It's about 30 minutes long....
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Autumn Classic Video
Kevin was pretty pumped after school....1st mile run of the year in gym and he already qualified for the Chieftain Challenge (had to be under 6:24, he finished in 6:06). Finished first in his class...said he really enjoyed finishing first!
Here's the video of all the boys finishing on Sunday. The girl behind Matthew ends up passing him (can't believe that'll happen very often!), the girls next to Christopher fall behind the big guy at the end, and Kevin's sprint at the end speaks for itself.
Here's the video of all the boys finishing on Sunday. The girl behind Matthew ends up passing him (can't believe that'll happen very often!), the girls next to Christopher fall behind the big guy at the end, and Kevin's sprint at the end speaks for itself.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Laundry Room
Drywall is repaired, cabinet doors are up, just need to get handles (and some plinthe...I love that word...plinthe!) and we are done!
Sports Desk - Monday Night..um, Cross Country
Kevin had a cross country meet today and was absolutely freaking awesome! He finished in 13:28....comparing times on different courses is apples and oranges, but, I assume it's measured to 2 miles, and the would be another 30 second leap in his time. He blew past the two kids he's been pacing with (and hasn't been able to beat) and now, well, he's setting his goals a little bit faster.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
And over at the sports desk
Ah, you can tell fall is almost here...the weekend is full of sports...
Christopher: The 2nd graders won their soccer game 6-0. Christopher played well in his only quarter that he saw any real action; for the most part, we kept the ball in the other team's half of the field so if you played defense or goalie, you had a pretty boring day.
Matthew: Started off the 1st grade season with a large-number-to-one game. Kevin taped the game, so, we'll hopefully get that online sometime soon. Matthew had many moments, I think one highlight was when he saved the ball from going into the goal and dribbled it all the way through to the other end for a goal.
Kevin: Last of the fall tennis tournaments was Saturday and the less said about it the better....a lot of regression in the progress we've made, and a whole lot of discussion about what Kevin really wants to accomplish here. Oh well....
Autumn Classic: Sunday morning was the 8K Autumn Classic at Lake Lansing North. Christopher and Matthew did the kids 1/2 mile; Matthew proudly announces "I was eighth!"...Christopher was about 20 seconds behind Matthew.
I'll use this analogy, Matthew's like a Porsche, speedy, flashy in turns, good moves and a strong burst of energy, nice compact running form, etc. Christopher is like a truck...you get him up to speed, you'd better get out of the way. There was a moment in Saturday's game when the ball was at one end of the field and someone kicked it out so that it was at the complete other end....of course, the kids were all bunched up, so, it's this huge sprint to get to the ball first. Christopher wasn't the first kid out of that pack heading towards the ball, but, he was the first one to get there.
Kevin did the 8K. And did awesome, finished in 41 minutes and change. He was a sweaty mess at the end. Said he finished the first mile at 7:20, and was at 32:00 at 4 miles. We had a long talk about what he should try to do, Suzanne though 9 minute miles might be a better goal, I thought 8 minute miles (he does 7 minute miles for the 2 mile cross country meets) and was happy to see him end up more towards 8 than 9.
Christopher: The 2nd graders won their soccer game 6-0. Christopher played well in his only quarter that he saw any real action; for the most part, we kept the ball in the other team's half of the field so if you played defense or goalie, you had a pretty boring day.
Matthew: Started off the 1st grade season with a large-number-to-one game. Kevin taped the game, so, we'll hopefully get that online sometime soon. Matthew had many moments, I think one highlight was when he saved the ball from going into the goal and dribbled it all the way through to the other end for a goal.
Kevin: Last of the fall tennis tournaments was Saturday and the less said about it the better....a lot of regression in the progress we've made, and a whole lot of discussion about what Kevin really wants to accomplish here. Oh well....
Autumn Classic: Sunday morning was the 8K Autumn Classic at Lake Lansing North. Christopher and Matthew did the kids 1/2 mile; Matthew proudly announces "I was eighth!"...Christopher was about 20 seconds behind Matthew.
