Missing Avenues for My Alto

The holidays bring so many memories associated with my alto horn. When I was in high school, my dad and I (on our cornet and alto) would venture out bright and early into the tube station tunnels in Chicago. We would set up the kettle and play duets for the crushing crowd of commuters until I had to leave for school. Several years back, a friend of mine passed along this photo of my dad playing at a kettle (I'm fairly certain that is the edge of my horn next to him) - she found it on eBay while searching for old Salvation Army images, so it has a watermark from some historical images company. Still, it brings back those morning jam sessions like it was yesterday.

I also remember playing through the Salvation Army carol book with my brothers so frequently that we had all the numbers memorized. In my senior year, when my parents were moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, I had to wrap my alto in a coat of foam to keep it from freezing as I stood out at the Army kettles. One night, a film crew from the local news station came by and I heard about it the next day from other students who watched (from the warm comfort of their homes - ha).

Since my husband has a masters in trumpet performance from Indiana University, he got in on the game after we married. My friends, Kris and MaryAnn Wood, were the officers at the DeKalb Salvation Army corps for a while. They invited John and I to join forces for their kettle effort. I remember one year, Kris promised to play his trombone from the roof of the corps if they made their goal for that year. I don't believe we joined him on the roof, but he kept his promise.

When we moved to the Indianapolis area, I anticipated the thrill of playing with an Army band again. I assumed there would be a corps band as vibrant as when my teen and college friends were in Indianapolis. Alas, no band. Still, I would play when they invited and after I purchased an alto on Craigslist, I often played for Christmas kettles at the Divisional Headquarters near the Children's Museum. They have since moved buildings and I don't receive invitations any longer.

Last night, while cruising through Facebook, I came across this video from High Bridge Brass. Alto soloist Nathan Miller performs a melodious version of Mary Did You Know?

In my teen years, back when my brothers called me "metallic lips" for practicing so many hours a day, I might have attempted a solo like this. Now, ha - fat chance! Still, it warms my heart to hear an outstanding musician make an alto horn sing! 

Humorous Hoop Sketch

I have been laid low with an extended bout of bronchitis and have been unable to muster the energy or concentration for reading. Thus, I'm resorting to sharing one of my favorite video sketches made by my boys back in 2016:

Book Review: Skeleton Creek

I checked out this Scholastic book, Skeleton Creek, once before and promptly returned it to the library after consuming only a handful of pages. It didn't draw me. It didn't appeal. However, when Trevor selected this as a book to read for an assignment for school, I decided I would check the book out again and finish it this time, so that I could assist Trevor if he needed help working on his report. While he enjoyed the book fairly well (for a kid who doesn't really like reading), I found the book entirely tiresome.

Here's the book's official summary: "Although housebound following an eerie accident, teenaged Ryan continues to investigate the strange occurrences in his hometown of Skeleton Creek, recording his findings in a journal and viewing e-mail video clips sent by fellow detective Sarah. The reader may view Sarah's videos on a website by using links and passwords found in the text."

For whatever reason, Trevor didn't realize he was supposed to be interacting with the book by searching up the videos on-line. He only began viewing them after I told him how lame they were. They were reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, a movie meant to appear as a documentary of some scary activity in the woods. The videos accompanying this book were annoying and created multiple interruptions to the reading process. The actress portraying Sarah has this habit of hesitancy in everything and it was quite exasperating. Moreover, the videos were so artificial and contrived, not scary in the slightest. I could not abide them and groaned every time I was directed to yet another one. The only thing I found interesting were the alchemy symbols used in the mystery.

Because it is told in journal format, with inserted e-mail clips and, of course, the dreaded interactive video clips, it must be appealing to tween boys. Since this is a hard demographic to pull in, I'd have to say the book is successful even when it didn't appeal to me at all. If you have a tween boy interested in scary stories, with an active imagination and a willing sense of suspension of disbelief, you might wish to recommend this series to them (five books in all, to date). However, I didn't care for it at all.

Merry Christmas!

