Cait's Birthday Party

Sometime at the end of July we had a birthday party for Cait at The Plaza hotel here in town. I think in total there were 12 or 13 girls there. At first I doubted my decision to have all those girls. I envisioned them running all over the hotel and complaining of being bored, etc., but it turned out really well. Everyone was very well behaved and they had a lot of fun. That was probably the last "big" party that she'll have...at least until she's 16. :-) Here's a picture of Cait with her best frend Lydia.

This Goofball is 12!

Cait turned 12 on 7/3. Hard to believe...almost a teenager! This picture was taken a few weeks ago at her ballclub's Fever Fest. The rally caps worked--they ended up coming from behind to win the game (but the girls looked pretty silly out there on the field with upside down visors).

Her birthday was a nice day. After her tennis lesson that a.m. I picked her up and took her back to the office with me for a little while. Then we went to lunch at Noodles & Company. She had mac & cheese and I had buttered noodles. What else are you supposed to get at Noodles & Company? After that we went to finish her birthday present shopping--I didn't have time to squeeze it in beforehand so we finished together. We went to Scheel's to get another pair of athletic shorts (red). Then we went to Borders to get a book or 2. I forget the name of the book that she found, but it's excerpts from several children's diaries during the Holocaust. For the last couple of years she's taken some interest in the subject, and she thought this book would be especially neat because the writings are of children ages 10-18. She has already read Anne Frank's diary and really enjoyed that. Anyways, after Borders we picked up her friend Lydia and they came back to the house for a little while until I was done with work. Then I took them to the pool until 8 and we came home and had tacos (at Cait's request) and DQ cake for dessert.

It was a good day. :o)

2008 Polar Plunge

Shortly before Christmas Cait brought home some information regarding the Polar Plunge--its a fundraiser for WI Special Olympics. She thought it sounded fun...so she went for it. She raised a few dollars in pledges as part of a team from Northstar Middle School. I think group together raised $4200.00. Well today was the big day. Last Sunday when I checked the 10-day forecast, it said it was going to be 40 degrees. Not too shabby. Piece of cake! I am 100% sure it said FORTY above zero. I don't think the temperature made it above zero at all, and the windchills had to be nearing the 40 below mark. When we got up this morning we were unsure of how this was all going to pan out. It turned out okay--being that the hole they cut in the ice last night was already frozen over this morning. No jumping allowed! It was kind of a bummer, but more of a relief to the moms and dads in the crowd! A few of the girls peeled off the layers and wore their original "costumes" out to the hole...most left their snowpants/jackets/hats/gloves/scarves on. As a spectator I was freezing. I don't know when or if I've ever been that cold! Good thing the sun was out. Cait is looking forward to next year...hopefully will be a little warmer and they can actually PLUNGE!

The hole:

Running to the hole to dip (Cait in the middle with the red headband-pink shirt/black shorts):
Warming up after running around in shorts and t-shirt in below zero temps:

Go Brass!

Caitlin had her first official band concert on Tuesday evening. I must say I was quite impressed with the whole band! If my memory serves me correctly, my 6th grade band concerts were not anywhere near as exciting as this one was. They did a fantastic job! I counted the number of members on the program...there are ninety-two little musicians in the 6th grade band at Northstar Middle School. NINETY TWO. That's a lot of harmonizing to put together. Jason had to run his regular basketball practice so my friend Nikki went with me. We ended up sitting way in the back, so the pictures aren't as clear as I'd like them to be. Cait's on trombone...kind of in the middle in the pic above (the only female trombone player, I might add). This was their "section song", thus the reason all of the other kids have their backs turned.

I'm going to attempt to add a video here...in this song called "Trombo Mambo", the trombones were featured in front of the stage. Again, we were in the back and I used my digital camera to record this. It sounds pretty good...still think we need to invest in a video camera.

*Update...the video didn't work. I thought it was on track because it uploaded and then was "processing", but then I got an error message. I'll have to read some more and try again later. :(

Practice Makes Perfect!

Here's a picture of Caitlin...she's rehearsing for a concert that she has to perform in front of 6 or 7 adults. Our friends, the Wiegels, have so generously offered their ears for this little performance. Cait had to choose 10 songs to play, and then the attendees of her homemade concert have to sign in and write comments at the end. It should be fun. She's doing a good job--just needs a tad more practice. :o)