Flashback Friday

I know I have dropped the ball on Flashback Friday for a few weeks, but I am taking care of this week and next week right now.  These photos are from 2003.  Zach would have just turned 8 years old, and Savannah was 5.  Wyatt and Julia were still just dreams for us then.  Wyatt was approaching his first birthday in China, and Julia was not yet born.

I think this was the only year they ever sat on Santa's lap at the mall.  I will post the only picture of Wyatt and Julia doing that in a couple of weeks.

We used to buy season tickets to a  local playhouse that offered plays with breakfast for children.  These two photos were taken there when we visited for the Christmas play.

Zach in Action

photos courtesy of Derrick Dixon Photography

Zach is #99 in red.

Tackle!

The Wedding!

After a whirlwind couple of days, we finally reached the point of relaxing and enjoying a very special wedding.  Our preparation in this household took almost the whole week.  Savannah needed a pedicure (Tuesday appointment) and a manicure (Thursday appointment).  Savannah loved her first ever manicure and pedicure, and her nails looked fantastic! Last minute purchases had to be made, and I worked full time.  My house is destroyed, and we have to have it ready to host Thanksgiving on Friday...painting a room included in the prep.  I may sleep again in January.

The wedding was further from home than I realized, so we were late to the rehearsal.  Savannah's hair appointment (at our house with Aunt Tiffany) ran late on Friday, and we missed the start time for pre-wedding pictures. It was incredibly stressful, and I was not even the bride.

The bride, Tessa, planned the entire event almost completely solo.  She had some glitches as all brides do, such as having the caterer cancel on her the week before the wedding and learning just a couple of weeks before the wedding that dancing would not be allowed at the reception.  Tessa is so laid back.  She took it all in stride and pulled off a beautiful night.  

I did not take as many pictures as usual. Of course I am kicking myself for that today, but I was very distracted with details.  

Tessa and John just an  hour or two before they became man and wife

Savannah - maid of honor

Keeping a toddler occupied and happy...big job.  Andy helps with a mini drum lesson.

The beautiful and yummy cake.

groom's cake

Yes, I did only take a picture of two of my kids, and that is all.

Tiffany and her boys

Tara

getting ready to cut the cake

Savannah's hair looked so great that we were reluctant to pull it down.  She only required eight bobby pins to hold it in place.  That's a record!  Usually, it takes 30 or 40.

We had a great time and gained a brother-in-law.  Good times!

A Very Cool Recognition

We have had quite a week around here at the Page household.  The biggest event was the wedding of Tessa and John. I will get to that in another post because first I want to announce BIG NEWS for Zach.

Zach received All District recognition for his performance on the defensive line this year!  I honestly do not know exactly what that means, but I do know that it is a big honor, and we were so excited to receive that news via email on Thursday.  I do know that this is like making the all-star team for the district.  We also learned that one of Zach's teammates and classmates has colleges contacting him about playing college football. He and Zach are both pretty strong on the team, so we need to get those videos out there.  Zach's original college plans seem to be falling apart, so I am encouraging him to continue to do what he loves.

Way to go, Zach!

Flashback Friday

In honor of the celebration of Tessa's wedding tonight, I take you back to the last family wedding in 2009.

total cuteness

The picture that made me realize how much Zach looks like my brother.

Page party of six

My beautiful girls

a great couple, now Mom and Dad to our beloved Regan and Ira

A Disappointing End

We wrapped up two sports this week.  We knew that field hockey would come to an end this week.  We did not expect the same of football.

On Thursday we gathered with the field hockey team for the banquet.  For us the banquet was held at a super location as it is in the neighborhood right across the street from ours.  The kids ride the bus to and from school from this location, and they have all walked home from there.  A very convenient option when you have to get one child home from football just before the start of the banquet.

 It was fun to catch up with Julia's preschool teacher as she also has a daughter on the team, so we sat with her.  The food was very yummy.  If I had any future events in mind that would need a caterer, I would definitely have noted the name of the caterer.

The freshman girls

McKenna and Savannah - team big sis and lil sis

Our super goalie Allison with Savannah...these girls have gotten to be good friends this year.

