Grandparents visiting

 Grandma C and Grandpa S came today wearing the most epic sweaters.  I was inspired to get this group picture early.

Christmas Eve we did some caroling.

Christmas day was great.  We stayed home and watched a few movies and played with new toys.

Friday fun

 The library south of our town is small but awesome.  They have a toy room and a lego collection with a huge table bordered  to keep legos on the table.  B and L were excited to go and spend a few hours there yesterday.  The 3 peas got to do a Kiwi Crate.  M mowed the lawn and got to buy a pair of jeans with a water bottle pocket!  E got a UTI diagnosed and medicated.  It was a good day.

This Christmas

 Over the years we have tried different approaches to having the children gift to people.  This year the 4 children at home will give a gift of service, food and thing to the various siblings.  So each gets one of each kind of gift and each gives one of each kind of gift.  

In past years the kids have taken turns filling the stockings or playing St. Nicolas.  This year I asked them each to tell me an item they want to have in the stockings, and they can put that item into each stocking.  

I really want them to have a good time and experience gifting.

Today we went to Rainbow Mountain.  Phillip and I went on a lunch date.  The kids watched Home Alone and made cookie houses.  Another great day!

Christmas of ambitions

 We have 2 weeks of vacation and we are staying in town.  We want to see what is here and not just sit around on the computers.  Our goals include visiting every branch library in the area system.  We want to do something outdoors every day.  We want to play a board game each day.  We want to watch a movie together.  We want to have the kids do some educational things.  Today was our first day with everyone on break.  We went to Cathedral Caverns, and later watched "Tom and Huck" which had scenes shot in the caverns.  So cool!  The kids have a rotation for computer time to keep them from becoming complete vegetables.  M even taught B a lesson on the piano.  We got to chat with G.  It was a great start.  We didn't get everything done on the list but it was one of those "Shoot for the moon..." efforts that led to a great day.

When we were passing through the town where P teaches we stopped at a park.  Some of his students were there and our kids got to see what a celebrity P is. 

movie crying

 I got to see the Barbie movie, having gotten on the library hold list early on.  I cried and texted M that it made me cry.  She watched it at the theater with friends in the summer.  I told her I love her.  She very nicely said she loved me too.

I realize I've always been a movie crier.  I remember crying about "The King and I" when I was 8 years old!  Strong emotions are what I do.

I have a new calling in primary.  I cry a lot in that calling.  Luckily the teachers sing a long and so my tears don't ruin the song, that much.

Great Park

 

The kids had a great time at this park.  We tried riding the bike course across the street but it was muddy.

LP still loves to run and play.  She was kind and inclusive to other small kids at the park.

I started making this peg people nativity last year.  I had Mary, Joseph and the Angel done.  In a flurry of activity, I painted 7 more characters, made a manger and barn yesterday.  We have not had a kids nativity in all our years with kids.  The dollar store one broke when G and M were little.  We had a fancy one from the Levanions that we never used.  I’m glad we have one now.

most wasteful dream ever

 In my dream last night I had agreed to drive a group of ladies 2 hours north to deliver wedding shower gifts to someone I barely knew.  When we got there we parked at Disney because(??) and had a 2 hour parking limit.  After hanging out and doing various hand sewing alterations to our strange gifts I panicked about the parking situation.  My fears were confirmed, the van had been towed.  When we tracked down a parking attendant to argue that we still had time on the clock he showed us pictures that explained why the van was towed early.  Ah, the van was wrapped in a giant sheep costume and that had taken up extra space and been a distraction, so they had towed it.

Visit to Grandpa in Virginia

 We drove up and got to spend time with my dad.  He recently went to Taiwan and I was able to have him make voice recordings about that trip.  It was really nice to have something specific to talk to him about.

We made several trips up to DC to visit museums and the Zoo.  So fun.  We also got to see the Snyders.  The cousins warmed up.  L and V had fun pretending to make a camp kitchen.  B and X played with a ball.  B is very good at entertaining little children.  I'm glad he has that trait.

Christmas Orchestra

 We had heard that there was a Christmas Orchestra put on by 2 stakes here.  It is small so they only asked me to play baritone.  P will sing in the choir.  We got in because of meeting people at the Stake Choir which we got in to because Brother H mentioned us when it seemed numbers were low.  All this is to say that there are people who would really like to sing in the choir and we are lucky to be included.

