Back to School

Could the summer have gone by any faster??? I just realized we are already 3 weeks into the school year. Things are off to a busy start again. Here are the updates: Erin - Erin is really enjoying her classes. She set a goal of 1,000 AR points this year. She got about 150 points this summer. I think 1,000 is a little bit of a stretch, but who knows. Erin is playing volleyball on the B team. Their first game is this week. Erin loves her coaches. We couldn't ask for better people to be with Erin...Coach Morgan and Coach Sirman rule! So far, Erin hasn't had a lot of homework, so she has been able to read quite a bit. Erin's first football game to cheer at is in a couple of weeks in Cameron. Elizabeth may try and make it down for her first game. Emily - Emily decided not to do athletics this year. There were a couple of coaches disappointed, but understood she wanted to concentrate on academics. She is a varsity cheerleader this year. She has had a lot of fun so far. She found out quick how tough sophomore year can be...lots of work! She has managed to keep up with everything. It helps she doesn't have too many things going on so she can stay on top of her school work. Emily got all of her AR points needed for school this summer...she did not enjoy having to deal with reading and testing this summer, but she just made the comment how glad she was it was out of the way. Em has her learner's permit, so she has started chauffeuring Melinda back and forth to school. Can't believe it's already time for her to drive. Em went hunting with Keaton for the first time. Didn't get any dove, but practice shooting a milk carton with a bow and killed it. She is excited about hunting now (she has camo hat and shirt). Elizabeth - We moved E into her dorm at Texas A&M. Everybody was a little sad, but E is having a great time. She has made it to 2 yell practices, and 2 home games. Unfortunately, she has had to sit in the 3rd deck for both games. This saturdays game against Alabama will probably find her in the 3rd deck again. We spent an entire day (8am-10pm) getting E moved in and settled. Very long day, but her room looked really good. She really likes her professors and can actually understand them all...YEA!!! She is deciding on an organization to join since she decided against a sorority. She is thinking the Aggie Belles, but she wants to take time to be sure. She just got a job on campus helping to set up conferences. The person in charge will let her sit in on any accounting conferences so she can see budgeting, etc. Right now, she is thinking about 25-30 hours per week. Great thing about the job is they told her 3 separate time that school comes first. If she needs off to study for a quiz, etc she can take it. We'll see how things go and how she handles the hours. She came home this past weekend to see Em cheer at her first home game. It was a quick visit - she went back to B/CS the next day for the football game. Dad gets to see Elizabeth a little more than everyone else since he goes to B/CS for work. Melinda - Mel started back to work and really likes the kids this year. Hopefully, this year will not be as challenging as last year. She has been spending crazy amounts of time at school staying ahead of the curve and trying to be as prepared as possible. There are some changes going on at her work - some growing pains - but looks to be a good year. Melinda is looking forward to parent's weekend at A&M in October.

Summer

We got school finished and the girls are really enjoying summer. So much for the summer bringing a break from all of our running around. We just seem to be running in different directions than we were before. Here's the latest update: Erin - Erin finished the year #2 in 6th grade for AR points. She took 9 or 10 tests the final 2 days of testing and it pushed her from #3 to #2. The boy who finished #1 this year is transferring, so Erin is locked onto finishing first next year. She told me her goal was to get to 1,000 AR points for next year! She seems pretty determined to get there. Erin goes to cheer camp next month. She is really excited about going, but she wishes it was at the coast like Emily's. Erin and the girls are going to Temple High School. Sounds like the Temple Middle Schools will be there, so Erin will have some of her buddies from elementary she will get to catch up with during camp. Erin has already been spending a ton of time sleeping over friend's houses and chilling. She is feverishly planning a "cool group" get together at Summer fun next week. Emily - Em finished school and jumped right into summer school. She took a speech class for 8 days that was "killing her." She was a little envious of people not having to get up and be at school by 8am during summer. The class went really well and she loved the debate portion. Who would have thought Emily likes to argue and not be wrong????? I assure you genetics has nothing to do with it...Em just got back from cheer camp in Galveston. She said it was great and the team did really well. They got 1st in the team cheer and 2nd in the team dance. Em said it was a really competitive camp this time around. Emily said the upperclassmen got first chances at trying out for All-American. By the time they got to Emily, there was 1 spot left and Emily jumped all over the chance to tryout again. Emily is the only sophomore cheering next year. Em got selected All-American for the 4th year in a row!!!! She was super excited. There were 4 or 5 girls from Academy that tried out and 2 were selected. Em gets to look forward to driver's ed next. I believe she is doing that next month. Can't believe it's almost time for Em to start driving too. Elizabeth - E finally graduated! They had a pretty cool part of the graduation ceremony entitled the History of the Class. Since they are so small, they went year by year discussing events and people joining their class. Really fun to hear them chronicle each year and some of the crazy that went on during their time. After the graduation, some family and friends joined us at El Chico (E's employer) for some lunch. We were fortunate enough to have a couple of E's graduating friends join us with their families (Arnold & Cayten). E and Melinda went to Project Graduation and got home around 6am. They had a good time but were ready to be done. After that, we went to San Antonio for a little getaway with Tia Jill, Tio Mike, Max, Julia, Abuelo, and Barb. Introduced the California family to the Salt Lick and a couple of Mexican restaurants on the river walk. If you are down at the river walk, try Maria Mia's. The food was GREAT! E was overwhelmed at how thoughtful and generous our family & friends have been with sending graduation cards and gifts. We know a lot of incredible people...what can we say! We are now getting ready for E's new student conference at A&M. She will register for her classes during the conference. This still feels like it is happening so fast. E said her dorm check in is August 18th...does that seem like it's around the corner to anyone else? We are busy trying to enjoy the summer of pre-college. We have a few trips in the discussion along with some shopping trips. Monika...don't be surprised if y'all get a call about lunch during one of the trips!

