Tomorrow

Remember the children's choir concert we had a few weeks ago? Sophie and her friend Gemma sang this fantastic rendition of Tomorrow from Annie. While I'm sharing this with all of you lovely readers, I suspect the grandparents will be particularly interested.

Self Discovery

Today marks one month since school started. Now that I've had a month of being at home while the kids are at school, I've learned a few things about myself that I probably already knew.

• I'm really good at staying busy
• I'm not great at making myself rest when I need it
• I want to let the kids be responsible for their own chores
• I also want to jump in and help them with their chores when they're busy
• I'm much more bothered by the house falling apart than they are
• I can either spend my day picking up the slack from them not doing their chores, or I can work on my own projects that need to get done, I can't do both
• I often have more projects to do than energy to do them
• I wake up early to help the kids get out the door
• I still stay up way too late, usually sitting with a kid who has procrastinated their homework
• I am not taking enough naps
• I need to schedule time during the day to see and speak with other humans
• I miss my kids when they're at school
• I appreciate the quiet house when I'm the only one here
• I really love getting to talk with Bryan during the day, uninterrupted
• I like listening to audiobooks directly from my phone and not having to use my earbuds all the time
• I like chipping away at the to-do list I've held for so long
• I wish I could chip away at it faster
• I go on much faster walks by myself than when I walk with the kids
• I'm taking way fewer pictures of the kids than I used to
• I don't mind driving to pick them up from or deliver them to after-school activities
• I do a lot more listening than talking now

I wonder what revelations about myself will come from the second month of school.

It Adds A Different Vibe

We usually don't decorate for Halloween until General Conference weekend (which is only a few days away!), but I let Phoebe make our house spooky a little early this year. She put up the pumpkins and candle in this picture. We don't know who put up the doll leg. No one has owned up to this creepy bit of decor.

Food In Another Form

Topher is exceptionally picky when it comes to food, especially at dinnertime. He often announces that he hates the food in front of him, usually without taking a bite. This leads to a lot of frustration and hunger.

He started down this path on Sunday evening. I had prepared chicken drumsticks, rice pilaf, and carrots. Topher was ranting about how awful the food was. I stepped away to get something and when I came back I heard him say this to Bryan, "Wait, you mean this (indicating the chicken leg) is made of chicken nuggets?! I love those!"

And then he ate the chicken.

Tonight at dinner we had pasta with tomato sauce and lots of melted mozzarella. Someone told him it was basically just pizza in a different shape. And then he ate the pasta.

I need to figure out how to expand this to more meals.

Bedtime Selfie

Action Shots

Photo credits for the first three go to Cooper.

Out and About

One year ago today Topher was fully vaccinated for COVID. That means it was one year ago today that, after two and a half years at home, we returned to attending activities in person. It was overwhelming and surreal at first, but it got easier as the days and weeks went on.

Today I made three round trips between our house and the high school (a total of thirty minutes there and back) in the space of three hours. Instead of feeling grumpy and put out that I had been in the car for so long, I felt thankful that my kids are able to have extracurricular activities that happen in person and not just over a computer screen.

The New View

The big drama at our house today (for me at least) centered around watching the yard across the street go from this:

To this:

I know that I have no say over what my neighbors do to their property, but I already miss those big beautiful trees. Peter pointed out one benefit: now when we walk by we don't have to wonder if there's a bear hiding amongst the branches.

Homemade Royalty

Topher came home on the first day of school and announced that he had a new best friend and her name was Madison. He's mentioned her a few times since. This morning I helped him finish making a crown for her. He designed and drew it, I just helped with the tape. He gave it to her at school and we got a an email and a picture from his teacher exclaiming that "Topher is so sweet!"

When asked why he made the crown he replied, "Because I love her."

That prompted my follow-up question, "You love her like a sister?"

He responded, "Yep."

Just checking.

A Chill In the Air

We still officially have a few days of summer, but today really felt like fall. We dressed appropriately.

