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.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Sunday, November 12, 2006
And Another Thing...
I guess I wasn't busy enough... At rehearsal before this morning's early service, they announced they are gathering those who play a brass or string instrument to perform in the combined Thanksgiving service at Trinity on th 22nd, so I will be dusting off my cello and hauling it to practice this Wednesday night. Thankfully, the group will be from middle school on up, so I should be able to polish off enough rust to perform at the 8th grade level (knock on rosewood). In other news, as I was on the ramp leading into the sanctuary this morning, Daniel's Sunday School teacher came up to me and told me, "Daniel's really starting to talk to me a lot now. He's come out of his shell!" She was tickled pink with his newfound courage to open up in class, something that surprised even me. She was his teacher when he first moved here, so she's had the opportunity to watch him grow since the latter half of kindergarten. I'll have to ask his teacher at school if he's been more outgoing there as well. Of course he has his fall/winter music informance in just a week or two, so it'll be fun to see how he does with his class for that.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Carpe Turkem....
Turkey Day is just around the corner and with each passing day we seem to get busier and busier. Basketball is in full swing now for the boys and with that I've been drafted to help coach both the 2nd and 4th graders, the most difficult task being the 2nd graders as it's a constant raised voice for the full hour over the noise of all the kids talking at the same time. We spent the first week going over pretty much only the fundamentals including passing, dribbling, defense, and only minimal shooting. Daniel appears to have a knack for shooting, getting I'd bet at least 80 percent of his free throws. I think it's a fantastic opportunity thus far for Aaron to learn eye/hand coordination and understand that basketball isn't all about "shooting." It was kind of funny when we went the first couple of practices and some of the other coaches were asking about my experience to which I would reply, "1978 St. Hilaire boys' "B" Squad." Now that they're in basketball, though, they have to split time on Thursdays so they go to Kingdom Kids for the first hour after school and the second hour is Aaron's practice. Daniel thankfully only has practice once a week.
I think the most time-consuming activity at this point for me is all the singing. I've been attending Messiah rehearsals very regularly at Northland lately with Jerry and Marilyn joining in the last week. I spoke with Les Torgerson last Wednesday who is presently directing the area honor band in place of Linda Samuelson, my director from Trinity Choir who is presently on Sabbatical from her position as band director at Northland. Les is actually retired from his former position as band director at Northland. Linda's son, coincidentally, is in basketball with Aaron. We're down to about three weeks now until the performance, which will be in the Lincoln High auditorium. We start our combined choir rehearsals next Wednesday for the combined Thanksgiving service at Trinity, including Redeemer, Zion, and Trinity.
Today has been more leisurely than most days. I took the boys out for brunch at Dee's and then we drove out to Black River Lutheran to join in the celebration of Donald and Ruthie Mosbeck's 50th wedding anniversary. We watched a very nice computer slide show with many pictures of the Mosbeck clan, mostly Diane, Alan, and Marcie and all the grand and great grandkids. In the midst of watching the slide show, Melvin Meline came up to the area leading to the sanctuary and sat down so I had a nice chat with him. He complained his "recall isn't quite what it used to be," but with minimal prompting he was able to come up with the location of our old farm and mom's name, etc. After talking with him a while, I went back downstairs to the fellowhip hall and Diane Mosbeck Johnson introduced me to Alan (a little different than I had remembered him) and I had her introduce me to Melvin's wife Rayma. Rayma is now confined to a wheelchair and is living at Oakland Park while Melvin remains on his farm, though one of the Mosbeck clan now farms the land there. Rayma, although getting up there in years is still pretty alert and clearly recognized me, though it has been quite a long time since I last saw her on their farm. Donald and Ruthie were standing near the entrance of the fellowship hall and I walked up and asked if they were the guests of honor and Ruthie looks up at me with a big smile and wonders, "Who is this?" It was instant recognition when she heard my last name, though, and they were both very pleased to see me again. They mentioned visiting quite often with Phyllis these days and how they've enjoyed Bob's cooking (I gotta make my way over there sometime...). Sam Mosbeck from Daniei's grade and a few other Mosbeck kids we recognized were there as well. I think we stayed and visited about an hour before heading home. We're now inside on this cold autumn afternoon/evening watching some quality family entertainment on TV (will be the original Wizard of Oz tonight followed by Home Alone).