Well, we are finally coming to the end of the school year. Lots of things going on that may take more than 1 update to cover, so here is the first installment... Erin- Erin has had a great year! She just went on the trip for kids that earned at least 200 AR points. They got to go to Austin Park & Pizza. She had a great time with her buddies, but reminded us that you go for the park and NOT the pizza. Erin is really enjoying cheer practice and getting the "hang of it all." It sure helps they practice over with the high school cheerleaders, so Em is around to help out when she needs something. Erin is really excited about getting to go to cheer camp...it's at Temple High School. Erin finished the year with 563 AR points....YEA!!!! She was 2nd in her class with the total. One kid beat her with 603 points. She set a goal of 1,000 AR points for next year, so he keep the suggestions coming Moni & Callie!!! Erin got her braces off just in time for Elizabeth's graduation. Amazing how the braces off can make her look so much older...scary! Emily - Em is "winding down" from her freshman year. She put a lot of pressure on herself with her grades and class rank. We are working on doing our best and enjoying the results...regardless of what they end up. Em is loving cheer and excited to go to the coast for cheer camp. Em was really thankful for the rain this past week...running the mile and sprints was a little easier without having the Texas sun whip you along with sadistic coaches. Em and Dad went to the state track finals in Austin to see this little girl Emily ran against from Rogers run the 100M & 300M hurdles. This kid blew away our district and Em got know her some at the meets. Keep this kids name on your radar, Lauren Bedrich. She set state records in the 100M and 300M both at the meet. She is going to Texas A&M on a track scholarship and will compete in the heptathlon. She also finished second in state in the long jump and 5th in the triple jump. Em and Dad manage to get a nice sun-burn while they were yelling for Lauren at the track meet. Em is looking forward to next year (sophomore), but not too soon. Em has a vision of the summer of nothingness...I believe the quote is "I did nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be". Em has swimming, sleeping, and getting next year's AR points all finished this summer. Look out sophomore year, Em is gonna be coming for ya...... Elizabeth - - E finished her college English class and got an A...Yea!!! Starting out college with a 4.0..not too shabby. She had a great instructor, and to her surprise really enjoyed the class. We had the senior awards ceremony and scholarships a couple of weeks ago. E will be graduating top 10%, Honors, and Distinguished. She informed me that she was the only one in the top 10% to be graduating Distinguished!!! She gets to wear all 3 medals during the graduation ceremony. There is gonna be a whole lot of noise when that kid starts to walk. E is kind of sad her reign as National Honor Society President is coming to an end. She really enjoyed running the meetings, and coordinating community projects (Ronald McDonald House, etc.). E played powderpuff football with some other senior girls against the junior girls to raise some money for the folks in West. E got comfortable in the second half and started playing a little aggressive...she put a smile on Emily's face bumping into girls and throwing elbows. The juniors barely won, but it was soooo much fun to see the girls enjoying themselves on the football field. E picked up her cap, robe, and stuff for graduation. Is it really here already? E did find out which dorm she will be in next year...Rudder Hall. Rudder wasn't her first pick, but it's still a good dorm from what we hear. E did get Hannah Seela as her roommate. E and Hannah have already discussed getting together once exams are finished to plan how they will decorate their room...guess my suggestion of National Lampoon's "Animal House" didn't go over...and that's how you keep yourself out of these planning sessions, evidently. Melinda - Melinda had a challenging, but great year. She had a group that really struggled, but she was able to get a huge number of her students to pass the latest state testing. Many of the kids passed this year with Melinda that did not pass last year. The year was a bit draining as you can imagine, but Melinda loves the kids so it's a labor of love. I think we are both coming to grips that E will be off at school next year. We are planning to make this the summer of fun, so anyone wanting to join in...Come on down!!!!!!!!!

