Melissa's new ring

Melissa received her University of Texas class ring tonight. It was presented to her by Provost Leslie at a big ceremony at the Texas Exes Center. She is pretty proud of her new bling!

Cy Creek Band UIL Competition

Today Rachel's band competed in the regional UIL competition. They performed both on stage with prepared music and then in a separate sight reading competition. They played 3 pieces on stage and sounded good, although both Greg and I thought the choice of music was pretty bad and didn't like 2 out of 3 of the pieces. I think their band director wants to choose music that will make him look impressive instead of trying to select pieces the kids will enjoy and play well. They ended up getting 2s on their stage performance, which put them on the bottom of the scores for the region. Sight reading was a completely different story. This competition is always the one that amazes me. They are given a piece of music they have never seen. They then have about 5 minutes to look at the music and have their director to talk them through the highlights of the piece and give them playing tips. Then they play the piece all the way through one time and they are done. It is a very impressive thing. And the kids did really, really well. They sounded amazing and received 1s for their performance (the highest school possible). The day was kind of a roller coaster, but I think Rachel felt very good about how they did.

UT Honors Day

Greg and I went to Austin this weekend so that we could see Melissa being recognized as a College Scholar and receive her honors cords. This presentation is made at The University of Texas' Honors Day, and included a dinner and presentation with the College of Fine Arts on Friday night and a university-wide ceremony held on Saturday afternoon. Friday night's event was very personal, with each recipient being called by name and having a short bio read about them. Melissa's said she hoped to graduate with a BS in Theatre and Dance next spring and get a dog. Such lofty goals! The university wide ceremony was more formal. All recipients from each college were brought to the stage together and announced simply as Scholars for the College of Fine Arts. That event was almost like a mini graduation, with speakers and music. It really was quite the even. To qualify for participation in Honors Day and be designated a College Scholar, Melissa was required to have a grade-point average of at least 3.5. She has worked very hard for her grades and it was great to see her rewarded for her efforts.

Melissa & Barret LaMond, her old roommate
after receiving their honors cords

Proud Parents

Band Banquet

Tonight was Rachel's band banquet, which she went to with her boyfriend, Chris White. We were in Austin for Melissa's Honors Day Ceremonies, so we missed the event but enjoyed hearing about the details. Their group met at Chris' house for pictures and then drove over to the banquet. Rachel and Chris decided to go with a black theme, and both of them looked very nice.

At the banquet there are awards given for different categories. Rachel and her friends had voted for Chris as "Hottest Senior Guy" and told him they were going to get everyone to vote for him. He beg them to please not do it, as it would be too embarrassing to go up and accept the award. He was relieved when he didn't win, but the relief didn't last long as he won the next award which was for "Most Well Rounded Senior". He was very embarrassed about going up and accepting it. But Rachel and her friend were very amused.

Erin turns 14!

It's hard to believe but our baby is now 14. There was no big party, much to Erin's dismay (she'll have to wait for her sweet 16 like her other siblings). But there were gifts (A bottle of Fantasy perfume, a new pair of Converse and a gift card to the mall) followed a family dinner at IHOP so that Erin could have some Who food. She ordered the Mayor's Breakfast which included Green Eggs and Ham and Who-Cakes. She also ordered a Beezlenut Splash to wash it down. She thought it was really fun, but that it didn't taste very good. But it is definitely a meal she will remember!