Choir Lessons

Todd works with a nurse whose wife is a Music teacher and the Show Choir Director at Carroll High School. This is the school where Pher currently goes and where Cameron will attend in the Fall. Anyway, Mr. Jeran told Todd that the Show Choirs were having their first official dress rehearsal tonight. When I got home from work, Todd told me about it and we both thought it would be fun to go watch. We also knew that Emma would love it. (Remember the Emma Montana post?)

We walked in to the auditorium and immediately saw Todd's colleague, so we sat with him. He wanted honest feedback regarding the choreography, sound, music selection, backdrops, etc... Todd mentioned that he had Swing Choir experience because he was the drummer for the Swing Choir band in high school. Mr. Jeran chuckled and told Todd that Swing Choir is now SHOW Choir. It has evolved and matured. The first choir was the all girl choir (Select Sound).
Costume #1Those girls ripped the robe costumes off and undernneath was costume #2And a couple of shots of the third costumeYeah. All I could think of (after how well these young women sang) was how much money these parents drop on costumes and travel. When asked, Emma said that she would LOVE to be in Show Choir. Figures.

The next choir is primarily Juniors and Seniors and is co-ed. They go by the name Minstrel Majic. These kids were fantastic. A couple of costume #1And a couple of costume #2Check out the shoes! They are so Emma... ;-) Carroll High School has a large Show Choir Invitational on March 6. I do believe we will be attending that competition.

Huh?

Me: Pher, I'm trying to organize a family vacation for this summer.
Pher: Cool.
Me: I'm thinking Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone. What do ya think?
Pher: Cool.
Me: The only weeks we have left this summer are the weeks of July 12 & July 19.
Pher: That's cool.
Me: So, are you in?
Pher: Maybe
Me: What do you mean, "Maybe"?
Pher: Well, it would be cool, if I'm around.
Me: What do you mean, "If I'm around?" Where else are you going to be?
Pher: Somewhere.
Me: Where are you going?
Pher: I don't know.
Me: What do you mean, "I don't know"?
Pher: I mean... "I don't know."
Me: Well, WHEN are you going to know?
Pher: When I get there!

Why do I bother?

Superbowl bound

We're going again. February 7, 2010 is the date. Miami, FL is the place. Our opponent will be the New Orleans Saints. The Saints have never (ever) been to the Superbowl. I'm hoping that they have some jitters and make mistakes. I'm not banking on it, I'm just hoping.

Quiet Saturday

Pher went to Ball State Friday evening. Cameron spent the day at Camp Chief Little Turtle for the Boy Scout's Klondike. He will come home, eat, shower, and fall into bed. I'm not feeling well, so I've been looking forward to peace and quiet. Emma had arranged to have her friend Haven sleep over. Right now they are dancing to Justin Bieber's CD.

Note to self -- Little girl sleep-over does not = Quiet... At least they don't have the karaoke machine out... yet.

At 7:45 on Saturday night, I'm heading to the bedroom.

Thanksgiving

I know. I know. I know. It's been time to take down the Thanksgiving header and put up something else. Truth is that I don't want to. So there.

Emma Montana

See that little machine up there? That's a karake machine with a real live microphone. This machine has been in our basement since we moved in. Emma's little eyes spotted it over the weekend. Daddy brought it from the basement to the family room for his little girl. Oh everything was beautiful in their worlds. Daddy brought the machine up and then retreated to our sound-proofed bedroom. Meanwhile Emma sang "America the Beautiful," "Clementine," "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," and several other songs. She not only sang them, she sang them over, and over, and over again. I requested that she take the machine to her room so that she could enjoy the singing and I could enjoy the NFL playoff games. It worked for both of us.

I need to get some CD's with different songs on them. Our little girl is beautiful, but dear God, she cannot sing. Neither Todd or I want to break it to her. Neither of us are going to break it to her. Maybe if we get some karaoke music that we can tolerate if will make the experience more pleasant.

