Countdown Clock

Okay, three posts in one night. I thinks after this I am headed to bed :-)

Just had to post this cool countdown clock. For those of you that have not let me talk your ear off in the last 6 months - the Style Marchers will be performing in next year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!! Too exciting!

So, if anyone out there has any fundraising ideas, or tips and tricks for getting 200+ teenagers to New York City and back - I'm ALL ears!!

Our Three Thanksgivings

This year we have so much to be thankful for. Including three different Thanksgiving get together with family and friends.

Our Sunday School group got together on the 16th to celebrate the holiday. Since the kids have a separate class furing Sunday School, the dinner was a wonderful opportunity to get to see everyone with their families. And there was a MESS of us!! I was worried for a bit that there wouldn't be enough food. But, there was plenty to go around and even leftovers :-) Getting ready to dig in.

On the 20th, Adam and I got to have another Thanksgiving at his office. Again, TONS of people and even more food. It was a wonderful lunch and I really enjoyed getting to hang out with some of his co-workers. We could tell you what we ate . . . but then we'd have to kill you :-)

Then it was time for the actual holiday. Of course we had to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was really neat to watch it this year and think about Christian actually being in the parade next year.

For dinner, our friends Dan and Elena and their son Anthony came over from Panama City. Dan's dad and his friend Sharon came up from Tampa. We had a great evening. We ate, played poker and just hung out. Adam, Dan, Christian and Hayden had a good time playing darts after dinner. The "grown up" table Elena, Dan, Mike, Sharon, me and Adam.
The "kiddie" table Hayden, Anthony and Christian.

So much to be thankful for!!!!!!! I hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

Getting Ready for High School Already

I've had this post half written for a few weeks now. Finally finished it :-)

I am really happy with the schools that Hayden and Christian go to. Last month, Hayden and I went to his school for a very informative meeting. The principles from both the Middle School (Pryor) and the High School (Choctaw) spoke about how they are working together to create a seamless transition from 8th grade to 9th. I was very encouraged that they are working so closely on this endeavor. Speaking from experience, it is not an easy transition for either the parents or the child. New freedoms, new friends, lots more choices, and - oh yeah - EVERYTHING COUNTS NOW! :-) We are still working through some of the kinks and figuring out how all of the "systems" work for Christian. But, because of our lessons learned and meetings like this one, Hayden's transition should be much smoother.

We were excited to find out about some of the programs that are beginning to be offered at Hayden's school. In Okaloosa County, we have a program called CHOICE. CHOICE stands for Community High: Okaloosa Institutes of Career Education. Through this program kids in high school can earn college credit and/or industry certifications. It's really a great pioneer program. Others must think so too, because other school districts in Florida are beginning to copy the model.

Pryor will also be offering Pre AP/IB classes which will help Hayden transition to the same type of advanced classes at Choctaw. AP stands for (Advanced Placement) classes. At the high school level, these are college level classes with an end of the year test. The test is scored from 5 - 1. Students who earn a 5, 4, or 3 are eligible to receive college credit for the course. Christian is taking his second AP class this year. According to him they are definitely a challenge. But, I am so proud of him for making the effort. IB stands for (International Baccalaureate). This is another program Choctaw offers. It is quite a bit more structured than the AP path. It remains to be seen whether Hayden will take this path or not. It has it's pro's and con's. We are still weighing them out.

While we were at the meeting a writer from the School District website spoke to Hayden and I and took our picture.


Here is a link to the full article on the School District Website

Here is the picture and caption from the website.

Hayden Fletcher (shown with his mother)

enjoyed learning about all the AP, IB and

CHOICE classes at Choctaw.

Pictures, Videos, and a Lot of Rambling About State :-)

Okay, some details about the State Band Competition. What a day!!! Christian had to be at Choctaw at 4:45 AM on Friday for the long drive to St. Petersburg. So I dropped him off with all of the essentials. A couple changes of clothes, some DVD's, a pillow and a TON of junk food. The would be competing twice on Saturday. Preliminaries would be in the morning with the best 5 bands from each category advancing to the finals in the evening. A long day that begins with practice after breakfast and ends with trophies presented just before midnight.

Adam, Hayden and I also left for St. Pete Friday morning. We had to wait until the kennel opened so that we could drop off Lexxie. She loves it there and always get a bath and a cute little bandana before she comes back home.

The drive went well for both the band and us. The kids stopped to practice at FSU and their buses arrived at their hotel in the early evening. We had no problems and checked into our room on base. This year, we decided not to stay in a hotel. Instead, we stayed at a TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) on MacDill Air Force Base. It was really nice. Much bigger than a hotel room and WAY cheaper :-)

The Living Room with a pullout sofa and a pullout chair.

