National Band Competition

November 8th was the National Band Championship in Annapolis for Daniel and Julia. They had a great show, and put on their best performance ever.



Their High School band proudly marches onto the Navy Marine Corps Stadium.

Dave was a member of pit crew. Here they hurriedly put out the equipment and props for the band before their show.


Daniel, the trombone section leader, had a solo in the show.



Great job Daniel and Julia!

An Invitation for Lunch

Hello Cheri
Would you like lunch with me at Green Turtle? It will be on me. Call me and we will discuss times.
I HEART CHERI!

I saw this email this morning from my husband. We like to have lunch together at times, but we usually don't talk about where we'll eat until I meet him. I thought it was thoughtful of him to think it through--and to invite me by email was different too. I wondered about the 'I HEART Cheri'. His standard signature closing has oxoxoxx, but I thought it was very sweet.

I was going to email a reply when I saw that it said to call, so I called him at work. I teased him that since it said 'It will be on me' that I decided I'd like to go. He seemed happy to get together but seemed confused. He asked if I was sure that he had sent the email. Since the email came from his email address, I assumed he was kidding around. But after talking some more we realized that it was 'innocent' little Andrea who had borrowed his phone last night and asked how to get into his contacts--and had done this good deed. Thanks, Andrea. Dad and I are having lunch tomorrow.

Happy Halloween

For Halloween it was the first year that Dave didn't take children 'trick-or-treating'. Andrea went with a friend's family in their neighborhood, and Julia had friends over.

I gave out candy, and Daniel sat on a bench with a ski mask. Many kids were stumped over whether he was 'real' on not. He didn't move or talk at all, but he felt bad when one small child cried when seeing him.









Everyone likes to carve their own pumpkin. That's my friendly face created with a drill, Andrea's ghost, and Daniel's jack-o-lantern.

Dave carved one not shown, and Julia didn't have time to carve--so hers became pumpkin pie, and tonight's interesting pumpkin soup.

End of CrossCountry

Here's Daniel at the end of his successful cross-country season!

Grandma?

Our daughter Kara and son-in-law Luke have announced that they are expecting a baby in mid-March. Kara is halfway through her pregnancy and doing great.

She is working full-time at a day care in the Denver area until the baby is born. They'll be moving from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom apartment in November. I'm looking forward to going out there in March to see the three of them!

Halloween concert

This is a ridiculous picture from last night, but the only one I attempted.

Daniel and Julia performed in a free Halloween concert at their school. (Donations went to the local pediatric ward.) Dan was in Madrigals, orchestra and Men's Chorus, Julia in Women's Chorus, and they were both here in Concert Choir [I don't think you'll be able to pick them out. :) ]

Dan's jack-o-lantern won a spot in the decorations.

New faucet

Old, leaky faucet

New faucet installed recently by my handy husband, David. Yea!

We had a great visit with Dave's brother about a week ago who said that he has the same faucet, so we must have picked a good one. :)

Homecoming week

For Homecoming week, this is Daniel's costume one day. It's very different than his normal school attire. On Saturday, Daniel and Julia were scheduled to play in the band for the school parade and football game, but due to rain they didn't play.



That evening Julia invited 20 friends to our house for a potluck dinner before the dance. I think they had a good time. Everyone brought a lot of great food.

Daniel and Andrea went to the Halloween party at the church. Daniel was in charge of getting activities ready that the young men supervised, while Andrea went from car to car parked in the lot getting candy with her friends.

Andrea Entertains

Andrea entertains us in various ways. This particular day she provided glasses for everyone to wear. She even wore them to a friend's birthday party.


















On this Friday, she wanted pizza for dinner. So, she got Dave and I to sign a paper saying that we love our daughter Andrea. Next thing we knew the paper now had our signatures promising pizza that night. She was persuasive enough to get her wish.

PJ

Andrea got this kit last Christmas to make PJ, the adorable stuffed monkey. She had a day off school and we finally got around to finishing him. It's a clever pattern--cut from 2 socks.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Julia. Sweet Sixteen on October 8. Because of her busy band schedule, her party with friends was not until last Friday--almost 3 weeks later.

Professional Site

While this blog chronicles our family activities and occasionally my 'learning to get along' books, I have decided to also start up a professional site for things I'm doing as an author. It's titled, CheriJMeiners, M.Ed. Click HERE to check it out.

Get Your Hacky-Sacks

A few years ago our son James bought a box of hacky-sacks as an entrepreneurial adventure. He still had quite a few of them when he left for a two-year mission to California in January.

