Voting Day

Sylvia and Caeden read a lot.  Their school gives little rewards to students who read books from the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Award list each year, and this year the JH student council has been part of promoting the list.  Today those who have read 3 or more books on the list this school year got to be part of the official voting process for the book that gets the award this year.  

The librarian, student council, and some of the reading teachers made quite an event out of it!  

Reward snacks!

They even had secretive voting "booths!"

Caeden, casting his vote

I'm glad when reading is promoted and encouraged!

It's been a busy couple of weeks for us, but lots of exciting things going on.

Sylvia was elected JH Student Council President! She is excited to serve her fellow junior high students.

Annah and Sylvia spent their Columbus Day off school auditioning for ILMEA district honor ensembles.  Annah auditioned for the orchestra on her violin, and not only was the only RHS instrumentalist accepted in to an ensemble, she will be playing the 1st violin part! She was shocked, and a little freaked out, but it will be an awesome experience for her!

Sylvia auditioned for both the choir and band.  She really wanted to sing in the choir, since she had the honor of playing in the band last year.  Well, when she got to school Tuesday morning, her band director hunted her down to tell her he got an email from ILMEA about her.  She made both the choir and the band!  She had planned to choose the choir if that happened, but she was seated as 2nd chair horn!  So, she called me to talk it through, and decided it was too exciting an opportunity to pass up.  She chose the band.  She will have tons of fun.

We are all really excited to watch and hear the girls perform in these concerts at Olivet Nazarene University on November 19th!

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This cracked me up every time I saw it floating around Facebook this week:

And, as I was scrolling through all the marching band pictures on Facebook this week, this one made me do a double-take.  This is my high school marching band, my senior year!

I've been crocheting as much as possible lately, and also completed a 6-class course through the American Crochet Association this week.  I'm pondering more and more the thought of what I would like to do with my crochet.  There are lots of opportunities, but it's tough for me to choose a focus.

This week, I made a golden yellow infinity scarf.  (The scissors were for an online forum post about my favorite crochet tool.)  This was the first time I had used the herringbone stitch.

And, I also made a really soft and silky Tunisian infinity scarf. This was also a new-to-me stitch.  Fun!

When I got out of the car the other evening, I noticed that the neighbors burning bush next to our garage is just starting to "burn" with a few red leaves!  It feels like the fall colors are really late to arrive this year.

Caeden is playing a fun wii game this week: Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal Wackyland. I reserved it for him from the bookmobile because I thought it looked fun, and he says it is.  

Annah, doing some Spanish homework...

Sylvia is sewing aprons for Annah's fall play.

This morning, I came home from dropping the kids off at school, and it was 39 degrees.  As I got out of the car, I noticed my pink lilac bush had these blooms on it!  It is supposed to be 84-90 degrees on Monday.  I can't tell if it's Sumtumn or Autmer.

SaveSave

Annah auditioned for the HS fall play last week, and found out that she got the part she was hoping for--Ginger Snap.  The play is:

She says her role is very dense bus girl.  She is excited and already having fun with it!

I enjoyed making that wrap so much the other day that I got some more of the yarn in an earthy color scheme and am making another.  

 Caeden's filling on his chipped front tooth fell off while he was sitting at a table at prayer service on Thursday, so I had to take him back to the dentist today to get it re-filled.  When the dentist gave him a token for the toy machines he chose a stick-on mustache.  He wanted to wear it when I took him back to school, so I let him, thinking maybe he would add a smile to someone's day.  

When he came home he said one of his "friends" slammed him into lockers and rammed his knee into him while gathering others to try to rip the mustache off Caeden. I don't get it.

Sylvia was so happy that Sinfonia rehearsals started this evening!  She was so looking forward to seeing her friends Yven and Sidney, but neither of them were there.  I guess they decided not to be part of the ensemble this year.  Sylvia said there are a lot of new young students in the group now, so she will need to look at it as an chance to be a leader.

Both Sylvia and Caeden also found out that they made it onto student council, so that makes 3/3 Lopshire students involved in student leadership this year.  I hope they will learn a lot through the opportunity to serve.  

"But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant." 

- Matthew 20:26

HS Academic Awards Ceremony

We attended the RHS Academic Awards Ceremony this evening, having received an invitation stating Annah would be receiving an award.

 These awesome freshman were the student council representatives for their class this year.

The HS Student Council (minus a few who weren't able to be at the ceremony) for 2015-2016

The RHS class of 2019 is full of excellent students. All of these freshman were on the high honor roll, receiving all A's.  They keep each other working hard.

Mr. Wyant said some very kind words about Annah, and presented her with the award for Advanced English 1. 

Señorita Kruse awarded Annah the Spanish 1 award. She has been a wonderful teacher and great encourager to Annah, and we are sad she won't be at RHS next year--though happy for her as she fulfills her own goals. 

Muy bien!

Annah also received the Biology award.

And the Math 2 award. 

 And the Geography award.

 Hugs with Addie!

 Needless to say, we are proud of Annah.  We were pretty surprised that she won the award for every single one of her academic classes, but happy for her to be recognized for her hard work.  

"Commit your works to the LORD And your plans will be established." - Proverbs 16:3

Red Ribbons, Role Models, and Actors

It was Red Ribbon Week for the elementary school, which also means dress-up days.  

Caeden's class on School Spirit Day...

Today, they had an all-school assembly.  They talked about making good decisions, how teachers can support them, and they had a special presentation...

...by the JH student council!  Sylvia has been excitedly telling me about it for weeks, and was so happy to be a role model for the younger kids.

The kids talked about how being involved in school activities can help you make good decisions, stay away from things that are bad for you, and make good use of your time. Sylvia and Kelsey were the example of how music can help you express emotions...

Sylvia and Caeden have been such good sports this week, going to school with me the past 3 nights and just hanging around while I helped with makeup, ticket sales, and concession sales at intermission of the play.  Caeden found a book in the bleachers last night and read it while he waited.

Annah had just a few small lines in the play, one of them being the first in the second act.  The kids were all so funny with their dancing in the party scene.  

Addie told Sylvia this week during rehearsals that she makes her feel so calm and comforted that she's like her "therapy cat."  Haha...glad she could be of service.


Addie and Annah after the show...sister-friends

Both performances were great, and it was just such a fun experience all around.  Jeremy volunteered to drive, Annah and Addie and Alexis in to town to Denny's after the show tonight to hang out with a bunch of the kids from play.  They all had a great time together these past couple months!