Almost forgot... This week was also momentous for one significant thing: I voted for the first time ever as a Minnesotan in the midterm elections. I'm still learning the political landscape of Minnesota, i.e. not the Democratic Party here, but "Democrat-Farmer-Labor" Party. We voted in a new mayor of TRF, Steve "Beaver" Nordhagen who had radio ads the past few weeks with the theme music of Leave it to Beaver in the background. I voted for a councilman who used to be a custodian at Washington Elementary. I didn't really know much about the council candidates there not being much of them, but Mr. Folger said he was a good guy, so.... The polls were at Zion and I brought the boys with me. They have something really neat here in Minnesota where the children are allowed to vote in their own mini-election of sorts. I went one direction and they went the other at Zion and each got a certificate that they had voted, so it was a nice learning experience for them about democracy and elections.
I think that's most of the highlights of things going on around here the past two weeks or so. I don't think I'll be on here much until after Thanksgiving, so I wanted to get at least this update done before then.
I think the most time-consuming activity at this point for me is all the singing. I've been attending Messiah rehearsals very regularly at Northland lately with Jerry and Marilyn joining in the last week. I spoke with Les Torgerson last Wednesday who is presently directing the area honor band in place of Linda Samuelson, my director from Trinity Choir who is presently on Sabbatical from her position as band director at Northland. Les is actually retired from his former position as band director at Northland. Linda's son, coincidentally, is in basketball with Aaron. We're down to about three weeks now until the performance, which will be in the Lincoln High auditorium. We start our combined choir rehearsals next Wednesday for the combined Thanksgiving service at Trinity, including Redeemer, Zion, and Trinity.
Today has been more leisurely than most days. I took the boys out for brunch at Dee's and then we drove out to Black River Lutheran to join in the celebration of Donald and Ruthie Mosbeck's 50th wedding anniversary. We watched a very nice computer slide show with many pictures of the Mosbeck clan, mostly Diane, Alan, and Marcie and all the grand and great grandkids. In the midst of watching the slide show, Melvin Meline came up to the area leading to the sanctuary and sat down so I had a nice chat with him. He complained his "recall isn't quite what it used to be," but with minimal prompting he was able to come up with the location of our old farm and mom's name, etc. After talking with him a while, I went back downstairs to the fellowhip hall and Diane Mosbeck Johnson introduced me to Alan (a little different than I had remembered him) and I had her introduce me to Melvin's wife Rayma. Rayma is now confined to a wheelchair and is living at Oakland Park while Melvin remains on his farm, though one of the Mosbeck clan now farms the land there. Rayma, although getting up there in years is still pretty alert and clearly recognized me, though it has been quite a long time since I last saw her on their farm. Donald and Ruthie were standing near the entrance of the fellowship hall and I walked up and asked if they were the guests of honor and Ruthie looks up at me with a big smile and wonders, "Who is this?" It was instant recognition when she heard my last name, though, and they were both very pleased to see me again. They mentioned visiting quite often with Phyllis these days and how they've enjoyed Bob's cooking (I gotta make my way over there sometime...). Sam Mosbeck from Daniei's grade and a few other Mosbeck kids we recognized were there as well. I think we stayed and visited about an hour before heading home. We're now inside on this cold autumn afternoon/evening watching some quality family entertainment on TV (will be the original Wizard of Oz tonight followed by Home Alone).
Almost forgot... This week was also momentous for one significant thing: I voted for the first time ever as a Minnesotan in the midterm elections. I'm still learning the political landscape of Minnesota, i.e. not the Democratic Party here, but "Democrat-Farmer-Labor" Party. We voted in a new mayor of TRF, Steve "Beaver" Nordhagen who had radio ads the past few weeks with the theme music of Leave it to Beaver in the background. I voted for a councilman who used to be a custodian at Washington Elementary. I didn't really know much about the council candidates there not being much of them, but Mr. Folger said he was a good guy, so.... The polls were at Zion and I brought the boys with me. They have something really neat here in Minnesota where the children are allowed to vote in their own mini-election of sorts. I went one direction and they went the other at Zion and each got a certificate that they had voted, so it was a nice learning experience for them about democracy and elections.
