The RJHS team competed at Regionals at Gibson City today!
This team is our favorite!
Caeden and Danny goofing around--I mean "warming up"
Team huddle
More warming up
More huddle
Caeden was first seed based on his record for the season, and the fact that he had beaten all the other kids in his weight class earlier in the season. So, he didn't have a match in the first round.
I took Annah to the doctor yesterday, and got the results this morning: She officially has mono. It is really hitting her hard--everything is swollen and achy, and she just feels so exhausted. She will be taking some half days off school to try to get extra rest. Today she came home at noon, and I made her some healthy soup. I just made it up as I went, so there's no recipe. But, Annah really liked it and told me to write it down. I don't measure anything when I'm cooking; I just dump stuff in until it looks like how much I want in there!
Spinach Orzo Soup
yellow onion
celery
carrot
minced garlic
*spiced ground meat
broth/buoillion
orzo
fresh baby spinach
anise, crushed red pepper flakes, black pepper, paprika, Italian herbs, Mrs. Dash
Make a mirepoix with your favorite cooking oil/fat. This time I used yellow onion, carrot, celery, and garlic in butter. (Most times I use olive oil or coconut oil.)
Add spiced ground meat. Cook until vegetables are almost tender.
Add broth and orzo and simmer until orzo and vegetables are cooked to desired consistency.
Add several bunches of fresh baby spinach, and continue simmering until it's just wilted. Slurp it up!
*I often buy several pounds of ground beef and several pounds of ground turkey and cook it all up together with chopped onions and minced garlic and freeze in 1-pound bags so I have it ready for quick cooking. That's what I used for this, only I wanted it to taste spicy like sausage, so I added a bunch of anise, crushed red pepper flakes, black pepper, paprika, Italian herbs, and Mrs. Dash to give it some kick!
It was so nice to be greeted by Dr. Lamont, and because she had said so many good things about Annah, all the rest of the voice and music education faculty was excited to meet her! After a quick greeting by the music faculty and students, the event attendees were taken to another building (There are only 3 buildings on the River Campus--all for students of the arts!) to take their theory placement exam. I chatted with Dr. McFarland and Dr. Lamont for a while, then walked with Dr. McFarland over to the recital hall.
I sat in the back and watched the voice faculty work with some of the students who were there to audition in a masterclass.
It is such a beautiful space, and acoustically it is a fabulous space in which to perform!
Voice faculty, current voice majors, and auditioning voice students warming up together...
After the masterclass, Annah had 7 minutes before her audition. She chose not to go downstairs to a practice room to run through her songs, because she didn't want to be late or to be winded after having come back up the stairs and straight into her audition. So! She waited outside the door of the recital hall, excited for her opportunity to sing!
I was glad there was a professional accompanist for her, and Annah said he asked the voice faculty to give her a gold star and extra credit for the way I prepared the music for him. I got to stand outside the door and listen to Annah sing beautifully and confidently. I could tell she was struggling a little bit because of the swelling in her throat, but she didn't falter. I heard the voice faculty applaud and cheer her, and the head of the department said to me as he came out of the room with her to get the next auditioned, "SHE DID AWESOME!!!"
Annah said they told her she has had a lot of really good instruction and training, and that she sings very intelligently. We sat in a nearby lounge while the others auditioned, and chatted about the experience. After about an hour and a half, Annah said, "Oh yeah, I forgot. After I sang, they said, 'You are DEFINITELY admitted to the Music Department! (Scholarships will take a little longer to figure out.)' I cracked up! Such a funny thing for her to forget to tell me! I love that she wasn't nervous at all, and that even though this was the only audition she's done that was actually for admission into a program, she was just happy for the chance to sing and didn't get all worked up about it.
After auditions, we attended an Honors Recital of current music majors, and it was very nice. We had lunch in the dining hall with Dr. McFarland, and really enjoyed her company. She answered a lot of questions for us, and was so curious about Annah and encouraging to her as she heard about her experiences.
Next, Dr. McFarland facilitated a great student panel. They answered some great questions, and said a lot of things I was glad Annah could hear from current music majors!
Our final adventure on campus was what we had been looking forward to all day--sitting in on University Choir rehearsal with Dr. Lamont!
