Violin?

L was one of many fourth- and fifth-graders throughout the district to turn up for tonight's band and orchestra instrument recruitment nights. There is another one tomorrow night. Each student got three tickets. They turned in one ticket for each instrument they try out.

L's first choice was the flute. We waited in a very long woodwinds line for her to try that. Surprisingly, she was able to make a sound on the first try. The instructor said that's pretty difficult for most people, but she seems to have a lot of wind. (We already knew that!) Next, we went across the hall and tried percussion. She played the bells and the snare drum. The instructor also had her lift the case so she would know whether she could carry the drum to and from school. Last stop was the violin room. I was vehemently against her playing the violin - they're so squeaky - at least until you learn how to play well.

In the end, L chose the flute. We signed a rent-to-own contract and she should get her instrument delivered to school sometime next week. She was a little disappointed she couldn't bring the flute home with her tonight.

B did a great job on this collage about himself. He waited till the last minute to do it, but got it done. That's what counts.

WTH?

L rode her bike after school and met up with a neighbor friend, P. I saw them over at the school playing by the bushes. I was making dinner so I called Andy and asked him to stop by there on his way home from the train and bring L home. Imagine his surprise when he saw his 9-year-old's face made up like this. She denied any of it was her fault - it was all her friend's doing. Really? She'll be spending a few nights inside while she thinks about that. Even with my eye-makeup remover I couldn't get it all off her eyes.

Checking in

B had two of his friends, I and I, over after school today. While they were dueling their Yu-Gi-Oh cards, their friend, L, who moved to Ohio this summer, called and wanted to Skype them so he could duel too. B and his friends all dueled and talked to L. They talked for over an hour before B noticed the battery getting low on his laptop. But the virtual games weren't over - B just plugged in the power cord.

The Volt

Imagine E's surprise today when we pulled into the local Walgreens and she saw a guy hooking his Chevy Volt car up to the charging station. Oak Park, being as "green" as can be, has two charging stations at this Walgreens. The man was test-driving the Volt for the day from an area dealership.

E got out of my car and started gushing, "It's a Volt ... It's so pretty" etc. The man told her she was welcomed to come over and take a look at it. She explained that she did a report on the Volt in eighth grade before the class took a field trip to the auto show. They continued talking while B and I went inside to get what we needed. E eventually found us in the store, telling us the guy even opened the hood so she could take a look and let her peek inside. She is totally sold on the Volt.

Blue lips

For the second day in a row, L came home with blue lips. Her teacher gave out popsicles yesterday to kids who behaved. Today, L, got a popsicle for being one of five students who wrote the longest report about what they did over the summer. L said she wrote about going to Boston.

"I said we walked a red line that took us to historical sites," she said. "And at the end I put 'WE WALKED A LOT" all in capital letters." As long as she behaves and listens in class, I'd be fine seeing her little blue lips everyday after school.

Notice her tattoo. Most kids want to wear a new outfit on the first day of school - L has to put on a new (temporary) tattoo. Several of her classmates thought it was real. Yikes.

The first day

L claimed she was up at 5 a.m. this morning to get ready for her first day of school, but B said he was up at 5:30 a.m. and she was still sleeping. Note to teacher: Maybe she needs to work on telling time. Anyhow, she was excited to be heading back to school and seeing all of her friends.

Here L's teacher chats with the students before leading them inside the school. Her teacher, Mrs. P, is one of only two teachers (so far) to have all three of my kids at Irving. She was one of B's favorite Irving teachers and he often baked brownies to bring to her.

Here's B first-day-of-school photo. Don't look too close - he's complaining that the sun is in his eyes.

B's two friends, I and I, came over about 8 a.m. and they dueled Yu-Gi-Oh cards for half an hour before it was time for them to walk to school.

Welcome freshmen

E and A met this morning and rode their bikes to high school for their first full day. It's a freshman-only day. They'll play games, eat a free lunch and run through their schedule. Tomorrow is the real thing with all the students there. I think they're ready.

The high school put up this sign last night. I had E get a picture after I picked her up from her golf match. We agree the huskies on this sign look a little scary.

