Band, Band, and more...Band.

Nathanael has been involved in Mattanocook Junior High's bands. He is the youngest member of the Jazz Band, a member of the 7th and 8th grade band, and the Band Ensemble. Here is a picture of the Ensemble being honored at the recent Christmas concert. The concert was good and Nate had a solo part in a Jazz Band piece, and the whole trumpet section had a solo during one part of the concert. It was crazy trying to get to a place where I could see to record . The videos are awful and the sound....terrible, but I loaded them along the side anyway. The concert was so much better in person. I think I'll ask for better video equipment for my birthday.

Happy Christmas!

Here's some pictures of our recent Christmas play. We had several instrumental specials that were so nice. This is Dillan and Lindsay playing sax and clarinet duet Mikayla

Nathanael, Hollie, Brett, and Mikayla

James, Rebecca, and Jim

Julianna and Josh, the cutest Mary and Joseph ever.

Dillan, Brett, and Mikayla

Well, so much for getting back to the blog BEFORE Christmas. Things were just too busy around here, plus our computer decided to fry it's hard drive. We had an ice storm that knocked out the power for a awhile, and a nor'easter that dumped two feet of snow on us. Nothing major. The kids practiced for band and church Christmas performances. Nathanael plays trumpet in two different bands at the Junior High, and then for Christmas, his teacher formed a special ensemble with her best students. So, he went to the school Monday through Friday to get ready for the Christmas concert. The concert was great, and then during the concert his teacher called on him to play a solo that he had to completely improvise. He did great, and we are so pleased with how well he is doing with his trumpet. All three kids were in the church Christmas play. Alana sang in the children's choir. Nathanael and Mikayla both had parts in the play. Nathanael played his trumpet in a trumpet trio and Mikayla played the piano for congregational singing. I think she plays better than her mom now. We had a great Christmas together as a family, with my parents coming over for the day. I made the traditional Swedish (or are they Norwegian? I've always wondered .) pancakes for breakfast. This year I was smart and borrowed Mom's cast iron skillet, and they really came out better than ever. I also made the traditional krum kakke(How does one spell that? And again, are they Norwegian or Swedish? Maybe we'll just say that they are Scandinavian). Mom claims that I stole the krum kakke iron, but really, I just borrowed it last year and never gave it back. Last year, I made krum kakke for everyone in our church and we delivered a tin of them to each family's home. That took forever, and it just didn't happen this year. Another thing that didn't happen was a big turkey dinner. We like to relax and enjoy the kids on Christmas, so I bought some fish and Mom made a big pot of New England fish chowder. Easy and yummy! Thanks Mom! I haven't gotten my camera's software onto the "new" computer yet, so look for pictures of the play and our Christmas at a later date. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Well, here are some pictures of our Christmas play. Along the side under "Favorite Videos" there is a trumpet trio (Nathanael played the harmony part and his music fell off the podium near the end. We thought he did great to just pick up the melody and finish off with hardly a pause.), and a little video of the cutest Mary and Joseph ever.

Ok,

Our computer is on the fritz so i have not been able to update this here blog for a while. But, have not fear, we shall return. Hopefully before Christmas.