Gabby, this ones for you!!

Yesterday was Gabbys last marching band competition.
It was a long, cold day!

The morning started VERY early.
When I say VERY early,
I mean 0 dark hundred.

The kids were going to be fed breakfast before they started their long day.
I was just hoping the kids would be able to enjoy the day!

Bill and I headed out to ISU.
His alma mater.
It had been a long time since we had been on campus.

Our kids were all hyped and ready to perform.
They performed a good show but walked off the field knowing they had not done their best.

Add that to the fact that it was cold, (about 45) windy,
and rainy when the kids started their show.
The color guard got to wear these outfits...

AND little sandals that did not cover their feet.
Their feet were numb before they hit the field.

They did not have to do a parade yesterday.
But here are some shots from last weeks parade at U of I.




Here are some shots from last weeks performance at U of I




Gabby is in the midst of the red flags and yes, they are huge!
10 foot flags.
The girls call them BIG RED :}

After their performance at ISU in the morning,
they were scheduled to perform again in the evening.

This would be their last performance of the season.
They were gearing up to perform their best show of the season.

The anxiety was in the air.
Would they be able to finally nail this show?
Would they all get flags?
Would they be in tune?

The answer to all the questions is
YES!

They did their best show of the year!
They knew when they walked off the field that they had nailed it!

They placed 1st in their class
AND
won GRAND CHAMPION.
Grand Champion means that they got the best overall
scores including the classes that they did not perform in.

They finally brought home the BIG trophy!

All of their hard work paid off!
It was exciting.
Some of the moms had tears....
their kids are seniors and it was their last show.

Gabby doesn't know if she will do color guard next year.
It was hard for her to do volleyball and color guard at the same time.
Although last nights victory may get her to do it again.
She did enjoy the performing portion!

Here is our favorite guard picture of her from this year...

This was taken by a pro during a half time performance
before they had their official color guard uniforms shown in the first picture.
I love the flags that surround her.
Bill loves the muscle showing in her arms :}

We are SO PROUD of you Gabby
but of course,
we don't want you to perform your best for us
but for
Your Audience of One!

We love you, Gabby!
CONGRATULATIONS!!

4 day weekend!

We continue to have dreary days here in the midwest. We have had 2 inches of rain in the last 36 hours. Ugh! I know that we go through this every year but this year seems like all it does it rain. I should be thankful as we have not had to water our lawn the last two summers but this mowing the grass into November is crazy!!

The girls finished up volleyball Wednesday night. It was a relief and high anxiety all at once. All three of our teams went three games each (it is the best of 3 you know). It was the best set of games we had seen all year! I'm so glad we are done with the season. Now we can be home at a decent time and have dinner from home too.

Edris will finish up her swim team a week from tomorrow. I thought she had another month but that is for the juniors and seniors. I have to say, I will not miss getting up at 5:30am to get her to school by 6. I know she won't miss it either!

The girls had yesterday and today off for teacher conferences. I headed in yesterday to talk to the teachers. It took awhile but I had good reports! Gabby and Abby have all A's, a huge deal when they have spent many nights at school until 9pm. Edris is doing better! She has been struggling to understand what needed to be done. Her teachers have been pleased with her efforts and so have we :)

Sickness has been running thru all of our schools in the area. It seems we have 3 different illnesses running at the same time. H1N1 has been diagnosed as well. It takes the kids out of school for about a week. So this 4 day weekend comes at a good time. I am praying that the schools scrub everything down before the kids return on Monday. The past few weeks the grade schools have seen 100+ kids missing from school. On Tuesday the high school only had 60 kids missing.

Tomorrow brings the last marching band competition. They have two performances tomorrow! One at Illinois State University in the morning and one at a high school in the evening. Last weekend we were at the University of Illinios. I have to say it was the most action that field had seen in awhile. If you keep up with football, you already know that U of I is terrible this year. Anyway, we won 1st in our class at U of I last year. No such luck this year. The only thing they brought home was a 1st place finish for the flag corp in the parade portion. You need to take into consideration that their field show was a fiasco. The band director did not place some of the flags in the right place resulting in 2 of the girls not getting a flag. One of the girls hit herself in the nose with her flag and had a gushing nose bleed (I think this was enough to win as she completed the performance and was only 1/2 through when she hit her nose). Can you say blood everywhere?? Last but not least, one of our drum majors popped his shoulder out. Yep, it was not our night that was for sure. Now that the "big" show is over, we are hoping that they settle down tomorrow and rock out their show. I have a few pictures but I am hoping that I get some better ones tomorrow so watch for them in the next few days. I have to say their show gives me goosebumps every time I watch it.

For those of you that did the flag corp when you were in school, I have a question for you. How many of the flag corp girls were injured during the marching band season? Can you believe that we have had 3 major injuries?! Gabby chipped her tooth, Chassi hit her nose last weekend and a few weeks ago one of the helpers threw a flag in the air and it came down on her nose. She broke her nose and had to have SURGERY yesterday. I have to say I never thought of it as a dangerous sport but it certainly turned out to be! I don't know if Gabby will chose to do marching band again next year. We will leave that up to her...

Well, there are a few things that I need to finish up because I'll be gong the whole day. Time to fold that last load of laundry and put away the dishes in the dishwasher. What would I do if I had to do all of this by hand?!

Hugs!

My life in ***'s

Insanity continues at our house so I'm thinking bullets are needed.

I do have some pictures of all the fun from this weekend but haven't had time to work with them yet....meaning they are still on the camera and I'm too lazy to get them off!

* Abby had a freshman volleyball tourney
*They did not do well
*Gabby had a marching band competition
*They did not do well
*Edris stayed home
*She is the only one that did well!

*We have parent teacher conferences on Thursday and Friday
*Yes, they still do this in high school

*The kids will still have athletic practices
*GGGRRRRRR

*We are all healthy for the moment

*I have been busy at work
*Cakes, pies and cupcakes are dominating my dreams
*Pumpkin ice cream is now available

*BAMA CONTINUES TO WIN
*I probably won't have a job next week when they beat Tennessee next weekend
*Course I won't be able to watch it because we have TWO band competitions on Saturday
*Yes, I said TWO!
*GGGRRRRRR

*This is the last week of volleyball
*YIPEE

*I have found myself falling asleep around 8:30pm
*I must be getting old :}

Time to get to our last home game of the volleyball season. It is senior night so we have to take food for the late dinner we will get to eat with our seniors. We are hoping that the varsity team will go far in post season play! I'll keep you up to speed cause I know you all care ;}

Hugs!