It's been an interesting couple of weeks over here to say the least... After weeks and weeks of practice, we finally finished our performance of The Messiah at Lincoln High last Sunday. Immediatey following that, I came down with a bad cold and spent a week getting reacquainted with Kleenex. I was pretty miserable, but managed to drag myself to each of the boys' three basketball practices last week at school, though I only coached one of them for Daniel on Wednesday. Just when I thought I couldn’t feel worse that day, I was leading Daniel’s Wolverines through a practice scrimmage and one of is female classmates ended up behind me just as I was trying to get away from an errant pass and next thing I know I’m doing a half cartwheel over the girl landing rather heavily on the gym floor. I think I got tangled up mostly on her foot, though, so I didn’t really do any damage to her, just my low back, so I’ve been having a great time trying to stand up straight every time I’ve bent over or had to sit on a straight chair. Advil is my best friend this week, I’m afraid. The week hasn’t been all bad, though, as I have been preparing for the Christmas festivities. The boys helped me get most of the out-of-town deliveries to the Post Office in time to arrive by the big day and we managed to get ourselves a nice artificial tree this year, a white Norwegian pine already strung with clear lights, which really looks better in our living room than a traditional live tree. We’ve been slow with the decorations, though. The boys hung candy canes all over it to get it started.
Daniel spent the night at a buddy’s house last night a couple of blocks away, so it was just Aaron and me and an evening of snuggling on the couch as we watched Christmas programs on TV. We didn’t do much of anything today (Saturday) other than hanging out around the house. I did meet my former gym teacher’s son today, Joe Folger, who mentioned Dad was his favorite teacher. He really liked the video Dad made of an old school performance back in the day. He came up from Texas for the holidays, so it was nice to meet him and his son, Brayden.
We’ve been testing out the telescope Aunt Mary Jo sent us and have yet to see the moon over here, though we’ll probably be outside the first night it reappears. I took it out on the street this afternoon here in front of the house and was able to read the license plate on a car some six blocks down the street. Depending on its configuration, it can magnify images to over 500 times their original size. I’m looking forward to seeing the craters on the moon for the first time and showing the boys what’s up there in space.
The boys are now on Christmas break from school for a good week and a half and they’ll be starting their official basketball season in terms of games once they return. Aaron’s practices will be on Mondays and games on Thursday and Daniel’s will be on Wednesdays. I’m one of two coaches for Daniel’s team, the Wolverines, and I’m one of many for Aaron’s team, which at this point is yet unnamed. If you want to see how they’re doing in school or just want to say hi directly, you can now e-mail them at their own e-mail address. If you need their address, feel free “add a comment” to this blog post and be sure to include your own e-mail address in your comment and I will e-mail you their current address. I figure that’s the best way to cut down on spam and ensure they only hear from people they know.
The boys already had their Christmas program about 10 days ago, so we only have the Christmas service to go to at Trinity tomorrow and Christmas Day. I think they may get a break from Sunday School tomorrow, which they really deserve, as they each were recognized this week for a fourth month in a row of perfect attendance. Speaking of church activities, they both participated in the “Candy Cane Lane” program this past Wednesday night at Trinity that was put on by the 6-12 youth for the kids in K-5. They learned the significance of the candy cane colors in Christianity and followed the program with a dinner of mac & cheese with hotdog slices and dessert of their own homemade white chocolate treats sprinkled with candy cane bits.
I’m looking forward to Christmas Eve and no longer having to say “no” several times a day when the boys ask, “Can we open a present???” We will be heading over to the Wignesses on Monday afternoon and spend most of the day over there, so the next couple of days will be pretty fun and entertaining for us. Unfortunately, it hasn’t really snowed up here in weeks, so we just have some ice on the roads and patches of snow here and there, nothing like what it was last year. Not that I’m complaining by any means, though.
May you all have a very merry and blessed Christmas this year and a great start to 2007!!
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Hallelujah!!
We are now in the midst of a genuine Minnesota winter having sustained snowfall in excess of six inches and subzero temperatures for a while now. I didn't think I'd be comparing winters to Seattle this early, but it appears Seattle may have had it worse than us, at least for a while. Today was an aberration, though, as the temperatures climbed well into the 20s and 30s and we had a bit of slush out on the roads. I doubt it will last for long, though. The ice houses are back in force on the river just a quarter mile away. I don't know if I'll ever get used to seeing half and three-quarter-ton pickup trucks parked out on what used to be a river less than a month ago. Takes a bit of a mind shift.
