Winter 2017 - Spring 2018 Recap

In no particular order, the Whompton winter and spring recap:

Lola rocked her new school.  She was chosen as Artist of the Week for this piece, which also traveled to the Parkway Board of Education office, and then to the All District Art Show.  Her detail-oriented nature -- which results in incredibly slow rates of art production -- can create really gorgeous work.  

The same week she was chosen as an exemplar for citizenship.  Ross Elementary is a National School of Character, which means they heavily emphasize and develop character traits like honesty and perseverance.  So proud of this kiddo for being honored for doing the right thing!

Some Saint Louis families run Turkey Trots or cheer at the Kirkwood-Webster game as their Thanksgiving tradition.  Not us.  We hike at Castlewood State Park and then overeat at the Indian buffet.  This year, the Zareks joined us for Thanksgiving lunch at Flavor of India and they agreed it was the best way to do Thanksgiving!  :)

Mama Jo and Papa Bill prefer a different Thanksgiving tradition, so they came up the following day.  In our continuous quest to do touristy things outside, we took them to Laumier Sculpture Park for the artwork and hiking.  It was a lovely day.

Coming down the art wall.

Raina and her besties at New Year's.  These young women have really grown up.

I still marvel at how much of an adult she is.  

We accidentally dress alike more times than we should admit.  :)

Raina joined an all girls FTC (First Tech Challenge) robotics team.  The team was anchored by three seniors who each oversaw one-third of the team: programming, design/driving, or outreach.  Programmer Leigh actively mentored Raina all year and now Raina is the lead programmer for the upcoming season. She could not be more excited.

Also, this picture is incredibly inspiring.  So many STEM girls!

I know that, in Saint Louis, I'm supposed to raise my kids to be STL Cardinals fans.  Ugh.  Instead, the Whomptons are MICDS Women's Basketball fans!  We attend some games during the normal season and then hit all the post-season play.  The team pulled out some nail-biter victories this year, for sure.

Little Lola wore MICDS shirts to Ross almost every day during the post-season.  

Buzzer beater shot in overtime!  Sectional champs!  

One of my favorite pictures of this year.  A Post-Dispatch photographer took this picture immediately after the buzzer beater and the Rams fans are going crazy.  If you look closely, you can find Eric and Lola's arm in the picture.

Ross Elementary hosts a Trivia Night fundraiser each year so we bought a table and asked friends to join us.  Turns out, we invited two trivia ringers who racked up the points for us pretty quickly and led us straight to victory.

This is the last picture I have of Christine Floss before her death.  

Lola joined the Ross Choir and was selected for a special ensemble choir as well.  She'll cap off her singing season by performing "God Bless America" at a Cardinals game this summer.

She finished out Running Club strongly as well; in all, I think she logged 25 miles this year by running on occasional Thursday mornings before school. She has extraordinary energy to spare, for sure.  She's now progressed to do standing push-ups; Eric stabilizes her vertically and she lifts up her entire body in push-up position.  Sets of 40.  She's a beast.

Lola did many research projects this year: saving the African Wild Dog, how to become an engineer, and Frida Kahlo.  Lola was Frida Kahlo for the Ross Elementary Wax Museum, which involved putting together an appropriate costume and preparing a biographical script.  She did a great job.

Out of all the possible individuals she could have studied I was so proud of her for choosing a woman of color.

Raina gave up piano this year so her musical focus is on the band.

She plays the flute (with a ridiculously large number of her friends) and hopes to start piccolo in the fall.

Raina loves doing lights and sound -- she's a tech kid at heart -- and she worked the tech crew for the middle school play.  She's enrolled in a theatre camp this summer so that she can do more tech crew AND learn how to stage manage.  

All in all, Raina had a fantastic 7th grade year.  She loved Latin, science, band, robotics; she figured out the upper school math scene and is excited about upper school science and math in the fall; best of all, there was little-to-no girl drama within her friend group this year.  She's looking forward to 8th grade!

I turned 40 this year, and I celebrated my birthday in stages. Stage 1: Hamilton!  We totally skipped school to go and it was 100% worth it.  WOW!

Lola had studied the Fox Theatre but had never been inside it before.  She was dazzled.