Enjoy this brief video put on by the Muppets:

Amazing Christmas Lights Displays

My mother sent me an e-mail with a story and video about some amazing Christmas lights.  Apparently, this guy lives near Cinncinati, Ohio and his display uses 45,000 lights. It attracted so much traffic and caused so many accidents that the police asked him to shut it down over certain hours.  Instead, he started charging by carload to pay for three police officers to direct traffic.



If you have time, watch his newer video from 2010. It takes 15 minutes to view, but highlights such songs as "The Carol of the Bells," and "Jingle Bells," among others.



While searching for links to the Holdman Light Display (above), I also found this interesting light display. It looks like it is set up indoors, which kind of detracts from the fun of driving past, but still looks entertaining.



I have fond memories of my parents taking us kids on a drive through a St. Louis neighborhood where the houses all had moving Christmas decorations (like a Jack-in-the-box jumping out of his box and Snowmen inflating and deflating). This was back in the day, so their displays were stupendous then. Plus, we would always drive through the story of the nativity at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, Illinois.

I also remember a house, near the airport in Chicago, where they had three trees all decorated. In the first story was a really wide base tree. Then, in the second story a tree slightly less wide and finally, on the roof, a small tree. The trees all gave the impression of one huge tree stretching through the whole house and out to the roof. It was amazing!

These are great memories. Nowadays, the memories I'm making with my boys are of calling them to the computer to watch the light shows on You Tube. Ha! Still fun, but not quite the same, no?

CBLI Part Two - Rippin' Zip Line Fun

My least favorite part of CBLI this year? On Friday night, during the lengthy Kid's Night program, I had to have Sean with me throughout. He isn't very patient, so I pulled out my brand new I-Pod Touch (birthday gift at the end of May). It was a god-send because he played games quietly throughout the meeting. However, on the way out the door (I should have taken it from him the minute we left our seats), he dropped it on the pavement. Yikes! The screen shattered:



I was heartbroken. When I returned home, I searched I-Pod Touch on E-bay and felt much better when I saw one that looked like it had been dropped from a twenty story building. Somehow another's pain eases and minimizes our own.



That was one minor setback in an otherwise enjoyable camp experience.

I believe our absolute favorite free time activity this year was undoubtedly ... the zip line. Our friends, Laura and Annie, who roomed across the hall from us in Sandpiper convinced us to go:



It was the perfect year to give it a try and we loved it so much we went back day after day after day.

It is composed of a tall wooden structure about 40 feet tall:




We climbed the stairs, tightened on our harnesses and waved goodbye before jumping off a tiny platform extended out over the ground (truly, this was the worst part for us timid folks ... however, both of my boys just walked right off the edge without lingering).



Here's Trevor riding upside down:



And Sean "the Fearless One":



Even I rode the zip line. I figured, if I'm ever going to do it, I'd better attempt it now, while I'm still in my mid-forties!




Here's a brief video of Trevor:



And one of Sean:



The boys also decided to try the "Giant Swing." There was no way in the world I was trying that. You have to sit suspended over the ground and then scooch your rear end off to swing down violently.

Here's Trevor doing it:



And, not to be outdone, Sean, of course:



As I said, we were there almost daily!

It was a wonderful week of memorable fun. Then, we were privileged to see something unusual on the drive home when we saw this castle near Harvard, Illinois:



Looking forward to CBLI 2012 already!

Fantastic Drumming at Butler Recital

This past week, Bryce, my oldest son, turned 15. Like everyone, I'm saying "where has the time gone?"

When I posted a photo of the three boys as my Facebook profile, someone commented, "Since when is Bryce practically a grown-up?" In a blink.

We headed to Butler University this morning for Bryce's final recital after a year of study with his graduate student instructor. He had to be there early, so I walked around the building with the little boys, trying to wear them out so they would sit quietly during the recital.

I think I was expecting 7 to 10 individuals to perform. When we returned to the room and took our seats, I glanced at a program that listed TWENTY FIVE names of participants. I will admit, I thought there was no way in the world Trevor and Sean would manage to sit quietly. They surprised me and did tremendously well. I think their favorite participant, apart from their brother, was a sweet little four year old who played the violin with his father.

