Coming Attractions

This weekend will be hectic, to say the least.

Friday:  Dad visits 2nd grade for his 2nd Junior Achievement lesson; he also brings Wily to 2nd grade in the afternoon to conclude Christopher's VIP week.  Kevin has a 7th grade 'event' after school, that finishes right around 5, so, we'll be hustling to get him from there to viola at 5 pm.  The Pancake Supper begins at 4:30, so, I think we've decided we'll have to that in shifts; go with Christopher and Matthew between 5 and 6.   Suzanne and I will probably split up at this point, Suzanne will probably head off to get Kevin and then go with Kevin to the pancake supper.  The boys, after supper, will be heading over to the school for movie night; it's in the gym, and is a sure recipe for a sore back and butt for whatever parent is involved (probably me) from sitting on the floor. 

This doesn't even begin to address the 8th birthday.  Cake, probably, for breakfast with a few presents, and the rest of the presents when everyone gets home. 

Saturday:  Suzanne gets up early with Kevin to get him to the bus for skiing; she's going into work for a little bit after that.  Will meet up with her at 10:15 for basketball.....big game against the other Bennett Woods team, the coach was very...intense...in his preparations at practice on Tuesday.  We'll probably go to Impression 5 with the boys in the afternoon as part of the birthday celebrations (since the big guy isn't having a party...) and we'll go out for the birthday restaurant dinner that evening.

Sunday:  Kevin's decided to do the Super Bowl 5K at 10 am; happily for Kevin Sunday looks to be the warmest day of the week, with temps maybe climbing into the 30's.  Even better, Kevin has agreed to don a Terrible Towel for the event!  Will be curious to see if there's any movement in his time after all the running and training he's been doing. 

Soccer game at 12:30; most likely another loss for the boys....we've already lost pretty convincingly to this team once.  I've realized I feel disappointed about our team's performance lately and I have to take a deep breath back and remember that we're mostly 1st graders playing against 2nd graders...this is how it's supposed to be.

Of course, the Super Bowl will dominate the days events.  I'm not sure I can get too much pre-game, but, we'll see.  I certainly haven't overdosed on sports talk radio this week....it's been a close thing though. 

Quordy

The Iphone is pretty cool; of course, the games help to make it even cooler.  Suzanne has super monkey ball, which the boys love, I have rolling thunder, which the boys love.

And then there's Quordy

Basically a Boggle-clone, it's slowly taken over my life.  Very addicting and enjoyable.  And very frustrating now that we've discovered that, playing head-to-head, Kevin has a better than even chance of beating Suzanne or I.  Part of this is Kevin's penchant for trying any letter combination that might work and coming up with words that he can't define; I've threatened to penalize him when he gets to the end, beats me by 5 or 6 words, and there's one that he has no idea what it means.....

So, Quordy challenges are appearing nightly now.  It's not good when Kevin takes 2 out of 3 from is Mom or Dad, and, this is happening more and more frequently. 

We're going to have to start challenging Christopher and Matthew to keep our dignity.

Post-Weekend Blues

Soccer:  Two losses this weekend, 9-1 and 2-0.  The first loss wasn't unexpected, and the team played hard, so, except for one boy, no complaints there.  The second game was depressing; we had all kinds of chances and never converted, and, eventually, the other team did.  Had two boys with wide open shots in front of the goal and they both barely tapped it.  Matthew had one good shot on goal, but again kicked it right at the goalie.

That boy, mentioned above, who had some issues....well, that would be Matthew.  He just doesn't react well when things aren't going well, and, instead of trying hard will just give up.  Saturday, instead of staying with the team when things are going bad, he wandered off to be with Mom and Kevin, which, is where he spent the 4th quarter of the first game (he did come back over, but, I told him he wasn't going to play if he couldn't stay with the team, and so he went back.).  Had a long talk with him after the game about always trying hard, and he did do a lot better on Sunday (although, he asked to play goalie in the 4th quarter and gave up a goal and was just absolutely furious about it....and his teammate who tried to explain what Matthew did wrong to him didn't help matters either...you probably could see steam coming out of his ears at that point).  I was thinking about the games Sunday night and realized that this is probably the first time Matthew hasn't scored in 3 consecutive games.  Ever. 

Anyway, the season ends in two more games, and that's probably a good thing.

All-State:  The concert was Saturday morning and all went well; we'll get the video up here once we get the DVD.  Kind of annoyed about the video; I brought the video camera to tape it, but, received the definite impression that recording was a no-no.  So, at the concert, I didn't bring the camera and there's more than a few parents taping the concert.  I'm sure the DVD and audio will be better than what I could come up with, but, not sure the $30 is worth the upgrade in video and sound.

