The end of school

Man has the time flown by this year. We are in the middle of end of school programs, awards, etc. I know everyone at the Chavez house is looking forward to the summer. Here's the lowdown on everyone:
Erin - Erin had a great year at school. She was a straight A student all year - Yea! Her favorite subjects were science, social studies, and of course, Math. Erin did really well at the "Honeybee relays"...we called them the "Little Wildcat relays" in Temple. Erin ran the 400 relay, the 100 yard dash, and was involved in tug-of-war. Erin was mostly upset her class didn't win the tug-of-war. Erin has become quite accomplished at 4-square, and 2-square if she can't find enough people. Erin is participating in a "connect - 4 " tournament at her school. She hasn't lost a game yet. She was practicing against Dad this week, and beat him all 3 times! Erin has her dance recital this Saturday. We can't wait to see her hip-hopping all over the place. Erin may run track this summer with a Temple track team...if Dad can remember to get her signed up in time.
Emily - We just had Emily's award ceremony at school today. Em got commended on TAKS reading and math (they just found out today). She received the award for outstanding student in language arts, and some other award for math, science, and social studies. Em had a great year! Em got to go on the band trip to Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. She like the roller coaster better than anything. Em's soccer team had a great year. They made it to playoffs in San Antonio where they came in 2nd place. Because they finished in the top 2, they got to go to Houston for the state tournament. Em's team got second in State. They missed being champs by 1 point. Emily is going to play a year up (13 year olds) next season. Em is excited about getting to do school athletics next year. She is going to do summer track with Erin - Em wants to train for hurdles.
Elizabeth - E has had a great year at school too. She would have been in the National Honor Society this year, but Academy doesn't do it for freshman. Kinda weird. E has been practicing with the varsity cheer squad and really enjoys the team. It looks like she is going to be a "flier" next year. The team has cheer camp this summer at Great Wolf Lodge...a hotel that has its own indoor water park for guests. She is really excited about camp now. E received an award for A-honor roll for the year - Yea!
Melinda - no one is more excited about summer than Mel. It's been a rough year, but she has made it through. Despite the challenging kids and schedule, it looks like she has gotten 100% of her kids to pass the TAKS test. Unbelievable! We are still hoping a position in Academy opens. If that doesn't happen, Melinda will move back to 4th grade at Thornton.
Eric - probably traveling more now than ever. It's gotten harder and harder to make all of the girls activities, but so far he has been able to. Eric is looking forward to some R&R with the family...what, where, and when is still to be determined

Easter 2010

Time got away from me...again! We have remained pretty busy. We had a great Spring Break. We did some R&R in Palm Springs, CA with Abuelo and Barb. We had a great time! We went to Disneyland, the Living Desert, and the Children's Museum. We even squeezed in some ping-pong and 2-square (modified version of 4-square). Always hard to come back from such a great vacation and go back to work. We did...and made it to Easter. Easter was a lot of fun. We had everyone over to our house this year. The weather cooperated and didn't rain on the kids hunting Easter eggs. Melinda did a great job making dinner for everyone (big ups to Mel)! We are closing on the final 6 weeks of school. Melinda has TAKS tests this week. The girls have them in the next week or two. Wish us luck!

Cheerleaders!

We made it through a pretty rough week. Aside from Dad being out of town for a couple of days with work, the girls were extremely busy. We had cheerleader tryouts this week. Elizabeth and Emily have been working hard over the past few weeks preparing for tryouts with Sharon, a friend that was once a cheer judge. I am proud to say the hard work with Sharon really paid off. Elizabeth made the varsity cheer squad! There were 38 girls trying out for 12 positions. E is still floating on cloud 9. Em made the middle school cheer squad! There were 16 girls trying out for 8 positions for 7th grade. Em is really excited too. We are so proud of them and how hard they worked. What a great way to go into Spring Break!!!

SNOW!!!!

What a great day! We had about 7 inches of snow fall on Tuesday, February 23rd. The girls had an early dismissal that day because of the weather. Dad was in Fort Worth and came home early to miss some the snow and ice we were getting. We got home and decided we had to play since we never get snow. The girls had so much fun making a snowman in the front yard. They took time out to make snow-angels. Em was making hers and Erin got her with a snowball. That started the first snowball fight. We finished the snowman (I thought she looked great!) and went inside for snow-cream and to warm up. The girls didn't take too long to decide it was time for round 2 in the backyard. The snowball fight lasted a good hour. When we couldn't feel our hands or feet, they finally came inside. Times like these remind us of what's truly important. Can't wait for the next snow...