But the loudest, longest and (biased opinion) most fantastic was big brother, Bryce:

You Thought Your Kids Were Demanding?

This was another post I had intended to add prior to Christmas. Back then we were on Mama Mouse's third litter and Daughter Mouse's second litter - a combined total of 17 pinkies (although in the videos they already have their white hair). I was just flabbergasted to watch the mama mouse feeding all 17 one night. Later, I captured a second video of both mothers working together to feed the vast litters.





At the moment, we have another combined litter - this time 22 total. If hubby doesn't take Papa Mouse back to the pet store soon, we may end up with wall to wall mice in that meager aquarium.

Plus ... the dog HAS TO GO! I placed an ad in the paper today. We are praying we will find a family to love him and at least get a small portion of our expenses back. Poor Harley! I think the only one who will miss him is YS (and he's already missing Sleepy Bear, who has been lost ... inside the house somewhere ... for a record FOUR days!).

Christmas Revisited

Over the past two weeks, I've composed many a blog post ... in my mind. Sadly, they failed to ever materialize. But, I did want to recap our Christmas experience, even if it is only for the purpose of returning some day to see what went on.

I'm not a very good manager of my time. I had great intentions for the holidays, but most of them went the way of my mental blog posts. I had wanted to bake cookies with the boys. We only managed to do those easy pretzel-Hershey's kiss - M&M kind. However, the little boys always have fun making those and we switched out Reese's peanut butter cups for the kisses on some and liked those ones even better.

I also wanted to make our own advent calendar. We made a list of fun treats (activities, trips, games) for all 24 days. That was as far as we got. In the end, I purchased a half-price chocolate filled one a few days into December and had the little boys alternate the days. Even today, they were chiming, "No, wait - you're odds and I'm evens!" I'm not sure why they were bringing it up. I can guarantee I wasn't passing any candy out to them today (three chocolate milk spills on the carpeting - thankfully, the dog licked up the last one, but I will still need to get the spot bot out tomorrow and clean the area).

I tried for weeks to get a decent family pose so that we could actually order Christmas cards and send them out. (I have discovered that every year here in Indiana, I receive fewer cards. It makes me sad. It also makes me determined to keep sending mine out, in the hopes that others will still think of me and send their ... ahem ... beautiful family photos.) This was the best I could do.



I tried to take care of the red-eye issue and ended up with a pose covered in green spots around our eyes.


Lovely, don't you think? Maybe, like the blinking under my shirt, people would merely think we were trying to be festive! HA!

But, even with all the intentions that fell by the wayside, we still would say that it was one of our better Christmases. (Oh, the stories I could tell of Christmases past ... ill with a parasite, ill and trapped at someone else's home, the year when everything required batteries we didn't have or didn't work as the box touted and none of the boys were happy with their gifts and hubby accidentally put the handle on the brand new wagon upside down ... Christmas JOY!)

Each of the boys were receiving one gift that was difficult to wrap, so I put them together and left them out around the tree. This turned out to be a real blessing, because they had something to play with immediately. I was so fortunate this year to find a wonderful bargain on second hand toys. Another mother at the boy's preschool sold several of the toys her sons no longer played with. Thus, I scored a Step 2 mini-golf course for MS for only $15 and the Geo Trax Grand Central Station for YS for only $20. They were beyond thrilled.





While we were sad that my father-in-law had to spend Christmas day in the hospital, it was a blessing that he didn't have to meet or experience our immense dog. Most of the visit at our in-law's house seemed to include feeling sad that the dog was trapped on the cold porch, then bringing her in and feeling angry that the dog peed on others in his excitement or bounded up, knocking them down, or tried to jump on Cocoa (another family's dog that weighs only a few pounds compared to Harley's 58 pounds). The cousins had great fun playing together and hanging out. We were blessed with ample amounts of good food and sweets (something I can take no credit for, since I am hopeless in the kitchen, especially when it comes to feeding large groups).

