Senior Night

Friday night, so where else would we be--at the school!  We have an interim superintendent this year, and a new one has been hired for next year. So, Jeremy and I stopped in at the "Meet the Superintendent" reception on our way to the basketball game and met them both.  The girls had been in multiple ensembles playing and singing at the beginning of the reception, but I was teaching piano lessons and Jeremy was coaching wrestling.  We were a bit late getting into the gym, and missed a lot of the pep band's songs.  

I did catch a little of the excitement from the doorway of the gym before going in...

It is fun to see our community come together at the games.

Playing that school song, one last time...

Midnight Blues, singing the National Anthem

Nice job!


At halftime, all of the pep band seniors were announced.  It was surreal to be walking Annah out there to the middle of the court, even thought we already did this once during football/marching band season.  Sylvia was so sweet to record it for us, and now I cry seeing Jeremy kiss Annah's head at the end of the clip--just like he has done so many times since the day she was born!

Fourteen senior music notes hanging outside the gym tonight!  Mr. Marchese repeatedly kept saying, "FOURTEEN of them!  And they're all GOOD.  They're such great kids, and such good musicians!  What am I going to do without them next year?!"

*Our favorite music note*

Home Basketball Game

Home HS Boys basketball games this evening...

We love our Pep Band!

Midnight Blues sang the anthem!

VIDEO:

Buddies

We got letters from the girls today!!!  They wrote them Sunday or before, but it sure sounds like they are loving Blue Lake!  I'm so relieved and happy for them!

Caeden's friend Loren has started taking piano lessons with me this summer, and today he stayed after his lesson and hung out with Caeden all day!  They played some Xbox (He really liked Battlefront.) and Wii Sports and Mariokart.

They also had a Nerf battle in the house after lunch.  In the afternoon and evening, we went to SF Park!

We all had fun doing mini-golf, even though we were terrible!

They got in a few games of tetherball!

Loren won 2 out of 3.

They tried out the clay tennis court.

The geese are taking over the whole park--and the whole city, actually!  And they are not nice!  

They hissed at us!

Basketball was next!

Almost too big for the slide, but not quite!

We got some McDonald's for these hungry teenage boys, then hit the pools!  They tried out the lazy river first.  Then, we actually closed out the park, leaving at 8pm.

It was a good day--2 thumbs up!

I love that Caeden and Loren are friends!!!!!

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas

Friday afternoon, a lady from our insurance agent's office knocked on our front door and delivered this huge gorgeous poinsettia to thank us for our business.  I am still floored.  We live about 40 minutes from his office! I hope I can keep it alive through the Christmas season.  I do NOT have a green thumb.  

Pep band played at the HS basketball game tonight.  I was working at the AfterProm raffle basket table in the hall outside the gym, so I didn't get to see anything going on inside the gym.  Band sounded good though.

Midnight Blues sang the anthem.

We were gifted a beautiful bed frame today. Our friend Shannon had made it for his in-laws years ago, and when Michele listed it for sale on Facebook I jumped at it. It looks just like the doors in our house, and it is so nice to have a headboard on our bed for the first time ever.

When Shannon delivered the bedframe, he left his truck so we could go pick up a Christmas tree.

VIDEO: We are nerds and we know it and we love it.

We always have such a sweet time together when we go get our tree from Growing Grounds. The trees smell so beautiful, ladies are making red ribbon bows and fresh cut wreaths, the store is so fabulously decorated that the girls and I walk through with our mouths just gaping in awe.  And, we get to enjoy just being goofy together singing in the car.  Just one of those wonderful times I get to stop and thank God for blessing our family.   

Super Sectional Champs

We've not had the opportunity to attend any of our school's HS basketball games this season, but they've been tearing it up on the court.  With a 31-1 record for the season, they were in the Super Sectional game tonight--against the one team they lost to at the beginning of the season.  Since all other school activities were canceled for the evening, and we happened not to have anything else going on, we headed over to Redbird Arena at ISU to watch the game.  

It felt like our entire Ridgeview community was in the stands.  

And these buddies were ready for the game for sure...

So excited to watch some RHS b-ball!

Jack wanted to give us bunny ears...

Ready to cheer on our team as the stands fill up...

It was a GREAT game!  One of the most exciting parts was an 80-foot shot made in the last second of the first half.  It even made it onto Sportscenter's Top 10 List as #5 for the day!  

Ridgeview led from the first basket to the end of the game, put their second string players in for the last 2 minutes, and won 57-38.  On to state this weekend!

Cheering on our school!

Although we've lived here over 10 years, we just attended our first high school basketball game tonight.  It's about time we support our community and cheer on our school, huh?  (Hey, we go to lots of high school music and drama events and other sports at all levels!)  

Anyway, it was fun!  We sat with our friends, the Ramirez family, and even spontaneously brought Reece home for the night after.

It was fun to see the pep band play from the stage between the JV and varsity games!

Both JV and varsity won their games, beating our neighbors, Gibson City, by quite a bit.

ISU game

We've lived here for over 10 years now, and have never attended a sporting event at I.S.U. until today. It turned out to be a fun time, so maybe we will do it again!

walking from the public parking lot, over the bridge, to the arena...

ISU Redbirds vs. Southern Illinois Salukis

This crazy lady was great halftime entertainment, flipping bowls off her feet onto her head while gracefully riding an insanely tall unicycle!

We went to the game with the Goodrich family.  Jeremy has worked with Dustin for years, and this is the first time we've managed to get our families together!  

Caeden and Jackson jumped and danced to try to get free t-shirts and mini basketballs, but our seats were up a little high for the cheerleaders to throw them to us.

Amanda and Dustin, enjoying the game

ornery sisters

Oh my!

Sylvia's teacher has season tickets, so Jeremy and Sylvia went to visit Mrs. House at her seat during halftime.

After the game we went to T.G.I. Friday's, but the wait was over an hour for 8 of us.  So, we went to Avanti's, where the wait was over half an hour.  We crammed into a booth and enjoyed good food though.  

We had a great time!  Thanks to the Goodrich family for organizing the adventure!