I imagine some of you are wondering again why it's taken so long to get this site updated. I can tell you it's been a rather tremendously busy few weeks since I was last on here what with the recent visit of Mom and Dad and getting into the thick of winter basketball. I have been out at Challenger a couple of days a week for several weeks now helping coach both the second and fourth grade teams along with the Thursday after school Kingdom Kids program and combining those activities with all the rehearsing I've been doing for both Trinity Choir and for the upcoming performance of The Messiah, it doesn't leave much time for routine things like updating a blog. Speaking of The Messiah, it's now one week from tomorrow until the performance and I've only practiced twice with the community adult performers, the rest of the time practicing with the kids at Northland with the Northland Chamber Choir. I think I'm about as close to ready as I can get, though. We will have four days of practice this week to wrap up the loose ends and then Sunday, the boys will be spending the afternoon at their friend Mateo's place to celebrate his birthday as I sing at Lincoln High. After the performance, there's going to be a "cast party" of sorts for the performers with meat, crackers, cheese, etc. and after that is the annual Trinity Senior Choir Christmas party, this year being held at the home of Steve and his wife. Joe and Jodi said they would watch the boys so I can attend the party this time around. This will be my first attendance at that annual shindig.
The boys continue to make progress in basketball and last Wednesday they picked teams for Daniel and he was selected to be a "Wolverine." All teams are named after Big-10 teams, i.e. Gophers, Buckeyes, Badgers, Wolverines, etc. He has a grey (though he calls it "ash") colored t-shirt with "Wolverines" on the front and his name and the number 11 on the back in black letters/numbers. Aaron won't start playing his games until the first of the year. Right now they're still working on fundamentals, but getting in some scrimmage time as well. I prefer scrimmage time, as I don't have to know too much about the game other than being able to spot a double dribble or travel whereupon I can blow the whistle. I did pick up a couple of DVDs, though, put out by Magic Johnson that teach the fundamentals of basketball skills and basketball conditioning, which the coach of Aaron's group said he would show the kids and I plan to watch it several times to pick up the knowledge I lack of the game.
I already told some of you the story about choir practice last week, but I'll recap here for those who haven't heard. I was sitting down in the youth room with the choir keeping warm by the new gas fireplace down there and I moved over to a couch alongside the choir where Daniel was sitting. I plopped Daniel's legs across my lap and wrapped an arm around him as I sang along with the Hallelujah Chorus. Halfway through, Daniel started singing the "Hallelujahs" right along with me until the end of the song. Some of the choir saw/heard him and thought he was pretty cute with that. He really enjoys music, as was evidenced in his recent informance the end of November.
The boys got their report cards on Friday for the first trimester and both did pretty well in their studies. Perhaps equally or even more important is they both earned high marks in areas of social skills (the "plays well with others categories). One of Aaron's strengths was stated to be his willingness to work hard at achieving the goals set for him. Daniel is presently reading at approximately the end of third grade level, a whole year in front of where he is supposed to be for his age, so he continues to make leaps and bounds in that area. Aaron received a postcard in the mail the last week or so from the Principal and Assistant Principal of Challenger commending him on his work ethic as indicated by his teachers. That was an unusual surprise to see that in the mailbox and a most pleasant surprise at that. I've posted it here for interested parties to see.
I learned a little more trivia about the "who's who" in TRF this past week. On Friday, I went for my usual lunch engagement with Aaron at Challenger. As I sat eating at his table, Francis, one of the girls who played on Aaron's Orioles baseball team this summer and who plays the cello at Challenger just starting this year came and sat down across from me and engaged me in a Minnesota "sidebar" of sorts just chatting about the cello, asking me how long I've played, etc. As we were sitting there, she mentioned something about her mom and I asked what her mom's name was, as I had never seen her at the baseball games this past summer only having met her dad who told me they spent a lot of time out in Seattle and more specifically Whidbey Island in the past. Turns out her mom is the new (since this summer) CEO of Northwest Hospital credited with turning the hospital's financial situation around in a few short months bringing it back into the black again for the first time in years. She's an RN with an MBA and years of healthcare management experience. I had not put two and two together before as her last name is different from the rest of the family's, perhaps retaining her maiden name. In any event, it was interesting to finally make the connection there. Speaking of lunch, I suprised both boys on different days last week. I went to Wal-Mart one day and picked up one of those Icee drinks on the way out and brought it to Aaron at lunchtime so all the other kids were jealous. Then I figured I'd surprise Daniel with the same thing. It was a quite unexpected surprise for both of them, though I made sure they know it's not going to happen every week... It's nice to just shake things up every once in a while.
I think that's about all I can come up with for now in the way of updates. I have to get up bright and early for choir tomorrow morning, so I'm going to cut this short. I imagine my next update may not be until after Christmas with all the upcoming music events and if so, I wish you all a very merry Christmas.
