Ethan's Choir Concert

Last year Ethan decided he wanted to quit taking piano lessons.  I made him a deal that he could quit piano if he took choir at school.  He agreed and so here we are.  Ethan doesn't enjoy choir at all and he has it all year long.  Ugh!  I kind of feel bad for the kid but a deal is a deal.

They had their first choir concert for Christmas and it was a doozie.  They didn't leave time for applause because they had so many songs to get through and wanted to keep it to an hour.  I thought they did a great job and Ethan looked sharp in his church clothes.

He is on the back row in the center.  These pictures prove that his mouth was at least moving.  Who knows if sound was coming out but he was at least faking it.  He says he isn't very good at singing.  We tell him that soon he will appreciate that there aren't as many boys in choir as there are girls.  But right now he really doesn't care.

Here are their songs:

Noel

Jazzy Jingle Bells

Deck the Halls

Once Upon a December

Sleigh Ride

Jingle Bell Dash

Holiday Hand Jive

Silent Night

White Christmas

Ding Ding Merrily on High

Baby, What You Gonna Be?

While Shepherds Watch their Flocks by Night

Shine for me Again, Star of Bethlehem

I See a Star

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen part 1

part 2 (I think my finger hit the wrong button)

Let it be Christmas

Orchestra Concert

Courtney absolutely loves playing the violin.  She has so much fun and is really doing well at it.  She has been blessed with some great teachers who have taught her so much.  Her teacher decided to combine the Early Morning Orchestra with the Beginning Orchestra at Lava Ridge for their concert.

Courtney emailed her teacher from last year inviting her to come to the concert.  We didn't have her email address but knew what department she worked in at Dixie State University.  I sent the email Courtney had written to the secretary of the department asking her to forward it to Mrs. Crosby.,,,and she did.  Mrs. Crosby answered Courtney's email and she showed up at the concert.  It was fun to see Courtney and her friend's faces light up when Mrs. Crosby walked in.

They did a great job and played really well.  It helped that the entire concert was only 15 minutes long!

  

Here are their songs:

Ode to Joy

Oh Gee Down

Lightly Row

Dreidel

Jingle Bells

Deck the Halls

Up on the Housetop

What Child is This?

Frosty

He's free!!

Ethan had a doctor appointment on December 7th to have his boot taken off.  At this time they would tell us whether he was good to go or if he needed therapy or something else.  We have been disappointed each time we have gone in so I was optimistic but didn't want to get my hopes up too much.

They called us back, took the boot off, talked about getting an xray to make sure it was good to go, nixed the xray and then told us that we should come back if Ethan had any pain.  Wow!

Ethan put his shoe on and didn't like the feel or it at all.  It's been a long time since he had a shoe on his left food....12 weeks to be precise!  And he had to figure out how to balance and walk on it again.

He didn't like the way his shoe felt.  Can you tell by his face?

He got up and walked around the office a bit to see how it would go.  He was a bit unbalanced at first but he got the hang of it.

Here's the video of Ethan walking around to test out his leg:

He was able to carry his boot our of the office and was so happy!

All he wanted for Christmas was to be able to walk on his own again and the dr said he was able to give him that.  This has been a long rough road for the kid and there have been some major ups and downs, but I am happy with his progress and all he has learned.  

Run Run Reindeer

It is one of our traditions to do the Run Run Reindeer.  They always hold it on the first Saturday of December.  This year for the kids they had white shirts and fabric markers so they could decorate their own shirt.  It was pretty cold.  A couple years ago we had a huge snow storm that started during the Run Run Reindeer.  We were hoping for that again but it was blue skies.

Courtney and Bryan entered to run the 5K.  I stayed with Ethan because he was still in a boot and couldn't run.

She was ready to run!  Since she has been playing soccer and they have been conditioning, I wasn't nervous that she would finish.  I was a bit nervous that she would get lost.  But they had signs so it was all good.

We have some neighbors who run it every year with their two boys so Courtney started the race by the boys but they quickly left her in the dust.

After the race began, Ethan and I spent our time playing with a huge Jenga game and taking a selfie (my camera lens on my phone obviously needs to be cleaned because the selfie looks washed out).

  

Then people started getting back from the run so we began watching for them.  Courtney came in and had a great time.

  

Bryan came in next and beat his time from last year.

  

These aren't their official times but they were kind of close.  They were able to get donuts, water, bananas, and hot chocolate.  Great run!

Ward Christmas Party

We had our Ward Christmas Party on December 4th.  We had reserved the Church last year, right after our last party, because a couple of the wards last year weren't able to have their Christmas parties because there weren't open dates.  Because of all the changes in the ward, it was a great time to get to know people better.

The theme was "Musical Christmas."  Each auxiliary was asked to present 2 musical numbers.  One was supposed to be funny and one was supposed to be serious.  I helped the new presidency get the numbers figured out for the Relief Society.

Here is the entry for the Young Men:

Yes, their leaders bought them all whoopie cushions and they did Jingle Bells with those "instruments."  They had a lot of fun at rehearsals (as you could well imagine).

The Primary did a great job with their entry:

You can see Courtney once-in-a-while on the left behind some other children.

Courtney's Book Report

Courtney was having a hard time thinking of a unique way to present her book report.  I asked if she wanted help making a roller book.  She hadn't heard of one, because she is way too young.  So I explained it to her and she wanted to do it.  I cut the holes in the box but she wrote everything down and put it all together.  It turned out great and I think she had fun making it.  It certainly was something none of her classmates had seen before.

Courtney's Choir Concert

Courtney had a choir concert that was held at the high school.  She didn't participate in drum corp this year.  I was glad.  The concert turned out well.

Courtney is the short one in the middle but since she is in 5th grade she was on the back row!

Hanukkah:

Deck the Halls:

Good King Wenceslas on the recorder:

Light up the Tree:

Santa Makes the Rounds:

Up Above My Head:

Song of Praise: