Piano Guild

This is our piano competition weekend.  Tyler and Corynne played for the National Guild last year and received Superior ratings.  This year we gave them the option to compete or not.  They both decided to compete.  Actually, the question was do you want a trophy or not.  If the students compete (and get a Superior rating), the piano teacher gives them a trophy.  If not, they do not get one at the EOY recital.  Motivation?!  We will get their "report cards" on Monday to se how well they performed today!  Tyler and Corynne will compete again tomorrow at the AMTA (AL Music Teachers Assoc).  

Lauren is not required to compete at the National Level for Guild, but she wanted the trophy like everyone else.  She did an excellent job.  Apparently, the judge was "blown away" with the 5 year old Lauren.  (Our teacher told JM when he took Tyler to compete this afternoon.) Lauren loves to play her songs!  She practices without fusing. She knows the notes (better than some)!  She counts out everything!  She is a music teachers' dream!  Way to go Lauren!

Lauren practicing before going back to the judge!  This keyboard with headphones is nice.  I was thinking that would be nice and quiet in the house, but then I would not know if they were really practicing their music or not!!!  And we all know that kids don't always tell the truth!  

 

The Seder Feast

Each year the 3rd Grade class at the girls' school participates in a Seder Feast led by the headmaster, Mr. Geiger.  About 2 months ago, the other room mom called me to see who was in charge of this little celebration!  I was completely shocked to see my name as the coordinator for the Seder Feast.  I just laughed because I had no clue what a Seder Feast was.  (I assume that when I took down the parent sign-up sheets at the beginning of school, there was a few blanks left.  Since I had not signed up for anything, I filled my name in to do my part.)  Okay.  I do what I say I will do.

Within the next few days, I met with the teachers and principal to see what I was supposed to do!  I have to admit I was feeling very nervous and out of my element.  They kept saying, "oh, Misty, you will do a great job."  (Obviously, they think more of me than I do!  They like my snack room feast each month, but I do not think that is what we are going for today!)  Then, the principal said to give a former parent Deena Weston a call and I felt a sigh of relief!  I know her, and she goes to a Messianic Jewish congregation.  She will get me through this!  The next day I called Deena.  Deena graciously said, "Misty, you get this list of supplies.  I will bring this list.  This is want we will do.  I will be there on Thursday morning to help set up."  WOW!  Deena is such a blessing.  A blessing that I have really learned a lot from this week.  I met Deena the first year that we were in Montgomery, and she goes to our church.  But we really do not see each other that much anymore.  She is a book full of information and Godly advice.  I cannot express how much I enjoyed learning from her this week.  Thank you.

I really enjoyed the morning.  Deena explained the history, significance of each item we prepared, and the parallels to Christ.  WOW!  Mr. Geiger led the feast.  The children learned a lot and did a great job.  

At each table...

Talking about the 10 plagues on Egypt before the people were allowed to leave...

Tasting the bitter herbs (parsley dipped in salt water) to symbolize the slavery in Egypt.

At the beginning and the end of the feast we did a traditional Jewish dance.  

I am interested in learning much more about the feasts of our Lord in the near future.  I believe this is something we will do as a family in the future.

Resurrection Rolls

Tonight we made homemade pizzas and Resurrection Rolls - a recipe Corynne's teacher sent home and Aunt Sheryl told me about last Easter!  The kids had a lot of fun, but I still have kitchen clastrophobia when people get in MY kitchen! 

 

Time to wait...

It works!  The tomb is empty!  Jesus has risen!

Happy Easter!

We wish you a Happy Easter from our family to ours!

Peace

I think I just pulled a fast one on JM!  He is currently at the new Hanna Montana movie with 3 girls - Corynne, a friend, and Lauren!  

He just texted me:

JM: HM is like, soooo cool!

Me:  The movie has not started and your soooo excited**giggling***

JM:  I feel like the guy sponsor of Delta Delta Delta!

Me:  Just the greatest Dad!