I'll use this analogy, Matthew's like a Porsche, speedy, flashy in turns, good moves and a strong burst of energy, nice compact running form, etc. Christopher is like a truck...you get him up to speed, you'd better get out of the way. There was a moment in Saturday's game when the ball was at one end of the field and someone kicked it out so that it was at the complete other end....of course, the kids were all bunched up, so, it's this huge sprint to get to the ball first. Christopher wasn't the first kid out of that pack heading towards the ball, but, he was the first one to get there.
Kevin did the 8K. And did awesome, finished in 41 minutes and change. He was a sweaty mess at the end. Said he finished the first mile at 7:20, and was at 32:00 at 4 miles. We had a long talk about what he should try to do, Suzanne though 9 minute miles might be a better goal, I thought 8 minute miles (he does 7 minute miles for the 2 mile cross country meets) and was happy to see him end up more towards 8 than 9.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Tree
For school, Christopher has to track a tree throughout the year, and we were asked to send in a picture of Christopher, and this tree.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
A little rain never hurt anyone
Soccer season kicked off with a full slate of games, none of which went quite like they should have.
Christopher: The second grade team, after one practice, started off the weekend with a 9 am game in Haslett. It started raining in mid-Michigan around 8 pm Friday, and, it hasn't stopped yet (Sunday at 4 pm). Was wondering if the other coach would want to cancel, left for the game with Christopher a little early, get to the game, and the other coach is already there. So, we're going to play.
10 minutes until game time....only 2 kids from our team have shown up. Begin to make calls...the first one is home, to tell Suzanne to get Matthew dressed and have him come out. I understand that this one call made Matthew's entire weekend. "It's my lucky day!" he announced. Begin to call other players...one father told me "It's raining cats and dogs" (I'm standing outside in it...I know this) and I realize I'm not going to see that kid. Of a roster of 11, I only had 6 to start the game and when Matthew and one other kid arrived, we made it to 8. First quarter didn't go so well....had to have Christopher in goal (I had worked with 4 kids at the first practice on being goalie...only 1 of that group showed up) and there wasn't another kid who stepped forward to really dribble the ball forward. Combine that with some shaky goaltending choices by Christopher and we were down 3-0.
But, after getting Christopher out of goal, and getting Matthew out onto the field as well, we carried the ball into the other half of the field a lot more and played a scoreless tie the rest of the game.
When I first saw this photo, I thought that Matthew had headed it out of bounds (and didn't remember that from the game...). Turns out there's a teammate throwing the ball inbounds.
Suzanne, while holding on to her umbrella, took some video with her camera (the video camera stays home in the rain...so does Kevin!).
Kevin: Went out and, through distinctly heavier rain, helped out the 7/8 team. Played goalie in the 1st half. I think Kevin would agree, the less said about this game the better. He played OK, but, nobody on that team played well.
Matthew: Was crushed to find out Saturday night that his Sunday games were cancelled.
Christopher: The second grade team, after one practice, started off the weekend with a 9 am game in Haslett. It started raining in mid-Michigan around 8 pm Friday, and, it hasn't stopped yet (Sunday at 4 pm). Was wondering if the other coach would want to cancel, left for the game with Christopher a little early, get to the game, and the other coach is already there. So, we're going to play.
10 minutes until game time....only 2 kids from our team have shown up. Begin to make calls...the first one is home, to tell Suzanne to get Matthew dressed and have him come out. I understand that this one call made Matthew's entire weekend. "It's my lucky day!" he announced. Begin to call other players...one father told me "It's raining cats and dogs" (I'm standing outside in it...I know this) and I realize I'm not going to see that kid. Of a roster of 11, I only had 6 to start the game and when Matthew and one other kid arrived, we made it to 8. First quarter didn't go so well....had to have Christopher in goal (I had worked with 4 kids at the first practice on being goalie...only 1 of that group showed up) and there wasn't another kid who stepped forward to really dribble the ball forward. Combine that with some shaky goaltending choices by Christopher and we were down 3-0.
But, after getting Christopher out of goal, and getting Matthew out onto the field as well, we carried the ball into the other half of the field a lot more and played a scoreless tie the rest of the game.
