Tales of a Shoebox Princess

It's a Sunday morning, I have an hour before I have to leave for church, my Sunday School lesson is prepared, the kids get themselves ready for church, I've eaten lunch, so now what? Blog! It's almost the end of the school year, which means I tend to think about how old my babies are and wonder where the time went. Hayley is almost done being a junior and Matt is almost done being a freshman. I started this blog back in 2008 when Katie was just graduating, and Matt was in 3rd grade. It boggles the mind. Ok enough of that. I gots pictures. Band concert in the gym. Matt looked all nice and I think he knew where I was sitting. Trombonist in action   This was taken at the Robotics end-of-the-year banquet. The girl sitting next to Matt had no problem being photographed. Matt, on the other hand, would not cooperate. This was the best shot I could get of him. Matt and the KING TeC robot. I don't remember the name they gave it. Matt helped a little b...

I don't think I posted pics of Matt actually in his marching band uniform.  At least not on this blog.  I must rectify this. 7 or 6 trombones led the big parade Here is our trombonist! There. Pictures of Matt, in his marching band uniform, playing his instrument or marching. I'm done here. Oh wait, not quite. I'm done with Marching Band for this year, but not done with yammering on about my precious charming little children. I saw a quote on Matt's facebook page--said by Matt himself--that either makes me want to give him a good pounding with a broom, or laugh myself silly. He said " the pro to having twins is that when a guy is trying to steal one baby, you can beat him with the other." Have I said before that he strikes me as kinda weird? Hayley came home from school one afternoon, and the first thing she said to me is: "My friends are telling me things about Matt. Like they are glad he's in Robotics because he's SO funny....

I have to show you pictures of the marching band from tonight's high school football game. The band wore shorts and navy/gold t-shirts (most of them). Had they worn their marching band uniforms, giant flat bed trucks would have been needed to haul them in, and recordings would need to be played instead of live music, as they all would have fainted from the heat. (and actually, it's getting cooler. Sort of)   The trombones lead in through the crowd. One band member has his face covered up by the back end of his instrument. No matter. There will be plenty of opportunities to get pictures of that kid's face later. Like now. Oh, wait. Stupid lyre. How about now? Dang. Now? Ugh. This is beginning to be annoying. I spy eyes! Finally that kid got the trombone away from his face. And thus begins the first of several episodes in a new blog series, "Trying to take pictures of Matt in marching band." I teased Matt (very gently) because when I as...

Finally something to post about. Today was Matt's last public appearance as an 8th grade band member. Our youngest child can count his days at the middle school using just the fingers on his hands (no thumbs even). When the babies were all little, I longed for the days when those ankle-biters were all growed up. It took awhile to get to this point, but I'm enjoying it immensely. Pretty soon, we will have children in only one school. I can hardly remember the last time we had that (Katie would have been in 5th grade I think). I love it! Here are a couple of pictures of Matt in the band. The weather was almost crappy, but not quite. It was misty and overcast and just a hair this side of being chilly. But not quite. In other words, I found it pleasant. Not as short as he used to be. Nor as young and babyfaced as he used to be. In the front row where I can spot him easily Go trombonists! Hayley didn't march. As a bassoonist, she had a choice and chose not t...

(Alternately titled "If I Only Had a Bassoon") Hayley participated in another band concert last Monday and I've been told by a certain husband that I should post a certain video I took of a certain daughter playing a solo in a certain medley from a certain movie "The Wizard of Oz," in the interest of showing it to a certain mother-in-law.  And that I should stop typing "a certain." I can't post the video directly on the blog because it's too long, but I uploaded it to my dropbox account, which allows me to share a link to it with you and the certain mother-in-law. This is the link to that video. Enjoy. Here is a picture of Hayley during the concert for those of you who don't like pictures to move: Yes those are, in fact, skulls on her knees. Skulls with heart-shaped eye sockets.

A short story: Mother sat on her rumpled bed, doing a crossword puzzle. Such was her favorite mid-Sunday afternoon relaxation activity. In the middle of contemplating 66 down, Mother heard a noise. A musical noise. Someone was playing the piano. Not terribly well, but the tune was recognizable. Mother listened to a bar or two and finally the name of the song popped out of her mouth. "Martha My Dear" by the Beatles. She bobbed her head to the music, until it occurred to her that she was the only piano player in the family. Foot-tapping turned to spine tingling; peppy but flawed live music to ominous tinkle, each wrong note emphasizing the burgeoning terror. Who was playing? The bed was now the only refuge from whatever was in the living room at the black instrument. With a weak voice, mother squeaked, "Who is playing the piano?" The end. Yes it needs work. In real life, the mother is, of course, not the only piano player in the family, but no one but I ...