The day after Christmas, I drove back with ES and began attempting to whip our house into shape. I'm not sure I was successful enough (since I only had a few hours that evening and a few hours the following morning, before hubby returned with the little whirling dervishes we call MS and YS, here in blog-land). I tried to solicit the help of ES. What a laugh. I asked him to wash the windows. When he finished, they looked smudged and streaky (I suppose that is better than the zillion finger and hand-prints), and I discovered almost an entire roll of paper towels crumpled up in the trash. An. entire. roll????

What a wonderful blessing that we had a kennel appointment for Harley. I dashed off to the kennel and the grocery store on the Monday morning following Christmas and by lunchtime, guests from my side of the family began to arrive. Sadly, my sister called to say that they had chosen to remain at home and spend some time as a family there. I knew her kids would have enjoyed the snow and sledding with cousins (since they have primarily lived in the deep south and only recently moved to Virginia), but understood that they needed time with their kids (they are Salvation Army officers and had barely seen their kids during the previous four or five weeks).

Next, my older brother, Mark, called to say that their youngest daughter had been up all night with the stomach flu. I think he felt really torn. He wanted to come with their sons, but we were all really paranoid about getting sick. My older brother is due to leave for a ten-week course in London any day now. Plus, my retired parents headed up the Salvation Army kettle campaign at a corps in Florida, so their resistances were certainly low. We all missed seeing them, but were grateful that the visit didn't include illness.

We had a wonderful visit together. One of the highlights was a little surprise. My cousin Karin wanted to come visit, along with her husband and son, and we decided to make it a special surprise for everyone else. What a wonderful time we had sitting around the table and talking and then opening gifts together. We hadn't seen Karin for almost 15 years, and had never met her husband and son. She's such a blessing, with the sweetest, giving personality.

Karin's son, Mike, is also a drumming enthusiast, so everyone had a great time listening to my ES jamming on the drums downstairs (pardon the mess behind him - garage sale fodder piled high). Plus, the kids all enjoyed playing Rock Band together and building with the Magnatiles. Then there was the sledding - loads of fun. I only wish it could have lasted longer. Thankfully, we're already talking about future visits. I can't begin to express how much I need these times with family. The little boys continue to rave, daily, about the clothes and toys their cousins passed on to them. I'm hoping some of us can get together again this summer .

Snippets from the program

A few weeks ago, MS gave us a sneak peek at his program when he began reciting a little ditty about five little cookies on a plate. My brief video of him individually will probably provide the clearest performance (despite the dog continually lumbering into the way), but I will include the group performance as well, so you can see their cute get-up.



During the performance, MS got to stand next to Andrea, his "girlfriend." It is so cute. He draws her pictures of the two of them holding hands. He gets upset if someone else plays with her on the playground.

First Snow

Yesterday morning we woke up to see the first snow of the season. Of course, the little boys clamored and clamored to go outside. I figured I would bribe them. If I spent a half hour outside supervising their snow play, then they would have to agree to spend a half hour in their room reading so that I could exercise. Somehow, we lingered and stayed outside for well over an hour. By the time we came in and warmed up, there was only enough time to throw together a quick lunch and get MS off to preschool. Still, I'm glad I took the time (and energy) to go out with them. They had a wonderful time. Here are some photos of their rosy cheeks:



Amazingly, we managed to scrape together enough snow to build a snowman. Sadly, when I looked out the window after returning inside, it had already toppled over. This morning it was merely an abandoned pile of accessories and it made me think of the novel I have been listening to (for ages): The Time Traveller's Wife.

I spent most of my time trying, unsuccessfully, to convince MS that it isn't really a good idea to eat snow when you have a dog (yuck). They did have a lot of fun jumping on the snowy trampoline:


And, before I go, a few updates. Nothing like a face shot attempting to reveal missing teeth, eh? He's quite proud.

And what was this strange sight I quizzed you on?

It was another of our favorite toys, a magnetic stick from a set of magnetic sticks and balls (wonderful toy, called Roger's Connection Magnetic Building Set, for making geometric shapes, but the little boys tend to disperse them widely). This particular one must have been thrown up in the air and somehow it managed to land and connect to the metal on the top of the lamp in the little boys' room. Of course, the acrid smell dissipated once we allowed MS to leave his room because we reached under the lamp shade and turned out the light. It was only when the smell resurfaced again that my husband found the stick melted onto the light bulb.

