High School Band Comes to an End

I just can't believe it!  We watched Bryce give his last high school band performance last week.  I can't even express how much I have enjoyed Bryce being in the band through jr. high and high school. 

He has been a member of this quintet for the last couple of years.

Being recognized with the seniors.

Bryce has two band directors. I love watching them both direct. It's so fun to see teachers really love what they do, and make a difference in their students' lives!

The trophies the band has brought home this year. They scored all 1's at state this year!

So sad to see this chapter end, but very exciting to move on to the next chapter. Bryce had an audition at LSU last week and was invited to attend their band camp! We fully expect him to make it through band camp and be a member of the LSU Tiger band next year!! So proud of this boy!

Disney Band Trip

I was able to spend spring break with about 300 band kids in Disney!

I have to say...We had a blast! I loved spending time with my boy.

Our group actually grew every day...I'm sure that's because we're such great moms :)  lol...

  
Thunder Mountain Railroad


Gotta love teenagers!  These were my partners in crime.


China


Couldn't help but think about my girls and how much they will love going one day :)   



Class of 2014!!!


This would be Wesleigh's teacher!  She was my roomie too :)  Yes...you should be afraid!!

Following all those teens around Disney is hard work.  This is Ashley...sleeping in a booth at the restaurant.


But in all fairness...this is me sleeping in the hallway during our 3:00-5:00am chaperoning duty :)






Had to take a pic of Anna and Elsa.  The girls would have died!






Truly, this trip was one of the most fun things I've done as a mom.  Our boys were so sweet and wanted to hang out with us the whole time.  What a blessing to get to spend the time with my graduate!!

Last Christmas Band Concert

I think every post about Bryce this year will have the word "last" at the beginning :(  Tonight was his last band Christmas concert.  It also pretty much marks the middle of his senior year!  Yikes!  I still can't figure out how that happens!  The band was great, as usual.  

This picture shows Bryce and 3 of his best friends right by him.  Christian, Willie and Dylan.  They have been together through the years and I love that they were all here together :)

 This is what 5 year olds do with a French horn.  Honestly, the girls were not very enjoyable tonight.  They love the music, but they were not "good listeners" tonight.  UGH!  This was pretty funny though.  Gracie has her ear on the mouthpiece :)

Bryce blew in the horn while Wesleigh's head was in it.  :)

My Favorite

Yes...it's true.  I have a favorite.  Actually on any given day, I have between 1 and 5 favorites and I have between 0 and 5 who are... let's just say.... not.  It's a sliding scale.  You can move up and down this scale minute by minute, day by day :)  Does that sound bad?  Just keeping it real over here!

Lately, though, this boy has been way up on the favorites list :)

He has been agreeable, helpful, talkative and pleasant... consistently.  Anyone with teenagers knows that this is not always the case!

His band performed in a marching competition this weekend.  They scored all 1's (the best!)  I am so proud of him and all the hard work he has invested in the band and his studies this year.

I am so sad that there are only 2 more football games and only one more marching competition  before this chapter of our lives is over :(  I can't believe it!  I never knew how much I would enjoy it and now will miss it greatly.

I have not been emotional about him graduating this year until now.  I am enjoying him so much that it makes me so sad to think of him leaving home!!  We do not know where he will end up going to college yet, but I do know that God has a great plan for this boy of mine!  God loves him even more than I do!

Time For Christmas Music

Since Bryce was in the 6th grade, a band concert has been part of our Christmas holidays. I love it! He is a junior this year and I am trying to soak in every moment with him. He actually had two concerts within the past couple of days.





 A while back, I posted a picture of Bryce practicing on the balcony with some fellow band members. Here they are all dressed up and playing for the Christmas tree lighting in out town last night.





Notice the flower clip?? Do you recognize it? Desperate times call for desperate measures :) The wind was blowing and the boys couldn't get their papers to stay. Bryce was using Richard's phone clip and this flower was the only other thing I could find! lol...

 I love the way the lights look like a crown on Sydney's head :) Sydney is a good friend of Bryce's and she loves the girls...they love her right back!!

We are finally out of flip flops...straight to UGGs!

Band 2012

 Band festivals have become one of my favorite things! I love seeing the different bands perform their shows. I think one reason might be that it's something I could have never done. I think I would have tripped over my own feet the entire time.  The girls love it too.  They become restless in between bands, but once they start playing, they are mesmerized!  

