7th Grade Band Concert

 Amelie had her 7th grade band concert. She got a new concert outfit: 

Nana Jana came over to sit with Grandma Doris, so Leah and James elected to stay home this time with them. Sam & I sat on the left-hand side of the gym/auditorium at first, but her music stand was blocking her, so we scooted over. 

I took these pictures & then a very tall boy sat in the chair on the end & blocked the view again. Ha!

She got upset towards the end that we weren't recording for Grandma Doris to watch when she got home, but I did get one song. Here's the video: 

And link to the end-of-year 6th grade concert for comparison: http://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2022/05/band-concert.html 

7th Grade Band Concert

 Amelie had her final 7th grade band concert. She got a new band dress!

She plays the clarinet. Her friend plays the trombone (like I did in high school!) and convinced her at the last minute to go ahead & sign up for next year, too. 

She wanted us to record this song: 

Here's a link to the last concert for comparison: https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2022/12/7th-grade-band-concert.html

Band Concert

 Amelie had her winter band concert at Rock Bridge High School - Jefferson Middle School 8th grade went first and then one of the high school bands played. I was impressed that the high schoolers all had matching black band outfits (it looked like long bridesmaids dresses & tuxes) but Sam tells me this was a thing even when he was in high school - not for me in Bernie, though!

Playing the clarinet: 

We played the videos for my Grandma Doris. 

And here's the link to the winter concert last year. https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/search?q=band+concert

Band Concert

 Amelie had her spring band concert, and I know this happens every year, but it was still kind of amazing how much the group had improved since first concert of the year! They did so well

Amelie plays the clarinet in the 6th grade band: 

It's possible she wanted me to stop taking photos here. Leah and I sat on the front row and Sam and James came in later and sat farther back. James had won the fun day teacher raffle, and the snacks and movie were scheduled after school on the same day as the concert. 

My phone ran out of space for videos during this one - and the songs got progressively more impressive after I was out of space!

8th Grade Band Concert

Amelie's decided to take a break from Band, so she had her last concert. They've improved so much since the 6th grade!

Grandma Mary & Papaw got to come!

Spring Band Concert

Jim's moved from the trombone to the tuba. The good part about it is that the school gave him one to keep at home & one to keep at school (since they're huge!) 

He's the second one from the left - sitting on an encyclopedia to boost him up!

Here's a link to the winter concert. 

6th Grade Holiday Concert

Jim is in the 6th grade band, playing trombone along with his cousin. I wanted to get a picture of them, but it was a madhouse after the concert & in the hallway switching between the 6th & 7th graders, so here we are in the vestibule.

He got exactly one (1) use out of the clip on tie. 

Amelie had commentary about all of the selections. 

Grover's mom sat up in the balcony & sent me some pictures. 

Sam was sick & couldn't go, so we got frosties from Wendy's and watched the concert again when we got home. I asked Jim what his favorite piece was & I'll just post that one:

AJR Concert

 This is Sam. I took the big kids to see AJR in concert in St Louis. We also stayed the night at a Holiday Inn that was an easy walk from the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater.

James was also excited about the opener (“Boy With Uke”)

James was a little skeptical about me taking pictures.

They sold all 7,000 reserved seats, and there were about 2,000 lawn tickets purchased.

Such a sweet picture of Amelie as AJR played!

We were mostly watching the jumbo screens, but we could at least catch a glimpse of the band from our seats.

James was very happy during the concert, and he clapped very loudly throughout.

Amelie drinking a water that looks deceptively like an adult beverage.

Our view of Jack (the “J” in AJR) on the jumbo screen.

Jim Birthday Interview

Tween Birthday Interview

James is (probably!) now going by Jim. He turned 12! Now he can ride in the front seat of the car! It wasn't as glorious as he was expecting, though. For his birthday meals, he chose Taco Bell breakfast, Chinese takeout lunch, and to go out to eat at Love Sushi for supper. 

He and Sam and I had sushi rolls - and Sam got a flaming one. The girls had teriyaki chicken, and James tried a Ramune, which I'd never hear of & according to google is "a Japanese carbonated soft drink that comes in a distinctive Codd-neck bottle sealed with a marble instead of a cap." 

He asked for several small musical instruments (only one of which is already broken): an ocarina, a stylophone, a melodica, a good kazoo, a den den diako, a guiro, a lyre harp. He'd like to have a sleepover with a few boys from school but scheduling is vexing. He was somewhat cooperative with the annual birthday interview: 

1. How old are you? 11. No really. 11. 13. Did you just write 12? You better not have written 12. 
2. What is your favorite color? Green
3. What's your favorite possession? The stylophone 
4. What is your favorite game? Monopoly 
5. What is your favorite song? I don't know. What is one of your favorite songs? No. Do you have a favorite band? Yes. Who is it?  I like the band AJJ. Who did you go see in Concert Last night? Mother Mother. We could not see at all. Every single person over 6 feet tall was in the front row. I needed booster shoes things. 
6. Do you  have a favorite animal? An armadillo lizard. Do you agree that it is quite cute? 
   