Bloggin'

Our computer crapped out. Actually, it shorted out. Our angel computer lady said that the mother board is shot. A 4-year-old Gateway replacement board will be difficult to replace and it would not be a good idea to purchase anything but the identical type that was in the old computer. Something to do with Windows XP and downloading and... whatever. I don't speak computer. I do speak dollars, and she told me it would be more expensive to repair the old computer than to purchase a new CPU.

So... she sent me to Wal-Mart (of all places) to buy a computer with Windows 7 pre-installed. Done. No problem, well maybe just a few problems. All of my favorite URL's are store in My Favorites... on the old computer. Today I realized that I should send an e-mail from my work computer to the new home computer with a link to the blog. Sheesh. It's not rocket science, but I'm making it that difficult.

Suite Life

About every 6 to 8 weeks, we have "Date Night" with Billy and Val. We decided to have our date night on 1/8. We set it up and had no idea what we were going to do, but we knew it would not involve children, and it would celebrate all of our birthdays. Todd, Val, & Billy are December babies. I'm the January kid.

Todd got a call from Val. They were offered four tickets to a suite at the Fort Wayne Memorial Coliseum for the Komets hockey game. Heck yeah, let's go and watch some hockey. I have been told that since I love football I should like hockey. I don't understand the rules to hockey. I don't get icing or slashing. I do appreciate that the officials allow the players to finish their fight rather than breaking it up with a flag like they do in football.
Player down and blood on the ice.The game was good. The Komets ended up winning in a shoot out.

Watching the game in a Suite was phenomenal. I could get used to sporting like this:

Birthday Cake

Todd was to bake and Emma to decorate. That was the agreement. Emma received real life cake decorating bags and tips as a Christmas gift. The interest in cake decorating started with a visit to Uncle Scooter and Aunt Rebecca's bakery. Anyway, Emma decorated my cake, and did a beautiful job. I was most impressed with her writing "Go Colts" on the cake.

I was not impressed with her ability to write "Go Colts!" I was impressed with her unprompted willingness to write it.

Epiphany

www.dictionary.com
e-piph-a-ny [i-pif-uh-nee]
–noun, plural -nies. 1. (initial capital letter) a Christian festival, observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi; Twelfth-day.

Then drop down to the third definition:
3. a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

Definition #1 is my birthday. Definition #3 is what happened this year on my birthday. Someone at work asked how old I was this year. My reply was 43. Then I thought about it... 2010-1966= 44.

Definition #3 is the realization that I'm a year older than I thought I was. What in the world just happened there and how did I lose a year?

Consider this your catechism lesson of the day:
The (Twelve Days of Christmas" carol has its roots in 18th-century England, as a memory-and-forfeit game sung by British children. In the game, players had to remember all of the previous verses and add a new verse at the end. Those unable to remember a verse paid a forfeit, in the form of a kiss or a piece of candy to the others.

One theory, however, connects the carol to the era when Catholicism was outlawed in England, from 1558 and 1829. The carol, it is said, was a catechism song for Catholics to learn "the tenets of their faith," as they could not openly practice in Anglican society [source: Snopes.com]. While many still hold the idea of a coded hymn to be true, there's no substantive evidence that this was the case, nor is there any evidence that the verses contain anything uniquely Catholic.

Here are the verses of the song, along with their supposed symbolism:
A Partridge in a Pear Tree - Jesus Christ
Two Turtle Doves - The Old and New Testaments
Three French Hens - The three virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity
Four Calling/Collie Birds - Four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
Five Golden Rings - First five books of the Old Testament
Six Geese-a-Laying - Six days of creation before God's rest on the seventh day
Seven Swans-a-Swimming - Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
Eight Maids-a-Milking - Eight Beatitudes
Nine Ladies Dancing - Nine fruits of the Holy Spirit
Ten Lords-a-Leaping - Ten Commandments
Eleven Pipers Piping - Eleven faithful disciples
Twelve Drummers Drumming -Twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed

While these verses are what most of us associate with the "Twelve Days of Christmas," the phrase refers to an actual 12-day period. The 12 days of Christmas, in fa­ct, are the days from Dec. 25, celebrated as the birth of Jesus Christ, to the Epiphany, celebrated on Jan. 6 as the day when the manifestation of Christ's glory was realized.