February 2010

We are back in the middle of our busy schedules. It is getting harder to find time to sit down and think of everything that has been going on since our last post. Here's our best effort:
Erin - doing great in school. She is really excited about science and the experiments they have been doing in class. Great to hear excitement about something other than recess (my best subject by the way). We are told Erin is reading on a 5th grade level. This is fun because she gets a broader selection of books to choose from to take AR tests. Erin is still dancing away...she is soooo ready for her recital already. Erin is the artist in the family. She was pretty excited shen she found out she could take art in middle school as a class. We are considering her taking an art class for fun.
Emily - doing great in school. Em has been really busy in the last couple of weeks. Soccer practice has started back up. She was asked to play with the 8th grade team against Midway's 8th grade team next week. She is excited to get out there and see how she compares. Em had cotillion last month...the theme was country and western. There are more kids from Academy in cotillion than any 2 schools put together. Em had a great time at the dance. She is a really good dancer...we know she didn't get that from Dad! Em considered switching instruments to the saxophone, but decided to stay with the clarinet. Em has decided to tryout for middle school cheerleader. Tryouts are in a couple of months.
Elizabeth - doing great in school. E has been juggling cheering at basketball games and the crazy amount of homework she been doing. E is reading "Catcher in the Rye" for her AR book. Dad has been excited to discuss it with her, but she hasn't had much time to do so yet. We are doing good to keep up with all the homework right now. She has also been reading "Great Expectations" for her class assignment. So far, she likes this book better than the others. Unfortunately, there aren't too many books she will read that have happy endings the way she likes. Cheerleader tryouts are in a few months. There are 32 girls trying out for 15 spots at the high school. Tryouts are in a couple of months. Wish E and Em luck!!!

Melinda's mom, Nancy, is having surgery tomorrow. We are praying everything goes well.

Latest Breaking News: Emily got braces!
More news soon.............

Christmas 2009

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We sure did. Holidays are just what we need to rest up and enjoy family time. We had a little bit of snow on Christmas Eve. The girls got to play in it a little, but none of it stuck to the ground. We had some ribs on Christmas Eve...this may be a new tradition. We watched "It's a Wonderful Life" - we used to be able to see the movie throughout December and not just Christmas Eve. Had a little hot chocolate and got ready for Santa. Santa was very kind to all...especially Dad. Dad got a Texas Longhorn snuggie. If you're nice, maybe he will let you borrow it when you come see us.
We got to spend all of Christmas day at our house. We had Nana, Papa, Lita, and Delane's family over for Christmas dinner. Aside from no football on TV, it was a great time.
The day after Christmas was spent at Nana and Papa's. We did gifts then. Amazing how big the family has gotten. It was a lot of fun watching the kids open gifts and spend it with Shelley's family (BJ, Hunter, and Charles).
Dad would love for the old days of football on TV. Anyone else remember having 3 channels worth of games to choose from all day long. It even seemed to go on for days. Guess that's what they mean by the good ole days.

We send Blessed Wishes for the new year and hope all are happy and healthy!

Thanksgiving

We are through November and looking at Christmas...where does the time go? This year has gone by so fast. We had a great Thanksgiving gathering with family and watching some football. Everyone ate too much, but it wouldn't be the holiday if we didn't. Hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did.
Erin - still doing great at dance. She really enjoys dance, but is thinking about doing something else next year. She has mentioned soccer and wants Dad to coach. Does she really know what she would be getting herself into with Dad coaching? We'll see if she still wants to when sign-ups start. Erin is doing great at school. When we discuss the favorite part of your day, Erin always mentions recess and lunch (my 2 favorite subjects too). She really likes science and math. She is reading the American Girl series and really likes it.
Emily - finished the soccer season. Her team finished in 3rd place (just missed the playoffs). Em had a good season. We are considering letting Em go to Houston for the ODP (Olympic Development Program) tryouts in January. I think she may still be a year away, but who knows. Em is competing in UIL again this year. She is an alternate for ready writing (creative writing), and is competing in math and calculator. They go to competition this Thursday, so wish her luck. Em has a 102 average in math...pretty bad when a 100 brings down your average.
Elizabeth - E finished cheering at her last football game of the season. It was cold, but she did great! The girls will be cheering at home basketball games this year. E has been really busy managing the workload of her freshman year. She just finished reading "Animal Farm" and hated it. She enjoys a simple, happy ending just like her Mom. She reads "Great Expectations" next.
All the girls continue to take gymnastics/tumbling. E is so close to having her roundoff backhandspring. Em is close to having her back-tuck. Erin is working on getting her roundoff into her backhandspring. So much fun to watch them get better every week.
After next week, we are on vacation....YEA!!!! Christmas will be here at the blink of an eye.