Ask and ye shall receive!

Wow! I'm making up for lost time with 2 posts in one day! Jean mentioned in her comment that she wished she could hear them. Well, here ya go! Here are two videos of the jazz band. I didn't video the concert band (with my digital camera) because it was eating up so much of my memory card. Check out that cute alto sax player with those awesome solos!

Coming up for air...

Yes, I'm still here! I did make it back from the Disney trip and hit the ground running full speed! I thought I would post quickly while the "house" is still quiet this morning and before I get busy on my lengthy "to do" list.

We had a fantastic trip to Disney! It was well-planned (if I do say so myself!) and our itinerary was scheduled down to the minute and everything was great!

Here are some pictures...

Each morning we had a buffet breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. Here is Gary with a "rasta" hat on with dreadlocks...

Here are some of our kids waiting on the Rainforest Cafe to open for breakfast. Jackson is going to be the new Drum Major next year.

The first day we went to Magic Kingdom. Look at how gorgeous the weather was...and look at how CROWDED the park was!

We rode some rides with the kids. Here we are on Thunder Mountain and I was in the front seat with another girl taking pictures the entire ride. Gary kept hollering at me to put the camera down before I lost it!

After Magic Kingdom, we had dinner reservations at Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney. It was great food and great service. Here are some of our kids...

Then we loaded the busses and went back to the Magic Kingdom for their "Wishes" nighttime fireworks spectacular. It was great...but so crowded!

Here are the Seniors making a "senior train" to keep from losing each other as they made their way back thru the crowds to the busses. This group of kids have been together in the band since 6th grade and are a very close-knit group. (that's Zack in the red shirt).

The next day we went to Epcot (Gary and I). The kids could choose whatever parks they wanted to go to each day, so it was pretty relaxed not having to keep 112 people together! Gary and I wanted to ride "Test Track" and "Soarin" at Epcot. Here he is in front of the sign that says "Dummy Assembly" (you can probably click it and see it better).

Here is Zack (left) and some of his friends at Epcot.

The next day, Gary and I decided to go to MGM/Hollywood Studios since he had never been. I tried to make the picture look like the big hat was on Gary's head, but it didn't turn out too well!

I was determined to get him on the Tower of Terror! Look at his scared little face! We had a great time!

Here we are having lunch. I am STILL on my water!!! No sodas now for about a month!

...but then I did have this...

...and he had this...

and then the whole group met at MGM/Hollywood Studios for the Fantasmic show. Oh my word! It was the first time we had seen it and it was INCREDIBLE! Best fireworks/show at Disney in my opinion!

We had done all the other parks (Magic Kingdom, MGM, Epcot) and even though we had wanted to go to Animal Kingdom, on the last day we were just wiped out! We got up and did a little shopping at Downtown Disney and thought we would just take it easy the rest of the day until the Awards Ceremony. But Zack kept texting me telling me we HAD to come to Animal Kingdom and at least see the Lion King show. So, we headed that way and I'm so glad we did!

Here is the "Tree of Life" in the center of the park. Again, look at the gorgeous sky!

Here we are on "Everest". This is my ALL TIME FAVORITE RIDE! It was awesome! I was taking pictures throughout the ride! We ended up riding it three times. Here the "yetti" supposedly ripped apart the track...we go right up to it and then the ride starts going backwards and then reverses and goes forward on a different track! It was awesome!

Here are Zack and his friends on the ride. If you enlarge it, you may be able to see him in the white shirt almost at the back on the left side (his friend Brandon is behind him also in a white shirt, with his hands raised up in the air).

And Zack was right...the Lion King show was spectacular!

Here are some pictures of our groups performing. This one is the jazz band. Zack is the 2nd from the left on the front row (alto sax).

Here is our Color Guard. They performed at the Indiana Jones theater at MGM.


Here is our concert band.


This is us on the last day waiting at the awards ceremony--looking a little hot, sweaty, and tired!

Here is our Band Director and Color Guard Coordinator receiving awards.

Here is the group of Seniors with the awards.

Y'all...I don't know how many of you are familiar with competitions, but all three of our groups SWEPT "Best in Class" awards for each of our divisions! I was boo-hooing! They all did an awesome job and the awards were the icing on the cake!