The Kitchen

The Bedroom
No pictures of the Bathroom, but it did have one :-)

Saturday, we went to the Preliminary Competition. We got there in time to see a couple of 4A bands and all 9 of the 5A bands. There were some really good shows, but nothing that made us nervous . . . until Timber Creek came out. They were good. And I had already seen their score from a local competition (92). Now the nerves start to set in. We were the last to compete. The kids did really well, now we will just have to wait and see.

The GINORMOUS screen that shows close up of the action on the field.

The Marine Corp Marching Band performed in exhibition, and then all of the bands came out for Officers and Seniors Retreat. During this retreat all of the 4 year seniors are recognized, 9th through 6th places are announced and awards (captions) are given for Best Music, Best Auxillary, Best General Effect, Best Visual Effect and Best Percussion. These are all of the awards that we swept at our Regional Competition. So, the seniors get recognized, the places (9th through 6th) are announced and the captions begin. Our hearts sank deeper and deeper as Timber Creek won every one of them. It was definitely an odd feeling.

Style Marchers waiting to enter the field for competition.

The stadium cleared out to clean up for the evening competition. Adam, Hayden and I walked a few blocks to a neat little restaurant to get a bite. Our dinner conversation definitely had a theme - Do you really think they'll beat us???? We called Christian to see how the kids were doing. He told us that they were disappointed, but okay. He said that Mr. Hannah gave them all the best pep talk he had ever heard in his life. He said it was like one of those inspirational speeches from a movie, it was that good. That made us feel better. Plus, we knew they would have all new judges for the second performance. The judges for 1A - 3A in the afternoon would now being judging the 4A - 5A bands in the evening and vice versa. It would be what it would be.

We went back to the Tropicana Dome and watched the Final performances for 4A, and then 5A. Timber Creek and Choctaw were the last to perform. Timber Creek did well again. Now it was up to us. As I saw the kids in their ready positions, I just kept saying to myself "Bring it kids, bring it, you gotta' bring it if you wanna' win it." They did, but would it be good enough?

Now we have to wait for the 3 A bands to perform, then the Marine Corp Band, then all of the bands have to march back in for Full Retreat, then the awards for 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A . . . are you people trying to give me a heart attack??? Finally, it was time for the 5A awards. They announce 5th place, 4th place, 3rd place, and then they stop - WHAT???? By now I am on the edge of my seat. Christian told us later that he was physically shaking by this time. The announcer talks for what seems like FOREVER about how much they appreciate the judges and how important and difficult their job is. They talk about how evident it is that their job is difficult because the spread between 1st and 2nd is only 4/100ths of a point!!! Now, I KNOW that we got 2nd place. But . . . when he announces the runner up he says Timber Creek. Huhh?? Holy Crap!! That means WE WON!!!!

Everyone from Choctaw starts cheering. We're not supposed to, it's really unsportsman like. But after losing every caption earlier in the day I think that we all just involuntarily exploded with relief and joy.

Waiting patiently to celebrate. To be good sports, the First Place bands don't celebrate until the other bands have left the field.

Christian and Kyle in the parking lot getting changed, and letting us know that they are NUMBER ONE!!

We tagged the car before we left. But, I had to change "Take State" to "Took State" for the ride home :-) I also had to add "2008 CHAMPS" to each side of the van.

Okay, I can't believe you guys have stuck with me this long. I'm going to go ahead and post this before I even get started on the welcome home in the parking lot. Suffice it to say that I posted 4 videos on YouTube. I also sent them to the Northwest Florida Daily News. So you can see the videos in two places!!!!

Here is a link to my YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/juliemichelle4
Here is the link to the NWF Daily News http://www.nwfdailynews.com/

Phew!! It was close but they did it!!!

THEY WON!!!! It couldn't have been ANY closer. The spread between first place (Choctaw) and second place (Timber Creek) was four one hundreths of a point. Our score was 91.23, Timber Creek's was 91.19. Wow!! A true nail biter. I am uploading pics and video right now. But, it probably won't be done before I fall into a heap. Thankfully, it will be in my own bed for the first time in two nights :-)

Tomorrow I will post links to the pics and more details on all the juicy details of St. Petersburg. We had a LOT of fun!!!!


