Stop and Listen to the Music

You know, not everything the kids are involved in is dance related. We have some pretty good musicians growing up in our house. Here’s a little sampling of some of the musical things the older 3 kids did at the end of 2011.

Carissa loves to sing with Ms. Pat from our church. Pat has taught the kids in Sunday School over the years, she’s encouraged and helped them memorize scripture, and most importantly she loves them all. Pat’s been known to sneak off with a few or all of the kids on those rare Sunday afternoons we don’t have other plans for special trips. Here’s Carissa singing Amazing Grace with her for offertory on October 2, 2011. Just sit back and listen to this one since there’s not much to see. I was using my bitty iPod to record it and we were sitting all the way at the back of the room. The iPod’s camera is not that great, but it has a really good microphone. Carissa had a rough start, but got the frog out of her throat quickly. ;)

Elizabeth is in her second year of jazz band at Horizon this year- she plays alto sax. Here’s the HMS jazz band playing ‘Footprints’ at their winter concert in November. Elizabeth plays the alto sax improv solo.

And here’s the Vista Ridge HS Jazz Band with Bryce on trumpet. They held a special concert December 9 called “Swingin’ Into the Night” where everyone was invited to come and dance to live jazz music. The VRHS band played a set, and then the Skyview MS jazz band played a set, and then it wrapped up with another set from VRHS. VRHS played for at least an hour and a half between their 2 sets. The girls and I were able to catch the end of the last set after dance classes wrapped up that evening. Here’s the last song they played- “Blues Brothers Revue.” (sorry for the not-so-great sound- the unfinished auditorium is nice for dancing, but not so nice for good audio!).

Misc April- June scrapbook pages

Too many pages I have to do in advance and then can’t post until a particular date. They stack up and I forget about them a lot of the time, especially when it comes to posting here on the old blog. So, here’s a number of pages that I’ve been collecting for a while. ;)

  journaling: I can feel the anticipation of the day that there are kids playing in Grandma’s new backyard again. There will be lots of laughter and fun once the boxes are all unpacked and the spring weather truly arrives. I know that the tire swing will provide hours of joy, as I remember how much I loved the one in our backyard in Tulsa.
credits: Impressions of Playtime by The Studio Girls at scrapbookgraphics.com
font: CK Becky, Ticket Capitals Impressed

 
journaling: Bryce had his first cornet recital November 21 at The Springs Community Church. He played well, especially for his first solo performances! Bryce played Ballad in Blue by Robert Girlamo for his solo piece; Mark accompanied him on the piano. His second piece was a duet with his teacher, Greg Arnold. They played Blue Skies by Irving Berlin. November 21, 2010.
credits: Start the Music by Julia Makotinsky, Marker Doodle Doo, Chipper Chatter Positive Words, and Paperworn Art Styles by Tangie Baxter
font: Tangie AJF Tweedledee, Tangie AJF Tweedledum, Times and Times Again

journaling: It was bitterly cold this last day of 2010, but Sarah still wanted to go sledding. We walked to the back of the school and spent about 20 minutes sliding down the hill before Brenna and Sarah got too cold to enjoy it any more. A mug of hot chocolate helped to warm their insides once we got home.
credits: Winter's Blush by Veronica Spriggs and Laitha at scrapbookgraphics.com; Template 185 by Yin Designs; Peace on Earth (alpha) by Flergs and Eva Kipler at scrapbookgraphics; font: Vaguely Repulsive

  credits: Connect by The Studio Girls at scrapbookgraphics; font: TXT Scribbletti

  credits: Peacock Page Kit and Imagica Elements (hanging pendant) by MicroFerk Designs, Blended Template 05 by Lorelei Murphy
font: Zapf Chancery LT, CK Becky

  credits: Discovery by Dianne Rigdon at 2PeasInABucket.com; Jumper 57 (retired) by Crystal Livesay ; font: CK Carefree

  credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Good Day Sunshine, Studio Mix; PreFABs Project 365 Pack 2 by Dutchie for The Lab; font: P22 Garamouche

  credits: Audaciously Awesome by Kim Jensen and Kate Hadfield at Scrapdish.com and The-LilyPad.com; template inspiration 5-11-10 by Katie Pertiet at DesignerDigitals.com; font: AJF Madhatter, Technical