I think that's most of the highlights of things going on around here the past two weeks or so. I don't think I'll be on here much until after Thanksgiving, so I wanted to get at least this update done before then.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
So Much Fun... Is It Christmas Yet?
It's hard to believe both how quick the weather has taken a turn for the whiter and colder and how quickly our fall schedule is filling up. We managed to take some time out, though, for a number of Halloween festivities. Aaron had his first party last week at school, so got to wear his costume earlier than Daniel. He went as a Star Wars clone this year, Daniel as a red ninja. This year was unusual with all the holiday activities, as they were able to wear their costumes at least four different times. On Sunday, we had a Halloween party of sorts at Trinity. We piled on the bus and in cars and drove over to Valley Home and Oakland Park (see picture) to visit the nursing home residents. It was kind of humerous at the first stop... As we get there, almost no one is in sight, so the nurse on duty gets on the PA system and says, "The kids of Trinity are here in their costumes and they will be singing you some songs..." Little did we the adults know we would be singing... Oh well. We managed to scrape together the words to a handful of songs nobody could forget, i.e. Jesus Loves Me This I Know, Go Tell It On The Mountain, This Little Light of Mine, etc. We didn't do too shabby given we had absolutely no warning or practice.
After the nursing home visits, we went back to Trinity and chowed down on some pizza and played musical chairs until it was time to go home. It was about a three-hour event and all the kids appeared to enjoy the pizza and games.
Yesterday was the official Halloween party at Challenger Elementary and last night we went out Trick-Or-Treating, but chose a different neighborhood this year. I drove the boys over to the old stomping grounds, i.e. Kneale Ave. S., Maple, etc. The Drevlows weren't homw so we ventured out on our own. We stopped out at Grochows, including Don and Shirley and they had these big Zip-Loc bags chock full of goodies for the boys. We managed to get to bed at a decent hour too (well, the boys at least).
As for my schedule, I've been getting busier in the area of music these days... As of last Thursday, I started practicing for Handel's Messiah over at Northland Community College with some other members of the community, i.e. Jerry, Marilyn, Tom Kays, etc. We will be singing together with a professional choir out of Grand Forks, the Master Works Chorale, along with the Grand Forks Symphony and will sing about 7 selected pieces of The Messiah including the Halleluja Chorus. I practiced last Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m., but that kind of is a stretch with keeping the boys occupied and all, so I elected to attend a daytime rehearsal today instead at Northland with the Northland Chamber Choir. I was somewhat out of place, what with 95 percent college-aged kids and just one other adult from the community. I sang bass this time with one other student behind a row of just three tenors from the college. Cathy Hagen was the accompanist, so it was nice to have a familiar sound to key off of in rehearsal. The daytime rehearsals are M-W-F 12 to 12:50 or 1:00, so it's a nice break in the day to go have some vocal fun. Today kind of brought me back to the days of Melloaires at Edmonds High and freshman concert choir with Mr. Morken. It's kind of invigorating to be back in the thick of music performance.
As for what's on the horizon, we are looking forward to hockey season and tomorrow night is the lutefisk dinner at Trinity. I believe on the 22nd is the combined Thanksgiving service with the congregations of Trinity, Redeemer, Black River, and Zion all worshiping together and this year it's going to be held at.....TRINITY!! It'll be nice to see the sanctuary and chapel packed once again for a change. The combined choirs will also be performing that night, so should be fun. The boys start their basketball season next Monday (I was off a week) and are continuing with Kingdom Kids after school every other Thursday. Other than that, I think that about covers it. Now to get the furniture moved in before Mom and Dad arrive for Thanksgiving...
Did I mention it's white over here??? It snowed twice this week already and the temperatures are down in the 20s again. I think the trampoline has run its course at this point. No more lawnmowing either... Well, off to choir practice now. Take care all!
After the nursing home visits, we went back to Trinity and chowed down on some pizza and played musical chairs until it was time to go home. It was about a three-hour event and all the kids appeared to enjoy the pizza and games.
