Back in the thick of it!!

We have been back at school for about 2 months and I am just now getting to updating the blog. Getting harder to find time to sit down nowadays. The girls are pretty active and Melinda is involved in a few projects with school.
Erin: she is doing great at school. Her reading has come so far since the beginning of school. She reads to Mom and Dad every night. We try and get in at least 2 books, but some days are better than others. She is having a very easy time with math so far (think Mom may have something to do with that). She is really enjoying the year. She has almost 65 AR points. Her goal by the end of the year is 100. At 100 points, she gets an AR t-shirt (very exciting stuff). It helps that Emily already has her t-shirt, so Erin wants to be like Emily. Erin is still enjoying her dance class. We can't watch the class practice now. They are preparing for the recital around May. Erin decided she wanted to play soccer, but registration was already complete. She has been kicking the ball in the backyard with Dad and doing very well. She wants to practice with Emily's team, so we'll see how that goes. Erin also wants to take karate...watch out Papa!

Emily: Em is having a lot of fun being in Melinda's class. She has 125 AR points so far. Her goal is to get at least 200 points. At 200 points, you also get a trophy at the end of year awards. Em has been very busy with her GT work (they have read "The girl from Yamhill" and are still learning Latin). They had a party, Lupercalia, with the other GT students and had to greet and speak in latin. Em said it was kind of boring, but it was ok. Emily was our tv star this month. About a week ago, Melinda's class had a reading marathon. Some local celebrities came to read to the class including Bill Jones - mayor, Diane White Delisi - congresswoman, and Kelly Barr/John - KCEN TV. They had some video they showed of them reading to the kids and Emily was front and center - TWICE! I think you can still log onto KCENTV.com and see. The anchors thanked Melinda and Beth (teaching partner) at the end of the segment. Pretty cool watching the Chavez girls dominate the news! Em starts soccer practice this week and her first game is next Saturday. She is ready to be back on the field. Em was selected to be a RedBird Reader. Pretty cool program...any kid interested submits an application and then goes through an interview (why they want to do this, etc.). There are only 10 kids taken through the whole school, and Em was one of them. The kids that particpate are strong readers that help kids having problems with reading before school. They are spending the next week and a half finding out how to help and then they are off. Em is very excited about this.

Elizabeth: E is still doing well despite all of the activities she has been doing. She had straight A's through the first semester, and still has those grades now. If she continues, she will be in the National Junior Honor Society for the second year in a row. E has been very busy the last 2 months. Her basketball team won the district championship. This was the first time they had done so in about 20 years. This was the first year E had ever played basketball. She was pretty tough by the end of the year. The coach did a great job bringing her along. She was pretty aggressive on the court. They got championsip t-shirts to celebrate their achievement. E is participating in the Duke University talent search. Kids were identified based on their scores from the state testing. Part of the talent search was having the kids take the SATs. E took the SAT @ Temple High School about 3 weeks ago. We are waiting to hear the results. We didn't let E study for the test - thought it would be a better barometer if she hadn't studied. If her score is high enough, she can participate in some classes offered through the Duke program during the summer (I think they have a nature course in TX, somewhere). I don't know if she would want to give up any of her summer. We are preparing for round 2 of Junior Cotillion - the Western dance. E got new boots and a shirt to get ready - looks very cute. Mom may go again to take pictures - not sure yet. E opted not to do track and field. She is in off-season. I think they are doing the same workouts with the track team, just no meets. E has been 2nd chair in band since last semester - they haven't been competing since then. She still thinks she can beat the 8th grader that is 1st chair when they get to compete again.

Melinda: Mel has been incredibly busy. She tutors on Tuesday and Thursday after school until 5pm or so. She is on the committee deciding which textbook/curriculum to be used for the next 10 years. She is still doing the math instructional specialist for our elementary school - working teachers to teach math effectively. She is also mentoring a new 2nd grade teacher. There never seems to be enough time in the day, but she manages to keep it all floating.

Stay tuned over the next few weeks for more pictures and info....

Happy New Year!!

