The Music Man, or the Music Van?

This week I was in charge of the Music Van. I have done it for several years in a row and it never seems to get any easier. The Music Van is a program for the elementary school sponsored by the PTA. We rent a van that contains all sorts of musical instruments, trumpets, trombones, clarinets, flutes, violins, cellos, harps, drums, xylophones and other various instruments. Then we put 8-10 year old children in the room and tell them to try to make music. Most the time it winds up being more like noise than music. They love it. If you can tolerate the noise for four hours, then it can be a lot of fun. The hard part is finding other victims to assist me with the instruments. This year, there were only 5 of the required 8 volunteers, and one of them was Jeff, who needed to leave for work soon. It was a little stressful, but throughout the day a few more volunteers trickled in until we had plenty. New to this year, they had a tuba in the van. Allie and Gabe weren't able to participate at school, so we came home and had our own little musical session where they could try the tuba and the cello. It cracked me up to watch them try to play it, it was nearly as big as them!

Christmas-New Years, the Fun doesn't end

As soon as the Christmas weekend was over, we were invaded! Jeff's family came down from Utah, and his brother and family came up from Redondo Beach and the whole family was together (at times). We had a week packed with activities.
For Day 1, we went to Griffith Park. I was unable to go, I stayed home with kids that were under the weather. They went to the Train Park and climbed on the trains, then up the hill to the observatory. It was a clear night, but the place was packed so they were unable to glance through the telescope, but they had a lot of fun playing near the thermal camera.
Day 2 we had a Ping Pong Tournament in the garage. Everyone played and the tournament went well. Some games were blowouts and some were nail biters. The final game was between Jeff and his older brother. Age triumphed and Jeff lost. But we all enjoyed playing together.


On Thursday we went to Magic Mountain. Despite purchasing a season pass, this was Jeff's first and only trip to the park this year. Oh well. It was a terrible day to go, it was bitter cold. To add to the misery, it was fairly crowded and half of the rides were closed. Hence the remaining rides were swamped with long lines. We only went on two rides, then I challenged them to go on the water ride, the only ride with a short line. They did, and Jeff wound up much wetter than he anticipated. That ended our day, but we had a good time being together anyways.
Our last day with the Stouts coincided with the last day of the year. We welcomed in the New Year with a rousing night of feasting and games. Chips and salsa, Martinelli's and peanut butter cups were consumed freely as we played Apples to Apples then topped the night off with a rousing game of Ligretto. We even convinced Grandpa to join in the game, that was a big treat! We are glad they came and spent some time with us.

2010 Christmas Joy

We tried to capture the joy of Christmas morning.

Dear Santa

This is the letter that Allie wrote to Santa on Christmas Eve.

Dear Santa,
I did it again! I set up all of your cookies and filled the bowls with oats. I want to do it next year too. I have not been perfect, but I did my best this year. I want books for a gift from you. I'm not really spastic about which books. I also want something that you can't give me, but can help, a happy Dad, Mom, Maddie, Jayd, Me and Gabe. As in a happy family. Help by giving each of them 1 present.

Thanks,
A Secret Santa Helper

I am proud to report that she got what she asked for.

Clipping Clippers Coupons bring Good Fortune

When our children turn 12, we start to take them on "dates". It's an opportunity for us to teach them some old fashioned date etiquette, and for us to spend some one on one time with them. Jayd and I decided to go to a basketball game for our date. With the assistance of a coupon given to us by a friend, we were able to buy two third level nosebleed tickets to a Clippers game for $20.
We took the train down there, and watched the first half. The game was good, the score was nearly even at halftime, and we were enjoying ourselves. But things were about to get better.
Near the end of halftime, a man approached me and asked if it was just the two of us. I answered yes. He then gave us two season tickets on the bottom level. He was leaving and didn't need them anymore. So Jayd and I grabbed our stuff and moved down to the lowest level, about 10 rows away from the court. It was amazing! We were so close, we could really see the players, read their uniforms, and even hear them yelling at each other while they were playing. We just sat there revelling in our good fortune and enjoying the rest of the game Gordon racked up 34 points, Griffin had several fantastic dunks, and the Clippers pulled away from the Timberwolves to win the game. After the game, we were close enough to the hall leading to the locker room that Jayd was able to hang his hand down and give several players a high five. Jayd had been a little reserved about going before the game, but came home in very high spirits.

Oma's Visit

My mommy came to visit! We had a great visit. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to clear my schedule very much for her visit, so she tagged along to several concerts, visiting teaching, PTA meetings and girl scout pickups. We also had to make a dress for Maddie over the weekend. It was not the nice relaxing visit that I enjoy as much, but we still had a great time. My mom was able to go to Maddie's band concert, and Allie and Gabe's piano recital. She was grateful for the opportunity to see her grandchildren perform. We also managed to sneak in a girl's night out to see the Nutcracker. And despite several boo-boos, the dress for Maddie turned out beautiful. Thank goodness my mother had already completed the dress for Allie, I don't think we would have made it in time! I love you mom, and thanks for coming to visit.

Disneyland

In April, we did a service project for the Dearborn Elementary School. We swept the kindergarden yard, painted a shed, pulled weeds and planted flowers. It was a lovely day, especially since our reward was a day at Disneyland!!
We purposefully waited until December to go to Disneyland. We wanted to convert our free tickets into season passes so that we could return for most of 2011. That made the day very nice. It was a Saturday and the most crowded I have ever seen Disneyland but we didn't mind, we knew that we would be coming back on much less crowded days. I did have a few requirements for the day.
We had to go on the Haunted Mansion. I love the way that they transform the ride with a "Nightmare Before Christmas" theme. There are Christmas presents and Jack Skeleton spread throughout. I also wanted to watch the Christmas Parade. We loved the roller skate snowflakes and Eeyore pulling his broken sled. Under much protest, I required a us to go on It's a small World. Again, I love the Christmas transformation as there are christmas decorations and messages of peace all the way through. Also, they don't repeat the same song over again, they mix jingle bells, deck the halls and the original song. So it is a little easier on the ears.
In addition to these holiday specialities, they had a different presentation that I had never seen before. The line to see it was over 3 hours long, so we didn't see it, but we did hear it. It was a large choir that proceeded up main street and performed. At first, I was just impressed that they were singing songs that were centered on Christ, along with traditional non-secular songs. But as they began into the heart of the program, they brought out a narrator. He read the scriptures! They would read a few verses, then sing a corresponding song. I was quite surprised. They read a good portion of Luke. We didn't stay for the entire program, so I am not sure if they paid tribute to other religions as well, but I was grateful for their forthcoming tribute to the true spirit of Christmas. It gives me hope that this is still a nation that is dedicated to the Lord in our various ways.
We had a great day, and are looking forward to many more days at the "happiest place on earth".