Yesterday was the official Halloween party at Challenger Elementary and last night we went out Trick-Or-Treating, but chose a different neighborhood this year. I drove the boys over to the old stomping grounds, i.e. Kneale Ave. S., Maple, etc. The Drevlows weren't homw so we ventured out on our own. We stopped out at Grochows, including Don and Shirley and they had these big Zip-Loc bags chock full of goodies for the boys. We managed to get to bed at a decent hour too (well, the boys at least).
As for my schedule, I've been getting busier in the area of music these days... As of last Thursday, I started practicing for Handel's Messiah over at Northland Community College with some other members of the community, i.e. Jerry, Marilyn, Tom Kays, etc. We will be singing together with a professional choir out of Grand Forks, the Master Works Chorale, along with the Grand Forks Symphony and will sing about 7 selected pieces of The Messiah including the Halleluja Chorus. I practiced last Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m., but that kind of is a stretch with keeping the boys occupied and all, so I elected to attend a daytime rehearsal today instead at Northland with the Northland Chamber Choir. I was somewhat out of place, what with 95 percent college-aged kids and just one other adult from the community. I sang bass this time with one other student behind a row of just three tenors from the college. Cathy Hagen was the accompanist, so it was nice to have a familiar sound to key off of in rehearsal. The daytime rehearsals are M-W-F 12 to 12:50 or 1:00, so it's a nice break in the day to go have some vocal fun. Today kind of brought me back to the days of Melloaires at Edmonds High and freshman concert choir with Mr. Morken. It's kind of invigorating to be back in the thick of music performance.
As for what's on the horizon, we are looking forward to hockey season and tomorrow night is the lutefisk dinner at Trinity. I believe on the 22nd is the combined Thanksgiving service with the congregations of Trinity, Redeemer, Black River, and Zion all worshiping together and this year it's going to be held at.....TRINITY!! It'll be nice to see the sanctuary and chapel packed once again for a change. The combined choirs will also be performing that night, so should be fun. The boys start their basketball season next Monday (I was off a week) and are continuing with Kingdom Kids after school every other Thursday. Other than that, I think that about covers it. Now to get the furniture moved in before Mom and Dad arrive for Thanksgiving...
Did I mention it's white over here??? It snowed twice this week already and the temperatures are down in the 20s again. I think the trampoline has run its course at this point. No more lawnmowing either... Well, off to choir practice now. Take care all!
Monday, October 16, 2006
Barren Trees, Autmn Leaves, and Cold Nights...
The leaf piles have rapidly grown around town and as of last Tuesday, the City of TRF trucks have been coming through and vacuuming up the piles along the side of the streets. both the big Dutch elm out front and our backyard tree are completely barren of leaves and we've had a dusting of snow here and there, though today was a wet day of drizzling rain. Aaron had his last day of football practice tonight (until dark) and his last game will be played on Saturday (actually two games that day for his team, the Panthers). Basketball will begin for the boys the first week of November, so the gym will be a nice change from the cold and wet football fields.
Last Tuesday we attended the "Running With Reading" program at Challenger, a monthly family activity at the school where they have a sporting activity the first half of the time period followed by time spent in the school library reading books, playing chess, etc. It was a very cold and windy night, though, on the first night of the program, so only about a dozen of us showed up (parents included). They plan on having the event once a month and next month's activity may be floor hockey, so that should be fun.
Yesterday was entertaining, as the boys both sang a song for the congregation at church. The church was almost as full as it gets at Christmas and Thanksgiving, so that was nice to see for a change. I sat near the front this time with Joe and Jodi and their many kids. It was a nice break from singing myself. Speaking of that, the pastor and his wife will be out of town this week, so I don't have any choir practice this week, though with the boys out of school all week, I get a week of fun with them at home instead. In terms of fall activities to look forward to, the annual Trinity Lutefisk Dinner will be held in just a few short weeks in November. They had sign up sheets for serving and donation of Cool Whip, pies, and 70 pounds of butter. I looked at the sheet for the butter and thought to myself, "Is 70 pounds adequate to cover the horrendous tastebud overload known as lutefisk??!" The thought also crossed my mind, "Has Jeff introduced Katrina to this Norwegian culinary delight?" Okay, that's enough lutefisk dissing for now... I think I'll quit while I'm behind.