Hope everyone had a happy and safe new year's celebration. We certainly did! We are quite the party family...we stayed up all the way to 10:30pm. I know, I know...how did you do it? Vacation time, so we stayed up late. We got to spend a week in San Francisco visiting family. We got to be there for the 1st birthday party for Max & Julia. The weather was cold but we got the chance to wear our new beanies, sweaters, & coats. The Chavez girls looked great!
I asked what the girls enjoyed most about their trip to California. Elizabeth & Emily said they enjoyed everything (including all the shopping they got to do @ A&F and Hollister). Melinda enjoyed the time with the babies, Max & Julia. Eric enjoyed the babies and the Ghiradelli milkshake. Erin enjoyed seeing the seagulls and sea lions (Oh Yea! and the babies). We have a lot of pictures from the trip.
The girls were anxious to get home and see Riley, but are ready to plan our next trip to California.
Erin is still beating everyone in bowling on the Wii (still can't figure out how that is happening). We are trying to get prepared to go back to work and school. The time off with the kids and family was great.
We hope everyone has a blessed new year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! We sure did at the Chavez house. We got to spend time with family and really take time with the kids. Doesn't get better than that. Here's the latest:
Erin - She is doing great. She still loves school and is doing an incredible job reading. Her favorite books seem to be most things by Dr. Seuss. She has been reading up a storm and has gotten to 36 AR points (WOW!). Erin is still enjoying her dance class...we missed a couple of classes because of hectic schedules, but she is ready to get back to dance. Erin is still getting over a sinus infection, but you can't tell with her. Aside from the occasional "my throat kind of hurts", you wouldn't know she wasn't feeling very well (tough kid). Erin really enjoyed Christmas morning. She made some reindeer food (dried oatmeal) in her class. We put it out for the reindeer on Christmas eve. Erin was excited to get to feed the reindeer as well as cookies for Santa. Erin made some good cookies for Santa (lots of sprinkles and icing). Erin's favorite present was the Wii she and the girls got from Santa. Erin has beaten the entire family at bowling. We still haven't figured out how she does it. Erin has really taken to drawing, or doodling (as she calls it). She drew a picture of Snoopy free hand that Elizabeth had for a class. The drawing was really good. She isn't sure if she wants to be an artist, a dentist, a rock star, or a model when she grows up...get ready for a whirlwind with that one!
Emily - Em is incredible. She did the play Golidlocks and the 3 Bears in latin for the Temple High School latin class. Everything went really well. She saw a cheerleader she knew, and was more excited about seeing her. Emily is in the Thornton Elementary school choir. They had quite a few Christmas performances at school and around town. Dad got to go with them to a nursing home, another elementary school, the VA, and the mall. The choir sounded great! Em really enjoys singing. They also performed at the Feast of Giving (dinner provided by H.E.B.) right before the Temple High School choir. Em is a ver creative writer. She is always writing in one of her 10,000 journals. She competed in the creative writing competition last year at UIL. She may do it again, or she may do multiple competitions (math, writing, etc). Em was invited to play on a soccer team from Corpus Christi during the state soccer tournament. We aren't sure if we are going to be able to make it, but it's cool to be invited. Emily's favorite presents were the Wii (boxing) and her new ipod nano. She already has music videos loaded with all the cool songs. Evidently 80's music is not so chic any longer.
Elizabeth - E goes into the Christmas break with all A's. She has had more homework this year than any other year. She has been able to balance all the extra school work with being a cheerleader, alternate on the volleyball team, basketball team, and band. E had a Christmas band concert that was great. Amazing the difference between the new 6th graders and the 7th/8th graders. E is 2nd chair. There is an 8th grader who is 1st chair. E has maintained 2nd chair without much time to practice. Once the basketball season is over, E thinks she can get 1st chair. E's basketball team is undefeated. Their closest game has been winning by 14 points. E is still learning the game, but works hard and has gotten pretty good. Funny to see how physical a basketball game with 7th grade girls can be (not uncommon to see elbows flying). E's favorite present was the Wii. She is really good at tennis. Fun to watch her jumping all over the living room trying to hit a backhand down the line.
Melinda - Our "family glue" has really enjoyed her time off. It always goes by far too fast. We have another week or so off & she is on strict orders not to think or talk about work until she has to go back (don't think that will be a problem). She is very excited about going to California on Dec. 27th to see our family & Max and Julia's birthday.
We have been blessed with another great year to enjoy with family and friends. Hope everyone is having a safe, happy, and relaxing holiday. Until next year...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We were very happy to see the Thanksgiving holiday come. We all needed the break from school and work. We had a great time over Thanksgiving getting together with family and even getting to see friends we never get to see often enough. Here's the latest:
Erin: Erin's class discussed the Mayflower, Pilgrims, and Indians leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday. Erin will tell you everything you wanted to know about each one. She made a picture of the Mayflower (the page was bigger than our dining room table). Erin made the sails pink with hearts because they needed more color and was cuter with hearts. Too bad the pilgrims didn't have Erin to color coordinate for them. Erin is really into reading the Dr. Seuss books now...pretty soon we'll be on Junie B. Jones. Erin received a medal (plastice #10) for getting to at least 10 AR points for her reading. She has been wearing the necklace it came on all week (still worried she will choke herself). She is still loving her dance class. We may have passed a milestone with Erin...for the first time, she said she would go sit on Santa's lap this year. I guess that guy can be a little intimidating. Erin knows Santa is watching, but doesn't want to take any chances with what she wants for Christmas. We'll keep you informed on the Santa situation.
Emily: Em is doing great at school. She is still doing very well with the Latin they are covering in her GT class (she actually seems to enjoy it). Emily's class did a production on american heroes. Emily was Clara Barton. She was great. Spoke her lines very clearly, and didn't seem nervous a bit. She is going to play Goldilocks in Goldilocks and the 3 bears for her GT class. The twist is the play is in Latin. They will have a performance for the Temple High School Latin club. Em is a little nervous about that one.
We finally finished the soccer season in 4th place. Em had another great year. She is so tough. I think if she wanted to play on a select team right now she could (I am a little impartial). She still loves to play, so Dad may coach one more season if she wants him.
Elizabeth: E finished up cheer and loved every bit of it. The weather was getting pretty bad the last 2 games, so we were short on pictures for those. E tried out for the basketball team and made it. She made the A team (they have A and B teams). They had their first game this past week and clobbered the other team. E didn't score, but did have a foul to her credit. One of the coaches told them if they didn't have at least 2 fouls, they weren't playing hard enough (love the philosophy). E is still learning what she is supposed to do, but is having fun. She is #25 in your player guide if I haven't mentioned it.
Elizabeth had her first babysitting job last night - she watched Em and Erin for 3 hours while Mom and Dad went out with some friends. Amazing how fast she has grown up.
Melinda - Nobody needed the break more than Mel. Seems she has been doing everything at the school. She finishes with her student teacher in a week (YEAH!). It will help to have one thing off her plate. The mentoring and curriculum reviews are going to be here to stay. She should have standing appointments for massages, but she won't do it. She prefers to go occasionally.
We got the chance to meet up with some of Melinda's friends (Monika, Amy, Brian, Porter,and others) over the holiday and had a lot of fun. Life gets away from you sometimes, and you forget how long it has been since we've seen old friends. Way too much time passes. We are going to do a better job of staying in touch. Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving as much as we did.