The field hockey banquet came just in time for club play to start.  Savannah has her evaluation on Monday night and will start playing a couple of days a week and conditioning on the off days.  She loves field hockey and may just continue to only play club.  The school season was not really positive this year.  Savannah is not a quitter.  I worked really hard to try and talk her into quitting mid-season which is not usual for me either :)

Football also ended this week.  We played the second game of the playoffs last night.  Zach had quite the fan club when his Aunt Tiffany, Aunt Tara, Uncle Jonathan, Austin, and Logan showed up to see the game.  We had the lead going into half-time, and the game took a dramatic turn in the second half.  It was a very disheartening game.  Illegal plays from the other team that were ignored by the refs may have determined the final outcome on this one.  Going into the second half, it became very clear that our opponents were hungry to win no matter what.  We watched them tackle a player by the collar who had already gone out of bounds, several face-masks, and the worst was rolling on the leg of one of our players who wears a brace and just returned from injury. They also tried to pick a fight with our guys twice. It was clear that they sought injury as a way to get the advantage.  We were heartbroken to lose this game as this is the last year of Zach's high school career that our team would have the home field advantage all the way through the regional championship.  The game was close, and Andy observed that Zach played his personal best game yet.  Andy writes the team articles, but another parent keeps the stats.  Mr. L sent the stats to Andy with a note that he too observed that last night was Zach's best game yet.  In any case, you win some, you lose some.  Our boys are taught to play clean.  We made costly mistakes last night.  The hardest part of losing to this particular team is that they have traditionally been poor sports and have not played clean.  One of our parents reminded us that they are all kids, but this one is hard to swallow.
Parents always gather on the field after the games to congratulate the kids and hang out until the boys go to the locker rooms to change.  I did not take pictures as it was far too emotional.  Emotional teenage boys do not want that recorded for posterity.  Zach is so upset as he plays the line with a group primarily composed of seniors and feels it an  honor  to play with them.  It is hard to say goodbye to a great season.
A cool but beautiful fall night allowed us to enjoy watching two sacks, four tackles and numerous assists for Zach.  For the first time ever, the announcer referred to Zach as Bonecrusher Page when announcing his feats on the field.


Our activities continue as Wyatt played his first ever indoor soccer game this morning at 7:00a.m.  Ouch!  This momma likes her sleep on a Saturday morning.  Tonight, Julia will hit the gym to see if she can still nail a back handspring on the trampoline and will start cheer practice on Tuesday nights.

More to come from the busy Pages!

Monday update:  After reviewing the game film, Andy is convinced that our opposition was credited with a TD that they should not have had.  He reviewed this with a former football coach as well as high school football refs.  When this sort of thing happens in the regular season, it stinks.  In the playoffs, it feels like robbery.  

Your ring tells your story

I really did not think that getting the class ring would be such a big deal.  I mean, I realize it is a big deal, but I figured we would attend a short ceremony followed by a nice meal.  I say this because having worked in high school for 19 years now, I have noticed that class rings are not as popular as they once were.  

Andy was not able to attend, and I joined the parents gathered to honor this junior class on this special occasion.  Mrs. M, a much loved teacher, spoke about how your ring tells your story.  She talked about how the rings are personalized to reflect the varying personalities and experiences of the students.  Mrs. M asked the kids to play a game with her.  She made a statement (about 25 in all), and the students stood if the statement applied to them.

Some examples:

I joined this school in middle school.

I joined this school in high school.

I am a lifer (been there since kindergarten).

I did the 7th grade leaf project.

I have been on a mission trip.

I have worn a Tran hoodie.

As Zach stood for the statements about him, he decided to continue to be the class clown and put his own stamp on the situation.  He held one hand in the air and waved while tapping his chest with the other hand.  Really!?  Where did he come from?  I was painfully shy in high school.

A senior talked about what his ring means to him, and the whole ceremony was really sentimental. 

I think the students could not have walked away without knowing how very special this token of high school is.

Zach's ring includes the school mascot on one side along with his year of graduation.  The other side shows his interests in power lifting and football.  The football helmet has his actual jersey number on it.  He chose to have the cross under his stone which we thought was much better than having it encrusted on top where it could get damaged.  I was really surprised that he chose the red stone over the blue as the blue looks really nice, but Zach's ring is beautiful and he loves it.