Here is a link to the online article (I'm sure it will be updated later). http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/band_12978___article.html/marching_proud.html

For those of you that can't click on the link, here is the current version.
November 23, 2008 - 6:51 PM

Mona Moore
Daily News
The Choctawhatchee High School marching band won the Florida Marching Band Class 5A State Championships on Saturday in St. Petersburg.
Choctaw Band Director Chad Hannah said the win came from a lot of hard work from students, parents and faculty.
"We were just very proud of the kids," he continued. "We were proud to be from Choctawhatchee High School last night."
In a medley called "The Air Up There," the Style Marchers performed "Up, Up and Away," "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Blue Skies." The band's performance was enough to edge out the competition for Choctaw's fourth win in five years.
A crowd of family and friends welcomed the champions home Sunday night.
"The band program has such a positive impact on the school and the community," said Cindy Gates, CHS principal. "The band students work harder than any group of students in the school and they proved they are still the best."

Countdown to State

It's almost here. The moment that the band has been working towards all year. It's time to head to Tampa/St. Pete and defend the title of 5A Florida State Champions. Choctaw has won the title 3 times in the last 4 years - in 2006 Seminole beat us by 6 tenths of a point :-(

All the kids are really excited. Christian already has all the important things packed. For him, the important things include $20 worth of junk food from the Dollar Store and DVDs to watch on the bus. Adam and I will have to make sure that he actually remembers toothpaste, clean underwear, clothes in general :-)

They always stop on the way down and practice. It's usually at a college or high school. This year they will be stopping in Tallahassee to practice on the FSU practice field. That should be really neat considering FSU has the largest college marching band in the world.

Posing for their yearbook photo.

Retreat at last year's State Championship. All of the Finalist Bands (25 total) get to be present on the field for the Awards Ceremony. Choctaw is the last band on the right.

If you haven't seen the video from last year, here is a link. It's way choppy and jerky because we were walking while filming. But, it's still really neat. At Retreat, bands are dismissed by class (smallest 1A to biggest 5A) and then by place (5th to 1st). So, we were the last off of the field. The kids waited until everyone was off (to be good sports) and then started huddling, hoisting the Drum Major and singing "We Are the Champions"

So, anyway wish 'em luck!!! They report to the school and start making their way at 4:45 AM tomorrow.

Yummy Dinner

Wow, I've got so much to blog about. But, things have just been really busy lately. I will try to do a condensed version tonight :-) Here are the highlights:

Hayden is still doing very well in school. He made the A Honor Roll this 9 weeks. He recently finished a Salt-Relief Map project for his Social Studies class. They have been studying Egypt. Now he is plowing ahead on his Science Fair Project.
Hayden and Adam had a good time creating the hills and valleys of the Nile region.

Hayden's Science Fair Project
The Effect of Liquid on Sodium Polyacrylate
(a super absorbent polymer similiar to the polymer found in diapers).

We had our drawing for the cruise tickets. Thanks to all of you that bought a ticket. The good news is we raised over $2,000. The bad news is none of my ticket holders won. Sorry guys. Thank you for the support anyway.

This week we are selling Candy Grams. Several of my scrapbooking buddies and I made 288 little treat filled "sour cream style" containers. The kids are pre-selling them at lunch and they will be delivered to students and teachers on Thursday. Just a cute little thank you for $1. They were fun to make and I hope everyone enjoys giving and receiving a little "thank you."

The Good Search fundraiser is starting to gain momentum. People are even buying things by going through Good Shop. When you need to buy something online from Target, Wal Mart, Best Buy or a number of other stores, if you get there by clicking through Good Shop, we get a percentage. So shop online and surf away. We'll keep picking up the pennies :-)

Here's how to add it to your tool bar. http://www.goodsearch.com/Toolbars.aspx
Then just type Choctawhatchee in the My Charity box and you're good to go.

Mr. Hannah drawing the cruise ticket winner.


A MESS of Candy Grams

The Red Cross Blood Mobile made their second stop of the year at Choctaw. Christian has given blood both times. Did you know you only have to be 16 these days to donate (if you have a parent approval). I told them to drain him dry :-) They do a brisk business. They park 6-8 busses outside and all day long there is no shortage of willing volunteers. I have to laugh at the marketing genius. Lets see . . . . we'll give them an excuse to skip class for a half an hour or so, and give them a coke and a honey bun when they're done. They'll beat a path to our door. Mwaaaahhh haaaaaahhhh haaaaaahhh!! And they do :-)

Christian sporting his cool bandage.

In all the craziness lately Adam and I did get a chance to go out to dinner alone. It was really good!! We had sushi, edamame, cucumber salad, Bok Kum, and LOTS of various Korean side dishes (cucumber kimchee, radish kimchee, bean sprouts, potato, and Adam's favorite - fish paste (just kidding he doesn't like that).

