HoCo DIY Version

Tonight was Evan’s turn to attend homecoming festivities. He and his girlfriend Makinley celebrated in Nashville by having dinner with friends. The kids planned pictures on the pedestrian bridge, dinner at a restaurant near the river, and an after party in Clarksville. Finding a date she didn’t have to cheer and he didn’t have a soccer game almost proved too much, but when a date was finally chosen, the kids put it all together. True to our day and time three people canceled at the last minute after one student tested positive for Covid, and the others had direct contact. 

I’m so happy that there is some normalcy to this school year - especially with it being Evan’s senior year - even if it requires a bit of work on our part. I bought Evan new clothes and shoes, scheduled a haircut, had the Jeep detailed, paid to have the pants altered, and was sure to order a corsage. All of this for a couple of hours of fun, but this last pic says it was all worth it. 

It Must be Monday Night

It must be Monday night. It’s almost 1000, and Evan is on the front porch wrapped in his Cowboys blanket, guzzling caffeine, and reading - just as he has done every Monday for the past two months.

He has AP Lit tomorrow morning and has forty pages to read in “The Kite Runner.” He’s only known since last Thursday, his last day of class. He chose not to read in the hotel this weekend, he chose not to read once he was home last night, and he chose not to read when he got home from early dismissal today. 

40 pages?!?? Cramming is always better! Just ask him. He must take after his dad. 

College Visit #2

We drove to Birmingham last night and toured UAB today. While downtown Birmingham has some room for improvement, UAB, in the heart of downtown, put on an impressive show. We arrived to sirens blaring and traffic and crowds. We were quickly turned off. 

Once we got on campus, though, it was as if we left the city behind. The facilities were all new. The housing was very nice and the list of degree programs was impressive. This was important since Evan has explored sports communication, physical therapy, and political science as possible interests.

Next up are the schools in Louisville.

College Visit #1

We drove south from Cullman to Auburn to tour UA. The campus was dead due to fall break, but I loved the quaint downtown. 

We had pizza for lunch, walked to the football stadium,  (because we have priorities that include athletic traditions over a specific major) 

And then continued back to downtown for ice cream. I was expecting a sprawling campus, but it was completely walkable. I was expecting a student population of 40000, but it’s closer to 25000. I was looking for older, historic buildings, but it was fairly modern. 

We finished our tour by driving to the soccer stadium and the IM fields. Since we left with a hat, I can only assume Evan has put Auburn on his short list.

This Just Happened

This came in today’s mail. 

Evan was nominated for the Congress Global Good Award of Excellence for outstanding academic achievement, leadership potential, and determination to serve humanity in the STEM fields. (I’m not sure I can process the wordiness of that title. I feel like George Orwell’s six rules for writing should have been referenced before that title was written.) He’s invited to attend a three day workshop at Harvard next June.

I’m not sure if we should be flattered or consider this as junk mail. First, Evan’s career choice is sports law. That hardly coincides with a STEM field. Next, Evan’s only desire to serve humanity is if it involves the Republican Party and persuading anyone who will listen why Trump should serve two terms. I’m not sure Evan’s the candidate this organization is looking for. 

But we will add it to his resume just the same. I’m so stinkin’ proud of him and his achievements!

Academic Awards

More than 500 of the 2000 students were recognized today at the high school for academic achievement. Evan was awarded academic honors for having no grade below 85 and a cumulative average of at least 93. 

To celebrate his hard work, I took him to breakfast. Tonight he’s back to the grind doing extra credit for chemistry and Spanish homework. 

I’m so proud of him!

The World is His

Evan didn’t talk until he was almost three. He was diagnosed with apraxia at 21 months, and we were warned he might not be able to ever communicate with us verbally. His first word was a German word and he called me by my first name until he was four. He communicated with us for two years primarily in baby sign and used two signs exclusively: milk and more. He cried for the first time at eight months. No joke. 

His quirks in language development have actually been something I’ve found quite interesting. I would love to find the therapist who misdiagnosed him. I would like to share with her that he has a 32 on the ACT in reading / 30 in language and share with her he was inducted into the Spanish National Honor Society tonight. He was never apraxic, but he also didn’t follow any “normal” path in learning to communicate. 

Now look at him. The world is his! 

Summer Camp

Two weeks ago Evan was nominated by his English teacher to attend a leadership summit for highschool students at Harvard or Yale. That sounded too good to be true.

Wednesday we received a letter notifying us he had been nominated to attend the National Student Leadership Conference in Chicago or New York. We had decided to send him to Northwestern to attend the sports management leadership camp. 

Then Friday he received an invite to attend George Mason’s journalism and broadcasting camp while earning college credit! The invites just keeping getting better and better! He’s almost decided to attend both Northwestern and George Mason. Now I need 5k and stat!

He’s searching sports broadcasting schools, calculating driving distance, and looking at admission rates for Northwestern and other schools with leading sports journalism programs. I cannot believe we are in this phase of life!

Nomination

This came in the mail today. 

Evan was nominated by his English teacher to participate in a summer leadership summit. He has a choice of participating at either Harvard or Yale. Ironically, he was nominated by his third grade teacher for the sister program when we lived in Georgia.

Congratulations, Evan! 

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above self.” Ph 2:3

I can’t wait to see how you change the world!

HOCO

It’s Homecoming! Last year, Evan was playing soccer this weekend and heartbroken over his breakup with his long time girlfriend. One year later and he has a new love. Although not a very social teen and not wild about school dances, the idea of dressing up was much more palatable when he learned he could wear Cowboys colors!

Funny story. A family new to Rossview posted in a chat that they were military and PCS’ing here from Texas. For homecoming, the mom had gone to the florist to order a mum for her daughter. The florist brought out a potted mum! Suffice it to say, mums are strictly a Texas thing. We did a nice, simple corsage. 