The boys both had their parent-teacher conferences today and they went well. Both are doing good, particularly in their reading. Anybody looking for gift ideas in the future, feel free to consider either sending chapter books for them or a gift card to Barnes & Noble or Amazon so they can pick out their own (Aaron's already got the whole set of Narnia books and is just starting in on Lemony Snicket).
Last Tuesday we attended the "Running With Reading" program at Challenger, a monthly family activity at the school where they have a sporting activity the first half of the time period followed by time spent in the school library reading books, playing chess, etc. It was a very cold and windy night, though, on the first night of the program, so only about a dozen of us showed up (parents included). They plan on having the event once a month and next month's activity may be floor hockey, so that should be fun.
Yesterday was entertaining, as the boys both sang a song for the congregation at church. The church was almost as full as it gets at Christmas and Thanksgiving, so that was nice to see for a change. I sat near the front this time with Joe and Jodi and their many kids. It was a nice break from singing myself. Speaking of that, the pastor and his wife will be out of town this week, so I don't have any choir practice this week, though with the boys out of school all week, I get a week of fun with them at home instead. In terms of fall activities to look forward to, the annual Trinity Lutefisk Dinner will be held in just a few short weeks in November. They had sign up sheets for serving and donation of Cool Whip, pies, and 70 pounds of butter. I looked at the sheet for the butter and thought to myself, "Is 70 pounds adequate to cover the horrendous tastebud overload known as lutefisk??!" The thought also crossed my mind, "Has Jeff introduced Katrina to this Norwegian culinary delight?" Okay, that's enough lutefisk dissing for now... I think I'll quit while I'm behind.
The boys both had their parent-teacher conferences today and they went well. Both are doing good, particularly in their reading. Anybody looking for gift ideas in the future, feel free to consider either sending chapter books for them or a gift card to Barnes & Noble or Amazon so they can pick out their own (Aaron's already got the whole set of Narnia books and is just starting in on Lemony Snicket).
Friday, October 06, 2006
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Autumn Leaves Are Falling...
It's been a very pleasant start to the fall season here in Thief River. After just a handful of leaves coming down in the past two weeks, this week it's really taken off. The Dutch elm in front of the house here has dumped about 8 lawn bags full of leaves on the front lawn and the streets are covered in yellow, orange, and red leaves. It's nice to look at, but of course then I got the challenge of the back yard... If I don't stay on top of the leaves, the doggy calling cards get covered up and then we get a surprise later. :o( Today I picked three rakes at Wally World and outfitted the boys with them after school so we were all out front raking this afternoon and got some pictures of the boys in the leaf pile. The temperatures have been dipping at night into the mid-30s and low 40s as well lately and it probably will be a cold Halloween like last year. Hopefully the snow takes its time showing up, though it would be nice to have a white Christmas again.
The boys have been busy this fall with their school activities. They have their usual Awana youth program on Wednesday nights, but have also added Kingdom Kids, an after school program at school where they have an outdoor recess for almost an hour followed by activities inside. I was volunteered for that activity more or less as one of the leaders so that keeps me busy as well, though it's not every week, but every other week. Aaron is having fun in his flag football program with Braeden Drevlow and has finally found a position he likes (and the coach likes too). He is presently playing center, so he just has to snap the ball and do some blocking. He got a lot of playing time last Saturday morning and actually made a great "tackle" (taking the ball carrier's flag off). It was kind of funny... His teammates had actually blocked in the ball carrier and Aaron was right behind him so the other boys just yelled, "Aaron, grab his flag!!" and Aaron just reached forward and ripped it off. He was beaming from ear to ear after that play! At first, it seemed as though it was going to be an unorganized program with only one adult coach and one or two varsity football players coaching, but as of this past Monday, they've put it in high gear with brand new color-coordinated practice vests and balls with five different teams of boys including red, orange, yellow, green, and blue and they had more varsity players helping out, so nobody was standing around not knowing what to do. The varsity players are really good with Aaron too, patting him on the back, throwing an arm around his shoulder, etc. to offer encouragement to him, so that's been really great for his confidence.
