Middle School Events

The twins' middle school was an odd blend of elementary school and Jr. high.  They had a math night, which was really fun for all of us.  They are at a good age, where they only really need me if something goes wrong.  They spent most of the night walking around with their friends.

26 days before school got out, they started a 'count down' of spirit days.  Some were more successful than others, but my favorite was anything but a water bottle day.  lol.  Juliet brought a popcorn container, and Grace used a jar.

I don't recall what William's obligation was the night of Grace and Juliet's Jr. High visit, but he did not come with us.  I also got no pictures of Juliet, because she hung out with Kennedy while we were there.  We did have to leave early to get to the next event, whatever it was.  Grace really liked this area.

For their middle school dance, I had offered to set up and break down, since I had to be there anyhow.  The twins were good helpers when it came to setting things up.

There was a bookfair (BOGO Free!) Concession stand, and a DJ in the gym!

I hadn't planned on being down to a single car for the event, and we had trouble getting the balloons home. But some of them came home with us.  Why do my babies look so grown up here?

Fast forward to the last full week of school, Grace got to go on a reward trip for reading 200+ minutes during their reading marathon!  We saw the new sheep murder mystery!  It was cute.*

On field day, Alice surprised them by volunteering to work one of the stations with me.  They were excited to see her!  We ended up running the tag station.  There were all sorts of fancy tags, but the kids were too excited to learn something new, so we ended up playing a modified freeze tag.  That worked out much better.

On their pod's field trip, the booking was at the incorrect park, so we ended up moving at the last minute.  = (

I couldn't stay for the duration, so once I saw the girls, I headed to my next event, possibly subbing? But they got to play and they fed them hot dogs, watermelon, chips, and cookies!

 

It was quite a fun week for them I think, though tiring for me!  Next stop: Jr. High!

later days

edit 6-15-26: backdated for continuity.

*This isn't the ideal spot to mention it, but since I didn't get a picture, I don't really have any reason to add it elsewhere. The Friday before this movie, I was a chaperone for William's class to go to see the new Mario movie.  

Michigan Adventure

 During the last full week of school, the twins had fun, fun, fun!!!

On Thursday, we went to Michigan Adventure.  Avia joined us, but the morning was cold!!!  Sadly, the sixth bus, our bus, was running late.  = (  It was sad to see all of the other busses leave without us.

But our driver finally arrived; she was good and booked it to Muskegon!  We arrived just a few minutes before the park even opened!  So we didn't miss out on any of the fun.

Grace got to ride with Renae up, though she wasn't in our group.  Juliet rode with Charlotte and she was in our group.

Juliet is taller than Grace by quite a bit these days, tall enough that Grace got to ride a ride that Juliet had outgrown. 

Lunch was at 11, and the line was the longest we stood in.  It was moving pretty quickly, until people kept joining their group instead of going to the end, making the line much longer for the rest of us!

Once inside, the food line was super fast, and the food was surprisingly tasty!  It was a buffet style with 8 lines and at least two soda fountain banks and plenty of open seating!  We were there with several other school from all over the state.

This was probably the roughest ride that we rode.  It had lots and lots of ups and downs.

I got a milkshake because Billy mentioned one, but it was disappointing.

Our final rollercoaster was one that I would have ridden many times given the opportunity.  Engaging, but short.

We snapped one last picture with Snoopy.

I was concerned that this park was too small, but we had a great time, and for sure didn't make it to everything that we would have liked to have ridden! Billy wants to do a family run up there, but the drive is two hours long, which is much further than six flags was for me growing up.  On the other hand, I do have two youthful, permitted drivers who need hours, so we might make it happen this summer.  We'll see how we feel after some of our longer vacation drives.

It was a good enough time that I do think we'll go as a family eventually.

later days

edit 6-15-26: backdated for continuity.

Spring Band Events

Due to our busy spring, I neglected my blog for far too long, so this is a couple of months' worth of band events!

First up was William's Jr. High 'Fine Arts Night.'  They had the 7th grade band broken into class periods, so William's group was just brass and percussion, the woodwinds played a separate piece.  The choir also performed, as well as some ensembles, and there were selections from the school musical.

It was an open house style event, so once we heard William, the rest of the family headed home, but I stayed with Willam so he could socialize a bit with his friends, admire the art, and do some of the craft and activity stations.

Next up was Emily's final concert of the year.  Because Emily is busy, she didn't actually play in it, because she had driver's training that night (and to make it up* was too daunting of a commitment.)