JM:  Thanks I'm just a big kid with spending money.

Me:  AMEN

Even JM will admit that he would much rather be at the movie with 3 girls than at home with Lyndsey doing chores!  The movie theatre is one of his favorite pass times!!  (I did ask him if he wanted me to take them!)  Honestly, he is on the edge of his seat.  Will the TV show be effected by the decision HM makes on the movie? Will she just be HM or Millie??  Oh, he can not wait to find out!  Drama!

Meanwhile, I am at home with Lyndsey who just wants to watch Dora and Diego with the dog.  And I am OK with that because I need to take a shower and finish our tax return before the Easter Egg hunt in a few hours!  Tyler is gone to a paint ball fight with friends.  Wow!  Could a morning go any better?

Until later...

Happy Easter!

Biscuits Baseball

We decided about 3 pm this afternoon that we would meet JM at Riverwalk Stadium for the Montgomery Biscuits season opener.   For the last two years JM has had season tickets for himself and the older kids to Montgomery's AA Baseball team, the Biscuits.  This year we decided not to get season tickets because we only went to half of the games last year.  I asked him to take care of getting us tickets, and he quickly said that it is Thursday night and we could just get tickets at the gate.  WOW!  He forgot to factor in kids out of school on Friday so there was a crowd at the stadium!  After he finally secured tickets, we went to our seats.  Wait...they really aren't seats...we GET to throw out a blanket and sit on the grass lawn!  Great for an hour or so, but the whole 9 innings????  Can you tell I do not do this very often with them?

I think the best thing about the lawn seats is the great people you get the interact with :0) !  Like the two little boys who dropped their pants and peed on the outfield wall!  I think that caught everybody's attention but security's!!!  Or the drunk parents yelling at their kids who are tackling each other as they roll down the hill.  Interesting...can you tell I do not do this very often with them?

After JM paid a players salary to feed the crew at the ballpark because the greatest Mom in the world did not feed them before we got there, the girls were ready to go over to the other side of the stadium.  No they did not want to go over there for a better view of homeplate!  On the other side of the stadium is the real reason they like to go to the ballpark with Dad.  Over by the railroad tracks, you will find inflatable slides and jumping houses and much more all for the price of a wristband!  By the seventh inning, they all came back to the grass seats.  JM was exhausted, Lauren was crying, and Corynne was begging for money for dipping dots.    

Oh, I picked a good night to come!  It is MAX fireworks night, so you have to stay until the very end to see the fireworks!  By this time, we are all getting a little chilly!

By 10:30...Lyndsey is completely wired by all the Coke she has downed.  Her little belly looked like it was going to POP!!  She ate a hot dog, nachos, french fries, and more Coke than we really know!  

Lauren in typical Lauren form just snuggled down and fell asleep with the roar of the crowds all around her, Lyndsey climbing on top of her, and sitting on a wet blanket were Coke was spilled.  When she hits a wall, she is OUT!

The Biscuits lost their first game, but Lyndsey was so excited when the "sparkle stars"  came out to the song Sweet Home Alabama!

There is a first time for everything!

JM and I planned a last minute trip to NYC last week.  On March 24th, Baylor beat Auburn and advanced to the NIT Championship Tourney to be played in NYC.  The Baylor Alumni Assoc. secured a block of rooms at the Grand Hyatt at Grand Central Station at an unbelievable price,  and we had enough frequent flier points to get free airline tickets.  The only hold up was securing sitters for the kids!  Oh, that is a BIG one when you do not have family in town!  I was able to get our housekeeper, Mrs. Roberta,  to watch the kids all day and Mrs. Jan, JM's receptionist was able to come for the evenings and overnight.  It was quite an orchestrated series of days with kid activities, homework and an extra dentist appointment!  They all did a great job with only a few break downs!  JM and I are so greatful to have 3 ladies who truly love our kids and we can trust them to take care of our kids without worrying!

