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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! We put up our Christmas tree and inside decorations at Thanksgiving this year – which was way early for us. We’ve enjoyed them so much that I think we have a new tradition in the making! We started putting up our lightsicles, but bad weather intervened – so that project has been left hanging, so to speak. Last year we were very late in decorating, and it hardly seemed worth it. It kind of hampered the fun of Christmas, so we fixed that this year.
One of the things she enjoys most is Wind Ensemble. The band director has an audition-only group for serious musicians, with limited spots for each instrument to keep it balanced. Then there’s also a Concert Band for all the other student musicians. Katy made Wind Ensemble, and absolutely loves it! All the kids in it play and read music very well, so they do more challenging pieces. It's also a scheduled class, so she has Wind Ensemble every day. Both bands perform at the Christmas concert, so we’re looking forward to hearing the difference for ourselves. Their concert was rescheduled, and takes place on the Tuesday before Christmas. Something that has cast a bit of a shadow over this school year is that she has missed a HUGE amount of school this fall due to being sick. Her problems probably started in the spring, but she toughed it out without complaining much. We suspected something was wrong, but didn’t know what it was. Then in August she got really sick during band camp and we ended up in the ER! The symptoms pointed to an appendicitis, but none of the tests indicated that it really was. So we’ve been “doctoring” ever since, and the poor little thing has endured test after test. (They have, however, ruled out major diseases – which is at least something.) The GI specialist we’ve been seeing suspects Celiac disease, so she’s been on a gluten free diet since mid September, but it hasn’t helped much. An early blood-screening test seemed to indicate it, but nothing since has confirmed it. They even did a capsule endoscopy, in which a lighted wireless camera the size of a large vitamin traveled the length of her digestive system, snapping pictures the whole way. The data was collected externally by means of a fairly bulky belt that made her look a little like a mad bomber, so I let her stay home that day! She still has bouts of nausea ranging from mild to severe, sometimes coupled with sharp pains in the area of her appendix. Since she is still getting sick although we’ve been strictly following the gluten-free diet, the GI doctor thought it might be from small amounts of hidden gluten in her food. So unbeknownst to him we did our own test. Thanksgiving week we let her have gluten-containing food, figuring that if this IS Celiac disease, she would get very sick very quickly. Her flute teacher and her son have true Celiac disease, and if they eat even a little wheat, they are sick within just a few hours. Well, NOTHING happened! We had pancakes, pasta, muffins and bread! It was quite a treat for Katy, since most gluten free breads resemble a blonde brick in looks, weight and taste. We’ve since gone back to the gluten-free diet, but it hasn’t changed things.
On top of all that, Kevin started a new teaching assignment this fall, and has been very busy preparing and planning. He is now in charge of the Gifted program at Crossroads Middle School, and has shifted into a new mode of teaching. Instead of having regular 6th grade classes every day, he keeps track of all the students in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades who are in the Gifted program. They have the opportunity to “test out” of various subject units in some of their regular classes, so they can do special projects with Kevin instead. His certification in multiple fields is really paying off! Each student has a detailed IEP (Individualized Educational Profile – or something close), so there’s a lot of paperwork and record keeping. But he’s really enjoying their increased attention span and ability to work more in depth, as they explore various topics of interest. This spring, he’s planning a field trip to Washington DC to see the Chinese Terracotta Warriors exhibit. Katy and I are hoping that maybe we can tag along! The really good part is that since he’s now part of the Special Education program, which is funded somewhat differently, it’s almost impossible for the administration to assign him an additional class at the High School level – like they did last year. Keeping up with that additional class was murder and practically doubled his work load. As for me, this is a roll-out year. Every three years we replace all 300+ computers during a short period of time. We’ve been very busy! Since our leases started to expire in September, we opted to stay with Windows XP instead of taking a chance on the then-unreleased Windows 7. We wouldn’t touch Vista with a 10 foot pole! But we moved up to Microsoft Office 2007 which is very different from the version we were using. Since no one really likes change, there’s been quite a bit of complaining. I’ve actually had to remind a few folks that we didn’t write it! Our staff roll-out is complete now, and in January we’ll do the Board of Directors. That should be interesting, since we’ll need to do all 60 of them in one weekend. We managed it last roll-out, so I hope it goes as smoothly this time. However, I’m anticipating a lot more complaining from them this go around, since we opted for mini netbooks instead of full-blown laptops like our staff have. Although the units are lighter and much more convenient to carry, the screens are smaller. So, the cranky callers will soon be phoning in their opinions.
Marching band season came and went in a rush. The band got new uniforms this year, and they look really cool! I am posting this year's marching band stuff here. Katy moved up to piccolo for marching band this year. This pleased her no end! Their band show this year was very sweet – and called Snowday. It was the story of a small boy wishing for snow, and getting his wish. We band parents joked that they should never again do a precipitation-themed show, because it rained for most of our football games. It rained hard. (I never in my life thought I would be going to so many football games!) After spending one of the early season games wrapped in a garbage bag (I called it my Recession Raincoat), Kevin and I both got full rain suits complete with waterproof pants. Good thing that we did! We wore them several times and were warm and dry. The band did very well at Nationals again this year; the weather cooperated and it did not rain. Against 15 other bands in their division they took second place over all, with high score awards for Music and for Overall Effect. It was a good season! Looking back on 2009, it’s been very busy, particularly toward the end -- and unfortunately not particularly good either! We will be very glad to put it behind us and move on, hopefully to better things. We wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Much love, - Julie, Kevin and Katy |
A momentous event this year was that
Katy started High School. (She went to the Homecoming dance as
friends with a boy from the marching band, hence the picture at left.
The band kids are a really good bunch, and a group of them went to the
dance together. Social update: after the dance she was "going with" another boy from
the band for a while. We're dealing with it as best we can.) She loves
High School, the ability to select her classes, and the
longer class times. She is looking forward to making her course selections
for next year and tentatively planning out the rest of High School. 
Last week was particularly bad. The
school nurse called me to take her home twice, and she missed most of the
week of school. She got very sick one night – with severe pain and nausea
that her medication didn’t even touch – so we took her to the ER again.
More tests, but STILL no conclusions!! Her pediatrician, interestingly
enough, is from Poland where Celiac disease is common. She told us that
Katy doesn’t fit the typical physical profile for the disease, since she’s
not anemically skinny. Although it’s possible that she may have Celiac disease
to some degree, she doesn’t think that’s what’s been making her
sick. So, even more tests are in store. Don't worry too much
about the picture at right – I took it with my phone, and yes, she was in
the ER, but I jokingly asked her to look pathetic. She was
feeling a bit better by that point, and willingly played along.
What
else did we do this year? Let’s see – We managed a few weekend
camping trips, and Katy went to music camp at the
Luzerne Music School for two weeks over the summer. She absolutely loved
it, and is hoping to do the four week program next summer. She
really wants to do the Conducting and Composing workshops there.