[thumb:130:l]Trent finished up his season on the middle school team yesterday. They played the British International School of Budapest in an indoor match (it’s getting dark here at 4:30 so it is difficult to get in an outside game without lights). We played at their beautiful new facility.

We new we were in trouble going into the game because we hadn’t practiced too much indoors. Also, as I watched them warm-up, I was reminded that they have been kicking a soccer ball since they were born. These two factors translated into a pretty large margin of victory overall. Both teams split into two and we played 4 separate short matches. They won all of them, but we kept it close in a couple of them.

The team had fun and Trent did a great job. His strength is dribbling and passing and that’s what you need when you are playing indoors. I’m just a little biased.

More next year . . .

Click on the picture to see the rest of the gallery.

[thumb:99:l]Here is Kendall as Princess Jasmine last night in their first performance of Aladdin. This was before the performance where she is ready to go. I can’t believe how old she looks with all that makeup on. I’m glad to have the younger version of Kendall back this morning. She did an incredible job and I was so proud of her. It is fun to watch her do something that she was created to do. She is totally in the “zone!”

There were around 300 people in attendance. It was a packed house. There is one more performance tonight and we are expected it to be a near sell-out again!

There are a bunch of pictures in my new Photo Gallery. It is a Coppermine gallery that allows you to view slideshows and send e-cards. Let me know if you have problems with it. I haven’t tested it much, but the musical seemed like a perfect time to give it a try.

[thumb:101:l]Trent & Reed participated in the Elementary Inventions Fair that ended this past Thursday. Reed’s biggest challenge was selecting between the hundreds of ideas that he had. I’m not kidding, he could come up with 5-10 every time we talked about it. Finally, we picked one that was fairly simple and that wouldn’t require an engineering degree. He created a belt clip that would carry things like a water bottle, glasses case, etc . . . He did a great job.

[thumb:105:l]Trent, on the other hand, struggled to think of an idea. He was stressed out for two weeks with no ideas. Finally, Valerie told him that she could use something to help us all get ready for school on time. Then, Trent came up with an idea to make a DVD that would play music and remind us of what we needed to be doing in the morning. It wakes us up with revellie and tells us how long we have to be ready for breakfast, clean-up, and other things. It has helped our family get out the door. We will continue to use it even after the fair.

Trent ended up winning the 5th grade competition!!!

Way to go boys!! I’m proud of both of you.

See more pictures here.

Tonight is the night that has been anticipated in our family since mid-August (maybe farther back than that). Kendall (my 12 year old daughter) has a love for performing. It has been fun to watch her over the past few years learn more about this gift that the Lord has given her. She was the orphan Molly in “Annie Jr” last year at this time and she also had a part in “Fiddler on the Roof” this past spring.

When school started this year, the thing she was most excited about was trying out for the middle school play. They are doing “Aladdin Jr.” She got the part of “Princess Jasmine” and she has been working very hard for the last 2 1/2 months. It all comes down to the performances over the next two nights and she is ready!!

Valerie has been the assistant director for the production and she is excited as well about the weekend.

I’ll post some pictures and maybe some video over the weekend. Check back to see my “princess” in action.