How I wish I really had a wall that looked like this to hang the family portrait on!

  credits: everything by Lorie Davison at scrapbookgraphics.com: Windows to the Heart {With Everything In It}, The Poet's Keepssakes, Baby Bee Garden, Greymouse Manor Winter Ball, Bunnies Bees and the Birds Big Balloon, Before the First Snow
font: Zapfino Linotype Four

 
journaling: Take a big breath... close your eyes... scrunch up your nose.... and blow! Brenna enjoying the age old summer tradition of making wishes on dandelion seeds.
credits: by Kim Jensen at scrapdish.com: Daisies and Dandelions, Butterfly Fields Paper Pack, Page Plate 1, Audaciously Awesome with Kate Hadfield (alpha); Stick It Dates by Darcy Baldwin at sweetshoppedesigns.com; font: CK Becky

  journaling: Last spring after the first grade did their musical, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, Brenna told me that she wanted to have a part next year and not just be in the choir. She didn’t hesitate this year to tell Ms. Champlin when the time came and she was assigned the part of Dot the Ladybug in this year’s musical, Bugz. Not only did she get to sing a solo, but she got to dance too- her favorite 2 things in the world.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Sweet Ladybug by BCD, Layered Templates Bundle 1 by Lorelei Murphy; font: Baby Boston

A page from our 2006 vacation. journaling: It was an exhibit that fascinated everyone in the family- just how do they do those amazing magic tricks? yep, it’s science... and the art of diversion too. Each of the tricks could be seen from the front as the audience would see it, and then behind the scenes it was explained how it was all done. There was a live show too that demonstrated a few of the common tricks found in that setting.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Hocus Pocus by Charlize Creations, Layered Templates Bundle 3 by Lorelei Murphy; font: CK Elsie, P22 Garamouche

  journaling: Charlotte seems like an eighth member of our family some days. Sarah loves to pretend that she is a real baby of her own. She changes clothes, eats, naps, cries, and gets sick and needs medicine. Charlotte likes to go on shopping trips and to see new things. She can often be found sitting in Mama’s purse during those longer trips. It’s fun to see Sarah taking care of her and enjoying this doll from her great-grandmother Patsy.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: by Dawn Inskip- The Playroom with Lorie M, Above and Beyond Template 16, Painted Alphas; by Tangie Baxter- Paperworn Art Styles, AJF Mock Turtle; font: Arial, AJF Mock Turtle

  journaling: Several times a summer this small traveling carnival arrives at a vacant lot near our home. The flashing lights are like a beacon calling out to everyone to come and spend an hour or two having a good time. My kids are not immune to its siren call and beg to go each time we drive by.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Studio Mix #2: Carnival Story, Carnival Story B-Sides Alpha, and Carnival Story B-Sides Titles by Flergs, Julia Makotinsky and Miss Vivi, Studio Layered Templates Bundle 3 by Lorelei Murphy
font: Fulton Artistamp

AJC Week 8 - Music

Back-tracking a bit to pick up one of the weeks I had skipped earlier.

journaling: Listening to music is one of the quickest ways to change my mood. There is nothing else like actually playing my oboe in an orchestra though- helping to create the wonderful dance of notes weaving together is like working a bit of magic.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: by JenU- Vintage Painted Papers, Old Window Frames, Natural Wonders Collection- Dried Fall Florals & Wild Long Stems, Vintage Antiquities- Rustic Elements (Rustic Sheet Music), and Victorian Vases, Inspirational 4 Wordart by Bethany Harty, Flying Dreams Sky Papers Collection by Lorie Davison (sky paper), Worn Overlays by Manuela Zimmerman, Soaring by Ztampf! (wings, strokes, red & blue papers), Mediterranean Muse by Phuong and Microferk (mantle, retired), Melody of Your Heart by Bluebell (music staff, retired), Angelic by SussieM (red heart and red paper), Everyday Essentials: Trims by Traci Sims (retired), Into the Twilight by Flergs (Clair de Lune sheet music), The Whisper About Fall by Natali (stitches); oboe pin photographed and extracted by me

