Finding our inner Pirate!

Tuesday, the 24th, was our Jazz Band concert. Ian played several trumpet solos. Thursday was the Advanced Band Concert (although, I think we are now just going to be Concert Band).
Our Jazz rhythm section. On bass in the back: Blake and Matthew. On piano and drum set in the middle: George and Micah. Sitting to the right is our trombonist, Caleb, and on the left (in front of George) is our other drummer, Aaron (Jennifer's youngest son). They are just jamming here prior to the concert.

Back row, left to right on trumpet: Lydia, Michaela, Ian, Hannah; on flute left to right: Victoria, Amanda, Rebekah, and me. Front row trombonists: Kayla and Caleb.
Our little jazz ensemble with Jennifer Richards at the helm.
"Keep those bells up!" Common phrase thrown to the back row!
Ian getting ready for his solo in Basin Street Blues.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Ethan, Amber, and Evyn were helping to prep the goodies for after the concert. Ethan's in the refrigerator ... I can only hope it had something to do with the punch.
Amber and Ethan set up the yummy treats.
Final touches from the kitchen help.
The hungry masses emerge after the Jazz concert.

* * * The Concert Band and Homeschool Strings concert * * *

Looks as though Evyn's already bored with the concert. His parts do get more interesting as the night goes on!
Horns ... see Ethan? He's next to Bonnie Mathews, who has been their music theory teacher all year. Evyn's in back with the crash cymbals.
Here's our ragtag choir. We had a fair group of kids who started out not being able to carry a tune with a bucket this year, and four of them were ours! She whipped them all into shape and we had a very nice sound at the end of the year. Most of the boys went into this with dread and really disliked the class. However, by the end of the concert, Ian and Evyn said they wanted to do it again next year! Bonus!

Second half of our concert. A glimpse of the flute section (see Amber through the harp?), and you can just see Evyn in the back with the other percussionists.

The highlight of our concert season has been the culminating effects of the Homeschool Band and Homeschool Strings. The entire year we have rehearsed apart with an occasional meet up of some band members at a strings rehearsal or some strings at a band rehearsal. Only last week did we have the groups completely together to rehearse. Our piece? A compilation of Pirates of the Caribbean. What an amazing group effort! We ended up with a standing ovation. You couldn't ask for anything better, to say the least!

Ethan found his inner pirate ... he's all set to play!
This is nearly everyone. Some more to the left and right, and they are mostly the strings.

When I can, I'll add in some of the videos so you can see and hear everyone in action!


* * * Edited * * *

Try this link. It's our first try to get it up. Remember, the camera is on this side of the strings ... the whole things sounded amazing if you were sitting in the middle of the entire group (like where the flutes sit). That many strings tends to over power a tiny band. We are working on getting a high resolution rendition ... but this is it for now. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L8E_ZlLmzw

Stitch Markers for Breast Cancer Awareness

Every Tuesday a group of ladies meet at Debbie Macomber's A Good Yarn Shop. We have affectionately become the Titty Tuesday Ladies. We meet from 4-6 p.m. and we make knitted or crocheted breast prosthesis for women who have had breast cancer and have had single or double mastectomies. We don't sell the knitted boobies, we give them away. We've had donations of yarn and money to keep it going, and it's so encouraging when women come in to "try one one" and walk away with the happiest looks on their faces.
Next week is the Relay for Life cancer walk. Our little group is going to have a table with a basket or two of our textile breasts. They are in all sorts of shapes and colors in very soft cotton yarn. I had suggested making stitch markers and then the brainstorming began. Instead of using the traditional copyrighted symbol of the pink looped ribbon, we took one of our pinkest balls of yarn and a pair of pointy sticks (double pointed needles) and shot our own version.

Then I took that photo, manipulated it, cropped it, and printed it on Shrinky Dink material, purchased jewelry findings and beads, and set to work. I made 110 stitch markers for our little cause and they will go up for "donation only" at the shop and at the Relay for Life. All proceeds will go toward Breast Cancer research and finding a cure.
This is my first batch. Amber so very kindly began helping me. I would attach our Shrinky Dink art and then she'd string on the beads, and then I'd finish up by putting on the rings.

This is our second batch. They include stitch markers for crocheters and for those who use larger needles.

It really was rewarding working on these. At the time I was doing it, I had just gone in for my own mammogram and then had received a call from the radiologist saying they'd seen several things on the original exam and wanted me back in for digital and ultrasound images. Much to my relief, everything is fine and what I have are cysts. I feel a huge burden off my shoulders, and when working on these little stitch markers had much compassion for all the women who have not been as lucky as I was this time.

Ian's Study Buddy

Ian was doing his morning KONOS studies when Joule hopped up and snuggled in. She stayed for quite a while. She generally spends her morning curled up next to Ian on the floor, or in Evyn's arms at the classroom table.