Realized that we didn't really need to stay in Grand Rapids (the only reason to do it would be if the weather is bad and prevents the commute), so, we'll see if we do it next year as well.

Basketball:  Mom reports that Christopher played well, was much more active than last time and did a good job on defense (instead of standing around).  Had three shots, but none went in. 

Upcoming Events:  It's a big Christopher week; he's the VIP in his class this week, which means Dad shows up with video and Wiley at some point.  Dad's volunteering to teach JA for the the 2nd grade...that starts this week.  There's that little birthday-thing on Friday as well. 

Grand Rapids

GR:  Kevin and I are spending a fun filled three days and two nights in Grand Rapids as he rehearses and then performs with the middle school all state orchestra.  He had a 3-hour rehearsal today, 2 rehearsals tomorrow, and then a rehearsal before the performance Saturday morning.

Kevin is very happy with the experience so far; was pleased to report, at least in his mind, that he was able to play the one piece at the proper pace where most other violas faltered or couldn't. 

Convinced Kevin that, after the rehearsal ended at 5 today, that going to dinner immediately at Fridays was the right move, instead of relaxing in the room for 30 minutes and then going (Kevin's plan).  We walk over, sit immediately, have a nice meal, and as we get up 30-40 minutes later and walk out, we walk past about 100 people trying to get in.....Kevin, I don't think, has acknowledged my brilliance, so, I have to brag about it here.

In the more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same....I notice that Kevin has to shave again, but, was amused/annoyed to see him jumping up and down on the hotel bed as I came out of the bathroom when we got into the room.

Soccer:  Boys lost 6-1 last Sunday to the best team in our league.  They are clearly better than us, but, was disappointed that our boys were accepting that and complaining about it.....I don't care if we lose, but, we should play hard at all times.  We play them again this Saturday, so, hopefully we can move past that and have better effort, which, hopefully, will mean more success.

LRPSC:  Had our 2nd committee meeting yesterday, was pleasantly surprised at the length and breadth of options discussed.  Still don't think there's enough time to give each option its fair shake, but, we'll see about that.  They've added another committee meeting in seeming recognition that the amount of time needed to do a good job isn't matching up well with the plan.

Sunday Night:  I think I might have to seek professional help/medication for future playoff games.....had sweaty palms until well into the 2nd quarter, couldn't eat, etc.  But, I think I'll be able to get through it......    Have made the executive decision that a Super Bowl appearance means I need a new jersey, so, ordered a #56 for home delivery. 

The LRPSC

As mentioned before, I've volunteered to sit on the long range planning steering committee for the school district.  Long story short, since funding for Michigan's schools comes directly (and primarily) from the state, not local taxes, and is tied to the school district's enrollment, well, with the sucky economy you have less tax dollars to go the schools and you have less students for the school.  Every year, the district has slashed programs and items from the budget, closed a school five years ago....anyway, THIS effort is supposed to be to stop the cycle of cuts...with the realization that if we go on the way we are, with declining enrollments, etc, that the school district will be in a deficit in 2.5 years.

So, I'm on this steering committee.  There's 60 people on it; which seems like a high number to me.  And the process is just frustrating as heck for me.  There are supposed to be 3 2-hour committee meetings, each followed by a 2-hour community forum, with one final committee meeting to finalize recommendations for the school board.  And I just don't think that's anywhere enough time to make this type of decisions.  So, the first two meetings; all they/we did was review the guiding principles and criteria that we'll use for the next 5 meetings.  And all I can think is there's 4 hours that we won't have to do the important work.

The next meeting is Wednesday, where we finally get into the guts of the problem and discuss options.  The school district sent out an email with enrollment and school capacity information on Friday for us to review before the meeting on Wednesday...and it's not a pretty picture.  The elementary school and middle schools are about half full...just looking at the numbers, it's pretty easy to see that we could be closing 2 schools, if not three.

So, there will be some pretty drastic changes coming for the boys.  Right now, the school district is configured K-5, 6-8, 9-12, and I could see it becoming K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 or K-4, 5-6, 7-8 (or 5-8), 9-12, or some variation of that.  My hope, when we started this, is that the long-range planning included everything (athletics, community education, administration) as opposed to the place where we could have the most bang for our buck.  I just don't think it's right to have (and to spend) on certain luxuries(?...my word, which may not be other people's) while we are closing schools and eliminating programs.

I realize now that I'll probably leave this process extremely frustrated and disappointed by how it went.  The school district has been very close-mouthed about what could happen during this process in it's announcements to the community; I understand they don't want to say anything about what might happen for fear of being accused of having the preferred alternative already in hand, but, I just don't think there's a lot of the community who understands what's coming down the pike, and I'm sure that once they do figure that out (whether by hearing it once the options are developed and presented) it's going to be a whole lot of loud public opinion.