It's Concert Time Again: Worthy of Honor

Lots of music to stir your patriotic soul in this one: America the Beautiful, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Salute to the Armed Forces, You're a Grand Old Flag, The Star-Spangled Banner, God Bless America, and more. And there is even free watermelon after the performance is over ;)

The orchestra practiced with the choir for the first time tonight, and then we performed three pieces during the evening program for the MEF Bible Conference that is being held at Village 7 Pres this week. We did well, but I know I would have felt more comfortable with it if the orchestra had had a chance to rehearse together beforehand. There was lots of other wonderful music this evening we got to hear too: Joseph Martin, The Burchfield Brothers, and Huw Priday among others. World-class music right here in our own backyard- can't beat that!

Gift Box project and new Sarah LO

Time for another Hybrid Helper at PrimaHybrid! I just love print and fold projects :) This fun little gift box was designed by Di Hickman. You can pick up the template HERE on the house and have fun making your own.

digital credits: Bright Morning by Vera Lim, Hybrid Helpers template by Di Hickman
paper credits: Forever Flowers #4 (505882)by Prima Marketing, ribbon by Offray, rhinestones by Darice

and Corina Nielsen teamed up with Laura Skathi and put out a pretty new collab at FPD this week- Oh Sweetie Pie. Here's the LO I did with it:

credits: Oh Sweetie Pie by Corina Nielsen and Laura Skathi at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns; bracket shape from Bracket Album Templates by Jill Dzines at Scrapdish; fonts: TXT Monique

We are getting geared up to sing with my mom's church again. They are doing a big production of the Living Last Supper on Palm Sunday evening as well as lots of music during the Easter morning services.

Mark was asked to sing with some of the men at our church service Easter morning, so it looks like we'll be going in different directions for a while that day. I'm the only oboeist this time, so I have to be there. I'll be playing in the orchestra and my mom and DH singing in the choir. I need to dig out the pictures of Mark in one of these productions- back in Pullman our church there did this two years and Judy managed to sweet-talk him into it both times. He still isn't sure why he agreed to it the second time around since he knew exactly what he was getting himself into that time. It is a very moving production and worth seeing during the Easter season if you ever get the chance.

Oh, and we found out tonight that the big concert in 2009 is going to be with Steve Green, it will be similar to how the Michael Card concert went. Wow, I never thought I would get to play with such big music names!

The Promise Concert LO

credits: Crystal Cranberry by Amy Hutchinson at Ah!Designs; 2 @ a Time Layout templates by Amy Bleser at SBB; Winter Garden and Christmas Warm by Jofia Devoe at TheDigiChick; Kelsey Smith 'Fun Fun' Lightroom preset; fonts: Zapf Chancery LT

A wonderful day of music!

We started the day out with the girls participating in a small musical/narrative program at church during the service. They all did really well, and people kept coming up to us and them after the service and Sunday School and telling us how well they thought they did. Our girls were the ones to sing the best and loudest and really helped carry the whole musical parts of the program. It's not terribly surprising since they are singing constantly at home.
And then, finally it was the big day for the Michael Card The Promise program we have been practicing several months for. It is a joy to not only listen to Michael Card sing his songs, but to hear things about the songs- the scripture they are based on and some of the other inspirations he used for the lyrics, etc.- it gives them even more meaning. It went well, and was very enjoyable. I played all but the last oboe solo and got through them without making a mistake :) I had a couple of minor flubs- missing an accidental or something like that, but they were all it places that I hope they weren't too noticeable since there was a microphone sitting right in between us oboe players. Monica, the first oboe/english horn player was very nice.