When I first saw this photo, I thought that Matthew had headed it out of bounds (and didn't remember that from the game...). Turns out there's a teammate throwing the ball inbounds.
Suzanne, while holding on to her umbrella, took some video with her camera (the video camera stays home in the rain...so does Kevin!).
Kevin: Went out and, through distinctly heavier rain, helped out the 7/8 team. Played goalie in the 1st half. I think Kevin would agree, the less said about this game the better. He played OK, but, nobody on that team played well.
Matthew: Was crushed to find out Saturday night that his Sunday games were cancelled.
Laundry Room Renovations
I ended up taking the the 'before' pictures after we had started, so, you have to use your imagination to get the full picture.
a) sliding wooden doors in front of the laundry area
b) two rows of wire shelves inside the area, above the washer and dryer
This layout, with today's washer and dryers, sucks. Because to contain the washer and dryer behind the wooden doors, you really can't buy one of the new sets of machines. So, we decided screw it, we'll buy the machines we want, and take out the doors. And take out the soffit (only build to hold the doors). And take out the shelves. And put in cabinets.
As you can see in these pictures, the doors are long gone, the bottom shelf is gone, and I'm working on tearing out the rest of the soffit.
Stopped at Ikea on the way back from Selfridge last week. We had quite a debate about whether to go with white cabinets with white doors, or, the same cabinets as the kitchen (dark brown with birch interior). Ended up with the white, but, Ikea doesn't keep the white doors in stock, so, we hung the cabinets and the pantry this weekend and we'll add the doors later. Still need to cinch/gang the cabinets together, and still need to finish the drywall where the soffit disappered.
a) sliding wooden doors in front of the laundry area
b) two rows of wire shelves inside the area, above the washer and dryer
This layout, with today's washer and dryers, sucks. Because to contain the washer and dryer behind the wooden doors, you really can't buy one of the new sets of machines. So, we decided screw it, we'll buy the machines we want, and take out the doors. And take out the soffit (only build to hold the doors). And take out the shelves. And put in cabinets.
As you can see in these pictures, the doors are long gone, the bottom shelf is gone, and I'm working on tearing out the rest of the soffit.
Stopped at Ikea on the way back from Selfridge last week. We had quite a debate about whether to go with white cabinets with white doors, or, the same cabinets as the kitchen (dark brown with birch interior). Ended up with the white, but, Ikea doesn't keep the white doors in stock, so, we hung the cabinets and the pantry this weekend and we'll add the doors later. Still need to cinch/gang the cabinets together, and still need to finish the drywall where the soffit disappered.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Viola Update
Figured I should take a moment to talk about the change in Kevin's viola instruction. He's moved up to the full-size viola, so, the notes sound a lot better now. When he hits them right.
His instructor (and we've made the change this year to go from 30 minute to hour long lessons) has decided that he wants Kevin to...well, let me get the quotes from the email. He needs to focus on two things with this scale: 1) the finger pattern and 2) Tone Development. The finger pattern will be the quickest thing for him to master (where to put his fingers). The “tone development” (quality of his sound) is a gradual process for any musician and will take perhaps more patience than Kevin has at this point. To practice the “tone development,” Kevin needs to put a metronome at 60 bpm and then play each note of the scale as whole notes (four clicks on the metronome.) During each note he needs to pay close attention that his bow is parallel with the bridge (a mirror is helpful for this) and he needs to use almost the entire bow, listening for a clear sound. I went over ALL of this with him during the lesson; though I think he wanted to get to the concerto so badly that I am not certain he was paying close attention. I also wrote it on a post-it note (please tell him to bring his notebook to the next lessons.) Please follow-up with him on these details. He has a huge amount of musical potential and I want to make sure we give him our best effort."
Kevin had his first lesson focusing on this Friday, and he's been very clear that he doesn't like these type of lessons....he'd much rather be learning new music and playing it. Oh well....Kevin's very lucky to have someone (his instructor, we've discovered has a doctorate in viola performance!) that really is taking an interest in helping him achieve everything he can achieve. I'm very excited by the possibility of what he could sound like at the end of the semester, and at the end of the year.