I'm still crazy busy getting ready for our band concert Monday evening, planning the end-of-the-year banquet for about 400 people Thursday evening, family comes in town Friday and then Graduation is on Sunday (18th).

I feel like I'm swirling around in an EMOTIONAL VORTEX!!! We have been with these band kids since Zack was in 6th grade, and now we are moving on and inducting new presidents Monday evening at the concert. I love each one of these kids like they are all my children. I'm going to miss them so much.

Then Graduation is a few days later. I've been crying all week! I told Gary last night that maybe I'll cry all my tears out before Graduation...he said, "ummm, yeah, I don't think so."

Jr./Sr. prom is tonight. I will take lots of pictures and post some of that and Graduation as soon as I can take a moment to breathe. I miss y'all and hope each of you are doing well. I haven't had any time to read blogs, but just know I'm thinking about ya! Oh yeah, and my heel...doing MUCH better since I got the shot! I highly recommend it!

We're outta here...

We are leaving in the morning for Disney with the band. 7 months of planning and it's finally here....woah, I'm tired already! The kids have worked hard to get ready for this competition--hopefully we'll come back with a big 'ole trophy! We'll be back Sunday and hopefully I'll have some pictures to post.

Speaking of road trips...I'm curious to know the PRICE of your GAS?! Today ours was $3.49 a gallon. I'm glad we're riding the bus!

Leave me a comment and tell me the price of your gas and your general area of the country! Maybe then I won't feel so bad about ours!

If only it really worked...

It's late, I'm tired, but I can't go to sleep! I normally don't have this problem at all--I usually am in bed between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m. and it takes me no time to fall asleep! This has been a hectic week with an even more hectic day today...

This morning I had an appt. with the orthopaedic doctor about my foot. It's been hurting for months, progressively getting worse and so I decided before we take that Disney trip next week with the band, that I had better get it checked out. I felt like I had a bone spur in my heel---I can't even convey to you adequately how painful it is---maybe like stepping on a nail every time you walk? Anyway, it was confirmed with x-rays and the Dr. told me that I could no longer wear the very cute wedge-heeled sandals that I had on and if I wanted to get better I had to...

A. wear tennis shoes for about 4 months

(are you kidding me? You are seriously putting a crimp in my fashion statement!)

B. put aside my cute sandals, heels and flip-flops

(now he's gone to meddlin'...he has no idea of my VAST love affair with the flip-flop!)

C. get a mold made of my feet for special shoe inserts for my apparent high arch

(Right. Hello, Blue Cross/Blue Shield? Yes, I have high arches and doc says I will continuously have issues with bone spurs unless I get these special inserts...can you send a check for $275?)

I proceeded to half-jokingly tell him that I could NOT wear tennis shoes for the next 4 months--I have to dress semi-professionally and how in the world would tennis shoes look with these cute outfits? I mean the horror of it all! He was sooooo not amused and in a somewhat irritated tone told me that if I wasn't go to do what he said, I would just keep suffering.

Look, mister...just 'cause you have shiny plaques all over your walls with lots of letters behind your name, and certificates with beautifully embossed gold seals all over them doesn't make you the boss of me! I mean, come on! I only sought out your expert advice to not follow it!

I'm a rebel like that...yessirree.

After our little podiatry showdown, Doc agreed to give me a shot in my heel. He came back in, needle in hand and proceeds to tell me that he can give me a shot anywhere on my body and it would be fine and I wouldn't feel a thing, but THIS was GOING TO HURT! Okay, well, hang on just a minute while I contact the A.M.A and nominate you for "Best Bedside Manner".

He was not kidding---it did hurt and it has hurt all day. And I'm not sure what else he put in that shot but all day today I was sweaty and clammy, and I mean s-w-e-a-t-y! Plus I've been bouncing off the walls, talking more than usual (which is hard to imagine), and I CAN'T SLEEP!!!

Oh yeah, one more thing...I came home from working at the school, took off my cute wedge-heeled sandals, put on my Nikes and went to meet a client for a final walk-thru. What can I say? I'm a trendsetter! Tomorrow you'll see this soon-to-be the rave all over the fashion mags! But remember, you saw it here first!