Kathleen and Skip were sitting with our kids during the concert, and I brought my camera (of course!!) and gave it to Kat to take pics with during the concert for me. Since she is a scrapbooker too she knows how to get good pics! She even went up to the balcony at the beginning of the concert to get a better angle on the pics since they couldn't see a lot where they were seated. thanks Kat! So, here is a picture of most of the stage during a song when Michael C is doing a song by himself. I've pointed out Mark, myself and my mom with the red arrows (arrow brushes by Jessica Bolton).

and since you can only see half of my mom's face in the picture above, here is a better one:

Michael C brings new singers along with him on his tours. This tour he was with Jason Gray. We very much enjoyed the three songs he performed, and picked up his new CD at the end of the show. Michael C introduced us to Wes King's music over 10 years ago when we saw him in concert in Pennsylvania.
and Kat took my picture with my oboe during the intermission of the performance. I came over to the side of the stage to wave hello to the kids.
and after the show was over we took the opportunity to go say hello to Michael C and tell him how much we have appreciated his music and teaching through it over the years. And of course I got my mom to take a picture for us. Michael said his wife is a scrapbooker, so I will have to send them a copy of whatever page I happen to get done!
and we had Kathleen also take photos of us all together. I have two shots with some minor small children problems- this one is a bit better than the other. One of the new features of PSE6 is a function to easily take photos like these and combine the best faces into one photo. I will have to give it a try after I get the new version at Christmas and see how well it really does ;)
and a couple more pics of Mark and I together. I don't think Mark has had a tux on since our wedding, so we figured we had better take advantage of the opportunity!


Well, that's it for tonight. The kids have 4 more days of school before break starts, so I have to get up in the morning. The fourth graders get to start building their gingerbread village tomorrow, and the twins are very excited about that.

Whew! got a lot done today

I've got the 4 boxes I need to get mailed all packed and ready to go to the post office in the morning- hopefully it won't be too terribly busy and the girls and I can get in and out. Here's also hoping they have trays of cookies out too so I can bribe them into behaving if necessary! It's always so much work to get everything wrapped up and packed and out the door in time, and then we just have to wait and see if the post office can actually deliver them in a timely manner.

I was really really pleased with how all of my scrapbook pages and calendars turned out this year. I swear the quality from the copy shop has improved each year. I have them printed on a glossy cardstock, and this year they look just as good as the ones I print at home on photo paper- and at 43 cents a page it's a bargain (love that bulk discount they give me)! The gal who checked me out, and did all of my page trimming, said they had a new color copier that was great, and I would certainly agree. I paid a pretty hefty amount to have everything trimmed for me, but considering how many hours and how much pain it would have caused me to trim 566 pages myself I definitely think it was worth it LOL!

And on the concert front, I figured out why I was having so much trouble with the high notes today. During the break in the first rehearsal for the concert in September, my swab got stuck in the top piece of my oboe while I was cleaning it out. I sat through the rest of the rehearsal and just fingered the keys and when Mr. Hunt asked why I wasn't playing I had to show him that silk swab hanging out of my oboe- Can you say "embarassing?" I took it to the repair shop and they removed the swab in time for the concert that weekend, but I was having trouble with the high notes and couldn't figure why. So, after the concert I took it back in and told them to look at it and clean it up since who knows how long it had been since that was done. I realized today that one of the octave keys must be clogged up still- not happy that that was what was wrong since I had paid to have them fix it :( After practicing this afternoon and not having any more luck than usual, I realized that it didn't make any difference whether I had that octave key pushed down or not- any changes in octave I had were from me changing the pressure on the reed. That is just unreliable and totally exhausting! So, I did a daring thing and took the octave key off myself and cleaned out the hole with a small piece of wire- wow that hole is tiny too! Definitely a scary thing since I can recall a couple of occasions in years past where just tightening a screw too much messed everything up and nothing would play. I got it back together and practicing was oh so much easier after that! I could sail up to that high C without having to panic about whether or not it was going to come out.

The first rehearsal with the orchestra last night went pretty well, all in all, considering my high note troubles. The gal who will be playing first oboe and all of the english horn parts (I've always wanted to try the english horn!) was not able to come to practice. She plays with the Air Force Band, so I heard her play Monday night when we went to their concert, and they had a recording session scheduled. Since she wasn't there I got to play all of the solos- I was thankful I had been practicing them! It was good though, and now the Sunday practice and performance will be better since I can hit high Cs with confidence again ;) We will have to see how things work out for dividing up the solo stuff, since I haven't met this gal before. My mom just sent me an email forward from the director and he says they have now sold 1300 tickets for the concert and they expect to sell out in the next two days- max is 1500 for the building- big huge ACK!! I have never played in front of so many people before, and to have this be for Michael Card too- can you say major stress??!! I would appreciate all of your prayers Sunday afternoon and evening!

