Another School Year Ends...

Another school year has drawn to a close. It is hard to believe we have already been in Bolivar for three years.

Darcy was thrilled to begin high school this year. It was a good year for her. She had fun practice running with the cross-country track team (but couldn't be talked into actually running in meets). She just ran cross country to get in shape for soccer season. It was a smart move. All that long distance running for months before track season really improved her performance on the soccer field. (The track coach had been hoping she wouldn't make the soccer team because he wanted her badly on the track team. She had to decide between the two as the season of each runs concurrently. Soccer won out!)


The last week of school, Grant and I received a letter in the mail informing us that Darcy had been chosen for the "Teacher's Choice" award. We were invited to the all school assembly where the award would be given and were told that it was to be a surprise to Darcy, so not to tell her. We are good at keeping a secret! So good, that, the day of the assembly, Darcy was surprised to be called up and it never even crossed her mind that her parents might be in the audience. (Later, she claims she DID hear the whirring/clicking of my camera as she walked up on stage, but still it didn't dawn on her that her mother might be there making that all too familiar sound!) After the assembly, there was a cookie and punch reception for all the students who had received an award and their parents. All around us were parents paired off with their student, so happy to have his/her parents there, proudly wearing their medals around their neck. But, our own daughter was no where to be found. Finally, as the reception was beginning to clear out, I took the bull by the horns and popped into the attendance office to request that Darcy be called back out of class to come down to the reception! She came bopping across the cafeteria, big smile on her face, but her medal NO WHERE TO BE SEEN! She asked us in genuine perplexity, "Whach you doin here?" We said, "We came to the assembly to see you get your award." To which she replied, "Oh. I didn't know you were there! I wasn't going to tell you I won it." And, I bet she wouldn't have, either...little pill! The fact that she had peeled the medal off her neck as soon as she had gotten back to her seat and hidden it away leaves me thinking, she probably would not have ever thought to mention it to us!

It was her art teacher who gave her the award. The art teacher said that Darcy is her most independent student. That Darcy listens to what the teacher wants done and she gets it done...never needing to have the instructions broken down for her or repeated. She gets her work done very well completely on her own and on time. And she is always quick to help other students out who don't "get it" and have questions. I could vouch for that! She IS very independent and self-reliant! And hardly an evening passed during the school year but what some friend or another wasn't calling her up asking her to help them with their algebra homework or their biology homework. Darcy, never seemed to have any homework, herself. I asked her about that once and she shrugged her shoulders and said, "I have plenty of time to get it done at school before I come home." Once, Grant and I were in Sunday School and the other three couples at our table all had high school kids in the same grade as Darcy. The other three couples all got to commiserating about what an ordeal it had been to help their kids complete a long and involved history research paper that was due that week. Grant and I looked at each other thinking, "Oh my goodness. What research paper? Has Darcy got a project she hasn't even STARTED yet?--because we sure haven't heard ANYTHING about this!" First thing after church, we anxiously quizzed Darcy. She shrugged her shoulders and looked at us like we were nuts or something as she said, "I handed that thing in a long time ago!" I've only seen her doing school work at home a couple of times over the last three years, but she must get it all done because she always makes either straight A's or all A's with one B+.

When school starts again, Darcy will be a Sophmore. She is on Student Council next year and has enrolled in Algebra II, Geometry, Chemistry, Advanced Placement English II, Digital Imaging, Spanish II, World History, and Family Leadership/Advertising. And she is in FCCLA. And she will be playing on the soccer team again. Mind you, she is the child that claims DESPISES math, yet she CHOSE to take not one, but two math classes next year (which required approval from her current math teacher). The Digital Imaging class she is taking is normally only open to Juniors and Seniors, but she got special permission to take this class. Part of her coursework in the Digital Imaging class will be taking photographs for the yearbook and assisting with putting the year book together. From the sounds of it, she will be every bit as busy next year as she was this year!

She and Kegan are still a couple. Guess they've been an item since early February. From what I've seen with her friends, that's a record. It seems her peers "go together" for about a month max, before having a crisis break up. Darcy has been non-crisis from the get go. She was matter of fact about "going with" Kegan and she remains matter of fact about it. No trauma! No drama! They chat together on facebook messaging a lot, talk on the phone occasionally, and sometimes they meet at the theater for a Dutch date or meet at the park to just hang out and talk, while walking around the lake. She never mentions him much...but, I do catch her smiling happily at her computer screen sometimes as they message back and forth!



Doug's favorite school events are always the ones that involve dressing up! This year, one of the dress-up days the kids were to dress up as a profession they would like to have when they grow up. Doug chose to dress up like a cop doing traffic control! He HAD to have a shoulder radio, so we made one with a MP3 player! He wore the real KCPD ball cap that was originally used by a KC police officer. (Tony gave him his KCPD ball cap a couple of years ago, after he left the KC department to assume the position of police chief of Marionville.)



Doug loves school. He always has. Whenever there is a holiday, while the girls are glorying in their time off from school, Doug mourns it and counts down the days until school starts back up again. This year the approach of summer vacation was more traumatic for him than it has ever been, because he is leaving the Intermediate school and moving up to the Middle school. He knew he would not be seeing his old teachers next year as he will be in a new building across town. Evidently, that thought didn't just weigh heavy on Doug's heart, but on the hearts of his teachers as well. Two of his teachers called us (Mrs. Cribbs--his regular fifth grade teacher and Mrs. Thompson his SpEd aid) and asked if we would let them take him out for supper some evening to a Chinese restaurant. Doug had a BLAST! His teachers kept him out for three and a half hours...making the most of the evening by following the Chinese buffet up with a trip to the DQ for a blizzard! That was definitely the hightlight of his year!!!



Rayna finished out the school year with her first piano recital ever! She had her Grandma and Grandpa Bond and Her Aunt Jan and Uncle Eric in the audience as well as our whole family. She found a way to get to play more pieces than anyone else...being one of the first musicians up, she thought she was suppose to start with her DUET rather than her solo. Her teacher, who was going to accompany her on the duet didn't come up, so Rayna just played it without her! So, she got to follow that right up with her solo and then later in the program, when everyone was taking turns playing their duets, she played hers again--this time with her teacher! For her solo, she played Amazing Grace. Her duet was Aura Lee.



(Rayna with her piano teacher, Marilyn Davis.)

Rayna has been taking piano lessons for almost a year now. Mrs. Davis has been her teacher since early last Fall. Earlier this year, Rayna competed in the Gold Cup Challenge and got perfect scores in both categories she entered (Hymns and Solos). The solo had to be memorized, but contestants are allowed to use a music book for the hymn as they play in front of the judge. Rayna's judge took all her music (the judge copy of her solo, the judge copy of her hymn, AND Rayna's copy of the hymn) and, Rayna, instead of asking for HER music back, just took it in stride and played everything from memory, even though she had not planned on having to play the hymn from memory! The snafoo didn't rattle Rayna in the least! She still earned perfect marks! During her piano recital, Mrs. Davis awarded the certificates students had earned during the Gold Cup competitions earlier this year.