Ridgeview is hosting the IHSA volleyball tournament for our region this week, and Sylvia sang the anthem before the games tonight.

VIDEO:

We had a bumper and some other roughed up car parts on our front porch this week!  A huge thank you to Fred for dropping them off late Tuesday night!  We are going to use them to set one of the scenes in the play, and I know it will look awesome! My piano students got a kick out of seeing these parts on our porch as they came into lessons on Wednesday--after they were assured that I was not in a car accident!

We took the all-cast photo this week!

Love this group!

I've more days on stage, doing some more painting and prepping of set pieces and props.

I make maps for each scene, and today Mr. Metz ran rehearsal and I met with our stage manager and stage management interns to go through each scene and make sure each set piece and prop was assigned and documented on each map.  We have 9 scene changes for this show! 

Rehearsal candids from this week...

Part of my to-do list

Think it's gonna be a good show!

Concert in Chicago

Pastor Todd came and picked Caeden up after school today and drove him and Samuel to the Vic Theatre in Chicago to see the Lecrae and Andy Mineo Better Late Than Never concert.

To say the boys were excited would be a huge understatement.

Wordsmith

Lecrae

Andy Mineo

VIDEO:

Caeden said it was the greatest night of his life so far!  We can't thank Todd enough for being brave and selfless enough to take two 14-year-old best buddies into Chicago for a hip-hop concert on a school night!  They will never forget it!

Weekend randoms

Annah was on keys and background vocals for worship this morning at church.

Celia and I had lunch with these 4 at Thai House! Fav!!!

Sylvia has been working hard to collect 38 pictures of road signs for her Driver's Ed project. 

Love these goofy, wonderful teenagers.

Marching at EPG

Last marching band competition of the season today at El Paso Gridley HS!

It was CRAZY WINDY, which made it a very VERY COLD day!!!

Grandma Sandi came to watch the girls, and Caeden shared his blanket with her.  Melted my heart.

The band had to walk a looooong way to the warmup area and back, then stood for at least 20 minutes at the windy end of the field before coming on to start the competition. 

Waiting for the signal...

Sylvia is 2 people behind Annah coming onto the field.

I decided not to take any video today, because it was so windy; the wind would've been all that came across on video! I was actually afraid we wouldn't hear the band at all, but they sounded great.  

Opening set

Annah was legitimately worried that the 50 mph wind gusts would blow her right off the podium, so she asked for someone to stand near her just in case!  She said she was focusing really hard on keep her feet firmly planted and maintaining her balance the entire time she was up there today!

Sylvia is the second mellophone from the left here, wearing her glasses today.

Leaving the field

Making a turn

And other turn...

Monster stomping!!!

Seniors, proud of their last marching performance.

L to R: Shelby, Alexis, Jalen, Ethan, Ryan Annah, Jakob, Ryleigh, James, RJ, Adam, Destinie

Shelby and Annah

Ryan and Annah

Poor Sylvia was feeling really sick. Caeden tried to comfort her, and then Jeremy let her them sit in the car with the heat running for the rest of the bands' performances.

We stayed in the car, and the band members who stayed at the competition stayed on the bus to keep warm. It was too cold to sit in the stands and watch the bands, which was a bummer.

We did go back to the field and stood at the fence to watch EPG's exhibition performance before the awards ceremony.

It was the first time EPG held an invitational, and despite the cold, it was a great event. Their band members did such a great job welcoming and encouraging the competing bands! 

We especially loved that they gave a spirit award to the band with the best sportsmanship.

Annah got to accept a trophy for the band!

4th place

A great way to end the marching season!

Great job, Marching Mustangs!