Our ten-year-old daughter Andrea got the idea of having a stand in front of our yard and selling them for him to help raise money for his mission. Her sign said in large letters, "Get your hacky-sacks". Lots of neighbors responded to the request. They were quite supportive of her fundraiser, and she made a few dollars to send to James.

I am proud of her initiative, and for donating her time and the earned money to her brother, while he is donating his energy full-time to helping others.

Awards Luncheon

Metro Atlanta Corporate Volunteer Council MACVC IMPACT Awards Luncheon Saluting Corporate Volunteerism Event
Thursday, Sep 18, 2008 12:00PM - 1:30PM Atlanta, GA

The 11th Annual IMPACT Awards Program will feature a nonprofit fair, luncheon and awards ceremony. Attendees will be able to network, learn about some outstanding corporate volunteer programs, and greet the 2008 IMPACT award finalists, as well as the recipient of the 2008 Carol D. Reiser. (from dogood.ajc.com)



As the recipient of the 2008 Carol D. Reiser award, I was flown to Atlanta on Wednesday. I was picked up by Linda, the director of the Corporate Volunteer Council (CVC) of Atlanta at about 6:00 pm. We went right to dinner with three past directors of the Council. They were all well acquainted with Carol D. Reiser and told me how she co-founded the CVC and did much to promote volunteerism in Atlanta and other cities. When she died in 2002 the children's book award was established in her honor.

I stayed at the Glenn Hotel and Thursday morning we went to the Georgia Aquarium

where the luncheon for 400 business members of the CVC met.

Local children sang in a children's choir. I then read my book, 'Reach Out and Give' to 12 3rd-graders from that group. During the rehearsal with the children, one boy politely raised his hand after I read to them and asked, "Could you read the book again?"

After reading to them again (during the luncheon) I received my award and then spoke briefly. The CVC also gave an award to the corporation who had given the most volunteer service that year, and it was great to see all the innovative things they were doing for their community.

Happy Birthday, Daniel

Daniel turned 18 on September 6. Sorry I don't have pictures. We had a party with the family in the afternoon with his birthday falling on a Saturday. That night he had about 20 friends over for a party.

Hope you had a great time, Dan.

Madrigals Sing at Oriole's Game

We heard a great rendition of the Star Spangled Banner on September 5th at the Oriole's baseball game in Baltimore. Daniel and the other Madrigal singers from his school dazzled thousands in the stands with their a cappella arrangement of the national anthem. Tradition in Baltimore is that whether or not people in the audience sing along, everyone gives a big "OOOOOHH" (for Orioles) at the beginning ('Oh, Say can you see.'..) and middle of the song.

Erika was with us--the night before she flew back to school, so it was a fun family event, as well as seeing other families we know from their school.

This is not the first time our children have performed at the Oriole's stadium, though. Erika, Daniel and Julia have performed there with their middle school band.

So, it doesn't really matter much that the Orioles gave up 8 runs in one inning--the best part was already over.

Happy Birthday, Dave!

We had an enjoyable time together for Dave's birthday. It was during the 3-week period that Erika was home, so it was fun to have her with us as well as Daniel, Julia and Andrea.





His T-shirt is correct: He actually is the World's Greatest Dad.


Andrea played 'Happy Birthday to you' on the flute for him.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

First Day of School, 2008

Andrea was excited to begin middle school, 6th grade. She had already met her teachers and figured out how to open her locker the week before.

Daniel is a Senior this year, and Julia is a Junior. They leave at 5:30am to attend Seminary (a religion class) each day at their teacher's house, and then leave for school about 7:00am. They slipped out before I remembered to get their picture on the first day --but I don't think they're too upset about it.

Dr. Silverman reads 'Try and Stick With it"

Dr. Robyn Silverman has developed a program for schools called Powerful Word. For July the Powerful Word was Determination. Click on this post title to see her blog. There's an interesting clip of her reading my book, 'Try and Stick with it' as well as her online interview with me.

2008 Carol D. Reiser Book Award

FREE SPIRIT ANNOUNCES AWARD WIN

Great News!

Reach Out and Give (ISBN 978-1-57542-204-6) by Cheri J. Meiners, M.Ed., has won the Carol D. Reiser Children’s Book Award, presented annually to the children’s book that most effectively inspires community service and volunteerism in children. The Metro Atlanta Corporate Volunteer Council established this national award.

Ms. Meiners will be flown to Atlanta for the September 18 awards luncheon, and her book will be featured in a variety of promotions, press releases, and printed materials associated with the event.


(The above email was sent to Free Spirit subscribers.)