Hayden's First Concert

Hayden's school had their first Concert/Chili Social of the year last night. It's was a lot of fun. The 8th grade families brought the chili, 7th grade families brought the salad, and 6th grade families brought dessert. This year, they decided that instead of having the concert in the Middle School cafeteria, they would perform in the larger High School cafeteria. Great idea, because even that almost wasn't enough room :-) It was a packed house. There was tons of food and we got to see a bunch of people that we don't always get a chance to talk to.

Hayden was very excited for his first opportunity to perform in front of an audience. The Beginning Band did a WONDERFUL job!! They've only been playing for about 15 weeks. They are really coming along. There were also great performances from the Guitar class, the Symphonic Band, the Jazz Band and the Strings. Shoot, I just realized if the Chorus had been there to, we would have busted out of the seams :-)

Hayden on the clarinet - front row right

Lots of food, fun and fellowship.

Nowhere to Go, Nowhere to Be

This weekend, the boys are at their dad's house. So, Adam and I have been enjoying a couple of days of going where we want, when we want. Last night, we didn't go to the football game. We thought we might go to see the new James Bond movie. Turns out the movie doesn't start until next weekend. Instead, we went to Connie Kay's (my favorite hang out for food, fun and fantastic karaoke). It was our friend Lorey's Birthday and everyone had a GREAT time. I hope I look, act and feel as good as she does when I am 60.

Today, we had a wonderful lazy day today. After sleeping in, we went for a ride on the Harley. It was a gorgeous day for it!! We went up to DeFuniak Springs in search of a restaurant. Come to find out the restaurant we were looking for is actually in Ponce de Leon. So, we stayed in DeFuniak and ended up at a neat little dive called the Walton Cafe. Thank goodness, because I'm starving and starting to get a headache. We go in and find out that they don't serve food. Huh??? A cafe that doesn't serve food? No problem though, there's a hot dog/hamburger stand around the corner. So, the bartender calls in an order for us and they deliver our food to us at the "cafe." Yum! Okay headaches gone. Now we just hang out and enjoy the locals. Very entertaining. Several of the fellow customers had just come from an oyster roast at the local VFW. Oyster roast?? Well, I guess we know where we're going next :-) And so we did. More local entertainment and some REALLY good oysters. By now, the sun is setting and we have to head home before it gets too chilly.

It was a good day!! :-)

Two dozen raw Appilachicola oysters with cocktail sauce, crackers and LOTS of freshly grated horseradish. It doesn't get much better :-)

35-21 FWB :-(

But there's still hope. Choctaw, Fort Walton Beach and Crestview will all play in a shootout (whatever that is) :-) on Monday night.

Christian's Commercial

Okay one last post about "The Game." Until tomorrow, that is, when I tell you the score . Christian is on the WBGI staff. WBGI (W Big Green Indian) is the local school news show that airs on Wednesdays and Fridays. He and a couple of fellow staff members created this "commercial" to pump kids up for the game. It turned out GREAT!! Especially when you consider they only had a day to do it. Nothing like the pressure of a deadline.

Today's show is about an 8 minutes long and his commercial starts just after the 4:30 mark. So, you can watch the whole thing, or fast forward.

To see the video outside of Blogger go to:
http://wbgi.podOmatic.com/entry/2008-11-07T15_15_53-08_00

ENJOY!!!

The Game!!

So, tonight is the BIG GAME!! Choctaw vs. Fort Walton Beach - and this year we actually have a chance of winning. It's an away game for us. That kinda' stinks. It's always more fun to have a big rival on your home turf. Plus they will be making all of the concession stand money instead of us :-( Now that I think about it, do they even have a concession stand? Hmm, I've never been to a game over there. Their stadium is only a few years old (they used to share with us). It's really small over there. And, with a crowd like they're going to have tonight . . . can you say sardines. No thanks, Adam and I will be going to see the new James Bond movie tonight. We will be thinking good thoughts for the team and of course the band. If the football team wins tonight they have a chance at the playoffs.

The night before "The Game" students usually go around tagging the rival school's territory with party plates. FWB comes over to our "turf" and staple guns red plates everywhere. Choctaw does the same with green plates. Apparently, Starbucks employs students from both schools and went ahead and tagged themselves :-)

Last night was the big Flashlight Pep Rally. It was a LOT of fun. Just like a regular pep rally, only they turn off all of the lights for part of it. Everyone brings a flashlight or glow stick or something similiar. This year Adam and I sold flashing pom poms as a band fund raiser. They did really well, and I personally think they showed up best at the pep rally. You can judge for yourself. They are green of course. The video clip is of the "war chant." The band is playing the song and the students and guests are doing "the chop." I think it looks really cool :-)

Getting ready for lights out!!

