End of the Year

Since Sarah isn't going to school tomorrow today was her last official full day of junior high.  She has a half day on Friday where she will go, get her yearbook, and she and her friends will sign them and do whatever else they need to do to clean out the remainder of their lockers.  Then she comes home around lunchtime, with her graduation ceremony at 5:00 Friday evening.

Alison's last full day is tomorrow.  She got her yearbook on Monday, but I am not sure when they are going to have their signing.  I assume it'll be Friday as well since they too have a half day.

Both girls pretty much can't wait for the end of the year so they can start summer vacations

Tumbling Classes

Sarah is starting new tumbling classes this summer for cheerleading.  Her first class was supposed to be last week Wednesday, but it was at the same time as her Dentists appointment, so she skipped the first day.  We've never sent Sarah here before but from what I have heard,this place is pretty hard core.  Not to cut on the place she was taking her cheer tumbling classes but I hope that they actually push her a little more, because now that she is on the JV squad they are going to get a lot more complicated with their  routines and if she wants to stay with it, she is going to have to improve.

Sarah's Retainers

After three long years, Sarah is finally braces-free.  She got them off yesterday and now has two retainers, one on top, and one below.  They aren't like the retainers I remember, they are clear trays, like those invisiline braces.  Sarah has to wear them now for the next month, round the clock unless she is eating or brushing her teeth.  Then she goes back and the orthodontist will tell her when she needs to wear them.  Kris says she'll have to wear them (the retainers) for the rest of her life now, it's just a matter of how often.  I don't remember that being the way braces were supposed to go, but hopefully it'll be something like only having to wear them at night when she is sleeping. 

She had to go to the dentist to get her teeth cleaned later in the day.  Kris told me that the dentist gave Sarah a lecture about making sure she wears them, and emphasized the fact that we spent a lot of money to make sure her teeth were straight and she now has a beautiful smile and she better make sure she doesn't wreck them.  Good job Dr. Stark!  I hope that'll sink in because I told her the same thing and I got pooh-poohed.

Tryout Night

Tonight is Sarah's cheer squad tryout.  She has been practicing all week at a cheer clinics and tumbling that were put on by the varsity cheer team.  So far so good.  Sarah said there were 12 sophomores trying out and then about 14 freshmen.  I think Kris said that they wanted to have a bigger JV team if possible, but only if the girls were good enough.  They were not going to take a girl just for the sake of taking a girl.

Sarah called at 7:00 and said her tryout was done and then she was just going to wait until everyone else was finished and see what the decisions were.  I am keeping my fingers crossed for her.  Either way when she gets home she is going to be wired I think.  If she made the team, she'll be bouncing off the walls, if she didn't, well then she'll be inconsolable.

Cheer Week

This week is going to be a very stressful one for Sarah.  Every night this week she has cheer clinics/practice to get ready for high school cheerleading tryouts.  The Falls does not have a freshman squad, so it is JVs or nothing, and there are going to be few spots opening up, and in addition to the girls on her team last year, there are the freshmen this year who were 8th grade cheerleaders that didn't make JVs last year too.  And this isn't like the jr. high cheer teams.  These girls are heavy on the gymnastics/tumbling skills, and I don't think Sarah is as advanced as some of the other girls in terms of her tumbling skills.

I am hoping that she can make it and work on the skills she doesn't have yet.  But if she doesn't make it, I hope that she at least uses it as motivation to get serious and get her tumbling skills down so she can make it as a sophomore.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Good News and Bad News

Today we got some good news and some bad news.  Or should I say Sarah got some good news and some bad news.  Today was supposed to be the day that Sarah got her braces off.  She went to the orthodontist and he told her that there was still a gap that needed to be closed on her upper teeth, so the bands on top are staying on for another 3-4 weeks.  But she did get the bottom braces off and is going in on Wednesday to get her lower retainer.

I even took a picture of her this morning before school with the intent of posting a before and after picture of her teeth with and without braces.  Something for her to remember...  the last picture of her with wires on her teeth, but I guess we'll be waiting for at least another three weeks, so check back mid-May and hopefully we'll have better news.

Almost Done

Sarah had an orthodontist appointment after school today. He asked Sarah if she wanted her braces off. Of course she said yes. It was only supposed to take two years, so Sarah is really ready to get them off! But after a little over three years, she will finally be done with molar bands, and wires, and rubber bands. So it looks like in a month they'll finally be off, then she'll have to make sure she wears her retainer.

