My cherubs...

I posted here about J's "Cherub Choir" that he participates in at the local Presbyterian Church where he attends preschool.

I am no longer the mother to just one cherub, T has joined the ranks and I am now the proud mother to two little cherubs!

(although in this photo I don't know that J is looking too "cherubic")

They had a performance last week for Ash Wednesday and I wasn't entirely sure whether T would participate.

Somehow my suggestion that T stand next to J only was heeded for the dress rehearsal.  When the actual performance occurred, there was T all alone on the end... 

Which slowly distracted him from what he was supposed to be doing...

Which eventually proved him to be the 3 year old that he is...

Truthfully, he stole the show!

He sat out of choir rehearsal today :)

I could use a bit more of this in my own life...

you have got to wonder what mantra is going through his head ;)

Valentine's Day activities....(late post)

Valentine's Day was two weeks ago and it kind of came and went under the radar, but as I downloaded photos from my camera, I did realize that we didn't completely ignore it...

The weekend prior to Valentine's day, Rich's sister and fiancee were in town and they made sugar cookies with the kids.  A favorite Valentine's Day activity at our house.

In fact, it is such a favorite activity that we did it two more times.  

The day before Valentine's, the boys and I spent an afternoon at my friend's house and she taught me (us) to decorate sugar cookies the "fancy" way.

The day after Valentine's, my niece came over and she and J decorated a few more cookies.  You would have thought they were on Minute to Win-It for the rate at which they blew through that activity :)  Ha!

C had the homework assignment to make a Valentine's Day box for his classroom party - it had to have a moving part and also had to include something about the state of Oregon.  C got very creative and he actually  made a 3-D replica of Mount Hood.  The project kept him busy for quite a few evenings leading up to Valentine's Day.  He never complains when homework is an art project :)

Nice shot!!! (his and mine)

C is playing basketball again this season.

Rich is coaching C's team again this season.

They are the "Blue Flames"

Unlike last year when they were shooting on an 8-foot hoop, they are now shooting on a regulation 10-foot hoop so it has definitely scaled back the team's scoring, but the boys are learning and enjoying the game nonetheless.

The season is already half-way through and I only finally remembered my camera this past Saturday.  I tried to make up for it by shooting lots of photos.  Although the bulk of them were snapped seconds too late, I did finally capture this one...

That's my boy!

Gerald R. Ford

K's 5th grade class has been working on President's reports for weeks and today was their long awaited President's Fair.  

K's report was on Gerald R. Ford.

She had to prepare a poster, a written report, a timeline, a 3-D diorama, a ceramic bust and an oral report.  I think she has enjoyed all the projects and it was fun to attend the fair today and see all the work that each of the students put into their displays.

Some interesting facts as part of K's report...

 Gerald R. Ford our 38th president

He was actually born Leslie Lynch King, Jr., named after his father but was renamed Gerald Rudolph Ford after his step-father 

He was neither elected vice-president nor president, yet served as both (he was appointed vice president under the 25th amendment and became president after Nixon resigned)

He played football for the University of Michigan and was offered contracts to play pro football for the Detroit Lions and for the Green Bay Packers

He attended Yale Law School

Gerald R. Ford was a right handed sportsman, yet used his left hand to eat and write

Dragging out my minute of fame....

I know I have already posted about singing the National Anthem at the Portland Trailblazers basketball game, but our choir finally got the video from the Trailblazers and posted it to youTube, so I wanted to post that - it is what was being shown on the jumbo tron as we performed....


Also, since my last post Deseret News ran an article about our singing of the National Anthem  - here.

Practice makes perfect

Last weekend we joined our friends, the Cluff family, and took our kayaks (they also received kayaks for Christmas - Heidi and I may have talked) to the local community pool for a little kayaking practice. 

It was in an attempt to get the kids more comfortable in the kayaks and to practice some safety maneuvers, but in truth, it may be the only chance we get to be in the boats for the next couple of months if this rain keeps up!

Everyone successfully completed at least one "wet entry" (getting back into the kayak if you fall out in the middle of a lake/river) as well as we got a LOT of practice getting water out of swamped boats.  Ha!

Jake even took over a boat towards the end and his determination served him well as he crossed the length of the pool a couple of times completely by himself - don't worry grandma's, he will NOT be in his own boat on any other body of water!

By the time that our pool rental was about up, every single child had abandoned the kayaks in favor of just playing in the water.  

I took note of that and I think that the first official kayaking trip ought to be adults only...our attention span is longer :)

PFF

Yesterday J was preparing for preschool, with the assignment to bring something that started with the letter "P" for his class show and share.

He packed a puppet.

He then added a pirate.

And then he came to me and asked for a photo of T.

I said, T's name doesn't start with the letter "P".

J's response was, "but he is my 'PFF' and that means best friend".

My heart did a happy dance.

You've got to relish those sweet moments...

especially when nine hours later T unbuckled from his car seat (while we are driving) with the sole purpose of hitting J.

PFF indeed!

The National Anthem...an amazing experience

My brother-in-law called earlier this week to ask me "how it went?".  He was referring to the opportunity I had to perform The National Anthem with the Portland Ensign Choir at the Portland Trailblazers game on January 23rd.  His call reminded me that I needed to post a follow-up...

IT WAS AWESOME!  I love the rendition of the National Anthem that we sing and it was a totally different experience to sing it at a live sporting event versus singing it at a concert.  We had been warned that it would be LOUD in the arena and to not expect the crowd to quiet down much.  Not the case!  When we began, there was a hush in that arena and then the crowd exploded with applause at the climax of the song.  It was thrilling and I nearly cried (I am such a baby and music brings out my emotions).

A few side notes...I don't think that the Blazers representative that was in charge of us (Lisa) was thrilled.  She was polite, don't get me wrong, but we were the largest group they had ever managed and she had to have gone into it with hesitation.  The NBA really regulates things and once that last note is sung, a clock begins and if every single "non-player" isn't off that court in 2 minutes, the Blazers are fined $25,000.  You can bet she had pressure on her neck!  But we did it and when it was all over, she met us in the "green room" and had a huge smile on her face (probably from relief that is was over) and told us that it had been a fantastic performance and that they would love to have us come back and sing again next season!  How awesome is that?!

This article has a photo and a nice review with both the response of a Blazer executive as well as the response from an attendee.

This was posted on youTube...no idea who posted it but of the three that have been posted with video via cell phones that night, this is the best one. At about 40 seconds you can see my eyes and the top of my head on the back row (we weren't on risers).