I imagine some of you are wondering again why it's taken so long to get this site updated. I can tell you it's been a rather tremendously busy few weeks since I was last on here what with the recent visit of Mom and Dad and getting into the thick of winter basketball. I have been out at Challenger a couple of days a week for several weeks now helping coach both the second and fourth grade teams along with the Thursday after school Kingdom Kids program and combining those activities with all the rehearsing I've been doing for both Trinity Choir and for the upcoming performance of The Messiah, it doesn't leave much time for routine things like updating a blog. Speaking of The Messiah, it's now one week from tomorrow until the performance and I've only practiced twice with the community adult performers, the rest of the time practicing with the kids at Northland with the Northland Chamber Choir. I think I'm about as close to ready as I can get, though. We will have four days of practice this week to wrap up the loose ends and then Sunday, the boys will be spending the afternoon at their friend Mateo's place to celebrate his birthday as I sing at Lincoln High. After the performance, there's going to be a "cast party" of sorts for the performers with meat, crackers, cheese, etc. and after that is the annual Trinity Senior Choir Christmas party, this year being held at the home of Steve and his wife. Joe and Jodi said they would watch the boys so I can attend the party this time around. This will be my first attendance at that annual shindig.
The boys continue to make progress in basketball and last Wednesday they picked teams for Daniel and he was selected to be a "Wolverine." All teams are named after Big-10 teams, i.e. Gophers, Buckeyes, Badgers, Wolverines, etc. He has a grey (though he calls it "ash") colored t-shirt with "Wolverines" on the front and his name and the number 11 on the back in black letters/numbers. Aaron won't start playing his games until the first of the year. Right now they're still working on fundamentals, but getting in some scrimmage time as well. I prefer scrimmage time, as I don't have to know too much about the game other than being able to spot a double dribble or travel whereupon I can blow the whistle. I did pick up a couple of DVDs, though, put out by Magic Johnson that teach the fundamentals of basketball skills and basketball conditioning, which the coach of Aaron's group said he would show the kids and I plan to watch it several times to pick up the knowledge I lack of the game.
I already told some of you the story about choir practice last week, but I'll recap here for those who haven't heard. I was sitting down in the youth room with the choir keeping warm by the new gas fireplace down there and I moved over to a couch alongside the choir where Daniel was sitting. I plopped Daniel's legs across my lap and wrapped an arm around him as I sang along with the Hallelujah Chorus. Halfway through, Daniel started singing the "Hallelujahs" right along with me until the end of the song. Some of the choir saw/heard him and thought he was pretty cute with that. He really enjoys music, as was evidenced in his recent informance the end of November.
The boys got their report cards on Friday for the first trimester and both did pretty well in their studies. Perhaps equally or even more important is they both earned high marks in areas of social skills (the "plays well with others categories). One of Aaron's strengths was stated to be his willingness to work hard at achieving the goals set for him. Daniel is presently reading at approximately the end of third grade level, a whole year in front of where he is supposed to be for his age, so he continues to make leaps and bounds in that area. Aaron received a postcard in the mail the last week or so from the Principal and Assistant Principal of Challenger commending him on his work ethic as indicated by his teachers. That was an unusual surprise to see that in the mailbox and a most pleasant surprise at that. I've posted it here for interested parties to see.
I learned a little more trivia about the "who's who" in TRF this past week. On Friday, I went for my usual lunch engagement with Aaron at Challenger. As I sat eating at his table, Francis, one of the girls who played on Aaron's Orioles baseball team this summer and who plays the cello at Challenger just starting this year came and sat down across from me and engaged me in a Minnesota "sidebar" of sorts just chatting about the cello, asking me how long I've played, etc. As we were sitting there, she mentioned something about her mom and I asked what her mom's name was, as I had never seen her at the baseball games this past summer only having met her dad who told me they spent a lot of time out in Seattle and more specifically Whidbey Island in the past. Turns out her mom is the new (since this summer) CEO of Northwest Hospital credited with turning the hospital's financial situation around in a few short months bringing it back into the black again for the first time in years. She's an RN with an MBA and years of healthcare management experience. I had not put two and two together before as her last name is different from the rest of the family's, perhaps retaining her maiden name. In any event, it was interesting to finally make the connection there. Speaking of lunch, I suprised both boys on different days last week. I went to Wal-Mart one day and picked up one of those Icee drinks on the way out and brought it to Aaron at lunchtime so all the other kids were jealous. Then I figured I'd surprise Daniel with the same thing. It was a quite unexpected surprise for both of them, though I made sure they know it's not going to happen every week... It's nice to just shake things up every once in a while.
I think that's about all I can come up with for now in the way of updates. I have to get up bright and early for choir tomorrow morning, so I'm going to cut this short. I imagine my next update may not be until after Christmas with all the upcoming music events and if so, I wish you all a very merry Christmas.
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