We Are the Choir

In April of this year I was chatting with a friend while we waited for our teenagers to finish their midweek activity at church. The previous summer a woman who had directed a children's choir in California had moved into our ward. My friend and I were bemoaning the fact that we didn't have a children's choir nearby that our kids could be part of and wishing that our new friend would start one. On a whim I said, "We could start a choir. You could be the musical director and I could be in charge of choreography and whatever dramatic elements we wanted." We kind of laughed about the possibility and moved on to discuss other things.

A few days later she texted me "I'm actually a bit excited about the idea of putting together a children's music group. Is that something you'd really want to do? If so, let's stew on it a little."

I responded, "I'm game. 😁"

Then life went on and we didn't talk about it again until a month and a half later. That's when she texted and said she wanted us to start the choir. That was the official beginning of our little group. Over the next few weeks we texted and sent Marco Polos back and forth several times a day as we made choices about what the choir would look like. We chose a name, paid a graphic designer to make a logo for us, picked a few songs to start with, and decided on a practice time.

By the beginning of June we not only had a plan, we also had a choir. We had spread the word amongst the moms in both wards that meet in our building. There had been lots of interest and we had about sixteen kids signed up to sing. Our first rehearsal was the first Monday of summer break. We gathered the kids, passed out their music folders, introduced our first song, and sang.

And then my family went out of town for three and a half weeks and missed the next several practices.

We got back into town one day before our first performance.

Thankfully the girls had been practicing as we traveled. With a quick pickup practice the night before, they were ready to jump back in and sing. The kids sang three patriotic songs for a combined ward 4th of July picnic between the two congregations that meet in our building. They did a great job!

Over the summer we kept practicing once a week. The other director had to miss three weeks in a row, so I took over as the music director for that time. When we were both there sometimes we would split the kids up and I would teach the melody in one room while she taught the harmony in another room. We introduced musical terms and taught about stage presence and what to do if you're nervous and don't want to perform. We focused on the learning aspect of the choir, not just how they sounded and what they looked like. Several of the families involved traveled during the summer as well, so we never knew how big a group we would have each week.

As the end of summer neared we knew we needed to pick a night for the kids to perform what they'd been working on. We found a handful of dates that worked for both of us and sent them out to the parents. Thankfully, there was one night that worked for all the singers. That left us with a program to plan out. The kids had learned six songs over the summer, which was great. However, it wasn't quite enough for a concert. We discussed trying to teach them a few more simple songs but decided against that. Instead we invited the kids in the choir to put together solo or small group numbers that they could perform as part of the concert. They were thrilled!

These were the songs the kids learned as a choir, along with their run time.

We had our first official concert a week ago. Since this isn't a business venture we were able to use our church building for our practices and the concert. However, our building is little and doesn't have a stage. We created a performance space by gathering the rolling chalkboards and whiteboards in the building and setting them up behind the kids. We also rolled out a carpet under where the kids would be standing to minimize foot sounds. 

Another dilemma was the volume of the piano. Our pianist is a talented and enthusiastic fifteen year old. He's so enthusiastic that he plays the piano at top volume and the piano that was available to us doesn't have a damper pedal. During our dress rehearsal we discovered that he was drowning out the singers. After some brainstorming, a little internet research, and a trip to Walmart, we were able to dampen the piano a sufficient amount. We stuffed an old mattress topper into the back of the piano and then covered it with a moving blanket. Apparently a moving blanket is essentially the same thing as an acoustic blanket, but significantly less expensive and easier to obtain. I pulled the blanket back to show the padding underneath for this picture, but it was tucked and taped and hidden during the concert.

We met at the church the night before the concert and moved out stacks of extra chairs from the gym to a side classroom. That's also when we quieted the piano. There's a dedicated group of pickleball players that uses the gym most mornings, so we couldn't set anything else up that night. Our plan was to meet the next evening two hours before the concert to set up the stage area and the seating for the audience.