April showers bring blog posts

Ok, Ok, Ok...I know. It's been forever since I updated the blog. I was shamed into getting off my tail and updating by Monika (thanks for reminding how long its been - got busy & totally forgot). We have been very busy at the Chavez house as you can imagine. Athletics, school work, tests, trying to make sure we have everything we are supposed to fill out for Elizabeth & Texas A&M for next year...I don't think I could find my way home without my GPS anymore. Here are some updates: Erin - Erin is having a great year. She remains in the top 10% in her grade with AR points. Man, this kid loves to read. She is jumping from series to series, so it's hard for me to keep up with which book she is reading now. Thanks to Moni & Callie for the ideas. Erin has already finished 1 book you recommended and started another. Erin is 9th chair with her clarinet. She comes home complaining she isn't higher, but can't remember to bring her instrument home to practice. We think there is a correlation between no practice at home and not moving to 1st chair (Erin still isn't sure). Cue the drum roll....Erin made cheerleader for 7th grade. Yeah!!!!! She was sooooooo excited and is really looking forward to following in her sister's footsteps. Elizabeth was the greatest cheer coach ever. Melinda and I had to go to Emily's track meet in Cameron, so E took Erin to cheer practice and then worked with her afterward to make sure she had it down. E made some corrections and had Erin do things over and worked her pretty good. Erin gave Elizabeth a huge hug after she found out she made the team. Erin will get to go to cheer camp at Temple High School this summer. She can't wait to get her uniform. Erin doesn't know a thing about football, but we'll see if Dad can't coach her up a bit on what's going on. Emily - Em finally finished track season and is now done with all school athletics for the year. I know it's getting bad when she says she's ready so she has more time for homework. Emily ran varsity track all year in the 100M & 300M hurdles. She struggled a bit competing with juniors and seniors from other schools. Tried to tell her freshman aren't supposed to be on varsity...period. At the district track meet, her coach decided she was going to have Em run JV for both races. Em was really upset about having this sprung on her, since she couldn't letter in track unless she ran varsity for this meet. Em responded well by winning both races with her fastest times of the year. Hey coach...want to rethink that bright move? Em made the varsity cheer team! She was really happy & is excited about cheer camp down at the coast. Em's class rank came out and she was a little disappointed in herself. She is #7 in her class. This is based on 1 semester that kicked her tail with volleyball/cheer going so late and trying to come home and study. Em has decided she will not do volleyball next year. She is going to focus on cheer, track, and whoever is ranked #1. Elizabeth - E has 9 classes left in her college English class. To quote E, "I have 6 more classes and I will not have to read another book by Virginia Wolf ever again". E is doing great and still has her A in the class. She is starting to prepare for the AP tests. If she scores high enough on the Calculus and Physics tests, they will count as college credit. So, E could have as much as 18 hours going into her freshman year. E is really excited about A&M next year. E and Melinda are going to A&M this week for another college day. They have some appointments to make sure we have everything completed that need completion. She wants to walk around with the other students and get a feel for a day with folks rushing to class, etc. E is still up in the air about whether she will rush a sorority or not. She doesn't know anyone doing it right now, so I'll keep you updated. Elizabeth had the best time at prom. She went with some friends and their dates to eat dinner in a limo and then to the dance. E thought about who to go to prom with for the longest time, but decided to go with her best friend...Emily! She and Em joked around about everything. E was really happy she decided to go with Em (Em was totally excited and happy she asked her too). This weekend we got to see some friends we haven't seen in ages (Monika, Porter, Madden, and Callie). Callie had a soccer game in Temple, so we went to watch. It was too much fun. We didn't realize how much we miss the soccer fields, and to see little girls having the best time playing made it really cool. We got to extend our visit with them by going to dinner with their team. We were talking on the way home about how much time passes when we're so busy that we don't see friends often enough. Is it too late for a New Year's resolution???? We are going to make more time to see the people that are important to us. You can hold us to it!

Christmas

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. We sure did. Things have been a little crazy around the Chavez house...busy Bees! Here is what I can remember to share:

Erin - Erin is doing great in 6th grade. She stays on the A honor roll & is always among the top 10 kids for AR points. She has read so much she is having trouble finding a series of books she is interested in reading. She has been re-reading some books since she can't find anything that interests her. She is asking friends again about any good series, so we'll see where it goes. Erin participated in the UIL One-Act play for the middle school. She did really well and the kids did great. They didn't win, but everyone had a good time. Erin loves drama...shock, right? Erin competed in oral reading at UIL competition but didn't make it to the finals. She was pretty frustrated with herself, but shakes it off and moves on so much better than her father ever did. She says she is gonna win next year...I wouldn't bet against her! Erin had her first cotillion dance. It was a 20's theme. Erin had a great time and was happy Mom went to take pictures and have fun. Erin is trying to decide what she will participate in next year. She can cheer and participate in athletics. She is thinking volleyball, maybe cheer, and probably tennis. It's only Tuesday, so she may change her mind.