October ends..

As usual, things have been very busy at the Chavez household. The latest updates for each are:
Erin - She is doing very well at school. Amazing how much better her reading has gotten just since the beginning of school. We are currently working on her handwriting. She has a couple of journals she is going to start writing and drawing stories in to share with us. Erin had a lot of fun doing the little Wildcat cheer camp. She loved cheering at the game. Some kids were intimidated by the volume of people in the stands, but Erin seemed to soak it up. Erin had trouble deciding which Halloween costume to go with. She finally decided on Hannah Montana. Unfortunately, the guitar batteries ran out so the song wouldn't play when she was trick-or-treating, but she still had fun. Erin is still doing great with her dance class. She wants to join the swim team. We will need to look into that in the Spring or Summer.
Emily - She is doing great at school. They are currently learning Latin in her GT class (too difficult for Dad). Em and Dad went on a field trip with her GT class to a couple of museums in Fort Worth. Em really enjoyed some of the western art by Remington.
Em knew her Halloween costume right from the start...Go-go girl! She even found a hat that looked cool. She had a lot of fun trick-or-treating with the family. Em has 1 more soccer game left. She has been a rock for the team. We are currently in 3rd place. We are considering going to a 3 on 3 tournament in January. If we finish in the top 4 in our group, we get to go to nationals in San Antonio. Em is very excited about the tournament.
Elizabeth - she has been incredibly busy. She is making straight A's. She just cheered at her last football game last night. She was happy to have it over, but a little sad too. She was an alternate on the volleball team this past season and learned a lot. She is ready for next season's try-outs. Speaking of try-outs, E made the 7th grade basketball team. Look for number 25 in your game day program. Pretty cool since she has never played before. She has her first scrimmage today.
This has been a challenging year with finding the time to keep up with homework and be involved in all the activities she has been doing. So far, she has balanced them pretty well. E hasn't had the time to practice her clarinet like last year. She was invited to try-out for all-region band this past weekend. She decided not to go since she had basketball practice the same Saturday morning. E did so well on her yearly math and reading exams, she was selected to participate in the Duke University talent search. She will be taking pre-SATs some time within the next couple of months. We will get the results in May. If she scores well, she will have the chance to go to summer camps, etc. We are very excited for her.
Melinda - she has been so busy since school started. She has taken on a lot of extra responsibilities and projects this year that have really consumed more of her time. She's gotten a lot of things organized, and is enjoying it more. She has been reviewing all these math programs to decide which one (perhaps combination) would be best. She also set up the computer lab to get the math lab set up and running, and taught the teachers how to use it (way too much work). I think Melinda needs the Thanksgiving break more than any of us.

