8th Grade Promotion

I could seriously go on and on about how proud I am of Carolyn.  She has attended Heritage Elementary since she was in Kindergarten and she has had a good run.  I made this quilt for Carolyn out of t-shirts she has accumulated over the years - mostly from StuCo and Sports teams... The squares in between the shirts are emboroidered with teacher's/coach's names and the years she was in their class/team/club.  I am so appreciative of my sister-in-law, Cathy, for doing those.  And it only took me two seasons (maybe just one) of "Breaking Bad" to put the whole thing together!  Sewing is rather stressful for me, so it really warmed my heart to see how excited Carolyn was through the whole process and even more when she saw the finished project. Now we just wait for cooler weather so she can actually use it!

We had an 8th grade promotion party on May 16 and she actually promoted on May 19. Carolyn was selected to give the welcome speech for her class and she was able to take a selfie with her class.  I wish the one with Dr. Santorelli had turned out, but this one will have to do.

At promotion, a few awards were given and I was such a proud mama when Carolyn's name was called as the recipient of the Diamond Club's $200 scholarship.  I laughed a bit at the ceremony when the presentor was telling about the award "The AZ Diamondbacks Diamond Club sponsors this award for a student who shows leadership qualities, has a plan to continue leading, has participated in blah blah blah..." and you could see kids kind of sit up and may have been thinking "hey, that could be me!" and then she said, "applicants had to submit and essay" - and you could see the air deflate from students as they realized, "Dang. I didn't write an eassay for anything." That $200 will definitely come in handy when we register for high school in August.  She also recieved the Kiwanis Emerging Leader Award.

Elyse Gets Contacts

I was reading some old posts and came across the one where we got our eyes checked - it was my first eye exam in 15 years.  At that time I was told I was a year away from reading glasses...I can still see just fine, so maybe I'll wait another 15 years to get them checked!

Elyse has worn glasses since that exam - almost two years - and this spring she expressed an interest in getting contacts.  I've never worn contacts, but thankfully Scott has, so he was a little help. And that reminded Scott that he needs to have his eyes checked too! We are also thankful for Auntie Alison's input as well.  Elyse agreed with Alison's happiness about being able to wear her contacts and sunglasses.

Elyse had to have her eyes examined, the doctor put the contacts in her eyes and then she practiced at the store. For a long time. Luke, the guy helping us, was a very patient man with Elyse and spent a lot of time with her making sure everything was going well. He sent us home with a pair of contacts and we were to come back in a week to see how things went.

So after that practice session with Luke, we were sent home with a set of contacts and instructions to return in a week for a re-evaluation.  We only lost one contact in that time, so the good people at Target gave us a new set and home we went to try again.  We went back after a week, tweaked the prescription a bit, ordered a  year's worth of contacts and were on our way. And Elyse had her new contacts in the mail within a couple of days.  So much easier than picking out new frames!

Happy 90th Birthday, Grandpa Ted!

My dad turned 90 on June 1, so in his honor, I baked his favorite cake:  German Chocolate with Coconut Pecan frosting and we girls enjoyed the cake in his honordown here in Arizona. Elyse and I are looking forward to celebrating his birthday in Minnesota with the rest of my family over Father's Day weekend.

Happy Birthday from AriZONA!

Student Council Elections

A year ago we were celebrating Carolyn's Student Council election win.  Carolyn had a very successful term as StuCo President and looks forward to hopefully being involved in it somehow in High School. 

Elyse was a representative for her class on Student Council and debated a long time whether or not to run for office. Originally she was going to run for Parliamentarian, because she likes a well run meeting.  Then she learned that nobody was running for Treasurer and what do the Mielke girls do best?! They run for office unopposed! And they win!

Elyse (and I) made campaign posters and she hung them up on campus.  She also had to write and give a speech in front to the 'electorol college' (the voting student body), students voted, and the next day she was announced the winner and will serve as Treasurer of Copperwood's StuCo in 2015-16.

  

End of Year Concerts

Both the girls started playing in band in 5th grade. Carolyn plays French Horn and Elyse plays trombone. Both girls also play percussion.  Elyse's new adventure at Copperwood is that they have a jazz band. She had rehearsal every Monday and Friday morning at 7 a.m.  She auditioned and was accepted in the PUSD Honor Jazz Band for next school year as well.  

Carolyn has been in choir at Heritage since 5th grade. Mrs. Walker has been her director for the last two years.

And here's Carolyn with the best elementary band director in PUSD: Mrs. Melkin.  

SAATT

Last year we hosted the First Annual Allmaras Turkey Trot (FAATT). This year it became SAATT and we had a lot of first timers joining us. It was tons of fun, as is our goal.

Order of finish: (R-L):  Jakob, Ted, Andrew, Mike, Ellen, Jill, Zona, Shea, Stephen, Carolyn, Gert, Scooter

Over 30 division (maybe even over 25...): 1st Place, Zona; 2nd Place, Gert

Veteran's Day 5K/Undy5000

I got a little crazy one weekend in November....I ran the Veteran's Day 5K on November 15 and then on Sunday the 16th did the Undy5000 with friends. It was fun - and I was pleased with both my runs. More importantly, both runs were well organized and I knew exactly where I was supposed to be going!

This is our usual 'Undy Crew' and we had so much fun.  Get your colon checked if you're over 50!