The Voss Kids

Zachary has his first band concert yesterday. They played about six different songs. There were so many first year band students, they really had to cram them on the stage. The saxophones were in the back so unfortunately we couldn't see him. They did a great job for only having been playing for 6 weeks.



Following the 6th graders, the marching band surprised the sixth graders with a performance of their show. The sixth grade band teacher commented to the sixth graders that in just 2 and a half short years, they could be the ones up on that stage in a uniform.



Zack is all excited about band now and I know 3 years from now, we will have another member in the marching band. (We could have a child in the marching band for 14 years straight if they all choose to participate.) Zack really needs to grow some to fit in the helmet though!

And now for a totally unrelated anecdote about my middle daughter. (Why is it that I am always sharing stories of how Anna gets into mischief?)

You know some days, you really just want to know what your child was thinking. Today was one of those. Arianna informed us in the car that she had invited her entire class over to our house for a sleepover on this Thursday. What???? This was news to us! She had handwritten invitations for every child in class. (Parkwood has a rule that if you want to pass out invitations at school, you have to give one to everyone in the class.) Invitations were passed out to the class before she ever thought to ask for permission. After Kevin and I both hit the roof, she informed us that most of the boys in class told her they couldn't come anyway. I informed Anna that it was inappropriate to invite boys to a sleepover. To which she replied that it was ok because she wasn't planning on kissing any of them. Kevin and I just burst out laughing. Sometimes she make it really hard to stay angry, especially with logic like that. She is going to be handful as a teenager, I just know it!

The dvd I bought at the show is the wrong format to upload but I was able to find their exhibition performance from Saturday on YouTube. (Beavercreek hosted Mid-States finals on Saturday and performed in exhibition and then they competed on Sunday at the state finals.) Or if you want to see it fullscreen, you can view it directly on YouTube here. I

For the 24th year in a row, Beavercreek has gotten a superior rating at the OMEA State Marching Band Finals. Way to go Kaylee!

I tried to get a close up of Kaylee, but unfortunately I was aiming my camera at the wrong section of the field. So all I got were pictures of drill formation. It's like playing Where's Waldo trying to find a specific person out there, even one as tall as Kaylee!


If you look close, you can see the guitar formation.



At the end of their show, they form the Aerosmith logo.

Video to come shortly if it doesn't take too long to upload.

In other news, I went to see a pain management doctor today. I am going to be getting steroid shots in my spine and traction. Joy! The traction is supposed to help suck the herniation back in so the disk can heal. I really hope this works. I don't want to have surgery.

We had Kaylee's sweet sixteen party on Sunday.

Here are the cupcakes I made for the party. The little roses are white chocolate.

The little roses in the vases are white chocolate suckers. I gave them out as favors when everyone was leaving.

Time for presents!

Make a wish!

Kaylee and her best friend Mary

Trying out Guitar Hero Aerosmith

Modeling one of her gifts.

It's hard to believe my oldest is 16 already! I feel old. Sigh.

Saturday was Beggar's night. As is our usual, we took the kids over to my parents to go trick-or-treating. Kaylee was in West Virginia for a band competition so she didn't get to go along this year. She has been enjoying the haul however.

It was my intention to make all the kids' costumes this year. I bought the patterns a couple of months ago before all the issues with my back. Unfortunately only Sierra's costume got finished and that was thanks to Joyce's help when they were visiting.

Sierra was Little Red Riding Hood. She got a lot of comments about how cute she looked.

Arianna went as a clown. She managed to rip off one of the pom poms the day before but grandma came to the rescue and repaired it for her.

Zachary went as Darth Vader. We found a cloak at CVS and he already had the voice changing mask. Turns out you can get some pretty good deals on costumes if you buy them on October 31st LOL.

My grandpa has shingles so this was the first year that we didn't get to make a stop at their house. I was bummed grandma didn't get to see the kids in their costumes but I am going to mail her some pictures.

It was pretty cold out so the kids only lasted a little over an hour. They still got a ton of candy though. We finished off the evening by watching Ghostbusters. (And I still can't get that song out of my head 2 days later!) Kaylee didn't get home from her band competition until 3 am! So it made for a long day.

It was a busy weekend for us. Kevin's parents came to visit us on Thursday for a couple of days. We all enjoyed getting to see them. They were able to help Kevin with a couple of projects that he never seems to get around to completing (given the fact that I can't do much in my current state.) And thanks to Joyce, Sierra's halloween costume got finished. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! (Although this year, I did have an excuse.) It was a nice visit and the kids really enjoyed getting to see their grandparents.

We had invited them to see Kaylee's marching band perform at the last football game of the year. Kevin had jokingly said that if this game was rained out he was no longer going to invite any family to see Kaylee perform. (Alan and Ruth tried to see her last year and the game was rained out.) Well wouldn't you know it, they didn't perform because it rained on Friday!

This was the beginning of our busy weekend. Pictures of Trick-or-treating and Kaylee's sweet sixteen party are coming soon.

I thought I would share some recent pictures from the girls' school. Anna's class held a pumpkin decorating contest. The only stipulation was that they were not allowed to carve it. This is what Anna, mommy, and daddy came up with.

We raided my craft closet for foam and straight pins. In case you can't tell from the picture, it is a bird. The witches hat on top was an afterthought.

Tonight was the annual kindergarten literacy night. It was to give parents tips and ideas for helping their child to read. The kindergartners then performed several songs they had been learning including the alphabet walk and slippery fish. (The slippery fish song is the reason Sierra has a shark hat on her head.)

Oh no! Sierra's shark just got eaten by a humongous whale! It really is a cute little song. Unfortunately I could not handle the camera, camcorder, and Arianna all at the same time - so no video.

After the program, Sierra and Anna showed me their artwork posted outside the classrooms.

And on a completely different note, I had an MRI on Friday.

So that is the reason I haven't been able to sit down for 2 months! Now we know for certain I have a ruptured disk. At least I was able to have an open MRI so I didn't have to deal with a panic attack from claustrophobia on top of everything else. My doctor is pushing surgery but I am leaning towards trying steroid shots first. That and an inversion table where you hang upside down to decompress the spine. (And Kevin if you are reading this, you are not under any circumstances to take any pictures of me hanging upside down LOL)

Happy Autumn! I hope all is well with everyone.