School, School, School

Did you know that South Warren High School has a new golf coach...

 

Miles current pastime includes EVERYTHING GOLF.  To say he loves it is an understatement. He's obsessed!  Matt takes him to play or to the driving range or both on a weekly basis.  Matt recently was hired as South Warren's new boys golf coach, and Miles is in the middle of the action.  The boosters bought Miles his own golf shirt and hat to wear.  He loves going to golf practice with the high schoolers and sporting his swag.

South Warren's new Golf Coach - Matt "crazy eyes" Deaton

While we are on the subject of sports, I'm not sure if I have mentioned it or not, but Karson is part of South Middle's Volleyball team this year as a 7th grader.  We learned about the importance of sports pictures in middle school the hard way last year.  Apparently, when you are a female and take pictures in middle school, it's a glamorous event.  Karson is far from glamorous - don't get me wrong, I think I have a beautiful daughter but she could careless about her looks.  She usually has her hair pulled back in a low ponytail, doesn't wear make-up, and has on a t-shirt and pair of gym shorts.  She gets that honest - I think it took me about 30 minutes to get ready for my wedding.  We don't focus on looks much at our house, just ain't our style.  SO, when Karson made the team last year (6th grade), the picture day was coupled with a practice afterwards.  Karson, like usual, put on her jersey and spandex, pulled her back and wore a headband to keep her hair out of her face - ready to play after pictures, right?!?  WRONG.  My jaw dropped when we got there for pictures.  Karson was the only girl with her hair up and zero effort made.  I think some of the girls convinced her to take her hair down for the pics.The girls had pictures made last week.

  I was in on the secret this time and made sure Karson wore her hair down and added a dab of cover-up, blush and mascara.  Sheesh!  We are so not girly!

The end of the summer is nearing.  I managed to actually get some school shopping done early for a change.  The first round of supplies cost around $75 - gasp!  It's costly this time of the year.  Karson was chomping at the bit to get her school schedule which came out last week on Infinite Campus.  She cannot wait to go back to school.  I was NEVER that excited about going back to school, especially MIDDLE SCHOOL. 

We went shopping for backpacks.  Karson hasn't had a new pack in a few years and was really wanting a new one.  Many of her volleyball friends have cool, monogrammed black/gray or pink Under Armor packs.  I'd asked her if that's what she wanted - NOPE.  SO, we started looking online to find her the "right" pack and lucked out at Dick's Sporting Goods.  She was leaning towards a deep purple or the one pictured below, but I convinced her that purple was "iffy" with the BGHS Purples =).  She agreed and actually liked the other one better - nothing plain about it.

Isaac, on the other hand, went straight for comedy with his backpack...

Anyone hungry?  My friend told me there are french fries lunch boxes at Target.  I might just have to get one of those to match the burger.

Miles hasn't mentioned anything about wanting a new backpack so I'm not going to mention it either.

Matt and I celebrate our 20th high school reunions this year.  Has it already been 20 years - wowsers! GHS hosted their 20th reunion this weekend at Indian Hills.  We had lots of fun catching up with some of Matt's old high school friends.

We are also planning something a little less snazzy for our BGHS 20 year reunion.  It's more family friendly and casual - in September.  I'm looking forward to catching up with some of my high school friends and hope we have a decent turn out.  Stay tuned.

It's a Wrap!

 

Another theatre camp is officially in the books!  Karson wanted to participate in Aladdin this summer at SKyPAC.  Theatre camp is something she looks forward to each year.  Playing sports doesn't allow her any extra time to participate in youth theatre during the school year, and this is the perfect avenue for her to get the opportunity to perform.

Karson was selected as a Palm Tree in the production.  I'm thinking it might have been because she was wearing a shirt with palm trees on it during her auditions.  Another girl named Malia was also selected, and the two of them were pretty much inseparable the whole week.  That's the cool thing about camp - meeting new people.

What exactly does a Palm Tree do in a production, you ask?  Karson and Malia had lots of puns basically centered around the word "date."  They were also in quite a few of the musical numbers and hid brothers Cassim and Ali Baba. 

 It's an amazing task to take 58 campers who have little or no stage experience and produce an entire production in one week.  The kids worked SO hard all week long!  It was a special week, and I got to spend it with not only Karson, but Evan, Elizabeth and Samuel.

 Missoula Children's Theatre residencies are "versions" of familiar stories.  In this version -

For Aladdin it’s not easy to find a magic lamp but it’s even harder to get a date! It’s a swirling sandstorm of famous Arabian Tales from Ali Baba to Scheherazade, and even Sinbad the Sailor, as Aladdin journeys to find a magic lamp in a Cave of (not-so-great) Wonders. Along his way Aladdin seeks answers and advice from wise Genies, a powerful Sultan, and his own Mother, to find a way to meet the Princess. However, even with the lamp in hand, Aladdin will have to learn that it takes more than a wish to make a good impression. Full of memorable characters, from lost Penguins to talking Palm Trees, this is an adventure worthy of 1001 laughs.

 When the kids weren't in rehearsal for their roles, they were in workshops with our intern playing games and learning fun theatre activities.  One of Karson's besties, Elizabeth Warder, was at camp this week.