There is no joy in Mudville

Rough day today....the school geography bee was today and Kevin was eliminated.  While extremely confident in Kevin, we had been warning him that he could bounce out and for him to be ready for a big disappointment. 

After a call, with some tears, from school relaying the results (he was supposed to just text message..oh well); he was surprisingly well composed as I picked him up from school.  Realized he messed up two easy questions and that the random nature of the questions just happened to land him two that he wasn't completely confident in, and well, someone else will be representing the school this year. Glad he's taking it in stride....glad he seems to be extra motivated for his last try at it, next year.

Mid-Weekend Update

Shoveled the driveway twice today!  Ugh....

Basketball:  Another interesting day for the big guy.....he spends a lot of time being a spectator during the game; gets to a position on the floor where he's been coached to go on offense, and that's it, he's not moving.  Rebound comes near him; uh-uh, if it's not right at me I'm not trying for it. 

He's a little more active on defense, strictly because they have to play man to man and he has to follow his guy everywhere, but, you'd think (I'd think!) that he'd be a rebounding force, and he's not.  At least not yet.

Took 2 shots, one of which allllllmost went in, but, slid off the back of the rim.  Did some dribbling, I think he had a steal.  But, could have been a heck of a lot more active.

Soccer:  Conversely, I don't think you can be more active than Christopher is in soccer right now.  He's a force out there.  He's a really good midfielder; he uses his big legs and kick to consistently boot the ball out of our end on defense or boot the ball back in to the offensive zone if the opposing defense.  No goals today, but, without him we would have lost by a lot more then we did (I think we lost 7-3, again, we were up against another full 2nd grade team). 

Of course, he had an adventure in goal and gave up two goals that he probably shouldn't have.  Oh well; it can't all be good and he's really doing a great job at soccer.

Remember that post a while back about watching Matthew's head go into the boards and being thankful that Mom wasn't there.  This time, Suzanne had a front row seat as Matthew was tripped by the opposing player and sailed head first into the boards.  Thankfully, he was ok (again!), but, we've told him he needs to watch out for that.  Matthew had a good game, just crushed a ball as he was coming in on the goal; he shot it right at the goalie, who had both hands on it in front of his face, but, he kicked it so hard it popped out and went over the goalie's head for a goal. 

Weekend Preview

A busy day tomorrow.  Kevin is off skiing (supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow, so that should be good!).  Christopher has another basketball game and the boys have a soccer game in the afternoon.  Need to make some Stella dvds.  Need to fix the hot/cold water in the sink.  Will be shoveling snow (I think I've done that every day this week!). 

Nothing on Sunday but the Steelers in the late afternoon.

Pretty uneventful week.  Probably need to devote a post to the steering committee I'm on....it's about long range planning for the school district, and I would bet that things are going to look very different for Christopher and Matthew then they are looking for Kevin right now.  

That's what we get for living in a state dominated by an industry that's dying.  Oh well.......

Weekend Update

The indoor season continued Sunday.  Dad and boys (without Mom and Kevin....they stayed home to watch the Dolphins) trudged over to Szone and walked out with a 5-2 win.  Both Hutsell's had two goals; Christopher had a really sweet goal where he dribbled in from midfield and went around two different players before breaking in alone on the goalie.

Suzanne and Kevin have been sucked into the 'Twilight' books.....they are both through the third book (having had to go out late Saturday night to acquire the third book because they couldn't wait!) and will be struggling with withdrawal while waiting for amazon to deliver the 4th book on Tuesday.

Kevin continues to go and run two to three times a week.  He now consistently runs a 6 minute mile....I was reviewing the past and it's pretty impressive how far he's come.  We've agreed that in a week or two I'll come to the MAC with him and help him by calling out his times in the 5 laps that make up a mile and see if he can pace a little faster.

Basketball - Day One

Well, today was Christopher's first basketball game.  A total of four practices beforehand, not one of which had any type of scrimmage, so, Christopher went in to the game cold...no idea of what a game was really like.

And it showed.  I've (mercifully) deleted the first two times that the big guy got the ball and started heading up (or down) the court, but, the first three seconds of the video below gives you the general idea....Christopher moved very well, but, with no real attempt at dribbling (I do think, his moves after the steal in the video might play really well on the football field!).  I was sure, if the game ended at halftime, that Christopher would have been off on one of his famous "I hated it" rants and there would have been lots of discussion of never playing again.

Fortunately, there is a second half.  And the coach's message, of dribbling the ball, did come through.  Happily, Christopher's comment at the end of the game was "Did you see my goal?", so, all's well that ends well.

Christopher's team won 24-2 or something like that....a lot of good 3rd graders on the team......

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