Christmas Carols

This blog has been two weeks in the making.  For the first time ever I was able to get to all five of the kids Christmas concerts.  I made a big effort to make that happen, in the spirit of the Christmas Spirit experiment.  Say that five times fast!

I started out back in my old stomping grounds last Wednesday.  Paul attends Cathedral, where I went to junior high.  Nothing about that place ever changes, including the smells.  When I become rich and famous I am going to build them an auditorium with seats.  Those bleachers get worse to sit on every year, and they were horrid when I was 12.

The Artist Formerly Known as Pablo is on the right wearing a blue shirt, behind the girls.  He always looks so darn serious! It was a nice concert, even if we were packed in like sardines, and I had to park four blocks away. :)  Great way to kick off my holiday concert mission.  Especially with the religious Christmas music.  You know, an actual CHRISTMAS PROGRAM!

Last Friday I left work early and headed out to Lake Superior Elementary to attend Caitin and Hannah's concert.  This is my favorite school to go to by far for this sort of thing because I absolutely love their music teacher, and they have brought back traditional Christmas carols.  Including one she wrote for the kids about the Packers.  ♫ Vikings better luck next year, fa la la la la, la la la la! ♫  No, I didn't make that up.    

Caitlin is definitely the drama queen of this group of five. She is on the right, middle child. I wasn't able to get a picture of her "performing", but you know that child that everyone watches because they are standing out in the crowd? Yeah.... She even raised her arms at the end of one of the songs. I just looked at her mother and said, "I don't have any idea where she gets that from." :)

Here is our shy flower Hannah, complete with Packer Santa hat.  All the kids came back for a group sing along at the end, dressed in Packer gear, and sat around the entire gym.  She just happened to be sitting in back of our row!  I had to do a little backward camera maneuver, but the chair held and I got the pic!  Oh, their teachers name is Ms. Putzke (spelling wrong I'm sure).  If your child is lucky enough to have her, be thankful!  I would like to be her when I grow up!

This past Monday night was Ashlyn's orchestra concert!  This year she is in two of the three groups, so I got to see her perform for most of the evening.  These concerts can go up to two and a half hours long, but this one was just about perfect at the hour mark.  I can't tell you how proud I am of her, and her work with the violin.  Last year she was even concert master of the group she was in.  Someday I'm going to get the chance to thank her teacher/conductor, who I know pushes her to be the best that she can be.  I couldn't get a picture of Ash with her violin, but I will over Christmas if she brought it home to play for us!  I guess we'll find out shortly since they're sleeping over tonight.

Last, but not least, I attended CeCe's Holiday program at Bryant school on Wednesday.  There she is with her assistant, Mrs. S.  (God bless her) I sat in that darn freezing gym for just about an hour on a broken chair, before the program even started, so that she could see us and know we were there.  She did see us, and even gave me a "butt" when she was looking at me.  I taught her how to say that.....and now she sometimes uses it when referring to me.  Not exactly how that one was supposed to go!  Luckily her teachers probably think it's just part of her babbling.......ha.  Not so much.  Mary, if you're reading this don't tell.  lol  That was the first time I had the opportunity to get to one of her concerts, and it did leave me pretty teary eyed.  My kids all did a great job, but this was a bit extra special for me.  Her strides are much smaller, but in other ways so much bigger.

If you're a facebook friend of mine you know that there are some other interesting things happening in my life right now, and I promise I will get to that next.  A little Christmas magic perhaps?