The next morning I got a text from my co-director. She had just gotten a message from one of those pickleball players who knew about the concert. They couldn't play their regular game because a repairman was currently using the space to fix the three sets of floor-to-ceiling accordion doors that divide the gym from the chapel and split the rest of the big room into smaller rooms. According to the message, he wasn't sure that he would be done by our 7pm start time.

I had already been planning to stop by the church that morning to drop something off, so I headed over to chat with the repairman. I found him sitting in the last row of the chapel, looking at the big room and the work ahead of him. I said hello and quickly explained that the room had been double-booked with the repair and the concert. I asked what his plan was so that we could adjust ours if needed. I was very kind and never demanded that he finish his task so we could have the room. When he heard what we needed he said he would fix the back curtain first since that would be the quickest project and was where our makeshift stage would need to be. Then he would move to the more difficult and time-consuming task of fixing the curtain between the gym and the chapel. Thankfully the middle set of curtains didn't need to be touched. He said he might be done by 5pm, but couldn't make any promises. I thanked him and said I would pray that he would have motivation (something he told me he was lacking) and insight as to how to fix the curtains.

When we arrived at 5 o'clock he was gone and the repairs were complete!

One of the moms from the choir had volunteered to organize refreshments. She came to setup a few tables before we got there and decided to set up some of the chairs as well. We were so thankful for her help. It took some of the load off our shoulders. 

We had the room setup in time for our singers to warmup and run through a few numbers before the show. I directed one number, She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain, since it was mainly an acting song. The rest of the night I acted as stage manager and crew. I handed instruments (ukulele, drum, violin) when they were needed, moved music stands and chairs, cued our two prerecorded accompaniments, and at one point made sure the mic didn't fall out of it's stand and land on the floor. My co-director actually directed most of the songs. Oh, and I was the page turner for the pianist. Two of our songs were quite long, thirteen and seventeen pages each.

The order of songs was as follows:

Colonel Bogey's (You're a Grand Old Flag) - a choir number that included a kazoo section

Inchworm - a choir number, from the movie Hans Christian Andersen

Big Rock Candy Mountain - a fun solo from a young woman in the choir who is one of our smiliest singers and also has a giant voice

Simple Gift - a beautiful cello solo by one of the young men in the choir

This Land Is Your Land - a choir song accompanied by one of our singers on the ukulele

She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain - the choir song that I directed, Phoebe played percussion for comedic effect during one verse

How Far I'll Go - a trio from a set of sisters

Wellerman - a sea shanty sung by two brothers and accompanied by a hand drum

When I Grow Up - one of our more ambitious choir numbers, it had lots of syncopation, Phoebe was one of the soloists!

Popular - a great solo by one of Sophie's best friends, she has a big, beautiful voice

Musette - a lovely violin solo from another young man in the choir

Tomorrow - a fantastic duet by Sophie and that same friend who sang Popular

A Million Dream - the choir's grand finale, Sophie was a soloist on this song!

The kids did a fantastic job! They smiled and sang, they remembered to sit and stand quietly during the small group numbers, they made it to the microphone on time for each of their solos. It was a successful first concert!

And now we're planning for Christmas.

We were so focused the night of the concert that we failed to take a group picture. But we did get one after our dress rehearsal (minus the actual official choir shirts so they would stay clean for the concert) a few days before. We're missing three of our singers here, and Sophie is a little hidden, but this is most of the group!

Better Than a Jungle Gym

Off Course

Look, I'm a hurricane! No wait, this is a different Margot. But if you look at the highlighted portion below you'll see that we do have something in common.

Into the Teens

We have a new teenager at our house!

We spread her birthday celebration over a few days. She enjoyed crepes for her birthday dinner and a spice cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and lots of sprinkles for dessert. We haven't done her birthday adventure yet, so there's more celebrating in her future.

Lesson Learned

After waking up sick on Friday I made myself rest as much as possible on both Friday and Saturday. Bryan made it possible by taking on my jobs as well as his. By Saturday afternoon I wasn't feeling totally well, but I was feeling guilty for staying in bed and not helping around the house. Usually I would have gotten up and done chores.