This was taken a few days after the above photos. We came through the room and saw her sitting with her head on Ian's books. Ian has the photo on his laptop with the tagline : Homework Gets Me Down. I thought it looked like she had school work burnout!

Easter Sunday

Easter Bunny made a visit and left chocolates and some carrots. The egg carton in the center holds our Resurrection Eggs. We went through the eggs and the Easter story about 11:30 when we ate our Hot Cross Buns (see photo below).

Kids enter to discover their filled baskets.

Digging to the bottom of the basket.


They each received a container of colored bubbles with wand. It's supposed to be washable. There are green and blue dots on our deck still ... even after the rain. Hmmmmm .....

The hunt was on ... who could find the most eggs this year. Ian won ... he seemed to have a sixth sense about where they were hidden. This is what Ethan's discovered so far.

Amber scoured the classroom.

See Ian's hoard?

Evyn found his fair share.

Amber's egg hunting results.

Evyn found one in the laptop ... of all places! It's a wee bit squished, don't you think?

These are my fantastic Hot Cross Buns. They came out wonderfully! They are large and airy. I didn't have candied orange peel, so I used the candied fruit I purchased in December for fruit cake, which I never made.

They were as good as they look. Yes, there are currants in there, too. Yum!
Our beautiful ham. It was delicious!

Boy Meets Burger

Friday night we decided to make hamburgers for dinner (I had a turkey burger). We had set out quite early from the house for the waterfront park as I had a photo shoot. Ian did not have his dinner with him to take to dance. Dance started at 4 and he wouldn't be home until 7:45. He would have been starving. We asked if he could miss the ballroom dance class (it's an adult swing class and he only learns technique; there will be no dance for the recital). After his teacher gave her blessing, we had to stop by Fred Meyer to get some ground beef as Daryn has already assembled burgers for the other kids and himself and had no meat remaining. Ian came home and assembled a 1 pound juicy lucy burger for himself. (A juicy lucy is a burger with cheese in the middle.)

Here is the boy.

Here is the burger.

Here is the boy greeting his gigundo (that's a real word in our house!) burger, complete with tomato and lettuce and condiments.

Hellllooooo Burger! It was HUGE!

Boy did not open mouth wide enough for this bite. Need to try that again!

He was almost able to open wide enough. If he were part snake he could have unhinged his jaw to accomplish the feat.

In the end, Boy Demolished Burger ... his feat was complete. I think we are going to go broke feeding this boy! My measly little turkey burger was less than 1/4 inch thick ... so VERY thin. I had a piece of avocado on it, plus some tomato and lettuce, and that was nearly too much for me. I don't know where he put this. He has two hollow legs and is reed thin. Oh, to have his genes!

Ian's Tree of Life socks and Sweater Vest

Ian is so perpetually cold, and although these Tree of Life socks were initially intended for someone else (who shall remain nameless should I decide to make them again), I decided to give them to him. He liked the length (I think now he wishes they were a bit longer, as you may notice he has pulled them up and revealed the ribbing under the cuff) and the warmth of the wool.

I was actually a test knitter for this pattern from a designer on Ravelry. The name of the socks is actually in Irish, but as I cannot pronounce it, nor could I ever remember how to spell the words, I have renamed them the Tree of Life Socks. When I saw them on him I was reminded of older boy scout photos, so I decided to pose him that way.


The next few photos are Ian modeling his new sweater vest. Last month he was saying how cold he was and I instructed him to put on a sweater. His reply? "I don't have one!" Well, that was that, we set to looking through my books. He talked about a hooded sweater to which I said, "NO!" He was not interested in a pullover, so we knew it had to be a cardigan. We talked about vests, pull-on and button-up. We finally decided on this pattern. It has a zipper (two-way no less!), and pockets (a first for me!). Don't think I really want to ever do pockets again, but one never knows. If the pattern is well-written, then I might try again, but one never knows.

Mr. G-Q

The men's small would have been too big for Ian's measurements, so I adjusted by using smaller needles and giving it more length. He's so tall and thin! The vest makes him look taller and thinner than ever!
Here is the back of his sweater. I think I gave him enough length to last him for at least a year or two.
Close up up front and pockets.

Repaired Teeth

Dr. Katrina Hays from Dentistry for Children was able to work on Amber's teeth the next day. She was in the chair from 8:15 through 11:30 a.m. The teeth had sat in a small bowl of milk in the refrigerator through the night. We took them in with us and they were able to put her broken portions back where they belong. She had two pin-point pulp points, one in each tooth. The one Dr. Hays is most concerned about is the left tooth (on the right in the photos). It will take time to tell if the teeth will survive and if she will have to have one or two root canals and caps. Her gum is still quite tender (as of 3/30/11). She returns to see Dr. Hays again 4/5/11.

You can see where her upper lip bled.