The choir is the top choral ensemble at the university, and Barb said they are working really quickly to prepare for a concert called Child's Play. This is just a few seconds of a crazy atonal nursery rhyme piece with constantly changing meter they were working on for it...
Annah enjoyed the rehearsal so much. It was a GREAT DAY at SEMO!!!
But, she was incredibly exhausted! We said goodbye to Dr. Lamont and thanked her, then went to the car to get more comfortable clothes for Annah to change into.
After getting changed, we hit the road back home. Annah slept almost the whole way, and we arrived home just after 7pm. I had been so worried for the past few weeks about driving so far and to so many places I've never driven to/from, and potential bad winter weather/driving conditions, but all my prayers about my worries were answered. We had no weather or travel problems at all! Thank you, Lord! And, I am really thankful for this special time to take this trip with Annah. It was so awesome to get to spend 3 days just the 2 of us! What a treasure and blessing!!!
Annah got to sleep in some at the hotel today, and after we checked out at 11:00, we stopped right next door at the Huddle House for brunch! We'd heard it the same as Waffle House (Annah's FAVORITE!!!), so we had to try it out! It did not disappoint. To quote Annah, "It's just like Waffle House, only cleaner. And nicer." She got her waffle with strawberry topping, and her giant orange juice! Win-win!
Since we couldn't check into our hotel in Cape Girardeau until 3pm, I decided to be super brave (for me, anyway) and drive into St. Louis to go to IKEA! We had been there a couple years ago on vacation, so I was hoping it would look familiar enough that I could navigate it.
The GPS was really good--even down to "get in the left lane now," so we had no problems at all.
We made it!!!
We had such fun exploring all the beautiful and innovative things!
A crocheted lamp cover!
This chandelier opens (like the ones next to it) when you pull a cord!
I bought some TRONES for our entry way!
We had lots of giggles about the giant sign with a cinnamon bun that was probably at least 6 feet wide and said "Not actual size"!!!! Hahaha!
Ready to rest after walking around for a couple hours...
We checked out then stopped and got some cinnamon buns to take home and Annah had a frozen yogurt cone. Then we hopped back on I-55 south for another hour and a half to Cape Girardeau. We drove to our hotel, but before checking in I drove from the hotel to campus to see how long it would take us to get there in the morning. About 5 minutes. We had dinner at Ruby Tuesday across the street from the hotel, then checked in for the night and got some sleep. It was such a sweet day traveling with my girl!
Meanwhile, back in Bloomington, Sylvia and Caeden were at youth group this afternoon, competing in a disgusting game where they had to build sculptures of "The Thinker" out of chewed bubblegum!
Annah was invited to Greenville University today to compete for a full-tuition scholarship. There were about 26 students competing, and will award 2 scholarships.
We left from the basketball game right after senior night introductions last night, and I drove us straight to the Super8 in Greenville. We got there about 11:00, so we could get some rest here last night and not have to worry about making the drive in time this morning. I was also worried about the weather forecast, but the snow didn't hit Greenville!
She really likes this place a lot.
The students were divided into 2 groups, and Annah was in the group to write the timed essay first. She said there were 3 prompts to choose from, and she chose to write about why it is important to understand other cultures and diversities.
She said her interview was with a professor and an admission counselor, and they asked her about her academic strengths and weaknesses.
While the students were interviewing and essaying (I like it; it's a word.), the parents stayed in the cafeteria and heard speakers. The head of the McAllaster Honors Program spoke; the head of the Mosaic scholars program, a panel of admission counselors answered questions. It was a very informative morning.
When the students returned, we had lunch. Annah came back smiling, and said that it was a good experience.
We opted to skip the campus tour, since we've already been on two of them. We walked to Whitlock and went to the music department open house. We had a tour of the building, and got some very useful information about how a Worship Arts major would work doubling with Music Education.
It was a lovely day on campus. Annah would really love to attend Greenville University.
After we left campus, we stopped at CVS to get some snacks and items we forgot to pack. Then we went back to the hotel to rest. We are fairly suspicious that Annah may have mono. She has swelling in her neck/throat, face, joints, and lymph nodes, and she says everything hurts and she just feels exhausted and weak. So, instead of adventuring around the Greenville area, we decided to stay in the hotel room and rest. We watched tv and ordered pizza and salad. It was nice and relaxing, and I'm thankful for the time to hang out with Annah.