Upcoming posts you ask? Well, we'll have some laundry-room before and after pictures by the end of the weekend, and I definitely have a few paragraphs about the soccer-monsoon combination this morning.....
His instructor (and we've made the change this year to go from 30 minute to hour long lessons) has decided that he wants Kevin to...well, let me get the quotes from the email. He needs to focus on two things with this scale: 1) the finger pattern and 2) Tone Development. The finger pattern will be the quickest thing for him to master (where to put his fingers). The “tone development” (quality of his sound) is a gradual process for any musician and will take perhaps more patience than Kevin has at this point. To practice the “tone development,” Kevin needs to put a metronome at 60 bpm and then play each note of the scale as whole notes (four clicks on the metronome.) During each note he needs to pay close attention that his bow is parallel with the bridge (a mirror is helpful for this) and he needs to use almost the entire bow, listening for a clear sound. I went over ALL of this with him during the lesson; though I think he wanted to get to the concerto so badly that I am not certain he was paying close attention. I also wrote it on a post-it note (please tell him to bring his notebook to the next lessons.) Please follow-up with him on these details. He has a huge amount of musical potential and I want to make sure we give him our best effort."
Kevin had his first lesson focusing on this Friday, and he's been very clear that he doesn't like these type of lessons....he'd much rather be learning new music and playing it. Oh well....Kevin's very lucky to have someone (his instructor, we've discovered has a doctorate in viola performance!) that really is taking an interest in helping him achieve everything he can achieve. I'm very excited by the possibility of what he could sound like at the end of the semester, and at the end of the year.
Upcoming posts you ask? Well, we'll have some laundry-room before and after pictures by the end of the weekend, and I definitely have a few paragraphs about the soccer-monsoon combination this morning.....
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Cross Country
Kevin had his first cross-country meet Wednesday afternoon. He bettered his previous time of 14:37 and finished in 13:58 for the 2 miles. That was good enough for 12th among the Okemos middle school boys and 24th overall (5 other teams at the meet). Still not sure if we've seen the best of Kevin's performance...he's going to try at the meet on Monday to stay with his buddy who is running about 15 seconds faster, so, we'll see what happens.
Kitchen remodeling has detoured into laundry closet remodeling...will post pictures of that this weekend once we get moving along. First step was a major investment in new machinery...had a steam-washer and dryer (with pedestals, of course) delivered this week.
Soccer goes into full swing this weekend; Christopher starts off early Saturday (he looked awfully good at practice on Saturday...taking a few pages from Matthew's playbook and was dribbling through the masses in our scrimmage. Except with Christopher, it's like a train coming through, you really don't want to get in his way!). Kevin has agreed to help out the 7/8 rec team that is short a player or two, so, he'll be out there Saturday morning as well, and Matthew has 2 games on Sunday. I dread that in some ways...I hope I don't have to reign in Matthew too much.
Kitchen remodeling has detoured into laundry closet remodeling...will post pictures of that this weekend once we get moving along. First step was a major investment in new machinery...had a steam-washer and dryer (with pedestals, of course) delivered this week.
Soccer goes into full swing this weekend; Christopher starts off early Saturday (he looked awfully good at practice on Saturday...taking a few pages from Matthew's playbook and was dribbling through the masses in our scrimmage. Except with Christopher, it's like a train coming through, you really don't want to get in his way!). Kevin has agreed to help out the 7/8 rec team that is short a player or two, so, he'll be out there Saturday morning as well, and Matthew has 2 games on Sunday. I dread that in some ways...I hope I don't have to reign in Matthew too much.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Your vote counts!
Matthew is down here in the basement with me watching football. He has his football and is throwing it to himself. He has asked me the following; what do you think?
"Dad, should I be the quarterback who throws the awesome spirals?"
or
"Dad, should I be the receiver that makes the awesome catches?"
or
"Dad, should I be the running back that makes the awesome runs?"
There's a lot of awesome-ness there to consider!
Also, from today:
Dad "Matthew how was lunch?"
Matthew "Good.." but, he doesn't sound very happy about this "good".
Christopher: "We brought in the big guns to chase down the fast 1st graders today!" The popular lunch time activity has been, apparently, 2nd graders chasing the 1st graders....