Things I should be doing instead of blogging: Putting ornaments on the Christmas tree Cleaning off the counter and table Folding laundry Encouraging the cat not to eat the other cat's vomit (although I don't want to clean it up myself either)(I can't watch or else I might vomit) Polishing silver (really)(for Katie and Christian's MN open house. You're coming, aren't you?) Showering Going over my seminary lesson once more But instead I'm posting pictures and a story from Matt's band concert on Monday night. Trombone power Story about this part to follow Concert reading Before I start my story, see the band director behind Matt? When we first started going to middle school band concerts 10 years ago, we thought this director was one of the kids in the band and that the main director had let him direct a song. Seriously, we thought he was 15 years old. He looks a little older now, and we know for sure that he's older because he h...

This is an off year for me as far as Halloween goes. I'm caught up in preparing for the wedding. And working. And teaching seminary. I'm blogging about last night's event: Hayley's band concert. It was a fun concert, mostly because it wasn't held in the auditorium, but in the BAND ROOM. See, the fall concert band has only 18 members. The rest of the band students take marching band in the fall. Hayley is the lone sophomore in the band and the only sophomore who was excused from being in marching band because we are favorites of the band teacher. Heehee, no not really. She was excused from marching band because she plays bassoon and bassoons aren't marching band instruments. So the director decided that rather than have a small group perform in a gigantic room, we'd have a little coffeehouse style concert in the band room. He set up tables (and cleaned the band room--Katie, you would be very proud) and chairs, asked everyone to bring a dessert in lieu o...

We're 8 days into the school year, and Matt has already had a band concert. I thought Matt was joking when he said he had a concert, but he kept insisting and then I got an email from the band teacher. The 8th grade bands from both middle schools played together at the high school for the Fall Community Fest. They stood outside the high school in a marching formation (without the actual marching). I realize Matt has been growing up, but I can't tell you how weird it was to see him waving to GIRLS. And they waved back! I managed to take a few pictures. Ignore the cheesy smile. He was being goofy. He's not so short anymore. He is almost average. Please ignore the fact that his trombone sleeve is on upside down. He even tried to fix it, but it didn't work. He insists he got an upside down sleeve. Dimple! Sidenote: Matt is really looking A LOT like his oldest brother.

In honor of the holiday and of the many veterans who have served our country, we spent the morning in traditional Memorial Day mode: searching for our kid in a sea of marching dark blue uniforms. And the angels smiled down upon us, for... (long dramatic pause to give me time to wipe away a fake tear of emotion) ...today marked the very first time I was able to spot one of my children in the marching band while they were actually marching down the street. (I'm not counting the year Katie was drum major because she was wearing a different uniform than the rest of the band) Yes, I saw Hayley! And I got decent pictures of her. She was in the very middle so it didn't matter which side of the street I was on--usually I end up on the opposite side of whoever I want to see marching. Like other marching Evanses, she woudn't react when I shouted out her name several times. Actually, niether did the kid in the 8th grade marching band when I shouted his name (the kid is on...

That would be Hayley and Paul, having concerts on the same night in the same place. Hayley can't remember which song this was. Horn quartet prepares to play. Paul is staring off into space. This was Paul's last band concert. Notice the love going on in the background. super tall Paul Paul and his French Horn compatriots (or comrades, if you're a communist) played their Best-in-Site award winning piece. I knew Paul was going to play this in the concert, but I didn't know about when he played it for the judges. I had to find out about that on facebook after the fact. I also could have posted another picture I took of Paul during the concert featuring a kid behind him who was really digging into his nose, but I thought perhaps you would all get queasy if I did.