   
   
   
   
7. What is your favorite book? Phoebe and Her Unicorn
8. What is your favorite movie? Scott Pilgrim 
9. What is your favorite TV show? The Office 
10. What is your favorite thing to eat? Spring Rolls
11. Where is your favorite place to go? My mom will never take me, but Hong Kong Market
12. Who is your best friend? I don't think I have a best friend. Who are some of your good friends? Grover, Jamarion, Donovan and Orion and stuff.
13. What is something you learned last year?  How to multiply and do lattice and be smarter than my mom because she doesn't know lattice.
    
    
    
    
    
14. What is something you'll learn now that you're 12 (or this year in 6th grade)? Trombone
15. What is your favorite subject at school? Theatrical Production 
16. Who is your favorite teacher this year? Ms. Cara That's her first name! Ms. Carter. That's my drama club teacher.
17. What is something that is hard for you to do?  Talk to mom because she's so difficult all the time. Gosh. 
18. What is your favorite thing to do? Not talk to mom. And go to Hong Kong Market. And make crab rangoons. Can we make crab rangoons for lunch? 
19. What is your favorite thing to do with friends? Go to Hong Kong Market
20. What do you like about Me (Mom)? Thank you for in the future for taking me to Hong Kong Market. 
21. What do you like about Dad? He does not sit on me, or scream. I appreciate that every day when I wake up. That he does not sit on me. 
22. What do you like about Amelie? She is very nerdy. Is that something nice? YES IT IS. It is quite nice. We share common interests but we both team up on the parents. 
23. What do you like about Leah? She stands her ground. She's always willing to do group Halloween costumes. 
24. What do you like about yourself? I can convince the parents to go to Hong Kong Market. We can find all the ingredients to make crab rangoons there, and Ramune. You haven't even had Ramune! 
25. What do you want to be when you grow up? I have different jobs that I want. Like what? So I want to work at Hong Kong Market, but I'll probably work at Jimmy Johns when I am 16. All of my friends are going to work one fast food place. All of my bandmates are going to have an apartment together and we'll quit Jimmy Johns when we get famous. What about when you are grown up? An accountant. 

Here's the link to last year: https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2023/09/james-birthday-interview.html

Birthday Interview

Amelie Birthday Interview

Amelie is 15! Her birthday came right during finals crunch time & we had to reschedule her party for next month! But we made a little celebration. She picked dutch baby pancake for birthday breakfast, Dairy Queen for her birthday dinner, & an ice-cream cake. 

Leah & Amelie & I picked up one friend & went to see Kiki's delivery service: 

And then tonight she played along for an interview. 

1. How old are you? 15
2. What is your favorite color? Blue
3. What's your favorite possession?  3-D printed dragons. Actually, change that - The Book of Bill 
4. What is your favorite game? I'm a Little Crabby
   
   
   
   
   
5. What is your favorite song? "Good Luck Babe." Do you have a favorite band? Maybe just AJR. I listen to their music most consistently. Is that your favorite concert that you've been to? Yeah
6. Do you  have a favorite animal? Fox
7. What is your favorite book? Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao (this is the sequel to her favorite book last year.) 
8. What is your favorite movie? Wolfwalkers
   
9. What is your favorite TV show? Gravity Falls
   
   
   
   
   
10. What is your favorite thing to eat? Dutch baby (pancake) 
    
    

    
    
11. Where is your favorite place to go? No idea. What did I put last time? (Outside.) Just repeat that.
12. What is something you learned your first year of high school?  What scarcity is. (?) It's the concept that everyone has unlimited wants & needs, but because there are a limited amount of resources, people have conflict over what to do with those resources. 
13. What is something you'll learn now that you're 15 (or next year in 10th grade)? Maybe driving stuff? I know you really want me to. 
14. What is your favorite subject at school? English
15. Who is your favorite teacher this year? Mr. Batik (Social Studies)
16. Best memory from this year? Probably something from Youth Group. Anything specific? Watching Bottoms at the lock-in. It's a movie - it's really good.  
17. What is something that is hard for you to do? Talking to people 
18. What is your favorite thing to do? Read
19. What is your favorite thing to do with friends?  On the rare occasions that it does happen, debates - or just deep conversations
20. What do you like about Me (Mom)? I don't know. You're my mom! 
21. What do you like about Dad? He's my dad! 
22. What do you like about Jim? Shared music interests
23. What do you like about Leah? She's very energetic
24. What do you like about yourself? I think I'm creative
25. What do you want to be when you grow up? I don't know. Happy.

Here's the link to last year: https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2024/05/birthday-interview.html

Concert with Leah

Yesterday afternoon, an email went out from HR saying the library had 2 tickets to see the Liverpool Legends (the Beatles cover band) saying they’d raffle them off at 4:30 - so on a whim I put my name in the hat and I won! 

In retrospect, this was maybe dumb because James who would have really liked it was on a school trip, and then I'd forgotten Amelie had other plans (which meant she couldn't go & also that she couldn't watch Leah so Sam & I could go), so I took Leah! I did feel the need to tell everyone we knew that we ran into (and there were several folks) that I'd won the (really great seats) tickets so they didn't think I spent $70 so Leah could go to the show! Here's a photo from the advertisements: 

We got there early-ish & parked in a parking garage downtown and walked to the Missouri Theatre. And here are some low-light photos I took:

It was super fun! We did spend some time out in the hallway, where we could still hear just fine & Leah talked me into Reece's Cups from the concession stand. There were costume changes, & bubbles for "Yellow Submarine" & Leah sung along & did the twist. We left a little early!