You win Doc...now put that voodoo doll away and let me get some sleep!

Safe and Sound

He's back...safe and sound! Yesterday morning he was at Niagara Falls, last night he was home, sleeping in his own bed! Even though he was exhausted, he was so eager to tell us all about the trip, give us some souvenirs he had picked up for us (so thoughtful!), and show us his pictures. I will post more pictures and details soon but right now...I'm COVERED UP in piles of laundry he brought home!

Sneaking a moment...

Gary and I both had yesterday off for a long weekend which I thought would be great to get some things done around the house that we've let go far too long. Hubby, on the other hand looks at it as extra time to prop the feet up and relax! He eventually saw it my way, after I kept poking him and grabbing his sides where he is extremely ticklish, until he agreed to get busy with our "chores".

Friday I woke up (unfortunately) at 6:20 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to walk on the treadmill and then get breakfast ready before we started our chores. We ended up working in the yard all day and really got alot done. Today we're cleaning house and I'm sneaking a few minutes to blog while I'm waiting on my floors to dry. Hubby is hard at work vacuuming the house. He hates it when I have a "to do" list, but he's good about helping me around the house.

This morning I said, doesn't the yard and deck look so nice and clean? Which he had to admit it did, but said he hated doing the work. Yeah, well. Welcome to the real world, right?!

Zack is on his way today to the Canadian side of Niagra Falls. He has called me several times and seems to be having a great time. I keep reminding him to take lots of pictures---so hopefully when he returns, I'll get to post a few. I told him I just didn't want pictures of "stuff", I wanted pictures of him AND stuff! We'll see!

I better get back to work before hubby catches me sitting here blogging! Hope y'all are having a great weekend!

Hear ye, hear ye

I just got Zack off on his senior trip. They are headed to Boston for a few days and then on to Canada to Niagra Falls. They'll be home late Sunday night. He's real excited about all the places they are going to see in Boston--among which are the Freedom Trail, the Old North Church, Paul Reveres' house, Bunker Hill monument, Boston Common, etc. Hey, does anyone remember a set of drinking cups that had the Paul Revere story on them? I can remember them from when I was young and I used to love looking at the pictures. I have no idea what my mom ever did with them.

Anyway, they'll be back late Sunday night. I told him to take lots of pictures, but he's a guy, we'll see how that goes!

I've got Friday and Monday off from school. I'm looking forward to a long weekend--I sure need it! We have house work and yard work to do, but I know we'll be resting alot too.

I still am sticking to my WATER ONLY! I really have been proud of myself for saying "no" to soda or sweet tea. Mel asked what happens after the two weeks---well, hopefully I'll stick with it and decide to cut something else out of my unhealthy diet!

That's about all that's going on around here. I hope everyone is having a good week so far!

Take the challenge...

Today is DAY 5 of my "no soda" challenge! I've been having lots of headaches and just feeling plain sluggish by the afternoon, so I decided to take the Dr. Oz challenge (if you watch Oprah, you know who and what I'm talking about). He said we would be amazed at how good we feel if we would just challenge ourselves to TWO WEEKS without soda! I still have one cup of coffee in the morning, but after that...it's only WATER the rest of the day. The second day I was having a pretty bad headache, maybe some caffeine withdrawals, but honestly, I've felt much better these past few days and can say that my body craves the water. The only downside so far is the getting up 2, 3 sometimes 4 times in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. Ugh! I'm going to try to keep it up and start focusing on a more healthy me! And by the way, "you're welcome" for the cute little Sesame Street artwork, just in case you feel like coloring, you can click on it, print it and color it. And who says I'm not a full service blog?!

Also, I saw this on Dianne's blog and thought I would take the test too. I think it's pretty accurate--I tend to be very courageous and don't back away from much. Below are my results--take the test and let me know your results too!

Which Positive Quality Are You? Your Result: Courage You are Courage. Courage is bravery, daring to do what is right in the face of adversity. Courage allows for the triumph of good over evil. "Courage does what must be done no matter what the consequences."
Love
Faith
Friendship
Charity
Peace
Which Positive Quality Are You?