I had several very solid reasons to go to another track meet last night: 1. Paul was running in it, of course 2. He ate pizza the night before and he is sure that whenever he eats pizza the night before a meet, he does well. 3. The weather promised to be nice to me, unlike the previous meets where I was confined to the inside of a fleece-lined waterproof jacket. 4. The meet was at the high school I attended lo, those many years ago. 5. Mom promised sandwiches Unfortunately, I also had solid reasons to be somewhere else: 1. Matt had a band concert 2. Sadly NOT at my high school alma mater 3. It was the last jazz band and regular band concert of the year 4. I had no one else to drive him there 5. and he had trombone lessons before the concert. So Jim and my mom went. Lucky them!  (I will not complain) Paul ran very well. Here he is at the start of the 1600 m race  Paul loves the blue track at Minnetonka. He was in first place for most of the race, but th...

Paul didn't tell me he had a french horn quartet piece for solo/ensemble contest. I knew the whole band was going to perform and I figured that was why he wore his black suit, his black shirt and a fabbo tie. I also thought that when he said, "I'm doing solo/ensemble" he meant the whole band. Why did I not guess he had a small group performance? Because he never said (and I'm going to use his vernacular) "Me and the other horns are gonna play a thing." Not that that statement is particularly enlightening, but it would have clued me into SOMETHING, and I would have grilled him until I understood exactly what was going on. He never mentioned having to practice, and based on his lack of practice or mention of any kind that he played an instrument over the last 2 years, I would not have guessed he was game for getting together with the other french horns and playing a horn quartet for some judges. So how did I find out? Facebook. This is why I am on face...

Band concerts. It's what's for dinner.  At least last Monday it was. And we had two helpings. One at 7 p.m., and one at 8:15. Fortunately the concerts were at the same school. I knew they were coming up sometime, but I didn't know exactly when.  I was puttering around the house when Paul and Hayley came home from school. Paul said, "Oh yeah, Mom, I've got a band concert tonight." And Hayley said, "Me too." Sigh. Luckily I had "nothing else to do" that night. Hayley did manage to let her Grandmother know long before she told me, and Grandmother had already made plans to attend. Pictures, you ask? Why yes, I did. Hayley even reminded me to bring the camera. She likes having her picture taken. Paul treats it like a necessary inconvenience. Anyway, here are just a couple. Hayley bassoons away. She even had a solo in one song and she did very well. Hayley flanked by two friends and a wanna-be photo bomber. If he stood still,...

Hey, I was just looking at my blog overview and noticed that I am closing in on 1000 posts. I'd better make my mille post a special one (or not). I would post pictures from last night's Honor Band concert, but Matt sits in the back of the band, is very short, and sits behind a very tall girl. So no pictures of him in the band. Mr H, one of the directors, mentioned that this is the 5th year of Honor Band, and I thought to myself that there has been an Evans in the Honor Band every year. First Paul, then Hayley, now Matt. I'll be a little sad when there is no Evans in the Honor Band. Matt has another concert tonight for his regular band. I'll try to get a picture of him fiddling with his trombone. Hayley has a pep band event, which I am not going to because I am going to the band concert. I probably wouldn't go to the pep band events anyway. And no, that does not make me a parent who does not care. It does make me a parent who does not care about the high school...

I'm behind with the blogging. Again I have to blog about events from last weekend. The kids participated in a church activity called "Saints on Broadway." Each group did 1-4 dances to songs from a Broadway musical. Our ward picked "West Side Story." The 12-13 year old boys got to do a dance all by themselves to the prologue and I found it very entertaining to watch Matt "dancing." Paul and Hayley participated also, but that video is much longer and I didn't get good views of either one. So you only get to see Matt. My favorite part is where the four "bad boys" hassle and bully two much older and much tougher guys. In real life, those two "pushovers" would have pounded these four little punks into the ground without even breaking a sweat. All the kids had a great time, including those, like Paul, who have never ever desired to be on stage.

I have two lasts to post about: Paul's last high school cross country race, and his last first high school band concert of the year.  The start of the last race. I like watching the start of these races.  All the boys are in one mass, like migrating birds. It's cool to watch them undulate across the golf course. Then they spread out a bit as they move through the course. This is Paul at the end of his last CC race. I am proud of this kid. Four years of running a lot is not something most kids find enjoyable, but he did. He was good enough to be named captain, and smart enough to remain captain (three boys lost their captaincy because of poor choices on their part). And here he is two seconds away from the finish line of his last race. He completed the course in 17:50, not too bad of a time. He's had better twice, but considering the previous two races, he ran over 18, he was glad to go sub 18 for his last race. It's time to hang up his spikes. *sniff...