My Little Corner of the World

I thought I would post about my little crafting corner. All my life I have loved making things. I have tried just about every craft known to man. Right now, I am really into papercrafting - making cards, mini albums and little gifts out of designer paper. It's a ton of fun!! But, I needed someplace to store and display all my pretties. What to do, what to do???? Dum da da daaaaaaaah! Adam and Hayden to the rescue!!!!! They put up these four wonderful floating shelves for me. They are so cool, and they let me show off all my fun creations. It makes me happy just to look at them :-)

We got the shelves at Home Depot. Adam and Hayden had them hung up in less than an hour. I am so happy with the way they turned out!!!

Here is a look at my creative corner. The black thing, to the left of the chair, is my Crop-in-Style tote. It is full of paper, stickers, embellishments, etc. It is so handy when I go to a crop. Everything in one place and on wheels. The hardest part is getting it in an out of the van. Did I mention it was FULL of paper - it's just a little heavy :-) The white shelf on the right holds my stamps, inks and various other really fun tools. I absolutely LOVE having everything at my fingertips.


Recently I participated in a supply swap sponsored by a fellow blogger. It was a lot of fun. It worked like this - we all filled up an envelope or box with supplies we didn't want/need/like anymore. The items could be brand new or well loved. You could send unopened things or even the last few sheets of a paper packet, or a half a package of stickers. Then, we all sent our boxes ,along with enough to cover return shipping, to Marion (the fellow blogger). She took the contents out and then mixed them all up. Then she filled the boxes back up and returned them to us. Somehow, she managed to make sure people didn't get back the same things they had sent. It was like Christmas seeing all of the neat things that I received (see picture below). I got a lot of things that I would never thought to buy or try.



WOW three posts in less than 24 hours!!! And I'm not even caught up yet :-) See ya' later I'm off to go craft.

Showcase of Champions

Last Saturday we went to Tate High School for the Showcase of Champions Marching Band Competition. Adam's mom was in town for the event. We also met my Grandmother (Nana), my cousin and her baby. It was a beautiful day! Not too warm for the Prelims and not too cold for the Finals.

In Preliminaries, Choctaw captured every award for their division - Best Auxillary, Best Percussion, Best Visual Effect, Best Music, Best General Effect. They were also the only band in the whole competition to be rated "Distinguished".

In Finals, Choctaw took First Place and held onto the Grand Champion title for the 7th year in a row. We also received awards for Best Percussion, Best Visual Effect, Best Music, and Best General Effect.

It was a much needed boost after a difficult Friday. For those of you that do not know, due to unfortunate circumstances, their Band Director of 25+ years resigned on Thursday. It has been a shocking and emotional week, but the kids are proving that they are true champions. They have handled this with grace and maturity.

The State Championship is a little more than two weeks away. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers. We're hoping to hold onto our State Champion Title for one more year. (We won't be able to defend it in 2009 because of the Macy's trip).


Christian is in Pit (the percussion instruments that do not enter the field) this year. He is just to the left of the 40 yard line marker. He gets to play a lot of different instruments and is always moving from one to another.

A close up (although not good quality) of Christian and his instruments.

We have won the Tate Showcase of Champions every year of it's existance :-)

Halloween

Hey guys, I know it's been a while. We have been really busy around here. I have so much to talk about. I'm going to start with Halloween. We had a really enjoyable night. Christian went over to a friend's house to go to a party and trick or treating (yes they actually went door to door and got candy). Maybe the neighbors just thought they were really tall 8 year olds :-) Hayden went trick or treating with some friends in our neighborhood. While the kids went in search of the candy motherlode, Adam and I had a really good time hanging out with our neighbors. We got together with two of our neighbors and handed out candy together. It was a great night.

Meghan (bumble bee), Cory, Christian, Kelsey (lady bug), Kyle and ?? (only kid young enough to be trick or treating). I can't believe they went door to door. Anything for candy I guess.

Hayden (skeleton), Jessica (penguin) and Amanda (devil cat) checking out all of their candy. First they sorted it, then the trading began :-) That was always my favorite part of Halloween.

Part of our neighborhood get together (I couldn't get everyone in the picture).
It was a chilly evening so the fire was especially nice.