Dad: "Did she catch you Matthew?"
Matthew: "Yeah, twice....."
UPDATE: "Dad, I should be the linebacker! The receiver comes up, he catches the ball, and Matthew comes up and tackles the receiver, he comes up with the fumble because he's so strong, and he gets tackled at the 30-yard line." He's pointing out linebackers on the TV "I run through the middle and I sack the guy...I grab the fumble and there's a touchdown!"
"Dad, should I be the quarterback who throws the awesome spirals?"
or
"Dad, should I be the receiver that makes the awesome catches?"
or
"Dad, should I be the running back that makes the awesome runs?"
There's a lot of awesome-ness there to consider!
Also, from today:
Dad "Matthew how was lunch?"
Matthew "Good.." but, he doesn't sound very happy about this "good".
Christopher: "We brought in the big guns to chase down the fast 1st graders today!" The popular lunch time activity has been, apparently, 2nd graders chasing the 1st graders....
Dad: "Did she catch you Matthew?"
Matthew: "Yeah, twice....."
UPDATE: "Dad, I should be the linebacker! The receiver comes up, he catches the ball, and Matthew comes up and tackles the receiver, he comes up with the fumble because he's so strong, and he gets tackled at the 30-yard line." He's pointing out linebackers on the TV "I run through the middle and I sack the guy...I grab the fumble and there's a touchdown!"
Saturday, September 6, 2008
In the Paper
The neighbor down the street sees Kevin rolling by on his 'blades and walks up to Kevin and says "Hey, I saw your picture in the paper!"
Dad goes "Huh?". Kevin, remembers, that they were taking pictures at his last tennis lessons.
The picture appeared in an insert to the paper on Thursday; the insert listed all kinds of sports activities you could sign your kids up for.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Mountain Mama
I realize I forgot to mention one of the more...amusing...parts of my West Virginia trip. Of course, any mention of the state-of-interbred-cousins gets "Country Roads" running through my head.....as I'm getting off the plane and begin walking through the airport I hear this public service announcement. It's the governor of WVa welcoming us to this grand state, whether we are visiting or returning home, blah blah, great place, great place, blah blah. But, in the background of his grand pronouncements about the majesty of this great state, I hear the glorious orchestra tones of John Denver's masterpiece.
And I got a kick out of that.
And I got a kick out of that.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Back to School
Been a hectic week, so, let's see if I can recap the highlights.
Matthew: He happily told Suzanne, on the way out of school today, that he was happy to be a first grader. Happy with Mrs. Dudley, just received his new backpack today, life is good. Of course, school start means soccer start, and Matthew is very excited by that. He was very upset on Wednesday on being left behind at home while Kevin and I went to Christopher's practice (I'm coaching both teams again). Matthew (Heckyl) and Christopher (Jeckyl) are still figuring out multiple ways to get in trouble.....they finally fessed up that the head wound at the football game wasn't from Matthew falling on a rock, it was from the rock that Christopher had thrown at him! Grrrrrrr.
Christopher: The Bennett Woods Open House / Ice Cream Social was tonight...noticed on the wall of Christopher's room that each of the students had drawn a picture of themselves and put their future occupation....Christopher was a "Future Zoo Keeper". Christopher also is excited about the start of soccer season....we realized that this year was also the first year that Christopher can sign up for basketball. Again, he wasn't too thrilled about this, but, pointed out to him that there were some, uh, natural advantages that he would have, and he was willing to try it. Was driving by the school today and saw that the 2nd graders were lining up to go in....I always smile when I see his blond-topped head poking out in line.
Kevin: 7th grade brings all kinds of new opportunities for Kevin; he'll be able to participate in solo and ensemble festivals in Orchestra; he'll be able to try out for All-State Orchestra, the musical is coming (don't know what it is yet...auditions are in 2 weeks though!). Kevin's started cross-country...he had his first timed practice today, finished 2 miles in 14:37, so, that's a heck of an improvement on the pace he'd been running for the 5k he's been doing. 7th grade is the first time he can choose electives (other than Orchestra), he has Movie Fans, Computer Programming, and German (he did request French...we can only assume that there were a ton of 8th graders who wanted the most popular of languages, since Kevin didn't get it. C'est la vie).