Tonight, I took the boys to the dollar store during ES's drum lesson (because they had completed a behavior chart). MS picked out a paddle ball and YS picked a miniature Tech-Deck style bicycle. MS spent most of the evening jealous of YS's toy choice and before the day was done, both the bicycle and the paddle ball were broken. Obviously the behavior chart they filled in was not one for handling their toys with care! It was for brushing teeth faithfully. Methinks it is time to shift our focus from brushing twice daily to better bedtime habits and greater care for toys. No?

Over the River and Through the Woods They Go

We succeeded in finishing a puzzle over Thanksgiving weekend. Instead of choosing a 1000 piece one (sure to be demolished before completed), I selected a 250 piece one and MS helped. It was a lot of fun.

MS and YS left this afternoon for a two day visit with Grandma. Initially, this idea was a buffer in case I didn't make it to 50K words on my NaNoWriMo project. I thought they should postpone the trip, since Grandpa is in the hospital recovering from yet another surgery. But, Grandma said she was desperate to see them. So they packed up YS's new (garage sale find) Thomas luggage and headed to Grandma's house with Daddy.

Hopefully, I will get the house whipped into shape and decorated for the holidays while they are gone. They both wanted to help me put up the tree and decorations. I think I will do better without their endless, frantic energy!


I think the dog has been missing the little boys. After they had left, ES and I noticed that it was very quiet (of course, this is typical once MS and YS leave). ES asked where Harley was. We found him lying by the door to the garage, with his head propped up on the step. He hadn't moved since they walked out that door and left. He looked so sad and bereft. Those boys certainly do adore him, even if they drive me crazy by pestering him.

The Lord's Prayer, with a little extra

Only a boy could manage to add a burp while saying the Lord's prayer. Still, it was exciting to see MS's enthusiasm as he explained that he had learned a new prayer at school.

Milestones

It seems like our boys have grown tremendously over the past month. ES started taking drum lessons. He has never had lessons before and yet, he is quite good. Much of this, I attribute to the excellent musical training he received at Littlejohn Elementary in DeKalb, Illinois. He displayed an extreme interest in music, and in percussion specifically, even back then. For either his eighth or ninth birthday, he purchased his own soprano marimba.

Last summer, he bought a small drum set from a friend. For Christmas, his grandmother purchased some cymbals. Then, he purchased a double bass drum pedal and a few more drums. The boy is constantly playing the drums, yet it doesn't really seem to bother me. Lately, he has been busy uploading videos to You Tube as he plays along with various music.

Here is a three minute sample of his abilities:



He also was thrilled to get his braces removed from his teeth back on September 3rd. I've been super impressed with his orthodontist. They bend over backwards to make it an enjoyable experience for the patient. As a reward for reaching this milestone, they sent ES home with a giant rice crispy treat. I tried to cajole him into showing his new smile (with the retainer), but this was the best I could get (no smile in sight).



The two little boys have been enjoying school and recently went for a hair cut. I usually prefer their hair to be longish (although not as long as ES tends to grow his hair). However, I have been struggling with YS's hair. He has so many difficult cowlicks and his hair always seems to stand straight up. I asked the stylist to give him whatever haircut would be best to work around those cowlicks. She recommended a buzz down to a quarter inch.

MS had already determined that he wanted his hair cut like his friend, Devin, from his old school. I asked what Devin's hair looks like and he informed me that it is "spiky" on top. As he climbed up into the chair, he told the stylist himself what he wanted. It seemed quite funny for a four year old to have a specific style in mind. Sadly, most days, I don't bother to gel it and spike it up for him. I did get one shot when it was looking "spiky."





When YS was finally able to start school (the last Friday in August), they asked if he is potty trained and if he is a napper. I said that he will go in a bucket for us at home (to get M&Ms) and that he still naps, but that I doubted he would do either at school for them.

Lo and behold, the first time I went to pick him up, the teachers explained that he wouldn't use the toilet for them at school, but he did stay dry the entire time from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Plus, he took a nap for them! I was shocked and amazed.