Bedroom Furniture

We got Sarah a dresser and nightstand Tuesday night. We had been looking for new furniture for her room since she has only had old, hand-me-down ones that I had repainted since she moved into a room and out of a nursery. We have a full size mattress & boxspring that was in Kris's parents' spare room in their house, so we don't need to get that. And anyway, Sarah doesn't want a frame (headboard or footboard - that drives me insane, but it is her room and we are letting her do what she wants. I figure I can always buy a headboard later). So all we really needed was a dresser, and maybe a nightstand. We took her to a local store, Steinhafel's, to look. She picked out something that we never would have expected her to like. Luckily for us, it was clearanced because they were getting rid of that line. They had only one nightstand and three dressers in stock. It came in yesterday from the warehouse.

Of course, we went and got it, and get it home, open the boxes, and the paint is chipped (did I mention it is an off-white color?). the nightstand, just a small chip in the front. They do not have a touch up kit or anything we can buy to fix it. they are sending out a "technician" next week to see if there is anything they can do. If not, Kris and I will be raising a stink to get a discount on it, as it is damaged. Maybe I can find something close to it to match so i can touch it up.

The dresser is another story.... it has a huge chip in the corner of the top, and emanating from that chip are several large cracks in the paint. So we called right away, and of course they will have a new one shipped over, should be here Friday. But in the mean time, I have to hold the damaged one.

I swear, I need to just stop buying furniture from Steinhafel's. We NEVER have good luck with them. NEVER!

Student Achiever

Sarah brought home a letter last week saying she was being honored by the Brewers as a "Student Achiever" with a certificate and two tickets to a game for her academic achievement. We got a list of games to choose from, and while the seats aren't great, I will be upgrading and taking the whole family along.

Anyway, Sarah has he name published on the Brewers website here. Scroll down to page 60.

Congratulations Sarah. Your mom and I are very proud of you.

Silver Award

On Monday Sarah received her Silver Award for girl scouts along with three other girls in her troop. We had a dinner at Serb Hall followed by an award presentation. Sarah got her name announced and her leader presented her with her award. It was for the entire GSWISE service unit, so there were girls there from all over the area. Video of Sarah getting her award is below:

Silver Awards from Dennis Hahn on Vimeo.

Honors Breakfast

Today was the the day of Sarah's Honors Breakfast. Just like last year, all the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who made the North Middle School Honor Roll were recognized at a breakfast in the gym. Sarah was sort of grumpy about it, and I was trying to impress upon her that this is a big deal. I think that she doesn't want to appear to be a nerd.

I think it might have been a little different if we would have got to sit with some of her friends. Last year they seated people, if I remember correctly, one sixth grader, one seventh grader and one eighth grader per table. This year they did it strictly alphabetically. So We eneded up sitting with two sixth grade kids. I let Sarah go hang out with her friends beforehand and then when it came time for breakfast, she didn't eat much. School food is sort of crummy to say the least I guess.

This year's speaker was a goalie for the Milwaukee Wave. He was much better than the guys they had last year. So all in all, it was a pretty good morning, and Kris and I are very proud of Sarah for maintaining a 4.0 GPA.

Cheer Results

The cheerleading season is over (for the most part) and Sarah's team took 5th place out of six teams in her division yesterday. They had a couple of flubs, but nothing major (at least to my untrained eye) and I don't think they deserved to finish as poorly as they did. There were two teams in her division that were not even schools. They were tumbling acadamies that decided to make a cheer team. I think that putting a team like that where the girls work every day, two to three hours a day on tumbling skills into a competition with teams that work a couple of days a week for an hour or so at a time is sort of unfair. And even at that, I thought they (Sarah's team) did better than at least one of those teams. The other team was good with their tumbling, but I thought that the other part of their performance, the actual cheer portion, was pretty sad.

Sarah told us that they saw their score sheet after the competition and if they had been in the next level up, they would have finished in second place. Their score would have been better than the Falls' eighth grade team, but then again there were different judges scoring them.

I hope that Sarah and the rest of the girls take this as something to build on for next year. I think they will have a pretty good team next year. Now it is on to the Cheer showcase next month.

One more thing, I didn't feel like hauling the camera, video or still, to the cometition yesterday, so sorry, no photos or video to upload.

