MPA @ SVSU

Hi, readers.

So today was MPA. Whatever the hell that stands for, I forget.

Like in previous years, this throw-away competition was held at SVSU. This competition is a stand-alone, having nothing to do with Regionals (that we had a couple weeks ago) and States (which will be coming up next weekend.) Since it isn't as big of a deal as States, the pressure wasn't there for the girls to give it 110%, so the morning process of getting ready wasn't nearly as chaotic and teary as some competitions have been in the past (thank God.)

As usual, I was cracking the whip to make sure my family was out the door at a decent time in the morning in order to get to the SVSU gym early. We were able to get there when they were admitting pom performers, which is always a half an hour to an hour before the general public. 

However, like in previous years, the idiots working the door somehow allow parents to enter alongside the pommers if you act like you're supposed to be there early. This allowed Yours Truly to nab me and Erik's usual go-to table, which we positioned in our usual spot - right in the back of the bleachers, where our wives sit.

Chairs are way easier on one's back then bleachers are, folks, and we've perfected the art of watching six hours of pom on any given Sunday. Some pom parents play checkers. We play chess.

Anyway, I know I've said this before at some point, but at MPA competitions the judges don't award points (like they do at Regionals and States), and instead rank each team within their designated brackets (Middle School, JV, Varsity Class C/D, etc. etc.) Being at the JV level meant our girls faced some fiercer competition this year, facing off against a couple powerhouse teams from downstate. So going in the girls weren't overly optimistic about their chances, but hopeful nonetheless. 

In the end, they scored third place out of five teams, and not in last place. . . so there's that. They looked pretty good, but you could tell they weren't as tight as they were at Regionals - that's something they'll need to work on between now and next Sunday, when we all head down to Eastern Michigan University for States.

Anyway, here's the calm before the storm. Enjoy. . .

Abby and Midland JV take the 'stage' (not sure which one of these is Abby, you'd have to zoom in.)

The four pods, spread out in formation. Abby is the lone pommer at the top left - the other two kids in her pod were out sick this time around (but hopefully they'll be back for States, otherwise that's likely to cost us some points.)

The 'fire' routine - hence the yellow and red poms - kicks off.

Notice how this pic is lit/colored different than the previous pic? Abby was able to screenshot these from the 'official photographer's' order page. We weren't about to pay for these prints - they're not all that great, and only a click or so above what I was able to do with my phone from across the gymnasium.

They did pretty good, but they weren't as polished as they had been at Regionals, for sure.

(Pretty sure that's Abby fourth from the left in the kick line.)

Walking off stage following the routine, morale high.

As the next team performed in from of the audience, the aforementioned photographer snapped a bunch of kids from the team behind the giant SVSU divider (that splits the gym in half.)

Abby and Ella (of course.)

With another one of her close friends on the team, Brooklyn.

Halfway through the Class C/D varsity bracket, we had to wait for like 20 minutes for a janitor to come out and clean up vomit (yes, vomit - some poor girl puked on the gym floor during their routine.) No idea why they couldn't just grab some paper towels from the concession stand and wipe it up real fast - Erik assumed it was some union stipulation that only janitors can clean something up at the university level, but who knows.

The People's Champion

Following all of the performances, all the Pom teams circled up - per the usual - to await the judges' rankings.

Midland JV takes 3rd (out of 5. . .)

Following the announcement of the rankings - and encore performances from all the teams that took first place in each bracket - parents were allowed to come out on the floor to collect their kids and take pictures. Somebody got this one of Ella, Harper and Abby.

The Cannonball gets a .5x of her sister and her 3rd Place ribbon.

A super-pixelated team picture, courtesy of a screenshot taken from Instagram and then texted to Kris. That's about the best we got, folks.

Sister selfie.

Kris got a few of Abby posing with the team's MPA trophy.

Heading back to the car, following yet another six hours of pom bullshit.

Next up, States. See ya next week, kids.

- Brian

Northeast Pom Strikes Again

Hey guys.

Alright, so not to be confused with Regionals or States - both of which are through the Mid-American Pom Association - the Michigan Pom Association doesn't assign points to pom teams' performances, but instead simply rank them within their own classes and divisions (Middle School, JV, Varsity, College, etc.) This is the 'less' important of the two organizations, so there's less stress on the kids and, consequently, it ends up being much, more fun for them.

The table snagged (Kris and Courtney sat in the back row in front of us.) 