So we flew out of Atlanta on Tuesday and arrived in NYC by mid-afternoon.  We decided to tour the Empire State Building since we had a good amount of time.  Once we finally got to the top, it was a beautiful view.  I enjoyed listening to the audio tour and observing the sites of NYC. 

Next, we traveled over to Madison Square garden and enjoyed watching  the Baylor Bears win on Tuesday night and secure a place in the NIT Championship for Thursday night.  

On Wednesday, we got up early and went to the TODAY show set in Rockefeller Center.  It was interesting to see how the show is made.  Everything seems so big on TV, but it is so small in real life. 

 

Here are my random comments:

1.  Matt wears A LOT of makeup!

2.  Al was not so friendly in person - maybe he was just having a bad day.

3.  Merideth looks so much YOUNGER on camera and on advertisements.  

4.  Keith Urban was so nice and great to listen to.

5.  They transform the set many times during the morning.  

6.  People act crazy to get on TV!

After a little over 2 hours, we decided to leave and go eat breakfast.  We ate at the Rockefeller Cafe right in front of the ice skating rink.  It was humorous to watch the people skating - most were over the age of 70 today!

Next we toured the Statue of Liberty.  This was my must of the trip!  We have all been to NYC before (JM has been 5+ times) but have never seen the Statue of Liberty up close.  We had our "Amazing Race"adventure at this point.  We left Rockefeller Center  in a taxi at 10:25, and we had 11 am tickets for the ferry tour leaving from Battery Park.  We had a taxi driver that did not seem to speak very good English, and JM believes he drove us in circles.  We got close to Battery Park at 11:10 and told him we were getting out.  We ran across the park to the ferry loading area only to find that was our 1st security check point.  We made it on the boat!  It was really awe inspiring to take the ferry over to Lady Liberty.  It was a beautiful day and she stood proud!  We had tickets to take the tour of Lady Liberty and this is were our patience was tested!  We stood in line for at least 2 hours only to go through another security check point!  Finally, we were inside the statue.  The audio tour was very interesting and I do not like history!  We felt like to had finally accomplished the tour of Lady Liberty!

At this point it was 4:30, we were exhausted and hungry!  But we still had more day to enjoy!  We ate at Tavern on the Green for dinner (or lupper) and then went to see the Broadway musical Mamma Mia.  It was awesome!  I loved the music, and I think JM enjoyed it also.  After the musical we met up with our Baylor friends, Jay and Heidi,  at Carmine's for dessert.  We had a wonderful visit with them.  It was releaving to hear how they had gone through very similar "growing pains" on their post residency jobs!

After staying out until after midnight last night, we slept in on Thursday morning.  We grabbed a light breakfast and caught the subway to Central Park.  We enjoyed a carriage ride/tour through Central Park and found quite a few places that the kids would have enjoyed in Central Park (during the day time)!  The carriage driver also point out were a few "stars" lived, and we toured the Plaza Hotel from Home Alone where the average night is $1000 and the penthouse is $10,000 (per night)!?!. 

We did a little shopping at a few of our favorite places - Apple and FAO Swartz.  JM had to play the Big Piano.  He even got a clap from a few moms in the store:)!

Next on our to-do list was our tickets to the Late Show taping.  Again, it was a lot of waiting in lines.  But once we were in the studio, it was non-stop laughter and music.  It was fun!

After the Letterman Show, we went straight back to Madison Square Garden to see Baylor play Penn State for the NIT Championship title.  The stadium was packed---mostly with white (Penn State) shirts.  Baylor played a great game, but they were unable to pull the victory in the 2nd half.  It was an exciting and intense game.  We learned that Big Ten teams are not friendly or polite--they are RUDE!  Oh, and their chants make Texas A&M (big Baylor rival) look like saints!

We slept for a few hours and then it was time to head to the airport to catch our 6 am flight.  It was hard to believe that it was already time to go home.  There was still so much we wanted to do (or at least a few shows I wanted to see)!  Just means we will have to go back!