Concert Week!

 Erik participated in his holiday band concert on Tuesday. I love seeing how he has progressed on the trombone. Being my only kid who never took piano lessons, he's catching on to music very well and even enjoying it, though I don't he would admit that. More than half of his school is in the band! His band teacher is amazing, which is probably why. Next week, the choir and band will attend a showing of Wicked at the movie theater! I'm so jealous! His band teacher got the approval last second and made a quick turn-around to get all the permission slips in. Erik thinks he won't enjoy it, but I know he will secretly!

Unfortunately, my new phone and the videos I took aren't cooperating with downloading, so no videos of the performances. Just as well, since you couldn't see Erik at all, just the tip of his red Santa hat. 

Erik has the Santa hat on in the back.

The orchestra concert was on Wednesday. I probably would have been sad to not see Austin up there this year, but since he got together with a friend last weekend to play Christmas songs on his cello, and they sounded so amazing, despite Austin not touching his cello for 6 months, I was okay that he's not currently in orchestra. Perhaps when he gets some of his other classes out of the way he can rejoin. 

Kade performed so well! It's been fun watching him improve on his new viola. His orchestra teacher asked him to join the symphony to play Hark! Hear the Bells Trans Siberian Orchestra style on his bass guitar, to join the upright bass. For that song, they also had the HS jazz band join them. It was some super good Christmas rock! Kade also played Sleigh Ride with the rest of the Concert Orchestra and the Symphony, per tradition, with the jazz band as well. Again, I'm disappointed I can't post the videos, but the two I was going to post (Hark! and Sleight Ride) you can't see him very well either because of his positioning and the extra kids on those numbers. Oh well, enjoy the pictures!

Kade's blonde head is just to the left of the stand. This is concert orchestra tuning.

After their pieces.

Here's his piece with the symphony. He is standing in the back. In between Mr. Edwards' head and the bass, you can see a little poke of blonde.

Here are all orchestras after Sleigh Ride. He's in the middle back.

NJHS

 I mentioned in Erik's birthday blog post that he is now a member of the National Junior Honor Society. It's been fun to see him interacting in this club with kids that have similar school goals and are service-oriented. They have to get so many hours of service in, a lot of which will be provided by the school. He already gets a lot in through church. Yesterday, he got to ring the Salvation Army bell in front of Kroger, though that was with his soccer team, and they all count towards his hours for NJHS.

Back in September, Kade, Erik, and I participated in a service project organized by our ward. It was supposed to be Austin, but he had a meet, so Kade took his place. It was supporting the Miracle League at a baseball game. Jason went with the boys last year and I was so happy to be able to attend this year. Each person is assigned a buddy to be with during the game. We basically just made sure they knew where they were going, were safe, and felt loved. That was it. There were no outs, fowls, or points. Everyone was given a chance based on their abilities. For instance, some hit the ball from a slow throw, while others hit it off a tee. They had bats of different sizes and materials for each as well.

Kade's buddy was really fast and knew what he was doing. He hit a homerun every time! Kade just had to follow him around and encourage him. Erik's buddy was in a wheelchair and Erik and Nick pushed him around and helped him hold the bat. My buddy was really friendly and into the fans. Following the lead of her sister from the bleachers, I carefully guided her with my arm around her so she would go to all the bases after hitting the ball, rather than smile at the crowd the whole time. She was so sweet and fun to be with. 

Kade and his buddy.

My buddy and I, plus Spencer, who was originally assigned to her, but I don't think he felt comfortable holding onto her, so he guided us through the game.

Erik, Nick, and their buddy.

It's going to be a fun rest of the school year for Erik in NJHS!

Thanksgiving

 It was a longer Thanksgiving break for me because 3 staff members tested positive for Covid, so they closed Red Bell for Monday and Tuesday, in addition to being closed W-F for Thanksgiving. We just didn't have enough staff members healthy enough to keep open. Between going shopping for food items and some other things with my mom and going to the pool, which included a flat tire, the 2 extra days went quickly. Suddenly, the kids were done with school and we enjoyed going to the movies to see Red One and preparing food for Thanksgiving.

Luckily, Jim was there to do the job!

Thanksgiving morning, Austin, Erik, and I ran in the Canton Turkey Trot. Austin decided not to go all out and be a top 5 runner in the race, but rather take it a little slower so he didn't injure himself off-season and be 19th in the race. His senior friend Isaac went all out and came in 5th! 

Erik was overcoming a cold, but still hit a PR of 23:56 for the 5k. I felt extra motivated, especially when I saw I was approaching Erik in the race, so I hit a PR of 23:58, coming in 2nd for my age group! We saw a lot of friends there, which was so fun!

Pre-race

We ate dinner at the Remingtons again. Kara's parents were there as well, and her neighbor who was there last year, so we had a couple sets of grandparents with us at our meal. The kids enjoyed playing with their friends, and we all watched the Lions pull off a win! That, and good conversation, made it a nice afternoon/evening.

Kade made a cheesecake for the first time. It was a hit!

The feast!

 

Friday morning, Mother Nature gave us the holiday weather of snow flurries and temps in the teens, just in time for our service project in Detroit of manning the Giving Machine. Our shift was from 12-2 and we divided up so that Grandpa Jim could go with Jason and the kids to try those coney dogs at Lafayette and American Coney Island (they all concurred as I did that American is the favorite) and my mom and I had soup at Potbelly, which was the closest place that looked good because I just wanted to get out of the cold wind as quickly as possible! We enjoyed our service there and watching/helping people choose an item to give to someone in need. There were options to give throughout the world and locally here in the Detroit Metro area. 

The rest of the weekend has been spent decorating for Christmas, playing games, watching football, watching movies/shows, and eating good food. 

I guess now we're officially in the holiday season! Happy Thanksgiving!