I've continued having lunch with Aaron, today having my personal favorite: Nachos with taco meat, salad, and strawberry milk. One of the boys in Aaron's class walked up to him in the tray line and asked, "Does your dad ALWAYS eat lunch with you??" Come to think of it, I think I'm the ONLY dad that eats lunch there, so perhaps his classmates are envious. I try to just make it on Friday's, though, so it's still a special thing, not too "routine." I went today because they have no school tomorrow. I can safely say it's the best $2.85 lunch in town, though. :o)
The boys continue to do well without their old friends here in the neighborhood keeping themselves busy on the trampoline after school with the remaining kids around here and now with raking the leaves up and other fall outdoor activities. We may go to a Northland College football game this weekend time allowing, but Aaron's got another game that day. Speaking of sports... Aaron just dropped a half dozen flyers from school on my lap to look over and one of them is for the "Backcourt Club," the basketball program at Challenger. Practices are on Mondays and Thursdays, so it looks like he's going to be even busier... He wants to do it, though, so he will be practicing from 4 to 5 on Mondays and then 6:30 to 8:00 for football. I have to "volunteer" too to help out at practices, so there's another activity to tack onto my calendar. Looks like the skate lesson program is also new this year with a new director and format, so we need to go to that planning meeting next week and hopefully get them into that this fall/winter. They have a skate exchange program too, so if they've outgrown their skates, they can hopefully trade them in for a larger size. I think for now, though, we're going to head out and get a take-n-bake pizza and retire to our couch of perpetual indulgence for a relaxing non-school night evening.
The boys have been busy this fall with their school activities. They have their usual Awana youth program on Wednesday nights, but have also added Kingdom Kids, an after school program at school where they have an outdoor recess for almost an hour followed by activities inside. I was volunteered for that activity more or less as one of the leaders so that keeps me busy as well, though it's not every week, but every other week. Aaron is having fun in his flag football program with Braeden Drevlow and has finally found a position he likes (and the coach likes too). He is presently playing center, so he just has to snap the ball and do some blocking. He got a lot of playing time last Saturday morning and actually made a great "tackle" (taking the ball carrier's flag off). It was kind of funny... His teammates had actually blocked in the ball carrier and Aaron was right behind him so the other boys just yelled, "Aaron, grab his flag!!" and Aaron just reached forward and ripped it off. He was beaming from ear to ear after that play! At first, it seemed as though it was going to be an unorganized program with only one adult coach and one or two varsity football players coaching, but as of this past Monday, they've put it in high gear with brand new color-coordinated practice vests and balls with five different teams of boys including red, orange, yellow, green, and blue and they had more varsity players helping out, so nobody was standing around not knowing what to do. The varsity players are really good with Aaron too, patting him on the back, throwing an arm around his shoulder, etc. to offer encouragement to him, so that's been really great for his confidence.
I've continued having lunch with Aaron, today having my personal favorite: Nachos with taco meat, salad, and strawberry milk. One of the boys in Aaron's class walked up to him in the tray line and asked, "Does your dad ALWAYS eat lunch with you??" Come to think of it, I think I'm the ONLY dad that eats lunch there, so perhaps his classmates are envious. I try to just make it on Friday's, though, so it's still a special thing, not too "routine." I went today because they have no school tomorrow. I can safely say it's the best $2.85 lunch in town, though. :o)
The boys continue to do well without their old friends here in the neighborhood keeping themselves busy on the trampoline after school with the remaining kids around here and now with raking the leaves up and other fall outdoor activities. We may go to a Northland College football game this weekend time allowing, but Aaron's got another game that day. Speaking of sports... Aaron just dropped a half dozen flyers from school on my lap to look over and one of them is for the "Backcourt Club," the basketball program at Challenger. Practices are on Mondays and Thursdays, so it looks like he's going to be even busier... He wants to do it, though, so he will be practicing from 4 to 5 on Mondays and then 6:30 to 8:00 for football. I have to "volunteer" too to help out at practices, so there's another activity to tack onto my calendar. Looks like the skate lesson program is also new this year with a new director and format, so we need to go to that planning meeting next week and hopefully get them into that this fall/winter. They have a skate exchange program too, so if they've outgrown their skates, they can hopefully trade them in for a larger size. I think for now, though, we're going to head out and get a take-n-bake pizza and retire to our couch of perpetual indulgence for a relaxing non-school night evening.
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