Today Northeast Pom competed at this year's annual event, once again (as always) at SVSU. Erik and I were able to snag our table without difficulty, as we have in previous years, that totally saved our backs this morning (sitting in stupid bleachers for hours and hours watching pom teams compete is far from fun.) Makes the half-day spent in a gymnasium much easier to stomach. In the end, the girls did okay - there's a kid on their team that keeps torpedoing 'em - but at least they didn't end up in last place (that's Jefferson's spot every year.) 

Anyway, I'll leave you now with some pics and video of the girls' performance today at SVSU. 

Check it out. . .

Backstage selfies while they did a few more last-minute rehearsals before the competition kicked off.

The team on the sidelines, checking out the floor.

Northeast was a few teams into the first bracket of schools this morning (they're a smaller division middle school, so fortunately they weren't going up against my school, or some of the downstate heavy-hitters.)

Battle formations.

A few shots I was able to get while taking video with my phone (while not the case this time around, some competitions they don't allow you to take video or pics, and your team can lose points if audience members are caught doing so.)

See if you can spot Abby in there (it's always hard with their hair all pulled up and their features hidden behind tons of make up.)

Hours later, after we had sat through over two-dozen performances, it was time for the panel of judges to tally all the team scores and rank the teams within their brackets. All the schools present came down to the floor and assumed the usual circles (no idea how a trend like this even gets started.)

Not as good as we were hoping (I thought they would have gotten 4th out of the seven teams, but whatever.)

After the scores, as folks were packing up and ready to head out, a bunch of the girls from the team found their Northeast Spanish teacher (forget her name) in the audience and got a pic taken with her. So that's the closest thing you have to a team picture this time around, folks. 

- Brian

A March Across Another April

That's seriously my only go-to when it comes to titling April's installment of monthly randoms. . .

Like March, this month was obsessed with snow.  As if Winter didn't last long enough up here in the Mitten already, April decided to play the part of clingy ex-girlfriend and dug her ratchety-painted fingernails deep into Winter's snowy arms.  The first week of the month, we had ourselves an onslaught of snow - inches worth - that didn't completely subside until half-way through the month.

How bad was it?  On April 16th, we had a f***ing Snow Day.

I'm serious.

I thought I'd be done with this nonsense in March.  Thanks, Michigan.

Snow and crappy weather aside, this month was pretty busy.  That's weird for April, since usually everyone's in Test mode, what with Michigan's huge, annual standardized test - the M-STEP - reigning over the month with an iron fist.  The lives of the girls and myself literally revolve around this test during April (the biggest testing month of the school year) so the focus these last few weeks has definitely been on that crap.  Aside from that, we found ourselves occupied with a slew of weekend activities this month, something that generally doesn't happen until May or June.

Anyway, while the first half of the month was dominated by January-ish conditions, the latter half focused more on the resurrection and rejuvenation of our yard (which, as you may recall, is more or less a small park.)  It'll be a long, love/hate battle with the grounds before it'll be back to where it was last summer, but it's truly a fight a hell of a lot more enjoyable than, say, preparing one's students for the M-STEP.

Let's do this.. .

The month kicked off with Kris texting me this picture one day at work.  Evidently, Abby 'accidentally' fell out of her chair while eating and it split apart.  After further investigating the matter - because solid-wood chairs don't just split in half like this on their own - it was determined that Abby had more or less been riding it like a bucking bronco, and therefore the damage was understandable.  Now, we weren't emotionally attached to this old set of chairs by any means:  Brian and Jill gave us the set along with a kitchen table (that we got rid of back in March of 2016) way back in 2005, when we got our first apartment, and even back then it was a hand-me-down.  We had only been holding on these chairs because our kids are still young and we didn't want them breaking anything expensive (judging by the picture above, a definite smart move on our part.)

We wanted to buy a set of six solid-wood chairs that would match the solid oak table we inherited from Granny Hough, but buying a new oak chair sets one back about $300 apiece.  The gods apparently favor the Houghs, though:  the same day Abby broke the chair, Kris learned of an estate sale in town where they were selling a solid-wood table and six matching chairs. . .  that just so happen to match our existing table.  All for $180.  She pounced on it.  The picture above shows our original chair type, in the middle, along with two styles that came with the table:  we got four chairs  that match the style on the left, and two that match the style on the right.

What about the new wood table?  We relegated that to the basement, where it has become our new arts and craft table for the kids (and where we placed the three, unbroken old kitchen chairs.)  Two birds with one stone, baby.