I've been practicing over the last month and tonight I finally feel like I sound good.  I'm looking forward to rehearsal on Sunday to redeem myself after 2 kinda bad rehearsals.  My chops just aren't in great shape and baritone was never my primary instrument.  But it's sounding nice.

We plan to do a Tuba quartet for interlude music on one of the performance days.  I am working on transcribing the Tuba Christmas book so that I can play the Euphonium 1 part on the tenor horn.  I don't have the chops to play those parts on baritone.

I went on the class field trip to Burrit on the Mountain with L today.  He had a cough, but he had a good time.  I kept him home yesterday so he could be ready for today.  But the cold and smoke from the cabin fires made it hard.  I'll keep him home again tomorrow and maybe Friday.  We'll see.  It was nice to see his classmates and see how he does have some difficulties because he gets upset by the other children's behavior.  And they were doing annoying things...  I'm glad I got to see that context.

Walking in the woods

 We went hiking 3 times this weekend, twice at Rainbow mountain.  The kids love hiking on the rocks.  I love that the rocks are just half a mile from the parking lot.  I do love a long walk, but it is nice to get to the rocks quickly so they can enjoy for a long time and not have a long walk back after all the fun.

P and I went on a double date with some friends from church.  We had dinner at a Thai restaurant.  So yummy.  Then we came back to our house and played Dixit.  I'm grateful to be in this town and get to know the people here.  

We are so blessed.

I'm subbing for Primary singing time for a few months.  Tomorrow I am going to have the kids sing songs about gratitude and play the gratitude game wherein we try to come up with 100 things we are grateful for.  Name them one by one.

Fall!

 Today I got some pictures of what I have been enjoying for the last few weeks.  I am so glad that I ride my bike most days.  Being out in this beauty and seeing the daily change has been wonderful.

Also, there are so many awesome thrift stores here.  I got this down vest for $9.  I have gotten whole sets of pants when the kids needed pants.  It has just been so easy to find good and needed things.  I wish I had had thrift stores when I was a kid.  My parents gave us money to manage our own clothing purchases.  I mostly bought stuff at Ross and K-mart.  Now I generally avoid buying new things.

Halloween

M invited band kids over and got out all the instruments.

When they all come out, there are a lot of them!

L got go go to the trail of treats at his school.  He's having really good behavior lately.  I'm very grateful his new medication and consistent sleep routines are helping a lot.

M's always up for the party sunglasses.

The 3 peas had a good time at the ward trunk er treat.

At the homecoming parade the kids got a spiderman head worth of candy.  That was the only vesel we had, not having been expecting it to be so much!  Everyone loves spiderman though so we got lots of candy thrown our way.  L really acted the part, darting out into the street to rescue the candies.

lP got to play in a mini concert at her school.  This is the costume that keeps giving.

We trick or treated in our neighborhood.  I'm really glad we stayed close and got to meet some neighbors I hadn't gotten around to meeting yet.
 

Concerts

 This town has so much great musical talent.  P and I got to sing in the stake choir.  There were 2 two hour rehearsals that were very demanding.  

We went to a rehearsal of the Notre Dame choir from France.  They were singing in the First Baptist Church which has an incredible stained glass wall in the sanctuary.  The combination of visual and auditory beauty fed my soul.

Tonight we went to a concert to hear lP's oboe teacher play with the youth orchestra.  LP's friend from school plays bassoon in the 2nd orchestra.  It was so nice.  The top orchestra accompanied the oboe concerto and also played Festive Overture.

This week both of the girls will have performances.  It is intense and beautiful.

I am practicing the baritone to play for the Stake Christmas Orchestra.  That's right.  Our stake and the Huntsville stake put on a Choral and Orchestral presentation.  Nice!  P bought us a nice gig bag for the baritone.  Feeling fancy.

Tonight lP was practicing her oboe in her room.  I was practicing the baritone in the garage.  M was out in the shed practicing her horn.  Pretty awesome.

Preparing for the GRE

 I have been preparing to take the GRE so I can apply for grad school.  I borrowed a GRE book from the library for several weeks.  I have been taking the practice tests with the scheduled test I will take next week.  If that doesn't go well I can try again in a few weeks.

