Think Pink

We had a busy basketball week here in Fleming Island. The team is doing very well right now. Last night was the big "Pink Out" game. Both the boy's varsity and girl's varsity played games, had senior night, and thinked pink. (A few games around town did the same thing.) The teams sold "Think Pink" tshirts with the "i"s dotted with basketballs. The money raised is going to breast cancer research. Nearly everyone wore pink. Even some of the basketball players wore pink laces and socks. The picture below is of one of my students, Darrick, as he shoots a free-throw. You can see all the kids in the background in their pink. The ref didn't represent. It made for a fun night, though. Here is Rozzie and McCall. They have enjoyed being on the dance team this year. The kids in the background are "creeping". For those who are not familiar with this term, it is where someone else is getting a picture taken and you position yourself and smile for the picture, thus "creeping" on someone else's picture. At the last competition, some girls were taking a picture and later on realized that the waitress creeped on them!!

Travis was pretty excited that he got to see someone famous at the game. This is Nolan Carroll of the Miami Dolphins.

Here is the situation: Nolan's brother, Nico plays basketball for Fleming Island and with it being senior night, Nolan came to support his brother and walk him in as he (Nico) was announced. Back in his days of reporting high school football, Travis remembered covering games with Nolan who attended Clay High, just to our south. Now, Nolan plays for the Miami Dolphins. I had never heard of him, but then Travis explained who he was and I remember the story very well. You might, too. In a game in December 2010 between the Jets and the Dolphins, a coach tripped a player running down the sidelines. The coach was fired and it was all over the news. that player was Nolan Carroll. You can look it up on youtube - I wasn't able to get it on here, but it is easy to find. So that was Travis' fun moment.

This past week, I was petitionned by a group of students to start a knitting group NOW!!! So the wheels are in motion for that. All is well in the Smith house!

The Satisfaction of a Finished Project

Morgan and I both had the satisfaction of finishing a knitting project this weekend. Morgan is starting to challenge herself with new and interesting patterns. I made her knit the legs on this pair a little longer, just in case she gets in at BYU - she'll want those longer socks!! We both really like the greens here.
Here is a detail of the pattern. It is a little hard to see, but there is an additional pattern beyond the self striping yarn. She did a great job and is becoming an accomplished knitter. She likes to come to the knitting group at school and help out.

As for me, I finally got around to finishing this sweater!! I got a lot done, then got stalled out over the summer. I kept putting off getting back to it because it takes time to figure out what was going on when I put it down! But I overcame that fear over the Christmas break. I wore the sweater to church today and got a lot of compliments on the nice colors. It is very comfortable, almost like a jacket.

I was nervous about the I-cord finishing, but I persevered and figured it out (not that hard, actually) and am really pleased with the outcome. It gives it a nice, finished look.

Now, on to a new week. I get to tease a student for skipping my class last Friday and going to get a squid tattooed on her forearm. I love facebook.

Haters Bring Me Fame

This weekend was the State Dance Competition. It is rather unlike the Minnesota one where it was part of the state sports. They don't have that here, so another company puts on this big competition down in Daytona and there weren't that many high schools there. But, it is a competition anyway and some very good teams. We had an amazing program and were very excited to show it off. Part of the music states, "Haters bring me fame" which means that the more people that hate you, the more famous you are. It has become the catch phrase of the season. So on the day we left for Daytona, all the girls wore their "Hater" jackets they designed and glittered up and Rozzie's friend Lauren made some of them these "Hater" shades (they block out your "haters"). They were rather cute!! So, here is Lauren, Nora, and Roz arriving at school on Friday morning.
We got out of school at 1:00 (I got to miss 6th period!!) and were on our way. I was a driver/chaperone and had a car load of girls. We stayed at the Hilton on the beach which was across the street from the Convention Center where the girls performed. We ate dinner at Bubba Gumps and I had the absolute worst salad I have ever had. It was completely tasteless. The chicken tasted old and lacked any flavor. I didn't even know what the eggs were. I thought maybe mushrooms. It was only on close examination that I figured out it was egg. I didn't even eat half of it. How disappointing. The funny thing is that I rarely ever dislike my food. I like food so much I'll eat things that are just so-so. This was inedible.