But not this time.

I continued to make myself stay in bed. I was supposed to teach Relief Society and lead choir practice the next day and I really wanted to be well enough to do that. So even though I had started to feel a little better, I intentionally kept recuperating.

You know what? I woke up on Sunday morning and I felt well!

I feel like it shouldn't have taken me 43 years to learn that rest really does help with recovery. But it did take that long. I hope the lesson sticks.

Love In Action

My body has been trying to be sick for a few days. I was feeling a few symptoms, but holding it at bay so I could get through some big commitments. Those commitments are done and my body has responded by plunging into a wicked cold. Instead of pushing through like I've done in the past, I'm deliberately taking a sick day today. Bryan took care of getting the kids out the door and I am making myself stay in bed as much as possible.

Because of my thyroid issues I can't take regular cold medicine. I ran out of my supply so Bryan made a quick store trip between meetings. He asked if there was any comfort food he should pick up for me. In a moment of self pity I told him I couldn't eat any of the comfort food anyway, so no. He suggested BBQ potato chips and I agreed, those sounded good.

I slept while he shopped.

When he retuned home he had a grocery bag of goodies. In addition to the chips and cold medicine he had picked up sushi and cherries. He knew what I wanted even when I couldn't think of it.

As I looked at the treats he had picked up for me a thought popped into my head, "This is what love looks like." And it's true, at least for me. I was too tired and sick to think of anything I wanted to eat, so he took the time and mental energy to think about what might make me happy. These aren't his sick day foods (McDonald's french fries, if you're curious), they're mine. And they have helped. It's a seemingly small thing, but it makes a big difference.

I really love him.

Running On Empty

I'm usually very good about not letting the gas in the van get below a quarter of a tank. Apparently I've had my mind on others things lately because this is how much gas I put into my 20 gallon tank this week.

Oops.

Time Flies

Several friends who had already reached the milestone of having all their kids in school warned me that the school day goes by much quicker than you think it will. They said not to plan to get too much done each day because before I know it I'll need to pick up the kids.

So far, they've been right.

Similar, But Not the Same

 Google finally learned that Peter and Topher are two different people!

Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo*

On Saturday evening I went on a walk with Sophie and Phoebe. Sophie started the walk wearing her inexpensive flip flops. I suggested they might not be the best walking shoes and she went back in the house. She came out a minute later wearing a relatively new pair of my tennis shoes. I haven't broken them in yet. I asked her if they were comfortable, she said yes, we started walking.

About fifteen minutes into our walk the shoes had started rubbing raw spots on her foot. Sophie slipped off my shoes and switched to walking barefoot on the street. After a very short distance I took the shoes out of her hand, stepped out of my own comfortable flip flops and put on the stiff shoes. Sophie finished the walk in my sandals.

Today I dropped Peter, Cooper, and Phoebe off at a pool party for the youth at church. We pulled up to the house and I wished them all a fun time. That's when Phoebe announced that she didn't have any shoes. I repeated what she said and asked if I had heard her correctly. Yes, she had gotten into the van without any footwear. Once again, I pulled off my sandals and handed them to one of my daughters. I drove home barefoot.

Apparently my role as a mom is now to give up my shoes to my kids. Also, it works out well that we currently all have the same shoe size.

* I will be incredibly impressed if anyone gets this musical theatre reference without Googling it. Hint: I never say the full title of this show.

The Rest of the Week

Tuesday:

It's a lot easier to walk to the bus stop in the morning than it is to walk home after school. During one walk we have lots of energy, during the other walk we're so tired that we beg to be carried. By we, I mean Topher.

Phoebe has been quite the fashionista this week. I didn't get great pictures of any of the ensembles, but they were darling.

Wednesday:

The BYU application went live and Peter got to work on it right away.

Thursday:

This was the first morning of the school year chilly enough to require sweatshirts. When they got off the bus in the afternoon the sweatshirts were no longer needed.