Amelia's HS Graduation
Everett had his last band concert on Thursday. He has decided to put down the trombone and focus on other skills like choir. He is thinking about trying out for jazz band as a pianist! That could be cool. He did the trombone thing for 3 years and hates toting it around and practicing. He had a great time playing during middle school. On to different horizons for Everett. I was impressed one of the 8th graders learned how to conduct the band, and had a chance to do so for the last concert. Very cool.
Phillip had his last band concert for 9th grade on the 19th of May. The Jazz band is incredible, they are very talented. Mr Mac might be terrible parent communicator BUT he turns out very talented musicians. Phillip looked quite snazzy dressed up in business casual clothes for the concert. He recently finished a PPT on appropriate clothing that accountants wear for his Business class. How do I know this? Well, he was failing the class because he needed help making a resume, cover letter, and work-related clothing PPT. That endeavor took an entire Friday of him hemming and hawing about for hours. I finally lost my blessed mind and helped push his nose to the grinder. He (we) busted it out in 45 minutes. Since I mentioned homework, it’s always a heart attack checking Phillip’s grades. He had an F in Business, math, and health. He always waits until I ask him before he admits he needs help. I keep teaching him to communicate the same day he starts falling behind. Every semester we face the same awful dilemma: spending the last 2-3 weeks doing endless reams of stupid homework he could’ve done all along. He got a two-week extension for his health class so he actually had a moment to catch up with his in-person classes. The same day Phillip was working on health, Everett walks in to tell me he is taking the same health class over the summer. I wanted to cry, hopefully, Everett can hack IDLA classes better than Phillip. Phillip and I went to the DMV on Friday, he has a fancy new learner’s permit! Hoo hoo! Now to get driver’s ed set up before school gets out.
Both Evelyn and Josie earned student of the week for the trait “reliable.” Fancy. We celebrated with lunch in my classroom on Thursday. Evelyn also had a track meet that morning. She ran the 100 (or 75?) meter and did the triple jump, earning middle marks for both events! That is awesome for a girl who hates running! One of my students, just an inch taller than Evelyn jumped 18 feet in the triple jump, he out jumped everyone. Phew! I have to brag on Evelyn for a hot second. She stressed about end of year testing (iSATs) for weeks. Then skips into my classroom with a paper showing she scored 4 on her math, science and ELA tests! She was put into advanced math, ELA, and social studies for 6th grade. I think this will suit her perfectly, to be with students that are a bit more dedicated to learning. This year was Josie’s first year taking the iSAT tests. She scored a 1 in math and 2 in ELA, which is not unexpected. I remember Evelyn scored really low her first year as well. I mostly hate that intelligence is measured by a test that more than 80% of students struggle to take.
The weekend weather was rainy and cool, ahhhh! It was nice to snuggle down for a while. I caught a sinus infection that wants to eat my face off. Finally got some antibiotics today hoping my voice will come back before graduation. I tried to order cheap Birkenstock knock-off sandals, returned 3 different pairs before Justin had enough. We enjoyed a family outing to Scheels to try on sandals and get out of the house for a time. Chik-fil-a lured us over to lunch with free sandwiches and fry coupons. Fine, you win “Jared, manager at the Nampa store” who always gives coupons. Amelia “needed” letters and flowers to decorate her graduation cap, stopped at Michaels for further enjoyment. Yay. We headed over to the high school for “Sunsets and Serenades.” This was a chance for choir students to sing solos or duets, especially the seniors to sing a solo. Mr Sene was there playing bass with a pianist and jazz drummer. Amelia sang three songs, one with Annie from Wicked, I’m so Blessed with me, and her solo. Amelia really belted her song! Get it girl! Most of the students softly crooned into the side of the microphone. Picking a song to sing was so hard. We wanted to do something funny like Scrubs, but didn’t take the time to practice.
Mrs Emma came to our home on the 20th for violin and ukulele lessons. She works nearby, decided it was silly to both drive down to Melba hoping to get to her home at the same time. Evelyn and I are working on the “Island Strum.” It is not an easy or intuitive strum pattern. At school Evelyn picked up some really strange strumming patterns from Mr McGrath, she was strumming like her ukulele was a live cat in pain. I heard Mr McGrath nixed the ukulele from the 5th grade program, Evelyn was very bummed since she’s worked hard for 4 months memorizing the 4 songs. Josie picked “Come Thou Fount” as her next song. Mr Obert scheduled the last fire drill for the year right at 9 am. When the time came for Kerri to turn off the alarms nothing happened. The entire school got a 9 minute free-for-all recess with the blaring alarms in the background. Evelyn and Josie immediately found me and each other. They took turns carrying each other about.