Big loss

We never could find a golf skort to fit E, but we did get lucky finding a pair of white shorts. The JV girls wore their orange shirts and white bottoms for today's home match against Hinsdale. They lost by over 100 strokes (Yikes!). E shot a 63. The other girls on her team were all in the 60s except one who shot 57. Coach's response, "Looks like we need more practice."

Check out E's sparkley blue headband. One of the girls on the team ordered them. She has an orange one too, depending on which shirt they wear, of course.

Miniature this time

So what do girls on a high school golf team decide to do for a bonding night out? Miniature golf, of course! E and her teammates went to Putting Edge tonight, a glow-in-the-dark mini golf course. Afterward, they returned to a teammate's house for pizza, soda and dessert.

E said the best part was being the "backboard" for the girls when they putted. They'd hit the ball off her sandals so it would go in the hole. Too bad they can't do that on the real course.

On the links

Today was the first junior varsity meet for E's golf team. She had to be at school today at 7:45 a.m. for the bus to leave at 8 a.m. to head north to Evanston. E shot 60 on nine holes. The JV team garnered a win, but Evanston didn't have enough girls to show up to play. Still, it's a win!

After getting back to the high school, the golf team had its picture taken for the yearbook. One of the girls on the team ordered sparkly headbands for all the players - one orange and one blue - so E had that in her picture. We had ordered a size 0 (really!) skort for her and it came today, but it was way too big on her. It's being sent back. She did have an old white she was able to wear for the team picture.

E also found out that she's one of six JV players chosen to go to the Hinsdale meet on Monday. Apparently they're the team to beat. The team plays again Wednesday, but E gets to stay home for that one. L's excitement of the day was finding out her fourth grade teacher will be Ms. Payton. She's the second (Ms. Gullo, kindergarten teacher, was the first) to have the privilege of having all three Houhas. B found out his friend, IR, is on the same seventh-grade team as he is.

Trying to help

L made a mess of some Sour Cream & Onion Pringles on the living room floor so before she left to go play with her neighborhood friends today I had her vacuum them up. She pulled the vacuum out of the closet and said it looks full of dirt. I showed her how to take the canister off and told her to empty it then come back and clean. Imagine my surprise when I found a huge pile of dust in my recycling bin. Guess I should have been more specific - put the dirt in the trash can, not the recycling. What a mess it was for me to take out the recycling. Dust was flying everywhere. Yuck.

She's a freshman

This week it's been all about E. Today was freshmen-only day at OPRF. She went to the high school to meet with her advisor, find her locker, get a lock, walk through her schedule, buy a gym uniform, get her yearbook picture taken, get an ID printed and pick up all her textbooks. She also got a nifty planner. Let's see if she actually uses it.

And the new shirt

Nothing special with E's golf shirt that the team bought new this year - it's plain orange. The coach said that's the trend, no logo on it, because the bags have the school name on them. She's hoping to wear it with a white skort, if we can find one!

She also found out today that she's one of the four junior varsity members headed to Thursday's meeting against Evanston. That should be fun!

Golf shirt

Today Andy went to the high school with E for a coach-parent-player golf meeting. The coach had team shirts left over from last year so the new girls were able to buy one. Andy also paid for this year's shirt. The coach thinks it will be nice for the girls to have a choice of which shirt to wear when they're playing in competitions.

E is now on the search for a white golf skort as part of her uniform. The girls don't have to wear the skort, but the varsity girls have decided they make everyone look cute. This could be an interesting couple of months.

Fore!

After three days of tryouts, E found out today that she made the OPRF girls golf team! I think I was more nervous than she was. This was the first year the coach said he had to cut girls from the team. Twenty-three girls tried out for 18 spots. The coach said E needs to continue with her lessons and improve her strength. She picked up her team golf bag this afternoon!

Wafflin' waffles

The other day L pulled out the waffle iron from the storage room in the basement. B decided this morning that he HAD to have waffles. My first attempt turned out looking more like scrambled eggs than a waffle, but B said it tasted good.

We knew we could do better so we tried again. The second try was much, much better.