Saturday was a long day. We didn't dance until 6 pm, so we took a good, long time getting ready. The freshmen didn't dance this competition. They were basically "red-shirted" I'd say; that is the best way to explain it. This was a sore spot and it was apparent that the girls were feeling left out. They handled it very well, though. Rozzie and I talked a lot about accepting and being supportive anyway. They were all troopers!! Here is Rozzie and me. This picture makes her look taller than me, oh, I was just informed that she is taller than me. When did this happen?

The girls did a great performance and came in 2nd place, only .5 behind the first place team. Fort Walton Beach has always been winners here and they had dances in three divisions - we only danced Hip-Hop. But we were neck and neck!! The crowd loved the costumes (I picked them out - found it in a magazine and suggested it). Kids were asking to have pictures taken with the girls. They felt very famous. We went back the next morning and danced again and it was a solid performance. But alas, we came in 2nd again. Fort Walton Beach danced a clean dance. It wasn't very original or exciting. The word on the street is that we should have won. So many people stopped our girls and commented that they were their favorite. I guess I should add that there was also a cheer competition going on simultaneously so there were a lot of people watching.

Here is Rozzie with Lauren and Nora. You can see the make-up on Lauren. The jewels on the face really sparkled on stage.

Here is another picture - you can see how the costumes looked.

And the disappointing 2nd place.

There was crying on the way home. Losing is tough. Hearing over and over from so many people that we should have won is tough. But, it is a lesson we all learn over and over in life. I'm proud of how they did. Rozzie is really excited to dance the competition in March and get all glammed up!!

I was thankful to have a day off before returning to work. I will say that we have a great group of girls that seemed to know how to behave and they were very easy to spend a weekend with. They were very grateful for our help. It was also fun to spend a weekend with my dear friend Lani. I'm glad we had this year together with our girls on the team. I'll miss her next year. I got to know other parents better so I'll be ok - no need to worry about me!!

Travis and Rozzie just went driving. She started Driver's Ed on Florida Virtual School and so she is excited about getting her driver's permit at the end of May!!

After hearing all about Rozzie's dance competition, Maddie is excited to go to her competitions in March and April.

Keeping You in the Loop

I have not been very good!! Sorry! So, what is new, you ask? My knitting club, that's what. I have thought about starting a knitting group at school but am somewhat shy. (No, really, I am.) Ok, maybe I'm not, but with this kind of thing I sure am. I am no expert Knitress or anything, so I question my ability to teach others. Rather than ruin a group of unsuspecting youths, I opted to make the faculty and staff my guinea pigs. I put out a flyer and invited all new and experienced knitters to come and play. Today was the day. We learned to make a slip knot, cast on, and knit. I had 7 students with more asking if they could come another time. We worked for an hour and they are to practice knitting this week and we will learn to purl next week!! It was pretty exciting. Morgan came the last 15 minutes and helped out. It was a lot of fun and there seems to be a great interest in the craft. We decided to meet next week, everyone seems to want to come back. We plan to meet again next week. I feel satisfied! We had teachers and cafeteria staffers there. If this goes well, next year, I think FIHS will have an official Knitting Club!!

Oh What did we do in the Wintertime?

It is about time to get some Christmas pictures posted here, now isn't it? We have had such a good time. We have done a lot of knitting. Mom knit some Lugies that I was hoping to get done over the break. That was really nice!! We went to eat and Morgan's work. Travis took a picture of her, for which she was very embarrassed. She got over it, though, and we had a nice dinner at Five Guys. Morgan has been working diligently to obtain her degree from Five Guys University. She has about six hours of online training to do for her job. We listen along and get a kick out of all of it. There is a certain order that everything MUST be done. I understand why they have to have this training, but it is really goofy.

After we got home from dinner, there was a knock on the door and a "Ho, Ho, Ho." Who could it be, but SANTA CLAUS!!! It was sure fun to have Santa come check on us. Licky was a little freaked out, but he lasted for one picture.

Christmas Eve finally rolled around and we decked the halls and ate a lot. Here is the erstwhile "kid's table". There is Maddie, McCall, Kevin (McCall's boyfriend), Rozzie, and Morgan. Morgan decided that Christmas Eve was the night to pull out her new sweaters from Salvation Army for a night of Ugly Sweaters. Maddie also donned an ugly sweater. Here is a lovely picture of me and mom at the "grown up" table.
After dinner, we went to a friend's house for a bonfire, s'mores, and hot chocolate. Here is Travis and I in our holiday finery. I knit this sweater about 23 years ago. The girls laugh at it, but I think it is a classic.

