and encourage
High standards of scholarship, service, leadership, character, and citizenship."

Mitzi: Nicholas I'm very proud of you.
Nicholas: It was easy.
Al: It wasn't easy or everyone would have done it.
Mitzi: It wasn't easy.
Nicholas: It was pretty easy.
Mitzi: You had to work hard for it.
Nicholas: All I did was fill out an application.
Mitzi: But you had to have good grades.
Nicholas: That was easy.
Mitzi: But you didn't just get in on your good grades, remember all the things they said about character, and service, and all the things that you had to do to qualify. It's only easy because you've made good choices.
Nicholas: That was easy, I had good examples to follow.
Mitzi smiles
Nicholas: PawPaw and MeeMaw.

Well folks he's not only smart, he's also a smart $%&;*. I guess he did have some good examples to follow.

That being said, we are very very proud of you Nicholas for being inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. You always make us very proud.

God Sighting

Our dinner time conversations are those of which legends (or at least reality TV) are made. If you join us for dinner you never know whether the conversation will turn to snot, stinky feet, politics, or the revocation of habeas corpus. I've often said that I'm going to invest in a security camera, and record the dinner table conversations. I would make a killing on the Internet. However, a couple of weeks ago we were at the dinner table and Christian said "so, everybody tell what your God Sighting was for the day." Never one to be shocked by anything Christian does or says, I took it in stride, and I told him my God sighting for that day. We then went around the table with Nicholas, Al, then finally Christian responding. It was uplifting.

The conversation started by an energetic, almost 16 year old boy was one of God Sightings. It probably isn't the typical teen conversation topic but I'll take it. I do have to give much of the credit to some wonderful youth leaders that he has encountered. God sightings were an integral part of their evening devotions on mission trips and obviously they stuck. Thank you Bill, Margie, Frank, Karen, Merv, Chris, and Jeannette for fortifying my children's lives and worship. You are my God Sighting.