Emily and I made some sugar cookies from scratch.  They were time consuming, and had a bit of a learning curve, but looked and tasted better on day two than they did on day one!

She was presented with her ribbon for the score they earned at the band competition a few months earlier.  And since her class was out at 8, she was at the reception to accept it.

William had his final concert just before Memorial Day, but I swear he was trying to avoid my camera, by staying in the shadows while leaving the stage (and I can't see him on stage, since the trombones are kind of in the back.)  But it was a nice concert.  I ended up going alone because of car trouble (more on that in another post) and we were down to a single car.

The week after Memorial Day the twins had their final concert!  It was longer than I was expecting, but Juliet performed a solo, and did a great job!  Grace played with an ensemble, and they needed a little more time to practice together I think.

I'm super proud of all of their musical improvements this year, but am looking forward to only having two bands to keep track of on the schedule next year!

later days

 *she was able to make up the band concert by playing at graduation, but since she rode with a friend, I don't have any pictures.

edit 6-15-25: backdated for continuity.

Back to School

We've been in back-to-school mode for about two weeks now!  Thankfully, the kids are all in the same district this year, and their district staggered the back-to-school events.

First up was William, and he had the best time, because Enisi and Edudi were still here, so Enisi came with us to the event!  They had three opportunities, so we went to the first one, which was during working hours.

I'm the most nervous for William, because the one friend who we kept in touch with over the years, with playdates and invitations is being homeschooled this year!  Fingers crossed he finds his people quickly and has a great seventh grade year!

Enisi helped William with opening his combination locker.  I didn't find out until yesterday, but apparently, they are shot on lockers, and so he has a locker buddy that he shares with!  Kind of a weird set up, but he only has to store his backpack in there, and winter clothes when the time comes.

The twins playing with some lockless lockers.

Next up, the big girls had three days to choose from, and we went on the final day, because the time slots were all during the workday.  This was the general welcome, Emily missed out on the freshmen specific night, because she went up north with her friend Emma and her family the week before.  

Emily had spent so much time at the high school over the summer at color guard practice, that she had little to no nervousness for her first day, and in my mind, she was already a freshman, so I was emotionally set too!

Alice didn't seem nearly as annoyed this year!  She's already looking forward to her senior year, which still feels preemptive to me, so I'm just going to enjoy my sophomore!

I think she likes having Emily around!

Their lockers are in opposite wings.

Alice's locker was uncomfortably high for her to put in the combination, so I was able to email and get her switched to a bottom locker, but still in the opposite wing from Emily.

The twins welcome back night was just two days before they went back to school, and they only had one time slot, so the line was long!!!

Kona ice was ideally parked, so, as we were standing in the sun, the girls went to get us a cool snow cone treat!  We decided in hindsight that we probably could have split one, so we'll know for next time!

Once inside, there was more waiting to chat with the homeroom teacher.  Ironically, Grace and Juliet both have Mr. Allen, but there are two Mr. Allens and they have different ones! = )  They have all the same teachers, but no classes together, at least on Wednesdays.

I did take a picture of one of the twins at her locker, but somehow missed the other, so to avoid conflict, I'm not including either of them at their locker, but will add them in if I remember to take pictures at a later event!

I feel so sad for Juliet, because she and Kennedy aren't on the same team this year, and she's taking it really hard. = (  I'll do my best to keep them up on playdates!

Grace's friend is on her team, so they have lunch together at least, I'm not sure about class schedules though.

We walked around the entire outer perimeter of the building looking for the 'middle school' sign, but they don't have one! Not even the name of the school!  The girls negotiated for five minutes on their new playground.  I think they'll enjoy it more with their friends!

Not one to give up, we did eventually find a sign, and the girls gave it the state park treatment! = )  I felt like we were quite the trend setters, because as we were leaving, the family that saw us taking pictures with the sign also decided to do it. 

Using my basic phone editing software, I wasn't able to make the middle school small enough to fit on the building, so "middle school" just gets to float in the air. lol.

I don't even know what was going on here.  Just my two little sixth graders doing sixth grade things.

I felt like we were about as ready as we could be, but everyone came home on day one emptying their backpacks of things they don't think they'll need after all, and switching to bigger or better or smaller, and pulling out things that they will need after all!

Here's to a great school year, and what should be the final year of three schools!

later days

edit 8-21-25: backdated for continuity.