En Pointe!

This little dancer was thrilled when her fabulous ballet teacher, Mrs. Anoushka told her that she was ready for pointe! Last Friday we made an appointment to get her fitted for her first pair of pointe shoes! Marlie was so excited and said it was the best thing that ever happened to her! She must have tried on 10 different pairs of shoes but an hour later she narrowed it down to the perfect fit! She got to share this moment with her friend Lily Kate. The girls had so much fun and we had to celebrate after with Shirley Temples and cheesecake! 

 

Woodcreek Middle School Orchestra

So when Matt said he wanted to be in the middle school orchestra I was a little surprised. This is my athletic, sporty kid but he spent several years playing guitar and is really good at reading music and knows music theory (thank you Kristi Houlton). I was pretty excited but a little nervous on how this might go. He decided to play the viola. It's small enough to take to and from school but what he didn't know is that the viola plays on a different clef so he had to learn something new!

Well I quickly figured out why he chose orchestra for his fine art elective...Mrs. Davis, the orchestra teacher is amazing! She's really good and so nice to the kids. Their first performance was the week of Halloween and I was dreading listening to 120 first year orchestra kids play their instruments. I was completely shocked at how well they sounded.

Matt started taking lessons and got better every day. He made 1st chair most of the time on his chair tests and his private lesson instructor said he was really good. I know nothing about music but could tell it was starting to sound like the dying cat we initially heard had died and his music sounded great! 

The first year orchestra competed at the end of the year and received a score of 1 (best possible) and also won Best in Class. Here's a little clip from one of their pieces. 

That same day they had their spring show at WMS. They sounded amazing. Matt received the Outstanding Musician Award! I couldn't believe it. Were we so proud of him!

And icing on the cake...Matt just found out he made the Chamber Orchestra (kind of like the Varsity squad) for next year. Thank you Mrs. Davis, Mr. Schirmer and Mr. Ricardo for all you do for Matt and all of these kids. We can't wait to hear the Chamber play next year!!

NJHS Ceremony

Matt has had a great first year at Woodcreek Middle School. We were proud of him for being inducted into the National Junior Honor Society! It was neat seeing so many kids from Fall Creek Elementary. Congratulations!

Houston C2 Select Team Moving On Up!

Matt's baseball team is doing so well. We couldn't be more excited about our coaches, the kids on the team and how much they improve every year. They recently got moved up and now are a Premier/Majors team! Here are some pictures from a couple of tournament wins. They loved the tournament where they won a huge belt! It was hilarious! These kids have so much fun together! 

  Matt I love watching you play! You are my favorite #27! Trout and Altuve don't even come close!