Last Friday, I was greeted with the news that he napped again and he went potty three times, staying dry all day. Woo-hoo! So, earlier this week, I purchased a potty toy for him. It is a set of three Thomas the Tank Engine cars (Bill and Ben and Diesel) and he is only given the cars for ten minutes each time after he goes in the toilet. When he has gone a whole week without any accidents, I promised to give him the potty toy for good.

He discovered that he is tall enough to skip the bucket (I guess both of the other boys started this process when they were too short to stand at the toilet, so they would go in the bucket). I don't want to jinx anything, but so far he is staying dry all day and wearing underpants.

Plus, just this week, YS decided that he is done with his crib. When he naps he wants to lie with me in either MS's bed or in my bed (which is fine because very often, I take a short nap as well). In the evenings, he has wanted to sleep in the toddler bed (which has been set up in their room ever since Christmas when we had guests). It feels like he has grown up so much in the past month. No more babies in the house, I guess!

Have You Seen This?

This is truly amazing. A perfect demonstration of how art and music combine to tell a story. Kseniya Simonova just won a Ukrainian talent show with her drawings in the sand, set to music. What a gifted young lady!

More CBLI Memories (and Photos)

For those who may be new to my blog and are wondering what CBLI is, here is how I introduced it last year. It is so thrilling for me to watch my son enter the teen track, since that is where I first began attending CBLI. All of my boys have developed such an intense love for this camp and eagerly await our annual trip there.

We had such a grand time during our afternoons this year. I wondered how it would work out, since Trevor, at 4, is really beyond naps while Sean, at 2, still requires them. For four of the days, we made our way to the pool as soon as it opened up at 1 p.m. and by 3 or 3:30 both boys looked like this:

Yes, that is one of Trevor's stuffed snakes at the foot of the bed!

On Tuesday, after the little boys woke from their nap, we went down to the dock to see if Todd was still fishing (he had invited the boys to come fish with him). Trevor was thrilled to find him there. As Todd had said, the fishing was good, and within minutes Trevor caught quite a few small fish and released them back into the water. I think his favorite part was touching the fish. Then again, when asked what his favorite part of CBLI as a whole was, his standard answer was "fishing with Todd," so maybe the time spent with Todd edged out the thrill of touching the fish.


While Todd and Trevor fished, Sean kept me busy running back and forth from the rock strewn drive to the dock. He would select four or five rocks (man, boys have a thing for rocks!), always wanting the biggest ones, and we would carry them back to the dock and place them on the wooden boards. Then, he would throw them over into the water while I gabbed for a few moments with Todd. Then, he would beg to do it all over again.

One day, we finally attempted a paddle boat ride. It wasn't very successful, however; once we were a few feet from the shore, both of the boys kept saying "I don't want to be on the boat now."

It was still good fun down at the lake front because most of the time Bryce would show up to ride in the various available boats. His favorite boat is the fun bug. It is a neat triangular boat, where you navigate by shifting the weight from your right and left feet. Of course, Josh Grindle, one of the dock workers, laughed because Bryce usually spent more time in the water than on the fun bug, intentionally.



Here is a short video of him attempting to flip the boat.



And more photos of fun on the water. The first photo is of one of our friends, Jordan, on a fun bug. Every time the little boys would see her they would call out her name. With friends, paddle boats, fun bugs, kayaks, canoes, and water, who wouldn't love the lake front?



The boys also enjoyed going up the hill to the playground near the Sandpiper cabin where we have been housed for other CBLI encampments. I forced the boys to pose for a photo, so that you could see the gigantic hill I used to climb, pushing their double stroller! The Wonderland Lodge is so close and convenient. We really enjoyed it (but I may regret not having that huge hill to hike up, since I ate way too many desserts).



Note the cardboard tube near Trevor's feet? Trash he found and had to bring home because he had an idea for turning it into art!

There is so much more to cover that you will just have to return again (you will, won't you? ... Say you will!). Stay tuned for Part II of this CBLI Recap! I promise more photos, more fun, and more trash being turned into art!