I emotionally process everything through tears, so I mostly cried through the entire show.  We got home and found out that a good friend had died.  I spent the next 5 hours crying too.  I was honored to speak at Christine's memorial and getting to that point was an exhausting emotional roller-coaster.  Samantha and I did phase 2 of my birthday celebration the night of the memorial and went to see The Decemberists.  It was exactly what we needed.  Phase 3 was seeing Trevor Noah and eating at my favorite restaurant.  All in all, turning 40 was pretty great.

Lola was told her "flowers in a vase" art work was at the Parkway District Art Show so we trekked out to see it.

Turns out, she had other work on display.  This piece represents all the circles of concern -- family, friends -- and how interconnected they are.  

Cadette Troop 1093 on April Showers collection day.
I'm still so thrilled that my daughters are Girl Scouts and take pride in doing service.

Ross Heritage Night.
The hip-hop instructors taught us a dance and we performed it for the crowd.  Samantha and I needed a little more practice before being performance ready.  :)

Baby cheetahs at the STL Zoo!  We went opening weekend and there were no crowds.  It was amazing to see them romping around, chasing each other, and being playful.  

Lola bridges from Brownies to Juniors.

Volunteering at the Foodbank on Stamp Out Hunger day.
This year I organized more groups of volunteers to come to the Foodbank rather than just scheduling for my family.  I hope that the more opportunities we provide will lead to more folks saying yes and doing service with us.

This winter and spring, Eric coached Lola's basketball team.  It was their second season together and Eric devoted SO MUCH TIME to watching youtube videos on coaching, developing new drills, and putting together strategies for making practices fun and formative.  Lola and he also practice together at our neighbors' goal.

After every basketball (and soccer) game, the girls do the traditional "good game" shake hands and then they create an archway for the other team to go through, who then make their own archway for the first team to go through.

Girl sportsmanship in action, y'all.  It's inspiring.

Eric also devoted a lot of time to music.  He is the vocal front man for an Ethical Society band and they performed multiple times this semester.  Highlights include singing "One" and "Love Stinks" in February and They Might Be Giants' songs "Why does the sun shine?", "Why does the sun really shine?", and "Put it to the test" in April.

I was the President-Elect of the Ethical Society this year and was responsible for putting together the pledge campaign and pledge party.  We had requests for the Whompton Family Band to perform, so Eric, Raina, Lola, and I arranged and performed the They Might Be Giants' song "My Brother the Ape."  Raina, Lola, and Eric have far more musical talent than I do.

Eric and Raina coordinated Lola's birthday party this year.  It was the third year of a superhero theme and, this time, it featured Dr. Noxious Foot (seen above), planned missions, rescues, and an escape room.

It's months later, and still some of Lola's guests see Eric and say "Hey, Dr. Noxious Foot!"

Eric and I renewed our vows.  

We also shared about our original vows and wedding ceremony, to great amusement of the crowd.

Our minister and dear friend, John Kindschuh, was able to join us for the renewal ceremony.  Every time John Kindschuh and I get together, we just hold each other and sob.  We did that for about 20 minutes, off and on, that morning.  It's always so good to be together.

Yes, it's the same wedding dress.  I couldn't believe how many people wanted to talk about the dress.

Our renewal vows read:

Years ago, we made promises to each other.

Some promises we’ve kept;

sometimes we’ve fallen short of our ideals.

Today I renew my vows to you

with clearer eyes and deeper understanding,

as we walk together through life,

partners and best friends.

I promise to love, respect, and support you;

to listen and to share;

to nurture and to grow with you;

and to work together to achieve our goals.

In joy and sorrow, through good times and bad,

my heart will be your shelter, my arms will be your home. 

I believe in this marriage more strongly than ever,

and I chose you, every day, and for life. 

Lola's piano recital, winter 2018

I received a Distinguished Teaching Chair.  When the award is presented, Lisa Lyle reads about the recipient and why the individual was chosen without saying the person's name.  Part of the fun is trying to figure it out and then turning to see the person as she/he/they figure it out for themselves. I, of course, cried. It's challenging to sit and be complimented, even though it's wonderful to be recognized for hard work.  

The Middle School math department received the Loeb Award.  The generosity of Carol and Jerome Loeb means fantastic professional development opportunities for the math department; this year, our team is headed to NCTM!  I am so, so grateful to the Loeb family.