It is field and water day time of the year for each grade! This year the 5th grade rented bounce houses for their field day. How fun is that? The 3rd grade had their water day during my prep time so I snuck out to follow Gingerich’s class around for 30 minutes. They played duck, duck, goose with water, enjoyed a yummy treat, and played water tic-tac-toe. Josie is delightful to follow around with her constant smiles and friendly demeanor.
I made it the ENTIRE school year without getting sick. The only sick leave I used was the 3-4 days post-surgery recovery time back in October/November. Whelp, my sinuses started to tingle on Saturday in an ominous way. I had a bit of a runny nose and headache so thought it was just allergies. I pounded the natural remedies hoping to stave off what I knew my body was brewing. I was a horrid mess, but muscled through because I couldn’t take more time off. I completely lost my voice come Monday morning. Try teaching with no voice! By Wednesday I booked an appointment with Dr Mary (or the PA Ray) for antibiotics. He told me that antibiotics are not prescribed until 10 days after the first symptoms. I about grabbed his collar, “Look here buddy, I am quite acquainted with my body and know that this will not go away without intervention…” Thankfully, there was no need for such antics. The colors coming from nose was proof of the brew coming from my sinus cavities. I was hoping to feel better by Saturday morning so Amelia and I could drive to Utah. I went to bed very early for about week, which is NOT my norm. My plans for that week was school was disrupted by field days, music program rehearsals, and grade-level events. Instead of finishing the paper airplanes I had students make a summer mood board in Adobe Express.
Amelia was very busy with all kinds of last week of school activities for the Senior class. She didn’t have classes but was still at school most days for choir stuff. She worked hard to narrow down her Disneyland bounds with Lia, lay out her outfits, decorate her graduation cap, and help get ready for her and Carson’s graduation party. Sara and I combined grad parties. We planned out a BBQ to hold in their backyard dividing out the food, shopping, and supplies. Sara had the backyard decorated in CHS colors and the food mostly prepared by the time I got home from work. Amelia had several friends come by plus Aunt Fawn and RaShel (her voice teacher), lots of folks came by from the ward to wish Carson and Amelia well. The Carney’s were even there with Sister Carney doing some rad face painting for anyone interested. I am so grateful Sara did most of the heavy lifting for the party. I was barely with it by Thursday.
Friday morning I had a newborn session with the newest Dobson baby, Dariana! I was feeling slightly better and the antibiotics were kicking in. I walked into Andrea’s home to find it a complete mess. For some odd reason that made me feel like better mother with my own home in shambles. Andrea and Beau are FT professionals and quite fastidious. She has a live-in nanny and a cleaning crew showed up during her session. That was her secret sauce to a clean home. You go girl! I want to hire someone to help me out this summer, just clean all the spots for me that I never have time for. Dariana is a precious baby. So much hair and perfect little lips. Dahlia was a little stinker, thanks to my speedy trigger finger I actually caught a few smiles in between scowls.
GRADUATION DAY! We morphed into graduation mode once I got back from my session. We had time to get some graduation photos before she and I left for the Ford Center. One of my kinder students, Scarlet, was one of my photo clients from a couple years ago. Her mom wanted kinder graduation photos, so I snuck her in before Amelia got her photos taken. Scarlet is so funny at school, every time she sees me…”Mrs Call, you are everywhere! I see you all the time…what the heck?” That spunky gal makes me smile. Amelia and I drove Carlita to the Ford Center so I could save seats and take some photos at the center. Amelia was bursting with energy! We played music and acted like our dorky selves. I was impressed with the speed and seamless graduation ceremony. The boys groaned when they saw the number of graduates. I made Amelia a candy lei, it was in an altercation between Everett and Evelyn, lost one of the candy pockets in the process. Poor sour patch kids. Amelia sang a rockin’ solo with her classmates. Mrs Sene told her Amelia can call her a friend now! Amelia sat in the front with the high honor graduates, earning a high GPA. She delivered a Deiter F. Uchtdorf quote, “our destiny is not determined by the number of times we stumble but by the number of times we rise up, dust ourselves off and move forward.” Compare that to the Barbie and Simpson’s quotes some others delivered. Ha ha ha. It was a madhouse after the ceremony was over. Someone even hired a mariachi band for their graduate. My favorite awkward moment was when Phillip suggested the siblings bow down and pay Amelia homage. Yes, that was awesome. I got Amelia a ticket to enjoy the post-graduation party at Big Al’s in Meridian. That party went from 11-2 am with bowling, music, prizes, and food (aka cardboard pizza). She apparently raced Carson home and made it 3 minutes faster than him because she took the Happy Valley route. She flexed her advantage by sitting on the car hood until Carson pulled up. We are so proud of all Amelia accomplished with her 13 years of schooling. She is quite the amazing young lady.
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