Life Keeps Going

 We were hit by a crazy snowstorm a few days ago that I feel like we weren't given enough warning about.  Normally, before any kind of upcoming storm, we're forewarned so much about how bad it's going to be that we're always left feeling let down that the storm didn't live up to the hype. This time it was the opposite. I didn't mind, I was just surprised by how much snow accumulated on Wednesday and into Thursday. We had a legit snow day, which made it all even better. Many times, I feel like they call snow days unnecessarily. This one, however, was needed! The roads were bad for much of the day on Thursday, which would have been the day the kids went to school. Wednesday evening, they were the worst that I have ever driven on here. Erik still had to play at the Cluster Concert (another reason I felt we weren't prepared, they didn't even call off this concert because no one knew how bad it was going to be!) He had forgotten his trombone at his school (it was a crazy day, and no wonder he forgot it), and he was to play at the high school, so I tried to drive at almost normal speed to get his trombone and get him to the high school in time. I quickly learned that I couldn't do that as I slid through the intersection when trying to make a right instead. Even after I realized we couldn't rush, we were fishtailing and drifting all over the place. Erik thought it was great fun. I was just happy we didn't end up stuck on the side of a road, as some cars were. Anyway, we made it through, and now we have a nice covering of snow again. 

The Cluster Concert was a great honor for Erik to play at. Each middle school band teacher chose a select group to be in the honor band, which was the group of all the chosen middle schoolers together. They had a little performance on Monday for the parents. They performed for the Cluster Concert on Wednesday, which was only for the 5th-grade students in the district and their parents. I've posted about this concert before, but it's been a while. It's where 5th graders watch a selection of choir, orchestra, and band students perform to help them decide what they want to participate in when they reach middle school. My other 3 kids were all in the 8th-grade orchestra, and so were all required to go to the concert when they were in 8th grade. I think Victoria sang at it as well when she was in the choir. There are many more band students, so they have to select individuals they feel will highlight the band the best. Here's their final song and the main tradition at the Cluster Concert, a medley of songs by the Beatles. (It's like 5 minutes long, so no pressure to watch the whole thing. They sound fantastic, though! Jason worked hard to get more of Erik's head than we can usually get in a recording.)

To add another accomplishment to Erik's week, he had a late game last night, and his team won, which was a first in a handful of games. The best part about it was that Erik made his first score in many years!! The team as a whole worked well together, including when Erik scored. His teammate had a great assist. It's funny, because I had been recording some of the plays and I almost recorded the moment, but didn't. I did, however, record some similar moments with Erik. With him playing center mid, as opposed to defense, he was able to have the opportunity to score. It was a fun game to watch!

Since I didn't follow my instinct and record his score, I missed his genuine smile afterward. However, the score that followed by a teammate, he gave a similar smile that I was able to capture.