Kitchen: Remodeling is slowly moving along, and I probably haven't given this topic as much attention as it deserves. If you'll recall, we ended up demolishing the soffet above the part of the kitchen we've finished and really like the result of having full-height 39" wall cabinets. So, we started to plan on doing that on the other side.
Turns out that's not going to work. And it's a major bummer. While the old soffet only had the central vacuum pipe that was an obstruction, and that was easily moved. We had made some holes in the soffet, above the sink, and knew that there was the waste pipe from the bathrooms upstairs that ran through it, but, it looked, from the holes, that the pipe was pretty high and we might still be able to go full height. Finally completed the destruction of the soffet and realized what we couldn't see before, that there were more connections that we had thought and the home builder had started the bend down towards the basement away from the far wall sooner than we might have thought...thus, the pipe at the one end was at least 5-6" lower than at the one end we could see. In the end, we had to pay to rebuild most of the soffet that we didn't have to take out.
But, we're going to try and go full-height on one wall, and are trying to figure out how to handle that over the rest of the kitchen (put 39" door on 30" cabinets is one option we're considering).
Matthew: He happily told Suzanne, on the way out of school today, that he was happy to be a first grader. Happy with Mrs. Dudley, just received his new backpack today, life is good. Of course, school start means soccer start, and Matthew is very excited by that. He was very upset on Wednesday on being left behind at home while Kevin and I went to Christopher's practice (I'm coaching both teams again). Matthew (Heckyl) and Christopher (Jeckyl) are still figuring out multiple ways to get in trouble.....they finally fessed up that the head wound at the football game wasn't from Matthew falling on a rock, it was from the rock that Christopher had thrown at him! Grrrrrrr.
Christopher: The Bennett Woods Open House / Ice Cream Social was tonight...noticed on the wall of Christopher's room that each of the students had drawn a picture of themselves and put their future occupation....Christopher was a "Future Zoo Keeper". Christopher also is excited about the start of soccer season....we realized that this year was also the first year that Christopher can sign up for basketball. Again, he wasn't too thrilled about this, but, pointed out to him that there were some, uh, natural advantages that he would have, and he was willing to try it. Was driving by the school today and saw that the 2nd graders were lining up to go in....I always smile when I see his blond-topped head poking out in line.
Kevin: 7th grade brings all kinds of new opportunities for Kevin; he'll be able to participate in solo and ensemble festivals in Orchestra; he'll be able to try out for All-State Orchestra, the musical is coming (don't know what it is yet...auditions are in 2 weeks though!). Kevin's started cross-country...he had his first timed practice today, finished 2 miles in 14:37, so, that's a heck of an improvement on the pace he'd been running for the 5k he's been doing. 7th grade is the first time he can choose electives (other than Orchestra), he has Movie Fans, Computer Programming, and German (he did request French...we can only assume that there were a ton of 8th graders who wanted the most popular of languages, since Kevin didn't get it. C'est la vie).
Kitchen: Remodeling is slowly moving along, and I probably haven't given this topic as much attention as it deserves. If you'll recall, we ended up demolishing the soffet above the part of the kitchen we've finished and really like the result of having full-height 39" wall cabinets. So, we started to plan on doing that on the other side.Turns out that's not going to work. And it's a major bummer. While the old soffet only had the central vacuum pipe that was an obstruction, and that was easily moved. We had made some holes in the soffet, above the sink, and knew that there was the waste pipe from the bathrooms upstairs that ran through it, but, it looked, from the holes, that the pipe was pretty high and we might still be able to go full height. Finally completed the destruction of the soffet and realized what we couldn't see before, that there were more connections that we had thought and the home builder had started the bend down towards the basement away from the far wall sooner than we might have thought...thus, the pipe at the one end was at least 5-6" lower than at the one end we could see. In the end, we had to pay to rebuild most of the soffet that we didn't have to take out.
But, we're going to try and go full-height on one wall, and are trying to figure out how to handle that over the rest of the kitchen (put 39" door on 30" cabinets is one option we're considering).
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