Oh, and I got layout number 261 done this morning too using the gorgeous A Snowy Morning collab by Corina, Kate and Anne at FPD.

credits: A Snowy Morning by Corina Nielsen, Kate Hadfield and Anne DeJong at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns; Alphapalooza Stampers by Corina Nielsen at FunkyPlaygroundDesigns; On the Edge Frame Cluster by Nancy Comelab at The-LilyPad
fonts: CK Becky

Now if only the Christmas newsletter would write itself and all of the envelopes address and stamp themselves too, I'd really be happy. Santa's elves are welcome to stop by my house one night and wrap all of the kids' gifts up for me too ;)

Concert pictures

All of the kids had their music concerts on November 15th. They were actually scheduled at the same time, which made for some interesting juggling and arranging. Luckily the elementary school has a dress rehearsal in the afternoon were all of the other classes get to see the program and parents are invited to attend then too. So, we went to the dress rehearsal in the afternoon for the girls and to the middle school concert in the evening. I arranged for a friend's family to bring the girls home after their evening performance was over.

The fourth grade performance was a recorder musical. The story of magical tigers stolen by aliens and rescued by astronauts was told through narrators and music pieces played out on recorders with kids acting it out. The classes learned different songs and took turns playing them. Carissa's class played the first song- she is in the back row, middle.
Beth's class played the third song. She is in the back row, four from the right.
Beth even had a little solo in one song (it was about 2 measures long LOL)
After the 7th and 8th grade jazz band played a couple of songs, the 6th grade band got their turn on the 'stage'. Bryce is sitting in front of the speaker, next to the girl with the hat on.

This is the HMS drum corp. Having that many people playing the drums sure makes an impression! They are very good. It is hard to believe that they only started this program last year in the middle of the school year.
and last, all of the kids got to show off their marching band song they will be playing in the Festival of Lights parade on Dec 1. They had a little trouble staying together- probably because of the echos in the gym. They usually do better when they are outside and that isn't a concern. Mr. Lawrence said the have over 200 kids participating in the marching band this year between the band and drum corp. The parade is a contest and he is training them to be competitive against the high school bands that will be participating also. I heard him ask them one day at practice after school "How many high school bands are we going to beat? ALL of THEM!" I'd say they have a good chance, I'm impressed at their skill level considering a third to half of the band members are 6th graders and have only been playing their instruments for 4 months.

Christmas is in the air

well, at least at our house it is starting to have a holiday flair LOL I spent some time last week making Christmas cards for the monthly card exchange we've been doing at TrinityCrop. I got to dig out some of the Christmas kits I bought during the sales last year and hadn't used yet. Nothing terribly fancy on these, but it is amazing how much a little glitter glue can dress something up ;)

and just because I don't remember if I've shown off the other cards I did for the previous months here those are too, sorry if they are repeats ;)
for October:
and the ones I did for September:

It sounds a whole lot like Christmas at my house too lately since the kids have started picking out Christmas videos from the library to watch, and Bryce has been practicing 'Jingle Bells' on his trumpet. The middle school band is going to march in the city christmas parade on December 1. They had their first after school practice with all of the grades together Wednesday last week, and the first few bars went pretty well I'd say. I happened to have my camera and snapped a few pics to share. You'll have to pardon the sun glare on them, I fixed them up as best I could. It didn't seem to matter which way I was facing, I still ended up with glare.
I started my Christmas cookie baking Saturday night too. I know Dale appreciates getting cookies to enjoy with his evening coffee every year, and plus I just like having an excuse to bake bunches of cookies! :D We started out with Snickerdoodles. It went pretty quickly with all of the sets of hands I had to help shape the dough balls and then roll them in the cinnamon- sugar topping. Yum!