Champs Again!!!

Go Ferndale!!!

This was my son's 4th year in the marching band...and 3rd first place win at the MCBA finals. This time as section leader for the mellophones. SO proud *sniff*

With a final score of 86.34 they also took home the awards for Best Music and Best Marching. Woo Hoo!!

See...

Family Update

I have said before that I want to make sure to keep up on the Kids, Home & Life portion of this blog...but have not followed through as well as I would like. I decided to get two birds with stone & post updates on happening on the homestead a couple times a month. This will take care of it here while keeping my brother updated as well. I realized I tend to do one or the other. And time can be a precious commodity here, so this just seems more efficient. Plus, people say they do like getting to know the personal side, especially customers looking to buy handmade goodies. It is one of the bonuses of handmade - knowing the maker.

I have a big brag of an update about the biz itself, but I am putting that one up on my Tilt's Creations blog since it is more focused on my business. But I am always ready to brag about my boys :)

My oldest is finishing up the last week of the school's musical, Oklahoma. He is not on the stage this year, but in the pit orchestra. Next year - to the stage! It makes sense, he is in both the Men's and Ensemble choir at school. And he gets more than enough band in his life with the Wind Ensemble, Marching Band and his rock band - No Alternative. That kid never ceases to amaze me. Although I can't call him kid much longer I suppose. He'll be 16 in a couple months and is more than a couple inches taller than me...and has been for quite some time.

Now the little guy - he amazes me left and right too. When he was younger we had many worried moments with his development. Not extreme, but enough. His sensory & speech issues took a while to get through. Not that he is caught up, but enough for us to see that everything will be fine....albeit with a quirk or five here & there :P

For a kid who didn't speak enough to say Mama until he was nearly three, he sure can go on and on now. And with such a big vocabulary. He was always a babbler & after some testing we realized that he understood everything...and then some. It just got stuck on the way out. His desire to learn everything only reinforces the whole "so much going on inside that just can't get out" theory. Like with his reading this month...awesome! They need to keep a log of what they read at school this month. For Kindergartners the goal is like 90 pages...he hit that on day 2. Once I told him that it was okay & counted if he needed some help, he went gung ho.

I will leave you with some pics the little guy has drawn this weekend. He got a new Spongebob scratch & sketch book and has been having a blast. But the best part is that he has been able to let go of his "everything has to be perfect" thing. That issue has led to many a meltdown. I think he did rather well....

Wordless Wednesday

Been Busy

My busy has been a hodge-podge. Not enough of any one thing and too much of everything else.

Creative-wise, not enough. I did manage a photo shoot. I lost my light halfway through though. No big surprise in Michigan this time of year. I was lucky to get any at all. I still need to edit them though. The majority of the pics were of these fabric baskets. I hope to get them in the shop before the end of the week.

I did get some actual sewing done as well. The paler pink pillow actually has 2, with different applique and backside strip placements. The darker pink pillow was a single. I hope this find their way to the shop soon also.

Exercise. Remember my post last week? Well, I have been doing pretty good. I had 2 sessions with a personal trainer at our gym. He worked me out perfectly. Muscles burned and stretched and built. Not so much as to cause pain, but just toasty enough to know the job was getting done. I am thinking of taking this bag out of my shop & keeping it for myself. It's the perfect size for the gym. A pair of shoes, small sweat towel, book & iPod fit just right. It's all I need. Or I may make a whole new one just for the heck of it. Hmm....I just can't decide.

I did not get to the gym for a 3rd strength session...the weekend was packed. And it was all the big guy. Friday night my son's band No Alternative, had their first gig. It was awesome! They totally rocked. The owner of the cafe forewarned them not to expect too many people, maybe 50 tops. There were about 120. They also played longer than they thought. I was such a proud mama. He had a bass solo in Welcome to Paradise...I teared up. The pic below can take you to a video of it. You don't see much of him during the solo, but it is audible :)

And then the next day was the parade. The marching band...the State Champs by the way...marched in the Royal Oak parade the next morning. They sounded great rocking out Rudolph.

There was still more to come. In the afternoon I took him to Harry Potter. He & his friends kept making plans to see it, but with everything going on it kept getting put on the back burner. So I took him. With just enough to spare for the Choir/Orchestra concert that night. The men's ensemble which he is a part of did a great job with In the Still of the Night. Again, click the pic to get to the video :)

So to sum up...great exercise sessions, fantastically proud mama moments for her awesomely talented young man, decent photo session...just not enough sewing. Maybe next week.

Wordless Wednesday

Band Camp Has Begun

It is that time of year again. My oldest has headed up to Interlochen with the marching band. I know some parents get all teary eyed when their kids go away for a bit, but we don't. Not that we won't miss him, but it is part of growing up. I am all for him growing up...I can't wait to see what kind of man he will be. Actually, I already can see a bit of the man he is becoming. Kind. Caring. Gentle. Intelligent. Talented. And a bit goofy - always a good thing.

This will be his second year up there. Last year he was a pre-fresh, now he is an actual freshman. He was so much more prepared this time around. He knew exactly what to bring and even decided to join in the talent show. So his bass guitar traveled with him. I hope someone takes a video of the performance. He & a friend will be playing something by Hendrix.

And as long as he doesn't come back with stories that start "This one time...at band camp?", he'll have a few more years of band camp to look forward to.

Ferndale Takes 3rd in State Finals

Congrats to the Ferndale Marching Band on an excellent performance at Ford Field! They, without a doubt, performed the most complex and intricate routine of all the other bands in their Flight and did it phenomenally! I am so proud of my son - this was his first year playing in the band. We are looking forward to 4 more years of fun and music! note: four years, because he is one of the pre-frosh taken into the high school band one year early.