Here is Morgan and Rozzie roasting a giant marshmallow over the flames.

Licky joined us momentarily for gift opening on Christmas morning. As you can see, he is delighted by the merriment.

Here are our three girls on Christmas morning. Yes, it is light outside. We made them wait until 7:30 before they got us up!!

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a fun time off from school or just from the regular day to day drudgery. I go back to school on Monday and the students join us on Wednesday. I'm definitely NOT ready for that. But, the year is half over and there is much to look forward to in 2011!!

Panhandling on the Streets of St. Augustine

Grandma is here for a visit so we took her out with us for our annual pre-Christmas dinner out. This year we chose The Columbia in St. Augustine. The Spanish/Cuban cuisine is so wonderful. The girls weren't quite as impressed as we were, but they seemed to enjoy it in the end. The signature "1905" salad is a wonder to eat. This has become a favorite place for Travis and me.

Here we all are looking so festive. I might add that the bread was also divine. And the lunch prices aren't so awful, either.

The whole reason we went to St. Augustine was that Travis had this idea that he wanted the girls to play their violins on the streets and see how much money they could make. So, I let him be in charge of the shindig. He kept trying to get me involved, but I resisted!! And he did a great job. He was getting the girls set up when a police officer came up and told him they had to be 50 feet off the main street. So then the police officer showed Travis where they could set up right outside The Columbia. It was a prime spot. I think the officer was happy to see someone who was actually dressed decently and might add to the atmosphere of the city rather than make everyone walk to the other side of the road. So they got set up and started playing.

Older people seemed to like them. Actually, everyone responded very positively, but the older people were the ones to drop money! But the group of people who REALLY liked it, was the small children. One girl was saying, "Look, violins, Mommy, look, violins..." and she really wanted to go see them, but the parents were too busy. These next two pictures are so sweet. This was what it was really all about.

This little girl stayed for a long time. The kids had fun and made some spending money. Then they found out that the Henna tattoo artist was closed for the season. Bummer. Maddie had asked if she could bring her trumpet and play. We weren't about to deny her enthusiasm, so she pulled the trumpet out and got going! She was a little startled at first at how loud she was. She commented, "It sounds so different without the whole band."

It was a lot of fun for the girls and for us. We had a great time watching them. They just played the same Christmas tunes over and over. People are only around to hear one or two songs. Travis had a good idea!! I think people were more inclined to give them money since they were actually playing recognizable music and were dressed decently. The guitarist down the street gave up after a while. He was just smoking and strumming away with his filthy hair hanging in his face. Who would you give money to?

Later that night, Morgan finally finished her masterpiece. The next morning, he was busy helping out:

Have you ever seen anything so adorable?

Merry Christmas to all!!

More Dancing, Running, and Working

The past week was a rough one. My face is on the mend; however, it still really hurts to wipe my nose and my nose has needed wiping. The Golden Girls sold $300 in candy grams which was a huge success in my mind. We were hoping for $100. This afternoon Lani and McCall came over and we all put them together and sorted them by teacher and have them all ready to go!! What a relief to have my fundraiser done!!

Saturday brought Maddie's dance performance at the Christmas festival here on the Island. She really likes being in the company at her new studio and looks forward to competing. She likes the team feeling!! She performed two dances and looked just beautiful. This one is my favorite!

They do a little kick line in the jazz dance.

Here is the entire company, the teachers, and Santa.

Maddie and Degas have been dancing together since they were three years old.

While we were watching the dancing, Morgan was at work toasting buns. Some of her friends came by and left their calling card on her car windows. Every window was covered. They even got the sun roof!! It says "We got even got this!" She was actually quite thrilled and can't wait to drive it to school. We had her clean the windshield to be able to drive.

After work, Morgan, Travis, and Tara ran a nighttime 5K. The route was lined with luminaries. She really enjoyed this one. Her finishing time was 3 minutes faster than her last race. She really liked this tshirt.

That concludes this past weekend's activities. It will be another crazy week, but after that - VACATION!!

A shout out to my sister who is 43 today. It will always be memorable because there was this crazy blizzard, church was cancelled, and the Metrodome roof collapsed and there are super cool videos of the collapse. Happy birthday, Sara.