Daisy's Light Shines Bright

Fort Worth ISD offers a special award each spring called the 
Ann Brannon Award. 


The Ann Brannon Awards for music, mathematics, art, reading, science and physical education are given annually to students in the Fort Worth Independent School District for exemplary academic achievement. In order to qualify, one must score in the top 4-percent in their field on overall grades for which the award is given. These awards were established in 1976 when Mrs. Brannon, a former elementary teacher and then Assistant Superintendent for Instruction for the FWISD, suggested that the district honor students who showed the most improvement in a subject or those who advanced beyond normal expectations in a class. Teachers and staff choose the recipients of the award.
Being a school of choice where our children are encouraged to problem solve real-life situations, our school approaches the award differently. Third through fifth grade students who feel they are deserving of the award for either highest achievement or most improved must first apply. This involves writing a letter stating why they are the best candidate. Once chosen, they submit creative written documentation and procure letters of recommendation. This is submitted when they present their case before 4-5 adult judges.  The students also dress up to present, much like a job interview. It's very intense!


This year Daisy applied for Highest Achievement in Music and was honored by becoming a finalist. She created a movie for her interview. I recorded her playing her recorder for the movie.

It's ba-ack!

Just when you think you are done with the recorder for 3 years until the little brother plays it in 4th grade.

 We asked a couple friends to reenact how Daisy showed her leadership skills when the music teacher asked her to help other students.

 We also recorded the Daiser playing piano for background music. She brought in her smaller keyboard for the interview to play a live piece for the judges. A quote that she included  in her presentation was from a song that said, "Lights shine bright, every where we go." She said she likes to shine her light for others.

DayFranDan is my over-achiever and that poor girl puts so much pressure on herself to be her very best.

 I caught her smiling when she first sat down.

 But as time passed, the nerves started kicking in.

 Each student receives a finalist certificate. Daisy is reading hers intently.

 Finally her name was called as a recipient!!

 There were around 60 kids who applied. Roughly 20 of those received an interview, and about half of those were Ann Brannon Award Recipients.

 Daisy earned an interview last year. She was super happy to receive the award this year.

My Scholar.

Tradition is that the 5th grade/Faculty volleyball game immediately follows the Award Ceremony. Here is my little boy taking the edge off the hot sun with a popsicle.

Eli, Lester and Luis--best buddies.

Daisy and Londyn--best buddies.

 Mommy's best buddies.

Daisy chillin' with that big ole medal hanging around her neck.

The taste of success!

My girl is such a hard worker. I'm very proud of her accomplishment!

El Tesoro Is In The Books

Abe and his sister went to El Tesoro Camp as kids and had a great time. It might be safe to say that Gaea loved it so much that she has been dreaming of the day that her kids would be old enough to attend. That moment was this summer. 

Solomon and Adam, along with Grace and Roger, made plans for the 2nd week of summer. They invited our kids to attend, too. Daisy and Lijee were still in school, but Zeke was out and we thought it would be a special treat, so we eagerly signed him up!

Somewhere between signing him up in the fall and time for camp in the summer, Zekers decided he did not want to attend. What made matters even worse was that I realized I signed him up for the week before his cousins were attending. {Mom fail} By pure luck someone cancelled at the last minute and we got him in for the right week. 

As you can clearly see from the photo, 

he was excited to be there.

 You couldn't see his face very closely to really capture the essence of his excitement? Here, now you can see the joyful anticipation exuding. 

We all breathed a sigh of relief after passing the lice check. It was a year ago almost to the day that we discovered the pesky little critters having a party in the Daniels' hair. For real, even though we had no reason to believe we had lice, I was scared they were gonna find it. #forevertraumitized

After staring down lice in the eyes and walking away unscathed, Zekers joined his cabin.

 A day or 2 later we were able to view photos from camp. At least he didn't look quite as miserable as he did at drop off.

I was that Mom who didn't read the info closely enough and forgot to send him in a white shirt for group pics.

 {2nd Mom fail}

 Apparently El Tesoro is a lot like Fight Club. Once he got home he never talked about it, but from pictures I can tell you that he swam,

zip lined,

 attended the flag ceremony,

and rock climbed.

He would never admit it, but he smiled at least once while at camp.

 After closing ceremony the cousins stopped at Braum's for ice cream.

I am guessing that this was Zeke's one and only El Tesoro experience. You live and you learn. And you spend a few hundred dollars in the process, but that's neither here nor there. We learned from our experience and that's the main thing, right?

Lijee Rocks!

After about a year of lessons, Lijee had his very first guitar recital!

 Mr. Joseph and Eli are talking shop before things got underway.

 He nailed it!

He played Aura Lee (same tune as Elvis' Love Me Tender) and Cockels and Mussels.

 He makes me proud! By the looks of his face he was not as impressed as I was.

Adventure 56 With DanFam5 (Minus One)

Serving does the heart good. Serving hand-in-hand with your people does the heart even more good. This year our church decided to give the fifth and sixth their very own adventure camp in place of Kids Kamp. DanFam5 (Minus One) jumped on the opportunity to attend and serve. Since every other school in Ft. Worth was out by June 4th and 5th, Daisy got to skip school to attend, which is why the little brother did not get to come with us.

Abe Daniels was needed for facilities/security. He looked very professional with his ear piece. Almost secret service-like.

There were a lot of 5th and 6th grade kiddos here.

 I found our Daisy in the mass of kids.

 We also found our Zekers. It's self-less serving when your face is all red and sweaty but you're still smiling.

 This guy was hanging out by where I was manning the water jugs. He called out to tell me hi. Bittersweet because it reminded me of Steve's Paco and Pedro.

 Zeke was hard at work...

most of the time.

 The Daiser was playing a game.

She wasn't too busy to take a time out with her Daddy.

Small group time for Daisy.

DanFam5 (Minus One)

 My favorite girl.

 There was a chalkboard car to write on. Here's some true love for ya.

Russian Olaf

Our church has the best music department around. Our children's music ministry has been such a blessing to our family. The orchestra performed Around The World With Disney and Daisy and I both got to perform special parts.

MusicPraise got to sing a medley with the orchestra.

 Daisy auditioned for a special Russian dance.

 Not only did they dance with a live orchestra, but there were adult 'sailors' who danced with them.

I was able to cross something off my bucket list that I didn't even know was on my bucket list: I got to be Olaf.

Olaf danced to a song on stage and then took photos.

 I haven't ever really desired to be a character, but I love costumes so it was fun!

These two were Olaf's favorites!

Of course Olaf posed with his buddies Anna and Elsa.

Daddy wouldn't miss his girls performing.