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singing at the islanders game
The boys school was offered the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at an Islanders home game. And although both boys tried out, only Jack made it. You can’t imagine the level of disapointment for Patrick (and long it went on for). Part of me (the mommy part) wanted to just ask the music teacher (who I adore) to just stick Patrick in there too. But the less emotional, rational side accepted that he didn’t get a spot and we would all just have to deal with it.
Be prepared, I’m whipping out the soap box for a minute here.
The way things are in school and well, really in life these days just pisses me off. The whole ‘everybody wins’ attitude is just beyond ridiculous. Not only does it totally denegrate the success of the ACTUAL winner and minimize the joy of winning (cause if everyone wins, who cares who the real winner is), it doesn’t give these kids a clue on how to deal with dissapointment in life. And life? It’s sometimes really dissapointing. There is really only ONE first place. That’s the way it is. If they gave everyone who raced in downhill in the Olympics the gold medal, what sense would that make? Did everyone win? Do you get an Olympic medal for trying your best?? Or showing up unprepared but everyone should feel bad for you and you should win anyway? And if there is one job or one spot available for a college applicant- does everyone who applies get it? Do they make extra jobs or extra spots available just because you tried? Nope. So why should it be that way in school? Because of this nonsense, no one knows how to win graciously, without gloating, or without feeling guilty that everyone didn’t win. And certainly, no one knows how to lose. Everyone has a sense of entitlement that they SHOULD win, just cause they showed up. Sometimes even giving your best isn’t enough. And that’s life. Deal with it. And maybe we should let our kids know that too and stop shielding them from dissapointment cause it’s only coming back to bite them. As they grow up, they need to learn how to deal with not winning. Cause it’s gonna happen, probably more often than not.
Soapbox is back in the closet. Feel free to leave your thoughts in comments.
And here are some of the pictures from the singing. They aren’t great. They wouldn’t let me on the ice to get any shots, so I had to shoot from the other side of the ice through the scratched plexiglass and without a real zoom lens cause they don’t let you in with professional cameras with a serious zoom. So, here’s the best I got.
The kids all worked really hard and sounded great!
Daryl Strawberry was there accepting an award for his work with Autism.
It was a good game, but with no fights. Bummer cause that’s my favorite part!
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bzzzzz…..
Hear that? It’s the sound of the school spelling bee.
While Patrick didn’t make it in to the final 9 (3 kids from each of the 5th grade classes. And there will be a whole post on Patrick and his woes of late coming soon), Jack did and finished the bee in 4th place. He was seriously dissapointed in what he felt was his lackluster performance, but I was pretty proud anyway. His killer word was monopolize and he missed a few letters but told me after that he didn’t like everyone staring at him and it made him nervous and unfocused.
The boy who won is in the black shirt and shorts. He’s going to the Nassau Co semi finals. Very exciting!! Go S!
I think all the bee-ers did an outstanding job. And Jack can now spell adjudicate, cajolery, omniscient, and aggrandize with the best of them (and I can too, after studying with him!).
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winter music
The boys at their winter concert. It’s a little like “where’s Waldo?” but with Jack & Patrick. They played the drums and did a great job, but being all the way in the back makes it hard to take any decent pictures of them during the ‘band’ portion. Oh, well. It’s not like I don’t have any pictures of them.
For the chorus finale they sung “holiday lights” with multi colored flashlights. It was pretty cool.
Still in Florida but looks like we are done with the pool & beach. Pretty cold down here (only in the mid 50’s today) but I am NOT complaining, cause it’s still significantly warmer than home. And it’s still pretty and sunny and colorful (not brown & gray like NY). And tonight is the Orange Bowl where we are ALL going. It’s supposed to be in the 30’s- OMG. That IS cold.
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RVC Education Foundation Gala- Dancing with the Teachers
If you are a blog follower, then you will remember some headshots I did about a month or so ago for the teachers who were dancing at the gala. Well, as good looking as they were in the headshots, that was nothin compared to how great they looked and did at the actual event on last Saturday night.
The gala was held at HGCC and very well attended and decorated. The committee in charge did a fantastic job! The raffles were terrific as were the silent auction items.
It was so nice for me, walking in and seeing bsquared photography (HUGE) as a sponsor for the evening. And a full page ad in the journal for me as well! Those ladies took excellent care of me! (my many thanks to Amy who did all my ad’s, to Maggie who roped me into this gig in the hallways of nursery school, and to Tina who did all the coordinating of all the bsquared details.)
The evening progressed from cocktail hour (where many of my friends were avoiding me. I don’t know how I have any friends left cause they all seem to run far and fast when my camera comes out!) with a great jazz ensemble from the high school, to the dining room where speeches were made about and by the honorees. Dr. Burris and Mr. Kakis are really loved and respected for what they do and who they are. And deservedly so.
Dancing by the amazing teachers followed. Really, it was unbelieveable what these ladies (and one gentleman) were able to pull off ! They totally rocked it and the ‘audience’ was on it’s feet with lots of whoops and applause after every single dancer. And believe me, they deserved it! They were seriously fantastic!! And the costumes…fabulous!
Gina P:
Meryl G:
Bill C:
Susan K:
Nancy R:
Sarah H:
Delores D:
and Katie M:
The MC’s were such fun and had lots of great little tidbits of info about the dances themselves as well as the teachers. I think they had as much fun as anyone there.
The whole event was recorded and will be airing on The School Channel. It will be showing beginning on Friday, March 20th at 9am.
It was a great evening and it looked like everyone was having a wonderful time. When they weren’t running away from me. Here are a few shots of the people who didn’t run away.
Please click HERE to view all the pictures from the evening. If you are interested in purchasing any of the photos, please contact me at bbeyrer1@optonline.net, or leave a comment below. There is a file # located under each picture that you can reference. Each 4×6 is $5, 5×7 $10 and 8×10 $12 (larger sizes also available). If you purchase more than one photo, there will be a $.50 discount per photo.
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timmy’s birthday vegetable- at school
Timmy’s fantastic teachers Miss Allison & Miss Donna told me I could come in and help Timmy celebrate his birthday at school. I brought some ice cream cups (nothing says birthday like ice cream at 10:30am!) and a book (Timmy’s current favorite is the two sided DC SuperFriends book) and celebrated with his class (well, the kids that were there that day).
Timmy’s favorite part of his birthday? “When everyone sings Happy Birthday to me. That makes me feel good & happy!”.
