He Is Born

Strike the Harp and Join the Chorus

Christmas is the season for school concerts. Sophie performed with both the orchestra and the chorus for her school concert. We knew that she and her friend had been picked to narrate the chorus section of the concert (and she was amazing!), but we had no idea she was also introducing an orchestra piece. She was poised and articulate and did a wonderful job all around.

The Snowy Day

After that loooooong Saturday, we spent time making sure we were ready for church the next day. Then we woke up to several inches of snow. Bryan, Cooper, Peter, and I (but mostly Bryan) shoveled the sidewalk and driveway while Sophie and Topher tramped around the backyard. We finished in time to find out that church was canceled for the day. The geography of our congregation is very hilly, so many of our members were still snowed in. 

The roads were cleared in time for us to feed dinner to the missionaries assigned to our ward. So we did get a church-related activity in.

Jolly

After the choir rehearsal and the ukulele performance and the track meet and the theatre troupe performance and the three hours of babysitting, the day wasn't over. Sophie had her first ever violin recital that afternoon at a retirement home. She started taking lessons from a woman in our ward a few months ago and is already showing improvement. She and her teacher played a simple duet of Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. I loved it!

Run, Run Rudolph

While I was off performing and shuttling kids, Bryan and Cooper were at the track meet. Bryan estimates there were at least twenty schools that participated and Cooper said there were individual runners that weren't associated with any schools there as well. Cooper competed in the mile.

He finished his race in five minutes and sixteen seconds and got second place in his heat! He ended up placing twelfth overall, which I think is amazing! He's improved quite a bit from when he ran track in the spring. Plus, after running 5Ks in cross country all fall, a mile seemed pretty easy.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

After our ukulele performance on Saturday, we had to scurry across the street for the next performance of the day. The intermediate school theatre troupe performed a ten minute set of Christmas songs. Sophie's teacher knew she was running from one gig to the next and said they would wait for her. But when we walked into the museum where they were performing we were told the room was full and we wouldn't be allowed in. Sophie finally told them that she was in the cast and they waved her up the stairs. She got there just as they were starting.

The rest of us had to convince the woman guarding the stairs that our children were the ones performing. She finally let us up, but we had to stay in a separate room. We could hear them, but we couldn't see them. Thankfully another mom took videos and shared them with me. The lone picture I have is a blurry screenshot from one of the videos.

From what we heard, they did a good job!

After they finished performing, the kids got in line for free hot chocolate and a donut. Then I handed Sophie off to a trusted mom friend so she could stay and take her turn volunteering at the hot chocolate table (a student government responsibility) and I took Phoebe and Topher to the next activity, with a quick detour for an even fancier donut.

Both Phoebe and Sophie had been asked to help with a three-hour free babysitting drop-off that a family in our old ward was hosting. Though I hadn't originally intended to, I dropped off Topher with Phoebe while I went back to get Sophie. When her shift was over (and we were both thoroughly frozen) I took her to help babysit too. Both girls held babies and enjoyed their service. Topher had a blast playing with his friends. It ended up being a giant primary-age Christmas party with pizza and crafts and games and treats. A good time was had by all.

After all that party food, Topher announced at the end of the day that he had had too much junk food and needed to just eat lettuce. We granted his request by eating chicken Caesar salad for dinner.

Jingle Bell Rock

Saturday was one of those totally crazy days that has too much packed into it. All three of our cars had to go in different directions. Peter went to do service, Bryan drove with Cooper to his first winter track (did you know that's a thing?) meet of the season, and I kept the younger three with me for a lot of practicing and performing and service.

After our final kid choir practice of the year, Sophie and I had another ukulele performance. This time we played and sang for a whole hour as part of a town-wide Christmas celebration. I love that we get to be musical ambassadors for the library. And I love that we performed inside the library because it was ridiculously cold outside.

Some friends surprised us by coming to watch us play and sing. I didn't realize they'd taken this picture until my friend texted it to me a few days later.

Phoebe was a big help by watching Topher and doing crafts with him while we performed. I was worried he would go running through the library, but he was content listening and making Christmas scenes with paper.

The Show Must Go On

Cooper and Phoebe were supposed to have their big high school holiday pops concert last Wednesday. Instead, we had a night at home because it was snowing and the concert was bumped to the next evening. I took this picture near the beginning of the storm.

The choir director was thankful they had a snow date! On Thursday we went and heard all fifteen musical groups the high school offers, including four rock bands. Cooper and Phoebe both sang with the Concert Choir, Cooper sang with the select SATB choir, and Phoebe sang with the select treble choir. They sounded fantastic! Two fun highlights were The First Noel by Phoebe's group (they stood spread out in the audience and sounded angelic) and Cooper wearing a Hawaiian shirt and playing the bells as a Beach Boy in Little Saint Nick (we had no idea he was going to do that).

The only bummer of the night? We were asked to put our phones away during the whole concert. The only pictures Bryan got were right before the concert started and then right after. So we have no videos to share.

One of the sweet YW leaders from our old ward (her son sings in the choirs too) brought flowers for Phoebe!

All I Want for Christmas

The library had a Christmas sing-along last week. Sophie and I got to participate with the ukulele orchestra. The evening also included a special visitor in red. Topher is in on the game, but he went and made some Christmas gift requests: a hot wheels garage and a pet polar bear. When he saw the surprised expression on Santa's face he corrected himself and said a stuffed animal pet polar bear.

Let It Snow?

So far this is the snowiest December we've had in quite a while. It snowed again on Wednesday. I took this picture near the beginning of the storm. The kids didn't get another snow day, but they did get a postponed holiday pops concert, plus a two-hour school delay on Thursday.

Maybe we're just getting through all the snowy weather quickly?