Emily - Em is doing great in her freshman year. The first couple of months were tough getting used to high school athletics and coming home late to do homework. She was averaging 3 hours a night on homework and having volleyball games 2 nights per week. She got better with time management, and volleyball season ended. She will probably play volleyball again next year. At least she knows what to expect now. Em is cheering and loving every minute of it. Em isn't sure if she wants to run track this year. I think the coaches might try and talk her into running hurdles again. I just found out Em hold the school records at Academy for the fastest times running the 100M & 300M hurdles. She was upset she didn't run faster her 8th grade year, but she had problems with a pulled hamstring all season. She wants to play tennis as well. We love the tennis coach...she is amazing! Em finished her first semester with a 98.7 average. She thinks she might be up there in her class rank. She won't find out her rank until about mid-February. She was not happy about having to wait until then, but what do you do? Em is competing in UIL competition for calculator. They went to a contest at Belton high school to warm up and she got 2nd place! No telling how many seniors, juniors and sophomores she beat. She was pretty excited! She is really looking forward to the UIL competition now.

Elizabeth - E is doing great. She got an A in her college English class. Woohoo! She ended up with straight As her first semester. Pretty impressive when you consider she is taking AP Physics, AP Calculus, Government/Economics, and Accounting with a college English class. E was elected President of the National Honor Society. She conducted ann induction ceremony and did a super job. She was so shy her first couple of years at Academy, I never would have believed she would get up in front of people and speak. She has come a long way. E was selected with another student to represent the high school in what is called the Academy Senate. The students meet with the superintendent and discuss issues, resolutions, and proposals to make the school district better. E is still working at El Chico as a hostess. E looks like she has found a roommate for next year at A&M. We've known this little girl and her family for about 10 years. E just found out another girl she was buddies with has decided to go to A&M too. She will know some people when she gets there...thank GOD!

Melinda - Mel is working away & still loving being at Academy. She has a challenging group this year, but Melinda always seems to get the kids to do well when no one else thinks they will. She is probably going to have to start tutoring after school soon, so she's gonna be a little tired and ready for spring break!

E is just a little excited about getting her acceptance letter from Texas A&M!

I think Erin is a pretty proud of her big sister!

and....a very proud Mom!

Back to school....senior year

How is it that time goes by so quickly that you notice it's been about 4 months since you've done anything on the blog? Evidently, it was pretty easy. The summer blew right by us and we start an exciting school year. Erin is in 6th grade now. She is becoming more competitive with her sisters each day. She wanted to know how long they were first chair in band because she wants to be longer. She wanted to know the highest AR totals they got for the year because "I'm gonna beat that the first semester." Erin is playing the clarinet and enjoying it. She was not happy that after her first chair test she was #8 out of 22. She seems pretty focused, so watch out. Erin is participating in the U.I.L. One Act Play competition. I believe there are about 13 kids involved. Erin is most excited about the play and the "cool" part she got. She informed me today that she is trying out for U.I.L. in math, calculator, oral reading, and spelling. We'll see how it all plays out but she's having fun so far. Erin really likes her teachers, but they aren't Mom from last year! Emily is in 9th grade...she's a Fish. She and Elizabeth have the same lunch period, so they get to see each other and talk (even though they don't sit together). Em is playing volleyball and starts. Most of the time, she enjoys it. Em is pretty focused on trying to be #1 in her class. Em is REALLY loving be a cheerleader. She made the JV squad (she was a little disappointed she didn't make varsity) and is doing great. All of her buddies are on the JV squad, so she gets to see them play when she is cheering. Em decided against playing basketball and is still trying to decide about running track. Em loves being in high school! Elizabeth is a senior this year! We know this year will go by incredibly fast, so we are trying to enjoy each moment. Elizabeth is taking a college English class (dual credit) at Temple College. She will enter college with 6 hours...Yea. E is taking AP Physics, AP Calculus, Accounting, and Economics. First day of Temple College, E was so nervous about what to expect. Everything went well and continues to, but she said she was so happy to get back to Academy and get to Physics and Calculus where things make more sense....WHAT? E is working part-time at El Chico as a hostess to earn some $$$ for college. E sent her application and other information to Texas A&M...waiting to get her acceptance letter. E was elected President of the National Honor Society for this year. They had an NHS induction ceremony today and E had to speak in front of the school as Master of Ceremonies. She did a great job. I'm guessing she will not want a job speaking in front of a large crowd of people considering how nervous she was before hand. 3 years ago, I don't think she would have done it. She has certainly grown!