While sects of Christianity celebrate the 12 days of Christmas differently, certain ones, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church, consider the Epiphany to be the most important day of the Christmas season. Some exchange gifts on each of the 12 days instead of only on Christmas day.

I think next year we are going to start the tradition of giving me presents EVERY DAY between Christmas and Epiphany. Not big presents. Small presents are acceptable. Since Todd doesn't visit the blog, I now need to remember to tell him that this change is being made. I'm getting old, the remembering to tell him is going to be the difficult part. Anyone wanna help me out?

Stolen photo

I stole this photo from Cathy's blog. I love it. I chuckle when I look at it. Christopher and Cawood have the same expression. It's almost like Cawood is thinking, "This guy here isn't so scary after all, and he's teaching me some really cool faces."

January 1, 2010

On 12/31, I heard just a snippet of a radio DJ talking about the 'new decade.' In my mind, I said, 'Huh?', 'New decade, what is he talking about?' Reality check. It has been 10 years since the new millenium, Y2K, the beginning of the previous decade. Wow, January 1, 2010. The beginning of a new decade. For our family, the new decade began with the same old tradition.

We hosted the annual Meyers New Year's Day dinner. Even though I was up until 2 am on New Year's Eve, I was up at 5:30 am on New Year's Day (= 3 1/2 hours sleep) getting dinner on. I put the pork and sauerkraut in the roaster oven, and then I went back to bed.

Dinner was at 1. We had the traditional pork, sauerkraut, spaetzels, mashed potatoes, and homemade rolls. It was delicious. We also had many delectable desserts. All-in-all we had 20 people here for dinner. It was a great time. I will go through the pictures and post some. I owe some for Christmas also.

I was hoping that my New Year's resolution would be keeping the blog updated better. So far it's not working out well for me!

New Year's Eve

Todd was off on New Year's Eve. We went to a friend's house at around 9:30 or 10 pm. These friends have 7 kids. The wife is the oldest of 11 children. Many of her siblings, and their spouses, and their children came to the party. It was excitment beyond belief. They had the karaoke machine out. The kids (and adults) were singing. More children were running up and down the stairs and in and out and around the house. It was mayhem and madness at their finest. We saw friends that we only see a couple of times a year. What a great time it was.

At around 11:15 we left to head to party #2. At this one there was one other couple. Their 4 1/2 year old daughter was sleeping. It was so quiet and peaceful. We went from a house bursting with excitment to a house overflowing with serenity and calmness. Two entirely different environments. We are grateful that we had the opportunity to enjoy both.

Todd works every other New Year's Eve. Even when he has been off over the last 10 years, we are usually in bed at 10 or 11. We are they couple that sets the alarm for 11:50 to watch the ball drop and then roll over to go back to sleep.

Yessiree. That's usually us.

Christmas

Ok. So I have not been good about keeping the blog updated. Please accept my apologies.

Now, let me get you all updated. Christmas Eve Todd worked. He went to work at 11 PM Christmas Eve and got home around 8:30 Christmas morning. Emma was unbelievably patient. She, Cameron, and Pher did open their stockings before Daddy got home, but no one touched the gifts under or around the tree.

Once Daddy came home and took off his coat, insanity broke loose. Emma wanted to open her presents NOW. When all presents were open, we had sausage, eggs, and toast for breakfast. We then had an unusual journey. We ventured to Carmel, IN to be with my side of the family for Christmas Day. It was different. Todd and I talked about it. We have not spent a Christmas with my family since before Emma was born. That's at least 8 years. We usually make the trip to his Dad's and spend the day with his side of the family. This year Mom and Dad made the trip to Indy, and we all gathered at Matt and Miki's just north of Indianapolis. I thought Christmas with 1 child was FUN. Let me tell ya, Christmas with 4 girls that still believe in Santa and two 10-month old infants was FUN beyond belief!

My brother-in-law (DJ) commented that "It looks like Christmas puked in here!" Yuppers it did in fact look just like that in the family room.