The kids did their first dress rehearsal on Friday and only had a few small errors to correct.  I found that this particular show was a little harder to follow than shows from year's past. The script seemed complicated, and it was tricky for both our accompanist and our lighting people.  It was a treat letting the kids get to perform in the main hall.  Many actors/actresses would love to have the opportunity to do a production in our beautiful performance space.  

 The kids had a show on Friday night and a Saturday matinee.  Our family, of course, brought a large crowd both days.

 When I signed Karson up for camp back in the spring, we didn't have her volleyball schedule at that time.  She pulled double duty all week long being in camp for about 6-7 hours and then racing to grab dinner and heading out to South for volleyball practice.  She didn't get home until 8 and then crashed and started all over again the next day.  Karson's a trooper, and it was a great week!

Wanted!

 Isaac got to go to Taylor Christian church camp this year with the Greenwood Park for the very first time.  To say he was excited is an understatement!  He couldn't wait to go!  He's been at Karson's camp awards the last two years and watched the camp videos and seen all the pictures, heard all the stories, and been a part of the drop off/pick up during camp week.  I was a bit concerned because of Isaac's particular eating habits.  I made sure he was fully stocked with all of his favorite snacks and foods (everything from Pringles to Cheeze Its).  Evan and Gunnar were in his cabin which made it extra special!  It's always nice having your best buddies around in "new" situations. He was in cabin 4 which also had it's very own bathroom.  Karson was hopeful she'd be in the nice cabin with a bathroom this year but was not =(.  She was in cabin 12 which felt like closet-sized compared to Isaac's cabin.  Camp is an old-hat for her.  She's made lots of friends at Taylor and was glad to be reunited with them.


 One week with zero contact with two of your kids feels like an eternity.  Because of the rainy weather the week before, I was certain they probably wouldn't be able to get in the creek last week - it was super high.  The weather was nice though.  When we picked the kids up on Friday, I knew Karson would be tired and completely irritable (same as the last two years).  Isaac, however, talked non-stop from the moment he got in our car.  And, to my surprise, he had quite a few of his snacks left.  He told us he couldn't wait to come back.  That's music to our ears - so glad he had a blast! Camp awards are tonight!

 

Our youngest child was a only child this week and loved every single minute of it.  He and Matt spent a majority of their time at the golf course and playing Yahtzee.  I don't think there was any part of him (or the other two kids) that missed his siblings =).  He had our undivided attention all week long. 

  We spent yesterday afternoon at the Duncan Hines Festival at Chaney's Dairy Barn.  Miles got the wild-hair to enter the Brownie Eating Contest for 8 and under.  He had an entire minute to consume as much brownie from the 13 x 9 pie pan as quickly as possible.  Eating is completely his THING! 

 Stuffing his face full of brownie.

 

Miles WON!  He ate the most and won a trophy and a WKU t-shirt!  Made me SOOOO proud =)!  We're lucky at our house if the brownie batter actually makes it into the pan.  I'm a brownie fan!

 

 Our SKyPAC Youth Theatre and Education program was chosen as the recipient for this year's fund raised.  We're thankful to the Junior Women's Club for selecting us and plan to put those funds to good use towards our wonderful YT programs at SKyPAC.

Broken

I try not to take life too serious.  It's how I cope with it.  If you start to focus on everything that's "wrong or messed up in the world," you will find yourself going down a long, dark, rabbit hole with no end.   I realize there are lots of serious circumstances, but my natural disposition is trying to find something happy and humorous in the midst of serious.  All that being said, this week was a dark (rabbit hole) one and incredibly heavy emotionally.  There was little laughter.  We lost a special person, and the word "special" doesn't even touch the surface when it comes to Karen Lou.  She was exceptional.  When I met Matt 19 years ago, I met his entire family not long after.  Mamaw and Karen Lou were at the top of the list.  We spent many hours, days, holidays, celebrations on Broadview - everything from Halloween, wedding showers, huge Easter egg hunts, large Christmas's on Christmas Eve, birthday parties and sometimes getting together just because (no specific reason at all).  Because my grandparents were in Louisville, it was a unique experience getting to see how the Deaton family dynamic was.  Mamaw and Karen were there for every single event in my life since 1996 - college graduation, marrying their grandson/nephew, having their first set of great grandchildren - laughing with them, crying with them, kissing them - nothing they loved more than kissing people hello and goodbye.  The time we spent with them was never enough - "what's your hurry?" "come back and see us" - those were phrases you'd always hear.  So many memories.  We lost Mamaw in February of last year, and we lost our dear Karen Lou in the early hours of July 2, 2015.  Cancer took her life.  Watching someone dear to you suffer for months is simply difficult.  Karen essentially was the family matriarch with Mamaw's passing last year.  It's truly like losing another grandparent.  I ask for your prayers for our family during this time.  We will have a celebration of her life on Sunday, July 12 at the church from 2-4 p.m.

I am thankful the my children had a relationship with both Mamaw and Karen.  They made an imprint on their hearts and spoiled them immensely.  We are all better people because of their influence in our lives.  My hope and prayer is that my children are as close to each other as Karen and Colvin are - attached at the hip and the best of friends.  We will miss you Karen!  Our hearts are broken.