I have started the application for grad school.  I wrote to 2 past mentors asking if they would write a recommendation and haven't heard back from them.  I realize that there are many people I can ask though.  It doesn't just have to be these 2 or 3 people who are so specifically able to recommend me.  I can have co-workers like ladies I served with at homeschool or in church callings.  It will be OK.

When I take a practice test I write down all the questions I got wrong, or take a screen shot of them.  P has been very patient to go over them with me.  As it is I will be able to score high enough to get into my program.  My pride would like to do better but I accept that I am good enough. 

I hope to apply for a Masters program at Alabama A&M in Speech Pathology.  I like the idea of having a career that is part education, part medical, and that could put me in contact with the deaf population.  I enjoyed being a band teacher.  Some of the things I didn't like discourage me from pursuing that career again.  I only taught for 2 years and the first 2 years were hard.  I think things would get better, but I do have a lot of memories of the hard times, sadly.

Mornings

 Mornings are hectic!  P wakes at 5am and leaves for work at 5:45.  I wake at 6 and take M to seminary at 6:30.  I get back at 7:00am and sometimes B is already gone for school.  I make sure L has his breakfast, school snack, clean clothes and medicine then ride him to school at 7:20.  lP is fairly self sufficient and gets herself off while I am taking L or shortly thereafter.  By 8:00am I am done for the morning.

Last week M wanted me to take her to School.  I asked her to ask lP to take L to school for me because lP will do anything for M.  lP had such a fun time taking L to school that she asked to do it again the next day.  It's so nice that she is such a helpful sister.  Both girls are so lovely and helpful.  

P and I are singing in the Stake Choir or Stake Conference.  That is fun.  The group is great and the rehearsals are fast paced and productive.  I was invited to collaborate with the conductor and pianist on making one of the pieces a little less bombastic.  They had 2 practices that were 2 hours each.  We found out we were invited at 6:30 on the night the first practice started at 6.  But we hustled over and joined in.  Last night when we were there for the full 2 hours I really felt it in my voice.  Having sung in the ward choir, my voice was tired after 1 hour of practice.  So I was careful and didn't sing so loud the 2nd hour.

M's band was the grand champions at the competition they went to on Saturday.  She had a rough day because she set alarms for 4:something am and 5:something am.  I woke at each and after making sure her shoes were clean and pants drying, I went back to bed thinking her call time was 8:30.  The boys activity was 8:30.  M's call time was 7:45.  When I woke her at 7:30 it was not cool.  Oh poor girl.  The band was having a practice at 8:am before loading buses after 10.  M has been making a bookshelf out of card board for a few weeks now.  She crafted the shelf and is now putting a paper pulp on it to make it sturdier.

lP finished the spider baby hat for cousin A's baby J.  She started learning to do the rubix cube on our road trip to Florida.  In 2 weeks she cycled through being able to do it a few times, to doing it in 2 minutes.  And now she knows it so well she's bored.

B has tried the rubix cube a few times without instructions because B doesn't like instructions.  Saturday he finally accepted the instructions and was able to follow it completely without mistakes.  That was amazing.  Usually there is 3-6 times where you make one wrong turn and have to start over.  B is sweetly willing to keep L off the computer on Sunday.  Last week he played card games with him.  This week they were playing action games like "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean".  I'm grateful that B is so willing to help L do good things.  Sometimes he gets too involved in trying to control L, who is not easy to control.  But I'm grateful that B is so kind and patient.

L had a great week in school.  Each day he had better and better reports, finishing with ALL smiley faces on Friday.  I'm hopeful that this new medicine will be a blessing and he can have positive behavior.  He had a friend R from the beginning of school and he said they love each other so much.  He has such strong feelings.  His tender feelings lead him to crying.  

B and L had a bike activity with their church group.  The leader reported that they were some of the only ones who had the stamina to make the ride without problems.  They are used to riding 2 miles a day in back packs and hills!

 I'm off to play my tuba and write some music. 

Georgia Aquarium!

 On the way home we surprised the children with a trip to the Georgia Aquarium.  They had no idea.  When we were pulling into the parking lot M said "Are we going here?"

It was so beautiful.  I'm so glad we could do that with and for the kids. 

Old towne

 We had a lot of fun in St Augustine.

Downtown

Beach

Park friends and pizza

Church activities

Good times

 We had a great day with family.

L and B built trains with Grandpa.  Grandma C came to see the bats with us.