I have more pics to share, but thought I'd post these quickly.  I love them :)

Time Goes Too Fast

Bryce is finishing his sophomore year right now.  His 16th birthday is in August and he will officially be a driver...Yikes!  If I'm honest, Bryce is probably the child who gets the shaft most often.  His primary activities are band and Sea Cadets.  I love watching him, but have not been involved at all.  (Granted, we got home from China with Gracie right as football season started, so I do give myself some grace for that one.)  This is about to change, though!

I attended Bryce's end of the year band banquet Monday.  He plays the French horn, and there are 6 total French horns.  Two of them are graduating this year and Bryce is so sad about it.  David and Alicia date and have been great friends to Bryce.  He is going to miss them so much!  I have been super sad about them leaving too.  I was in such a tissy trying to get to the banquet (actually had to bring the girls to swim lessons in formal wear!) that I forgot my camera!!  For this mom, that is the cardinal sin!  I am still so disappointed about it.  Thankfully, Alicia's mom sent me these pics :)  Alicia has been the "mom" of the group.  I'm not quite sure these boys are going to survive without her!!!









This one makes me tear up just looking at it.


This night made me realize that I'm going to wake up tomorrow and it's going to be Bryce graduating!  I am making a commitment to be more present in Bryce's activities and really enjoy these last 2 years of high school with him.  I have already talked to a few babysitters about helping with the girls, and I intend to use them.  They would much rather be at home playing with a new "friend" than being drug from event to event with me.  And I will be a much happier mom if I know I've been able to focus on each child a little more instead of spreading myself so thin.  Some of you might disagree with that.  That's ok, but for my family, I need these boys to know that I was truly interested in their lives, even after the girls got home.  They have happily sacrificed alot for us to go to China twice.  I never want them to feel second best.

So here's to Bryce's blur of a sophomore year...and here's to his junior year that his mom didn't miss!!  :)

The Art of Sarcasm

First off, let me say that Bryce gave me permission to write this story.  Like a good blog mom...blogging it was the first thing I thought of!!



This is going to sound odd, but I have spent years trying to teach Bryce the art of sarcasm!  If you've been here for any amount of time, you know that alot of what I say has a twinge of sarcasm attached to it!  Good, bad or indifferent...it's how I do life.  I also think that if you can't laugh at yourself, you're in for a miserable life!  And I laugh....alot!  I have always tried to teach my boys that.  Bryce is not sarcastic by nature.  In elementary school, he was super sensitive and let anything that was said bother him.  Day after day, I would give him possible "come backs" for people who were ugly or annoying.  He couldn't do it.  He was miserable...and so was I!  Even recently, he will tell me of something someone said and I will sit there and give him example after example of snappy comments.

Well...this week he comes home and tells me of a conversation between himself and a freshman band member.  This guy has driven Bryce crazy since the beginning of band this summer.  He is much shorter than Bryce but likes to act tough and get in Bryce's face.  Just annoying.  This is the exchange that took place this week:

Kid:  Are you a virgin?
Bryce: Yes
Kid:  Awww...man...You just lost some major cool points!
Bryce:  Dude...you're in band...cool points don't count here.

Ohhh....Be still my heart!!!  He did it!!!  I don't think I could have come up with something better myself!!  I even asked Bryce if he had heard that before, but he hadn't.  He came up with it all on his own :)  Makes this mama proud :)  lol... 

Bryce and I went shopping for clothes for his homecoming dance yesterday.  I can't tell you how happy I was to be with him.!  I was especially happy that I got to go with a child who didn't need to be pushed in a stroller!  He wasn't so keen on the actual shopping, but we had a great time.  He's actually alot of fun to be with.  I can't wait to see he and his girlfriend all dressed up in a couple of weeks! 

When we got home, he sat on the couch with the girls and read them Pinkalicious!  I don't know many high schoolers who would be willing to do that.  His only frustration is that the girls get SO excited when you're reading that book that they try to tell the story before you read it :)  I am used to that...it was driving him nuts.  lol...  So sweet though

Bryce also had his first driving session for driver's ed this weekend.  I can't even believe that we are at that point!  How did we get here??  I guess he's going to grow up anyway...I'm just going to enjoy the fact that he's actually pleasant to be around :)