Final Cheer Competition

Today is Sarah’s final cheerleading competition for the year. We are going to be heading up to Jackson around noon today to watch her compete. Ali’s godmother is coming along too. She was a Purdue cheerleader so maybe we’ll get some “professional” critique today in the stands. I’ll try and get video posted and a recap of the day later tonight. Wish Sarah luck!

Volleyball Results

Unfortunately, Sarah got the call today during volleyball tryouts. The coach told her, “sorry”. She said she (Sarah) should work on her skills, go to camps, etc. and then maybe try out again next year. This is what I want to know though, where do you go, or who do you play for to improve your skills? It isn’t like cheer where there are places you can go to work on your tumbling and stunting skills.

Kris and I tried consoling Sarah but she was sort of upset by it. Maybe this means she just dedicates herself more to doing cheerleading. I think Kris and I may look at places she can go and take tumbling lessons to work on her flips, cartwheels, etc. That may help her focus her efforts at least a little.

Volleyball

Sarah was supposed to have a three day tryout for the North Jr. High 7th grade volleyball team. However, since the blizzard canceled school on Wednesday, she will have them Thursday, Friday, and then I think the final day will be Tuesday. There are something like 40 girls trying out for a total of 18 spots on the team.

I feel bad there will be so many girls cut. It makes it hard for anyone else to play in the future because if you end up being one of the girls cut, it is like saying, “yeah, too bad. You suck and will never play volleyball”, because where are those girls going to go to practice their skills and possibly try out again next year? That is one of the drawbacks I guess to going to a large school.

Check back next week on Sarah’s progress.

Mid-Terms

Sarah got her mid term grades last week. Well not exactly, but we f the school's website. She got all A's again. I just wanted to brag and let her know how proud Kris and I are of her. The honors breakfast will be later on in February so I'll have to take a couple of pictures of her at it again. Way to go Sarah!

State Jam

Saturday afternoon was spent at a cheerleading competition. Sarah had her "State Jam" competition. I got lost for a bit trying to find the school. I misinterpreted the directions we had and turned to follow the highway signs when I should have gone straight on the city street.

Once we got there, the parking was unreal. I dropped Kris and Ali off and then went to park, and in teh time it took me to drop them off, someone stole my parking spot that I was eying up. I ended up drivign around for 10 minutes looking for a place to park.

When I finally found my parking place, I got inside and met Kris and Ali and we grabbed some lunch, and waited for the competition to begin. We got lucky and met some friends while we were eating so we had some people to sit with. Sarah's team was the last one in their grouping to go. I thought they were much better than the last competition we saw in Oak Creek (I will post the video shortly. I need to take it off the camera and upload it to Vimeo). I was expecting a pretty good showing when the final placement was announced, but they didn't score in the top five, which was sort of disappointing. When we got home Sarah told us that they finished 8th out of ten teams. I thought that was pretty crummy, and so did Sarah and her team and coach.

They have one more competition coming up in a couple of weeks so hopefully they can improve on it a little bit.

Oak Creek Invite

Yesterday was the Oak Creek Invitational for Sarah's cheer team. They had their exhibition performance at the Indian Invite in the Falls a couple of weeks prior, and Kris and I were a little underwhelmed. This time they had added a few more elements to their routine, though I would say that they were definitely not the best team there. But they were much better than their previous performance.

Oak Creek Invitational from Dennis Hahn on Vimeo.

My mom was in town so she got to come along as well to see Sarah cheer. I don't know how much she liked sitting in a gym for four and a half hours listening to a bunch of girls yell and listening to loud, very bass heavy music. I could barely do it.

Indian Invite Part 2

Since I got the other video to load, here is Sarah's other routine:

7th Grade Cheer from Dennis Hahn on Vimeo.

Sarah is in the back on the left side. She ends up being a base on the left later on.

Sarah's Conference

We had teacher conferences with Sarah's teachers this evening. We were blocked off for ten minutes per teacher, but we were only set to see four of them. Sarah said we didn't need to see a couple of them.

We started off with her science teacher, followed by Spanish, Language Arts, and Math. We got a little behind when it was time for the language teacher, but luckily we didn't need the full time with any of her teachers. I think the worst grade she was getting was a 95, so needless to say Kris and I are very pleased with Sarah's performance.