Our current dining room set (Kris deemed it necessary for the fifth chair to serve as her 'purse' chair.)

The sixth and final chair sits next to the piano, for Mr. Bill's weekly piano lessons.

To top it all off, the new chairs perfectly match the small rocking chair we picked up a thrift store last month.  Definitely a creepy coincidence.

The girls - Alayna especially - had been bugging Kris for weeks about dying their hair teal.  She finally relented.

Kinda-but-not-really punk rock.

One week into April.  Still snowing.

One Saturday, we drove up to Clare to hang out with Dad and Cindy.  My brothers and their families also came up, so we had some cousin time (the first time we'd done so in Clare since Christmas.)

One of my top three favorite beers.

Scarlett and Abby hanging out at the bar.

The Cannonball practices her ping-pong game. . .

Uncle Jeff, hilt-deep in cousins.

Story time with Abby, Papa and Scarlett.

Owen snags himself a new phone.

Magnaformers are like crack for my kids.

Nana, gettin' her hair did.

Our resident mad scientist tries out another experiment.

One weekend, towards the middle of the month, Kris and the girls met up with her coworker, Kim, whose daughter, Dani, is friends with Alayna.  I forget the name of this joint, but I think it's in Saginaw - has bumper cars (shown here), an arcade, a virtual reality thing, etc.

The girls fight off an alien invasion (virtually.)

Some updated shots of the kids' bedrooms, since they've evolved somewhat since last June.   This is Alayna's room.

 

(This may be the cleanest this room has ever been.)

Abby's room. . .

One day, while picking up Alayna from her girl scout  meeting (which takes place in her art teacher's classroom at Chestnut Hill), I stumbled across this literary treasure. . .

This kid's gonna go places in life.

Alayna was invited to a sleepover, 'mystery' party at her friend Dani's house.  Each kid that went had a custom identity, and they all dolled themselves up to play their part in the mystery game.  It was Hollywood-themed, hence the mini golden statues all these chicks are holding.

 

I'm soooo glad I didn't have to be involved with this - it looks like pure chaos.

My favorite craft brewery in Florida - Cigar City - finally made its way up to Michigan this month, which is awesome news.  As you may or may not recall, I had the pleasure of touring the brewery in Tampa with a couple buddies from work.

My brother Chris let me know about this lil' gem right here (we hit up Mitten Brewing in Grand Rapids a couple years ago, if you'll remember.)

Just in case you were curious, we still have snow on the ground.  Half-way through the month.

Watching the Winter from his trusted vantage point.  As usual.

Abby drew this 'birthday card' for her cousin, Blake (freckles and all.)  We had planned on going to Clare the weekend of the 15th, but the roads were so bad with ice and snow that the city ordered everyone to stay off the roads.  Seriously.  The party in Clare was postponed until the following weekend, and consequently the next day, Monday the 16th, all schools were called off on account of the shitty road conditions.  Gotta love Michigan.

The following Saturday, Kris and Abby met up with her BFF, Larkin, and her mom at the Midland Center for the Arts.  For something or other (I don't know, I wasn't involved in any of this.)

Puppet shows.

No idea.

Staying indoors on a cold, wintery Saturday (and yes, there's still snow on the ground.)

Our favorite family game, 5-minute Dungeon - the girls love this one (and it's pretty fun for us adults, too.)

One day Kris picked up a couple pairs of white shoes from the store, along with a pack of colored Sharpie markers, so the girls could decorate their own shoes.  A decent little craft activity that's also pretty practical.  Right up Kris' alley.

Finished products.

One Saturday, towards the end of the month, Kris and Courtney (her co-leader) took Abby's girl scout troop out to some local retirement home and cleaned up all the debris and crap that accumulated on their property over the Winter/Early Spring.

Look - no snow.  FINALLY.

Child labor = cheap labor.

Enjoying a rare lunch date (I had a half-day at work one Friday, so we enjoyed a short window of adult time before we had to pick up the kids from school.)

This happens ALL THE TIME.

I finally decided to start working on our garden beds towards the end of the month, once it started to heat up - tempting Michigan and Winter's fury in the process.  I drove out to Lowe's and bought 30 bags of black mulch, which, thank God, was able to fit in Kris' van.

(You can imagine how sore my arms were after loading and unloading 30 bags of mulch in the same hour-long time span.)

The front garden bed, re-mulched and ready for Spring.

Seriously, if it snows again, I'm just going to kill myself. . .

- Brian