Trevor and Zach

Zach and Christopher - friends since elementary school

Peyton, Blake, Trevor, Zach and Christopher

Blake cracks me up.  We had the luncheon at a country club, and Blake left his ring in the car.  He said it bothered him to drive with it on and that he only plans to wear it for special occasions.  hmm, you mean like the meal to celebrate receiving the ring?   He pointed out that his tie is from Trump Tower in New York, and he only wears it for special occasions.  I love that boy!

Mrs. M and Zach
I love Mrs. M.  She is a natural encourager, and she tells Zach every time she sees him that she believes in him and that he will do great things.  I think she is absolutely right!

Another milestone passed.  I know the next two years will fly, and when they are finished, I will be in the process of ordering Savannah's class ring and searching for the best college fit for her.  It really was just yesterday that they walked wide-eyed into kindergarten.

Halloween with teenagers and trick or treaters

Since Halloween fell on a Wednesday this year, we were in a bit of a bind. Both the teenagers had C-groups, and Zach's group no longer meets at our house. Andy still leads that group, so he had to be there. Therefore, I had to drive Savannah to her group, and Wyatt and Julia wanted to go trick-or-treating.  Tessa came to the rescue (she's banking all kinds of free babysitting hours for when the day comes that she needs them :).  Tessa arrived just before I left to get Savannah to her group, so the kids were able to finish putting on costumes.  I came back with only an hour for trick-or-treating before having to pick up Savannah.  Tessa handed out the treats at our house while Luigi and a fairy from Wings hit the streets.  We had a short, but great time, and the kids were pleased with the loot.

Getting Something Right

Before the week is up, I will post pictures of Zach with his brand new class ring.  You may ask how this family of six that lives paycheck to paycheck and carries more debt than we care to could afford a class ring...a very good question which leads to one thing that I did the way I should have as a mom.

When the kids were toddlers, we started savings accounts for them.  Andy was waiting tables, so he always had lots of change, and we just collected it until we had the minimum amount required to start the accounts.  Once the accounts were started, I put $5 per paycheck into each child's account.  A credit union is the way to go for this as they are more flexible than banks. For us the money came out of my check before we ever saw it, so we did not miss it.

Once the kids reached elementary school, I began to realize that we weren't likely to have extra money when the expensive years of high school arrived.  Therefore, I doubled the amounts going into their accounts when they reached fourth grade.  The difference would be there for class rings and senior pictures.  Soooo, when the order form came home for Zach's ring, we were prepared.  It arrived much earlier than we expected, but we were ready.

We certainly have made mistakes along the way from a financial perspective, but we try to stick with the budget, and saving this way was a huge help.  We did the same thing to afford their 8th grade trips. I learned the amount when they were in 6th grade and divided it up by the number of paychecks until the payments were due. I then started a vacation account and deposited the money in it.

For Zach's class ring, we did not pay for real gold. The other metals available today are durable and unlikely to tarnish, and let's face it, a class ring is a pricey token that will end up in a drawer after only one or two years of wear.  Zach was fine with it, and he was able to customize it to his liking.  Zach gets to participate in a nice tradition that goes back a couple of generations, and everyone is happy.

While we prepared for senior expenses, we did not prepare for activities and sports.  Zach was very disappointed to sit out the band trip his freshman year because we could not afford it.  Once I learned the price, I saved for his sophomore trip so that he could attend.  We continued to pay for sports, but Zach would have attended a different high school had I known how much football would cost.  It was too late to switch schools when I learned the price, and we felt very strongly that football has been really good for Zach.  Therefore, I took a second job to keep him on the field.  Now that he works, he foots some of that bill.

One of my financial mistakes has been to lock the kids' money into CDs.  It was not a really big deal, but because their savings were initially meant to pay for their first semester of college books or to buy dorm necessities, I started investing in CDs so that they would receive some interest.  Unfortunately, I did this without thinking about Zach's senior trip and locked up his money until the spring of his senior year.  The trip is pricey, and there is not much fundraising allowed.  Therefore, we will likely have to finance the trip and pay back the loan when his CD matures.  Ugh!

If you are a mom to young children, I highly recommend this way of saving.  It worked for us, and I am so glad we did it.  If only we were always so disciplined.