School starts

And they're off....school has started and we are finally starting to get into a routine after about 3 weeks.
Erin - She is doing great in 1st grade. She has already set herself apart from the rest. When her teacher (Ms. Tyson) asked everyone to write their numbers on a piece of paper to see how far they could write them, only Erin asked if they could use the number line above the blackboard. She wasn't supposed to notice it was there. Even Ms. Tyson had to comment that she would have loved to be in class with Erin...she couldn't remember if any previous student had noticed the numbers already there above the blackboard. Erin is doing a great job picking up her reading where she left off. Our goal is to read 2 books every night and take tests on them. Erin had her first spelling test this past Friday - she got a 100 (YEAH!!!). Erin is taking dance this year (hip hop). If anyone has had the chance to see Erin dance, you know this is right up her alley. She loved her first class. They have a recital around December..we'll keep you posted.
Emily - doing great in Melinda's class. She is still in her GT (gifted & talented) class as well. They were studying about Rome. They got to select Latin names and Em chose, Melissa. Emily loves the babysitter club book series...I think she may have read all of them by now. So far, Em hasn't received anything except a 100 on all of her homework. She has been working very hard. Em is playing soccer again...she still has that grumpy coach (Dad). She is doing very well. They won their first game...Em played half of the game helping us score and the other half as the goalie. She had a GREAT save on a girl that had gotten behind the defense. This girl came close to Em and kicked the ball high. Em jumped up and stopped the shot and then grabbed it after it bounced once (sweet save).
E - she has been really busy again. She had a change in her schedule. She decided to try out for volleyball. There were 48 girls that tried out for the team and only 24 made it. She did well, but wasn't selected. She is the first alternate (she continues to practice with the team and assists the coach with the books during the game). If any girl has to leave the team (grades, etc), E is on the team. She really enjoys volleyball. She decided to drop jazz band. With a new band director and assistant director, it wasn't as fun as it would have been last year. She is working as an aide for the librarian instead. She is still in band and cheerleading. She is very busy. She cheers at games on Monday night, volleyball on Tuesdays/Thursdays, and cheer practice on Wednesday & Friday.
Melinda is doing well with the math specialist role she assumed the beginning of the year. She teaches half the day in her class, then works with others the other half. If it sounds like too much work, it is. Melinda is still getting everything organized. Once she does, she will really enjoy helping everyone else.

End of summer - back to school

Things have started to get crazy and we are still a week away from school starting. Melinda had to go back this week. She has 2 teachers she is mentoring, 1 student teacher to work with, and work as the math specialist for the entire school. It's exhausting just saying everything she has to do this year.
We are looking forward to Emily being in Melinda's class this year. Em is pretty excited. Em is signed up for soccer again...God help her - Dad is coaching one more time. She is looking forward to seeing all her friends and getting back to work.
Erin is a teenager already (Dad, I would rather be sick than go to school). She will have the same 1st grade teacher E and Em had, Linda Tyson. She is terriffic and Erin will really enjoy her class. Erin has decided to pursue dance again. This time it will be hip-hop. She has been practicing quite a bit in the living room. Where do they pick up these moves? Certainly not Dad! We are about to start reading Junie B. Jones 1st Grader, Aloha-ha-ha and Dumb Bunny. Erin will probably let everyone know how they turn out.
E has already had her 1st cheerleader routine in front of people (6th grade orientation). She will cheer on Mondays during the 7th grade football games. She is really excited about finally getting to do cheerleading with her buddies. She has a good schedule with band and jazz band, athletics (volleyball and basketball), honors English/Math/Social Studies/Science. She is going to be really busy, but it sounds like it will be a GREAT year.