Because I couldn’t decide which I liked better, it’s the full photo collection.

Because I had to. It might be my favorite of us.

“Mom, STOP! What are you doing?”

Pictures. Dinner. Game. Dance. I’m ready for bed and all I did was pictures. 

Hoco Promposal

Evan texted Madalyn today to tell her he bought a puzzle and wanted to put it together tonight. Madalyn didn’t think a puzzle was a fun way to spend a Saturday night, but she likes Evan enough and agreed to his crazy idea. Little did she know.

The Hoco Promposal. “The only piece I’m missing is you. Hoco 2018?”

She said yes!

My Morrie

Evan read “Tuesday’s with Morrie” for his English class. For extra credit, he was tasked with finding his own “Morrie” and conducting an interview. He chose to interview his 91 year old great-grandmother, Moo. Sunday afternoon he interviewed her on the phone.

After Thursday’s soccer practice (yes, he was released Tuesday to play again), he typed his interview answers. (He’s a master procrastinator.) And at 10:56, he glued the final piece on the poster board. 

Moo wants to know if he got a 100. 😊

Mom and Son Conversation

Evan: "Mom, why don't you leave post and come work in the county. You would love it at Rossview. The teachers are young and teach like you do. You'd get along great with them! And if you're having a bad day, just go spend a few minutes in the foreign language bathrooms."

"Why would I do that?"

"That's the bathroom the students use to smoke pot. You'd feel happy in no time!"

Student of the Week

This quarter the middle school started an incentive program to encourage positive behavior. Evan won it this week; his math teacher chose him.  

 

I couldn't believe Evan had won before Keagan. Evan is sarcastic, the class clown, and pushes the limit, but his teachers love him. He has regular conversations with teachers that he doesn't even have. Keagan does his homework as soon as he gets home, panics if he doesn't have his homework in the right pocket of his binder, and tries his best to be everyone's friend. So I  asked Keagan why he hadn't won yet. He said, "I don't know ... They keep pickin' the kids who just sit in their desks and don't talk."

Spirit Week

It's Spirit Week at the middle and high school. Today was decades day, the 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s. My boy chose 60s, as in 1860s and went as a cowboy. 

His best friend went as an Indian, and the two of them told anybody who would listen that they like to play Cowboys and Indians on the weekends. If that wasn't funny enough they also said they pretend the cows on Specer's farm are actually bison and they pretend to hunt them with bow and arrow.

It was either that or go with the year 1660 and dress as Puritans.

End of Year Awards

Oh, be still by heart! He may not be my shy and quiet little boy any more, but he is still smart!

 

 

 Today he was awarded academic excellence in math and science.

I Don't Even Know You Any More

First, let me mention I had to stand on my tippy-toes to get this pic.

Next, the name of this pseudo-award system in language arts is The Duckie Awards. Ducks remind me of farms and nurseries, not advanced language. The hemisphere of my brain that tends to interpret everything in a very literal way is struggling with this. My brain says no when my heart wants to love a unique idea. 

Finally, it's like I don't even know you any more, Big E. You come home from school every day taller, changing before my eyes. Then, you get in trouble for talking when you barely say ten words on any given afternoon at the house. And today you leave language class with the microphone award for being the LOUDEST student in the class. Who are you any more? 

Be sure that your dad will remember this when he asks you to repeat something for the third time because you don't talk loud enough.

It's All Good

I got an email today from a teacher. And it was not good news. Evan got in trouble in class for excessive talking and because this same teacher has referred to him as Ethan for almost half of the year, I had to wonder if she had the right kid. Here's why. My kid? He answers every question with the one syllable "good." My boy? He says fewer than ten words per day at home. My guy? He has never been in trouble before, except for the broken spoon in first grade. So I had to ask him about it, and he said, "Yeah, I got moved."  And that was that. He had used up his word allotment for the day in language class and had no more for me. 

Head to Head

These two, 18 and 10, usually play with each other on the travel soccer team, but tonight they played against each other in a middle school soccer game. With one playing forward and the other defense, it made for a great head-to-head match up!

I have to tell you that my boy won every battle. He was faster and was able to push, or elbow, if you prefer for me to be a bit more specific, just a little harder.

Unfortunately, we lost 0 to 1. Quite frankly, after losing two games in a row, our season doesn't look very promising this year. After winning the championship last year, this is a bit difficult to swallow. We are perfecting losing gracefully.

Evan's Secret Talent

Most people know Evan is a talented athlete. He can play soccer, throw a football, and has almost perfected the fade away, but few people know he has a great talent in his ability to argue. I'm serious. My boy of few words becomes verbose and thrives with a good debate. He argues with Wes about immigration, gun control, teen suicide, or the probability of rain until Wes gets so frustrated he yells, " Shut your mouth! You know nothing!" 

Today, in creative dramatics, a mandated class that Evan has found useless until today, he got to role play in a presidential debate. He played the role of Cruz. "Trump", aka a 13 year old peer, began the debate with a bold statement, "All Muslims will be expelled from the U.S. when I become president." Evan countered, and the boy claimed "too many Muslims are associated with ISIS and we can't take the risk of anyone harming us." The class cheered.

Evan said he looked at the black kids and argued that some black people are members of gangs so maybe this means we should imprison all blacks. Then he looked at the Latinos and explained that some Mexicans are members of a drug cartel so we should send all Mexicans back home. When everyone disagreed, Evan asked, "Then how can we say all Muslims are bad? We can't blame a group of people of actions that just a few are actually guilty."

The crowd cheered again and Evan won with a vote of 18 to 2. When retelling the events this afternoon, his face was full of expression and excitement. You could totally see he was in his element debating...and winning. 

I foresee a debate team in our near future.