March 2009 Blizzard

On March 16th we had a typical spring blizzard. We did not get much snow, but what snow we did get all got blown into drifts as you can see from the picture. Grass that was strating to turn green and then the drift of snow. Due to the large drifts and bad roads the kids had no school for two days.

Here are the girls climbing our mountain of snow. In one corner of our yard we always get a large drift with our blizzards.

They also enjoy sliding down the drift on the sleds or just on their butts. To give you some perspective as to how high the drift is, the fence behind the kids is a six foot tall fence.

All of the kids enjoy making snow forts out of the drift.They love the snow and play out in it for hours. As I type this post we are having another blizzard and the kids are out of school again. Part two of this blog will be posted later with pictures from our latest blizzard. If these storms keep coming I don't think the kids will ever have summer break. They will be in school making up all the snow days. As of right now they do not get out of school until June 11th. YUCK!!!

CRAZY Saturday!!!

Our Saturday started with getting to the Civic Center early in the morning for John's last rehearsal and for his orchestra pictures. Once we were done with his rehearsal we had to head home for John to quickly change and grab his pinewood derby. Then it was off to the church for the pinewood derby. John made a Ford Coupe, with a little help from Matt.

John's car did well at the derby. He took second in the Webelos pack and then went to the final round. In the final round he placed fourth.

Later that night Matt and I attended the last hockey game of the season. They lost, but it was still a blast to attend. We went with everyone from his new job. The company that he works for is named Ferber Engineering and they had a hockey night. Most had their families their and it was nice to be able to meet the people who Matt works with.

John had his orchestra concert Saturday night as well. We actually were in the hockey game and had to skip out of it to go watch John play. Normally John's orchestra concert last about an hour and a half because they have other grades that play in the concert as well, but we only watched the fifth graders. Because we only watched John play we only missed one period of the hockey game.

Okay now here comes the proud mommy, and yes I am going to brag. This is John's second year playing the violin and he plays really well. He had to audition this year to see what seat he would get in the orchestra. Out of 98 violin players he was 7th. If you say it in symphony lingo he was 3rd chair, 1st violin. He loves music and I love watching him play. He lights up when he plays and when he talks about music. He has informed Matt and I that he would like to attend Juilliard. Who knows if that will happen or not, but there is nothing wrong with aiming high. Below are a couple of the songs they played and I recorded on my camera. Not the best recording but you can at least hear a little of what they sounded like.




If you would like to see more of the pinewood derby or hear more of John's songs from his concert you can visit his blog. His link is on my blog.

Grateful

I am feeling particularly blessed today. The weather is gorgeous and I am home enjoying it instead of being stuck at work. The two little kids that I watch now are so fun and make me laugh all the time. I love watching John play with the little ones as well. I did not think that he would want much to do with them since one is 2 and the other one is almost 2, but he loves them and they both love him. Emerson really loves John and can't wait until it is time to pick him up from school. She gets so excited when she sees John and starts screaming his name, it makes all of us laugh.
The other reason why I am feeling very blessed is because of the job that Matt has. Matt recently got out of the Air Force which was a risky move considering the economy right now. But so far we have been very fortunate. He had a wonderful job offer before he ever left and the company has turned out to be a great move for him. He really enjoys the people he works with and what he does. It is so nice to have him come home with a smile on his face again. He works longer hours now, but our phrase right now is "welcome to the real world". There are not many jobs out there that you only work from 8 to 4, if that, like he did in the Air Force.

Alright enough of my rambling. I just wanted to express my gratitude for all that I have.