NO REALLY??!!!!! Kaija's Musings

So on Friday we decided to go to Kansas City and just hang....(you know) The weather was glorious..... As we were coming home the temperature dropped about a thousand degrees and some very dark clouds moved on in. (This is where the NO REALLY??!! part comes in) After weeks and weeks and weeks of snow, ice and rain we had 1 day of sunshine and heat. I was superrrrrrrrr tired of the cold and wetness *slow down here* and chores........ *resume desired pace* Just because of that the snow came back to bother me.. After about three inches of snow there was a slight pause then the real stuff came. (oh yeah ;P )By the time it was done snowing we had about 8-10 inches of pure boring whiteness. So absurd. Church was canceled because of it. It (in this case) =The road conditions ETC.... Anyway the snow is melting away now. (I don't even know the point of it coming here.) My mother bets we will have school tomorrow- I 2nd that motion, though I don't really want to say it out loud. School school school school school school school......

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Concert Recap and Time Torture

Well I never actually posted anything about the St. Louis trip and Joe's concert, so I guess that I should at least recap the highlights!

Well, long story shortened, kind of:

After many long years- let's call it 7- of random practice and a few times playing for church, he began practicing in earnest again, spending many long hours at the church and some on the piano here at home. All of this to bring us to this point. He did a trial run of his concert at the church here in the Burg, which went well and we were so grateful for everyone who took time out to come and hear him.

His confidence has skyrocketed and he has been playing better than he ever did in college. Honestly it still boggles my mind that he can actually play all of that. I had the torturous task of turning pages for him, one which I would relinquish to anyone (I tried Kaija but her arms weren't quite long enough, even offered to pay her). Poor guy has to do head flipping gestures to show me when he is ready. I try to keep up, really, he is just playing a thousand miles an hour and I can't read music that quickly- not to mention not knowing which hand is playing which line of music and where, sometimes I can follow the pedal, but alas it is not my forte!!

The concert in St. Louis was wonderful and couldn't have been played for a more grateful audience- they beam about their organ and love the fact that a little bit of Joe is literally there in the organ- as it has a rank of pipes (the green ones- for anyone who remembers our old friend!) from our very large musical instrument that was once housed in our basement!!

Share the wealth, that is what I say!

Anyhow, we spent all of Saturday night, OK from 5:30-10:30, at the church while Joe practiced and set registration. We the people spent our time in the church library (which is their favorite spot in the building) reading books, playing games and drawing. Funny we never actually took a picture at the church, oh well!

Sunday we lucked out and made it to Sacrament Meeting before Joe had to be at Trinity for their service. We dropped him off and spent the next 4 hours driving around St. Louis, looking at great architecture and walking around Forest Park. These pics are from the area around the Korean War Memorial, and the Jewel box. Luckily the weather cooperated for us to be outside!

So that was a great time to spend together- now we just have 1 more concert, same line up, just here in the Burg again at Mike Quimby's church (Joe's boss). That one is coming up on April 16th- then a small break, until he starts on new music for another concert!

And now we are back into the swing of things and experiencing the unfortunate reality that is known as the dreaded Daylight Savings Time. It has struck hard at our house- it is a gift and a blessing that it is Spring Break for us this week. Problem is: we always end up staying up later than usual and getting up later- we follow the Fall pattern each time instead of the Spring option; I mean really, who wants that anyway!!

The kids have been helping out with jobs around the house and any moment that jobs are not looming over their heads (also sometimes when they are), you will find them playing legos or marbles and very often reading a book.

Unfortunately everyday so far has been overcast and a little rainy- I am hoping for nice weather to get us all outside tomorrow!

Concert time

So, it has been a while since I seriously played the organ. I think I got burned out getting my degree at KU. Anyway, I started playing again, when Trinity Episcopal St. Louis- where we had installed a new instrument- asked if I could be on their concert series. This has been a new awakening for me, a journey into unmapped territory. Tonight I give a pre-recital recital at the church. I don't know how many will come, but I am excited.

Linda is busy baking really yummy treats for all those who come. She is awesome. I am pretty Lucky.

Hmmm!

I am sitting here wasting vast amounts of time trying to find a blog template that doesn't make me want to change it every other day. All the free backgrounds are not quite what I am looking for, hence the constant change.

Sometimes I change it to humor my children, but mostly I change it because I can't find something that I really like, they are just a little too gaudy for me, some days I like gaudy- not today, because today I am feeling that less is more.

Really what I should be doing is cleaning my house, but we all know how much I want to do that!

So for now I am going to step away from the computer and not get back on until the jobs are done and the kids have their work and homework projects completed! Really what I need less of are SNOW DAYS!!!! I fear that all desire for accomplishing anything useful is automatically flushed down the toilet, for all of us, including me! Good thing Joe has some ambition- he is working in St. Louis and practicing there for his upcoming concert on March 7th. Yay him!!

I am in dire need of spring, I could use some happy flowers and sunshine, perhaps a little green......

soon please!!!

The Heart Month

To get us in the mood, Zachary created this lovely mosaic Valentine- he is such a creative lad.

The month of February has blown right past us. Eli has had quite a time recovering from his surgery, though his tonsils (or rather the lack there of) have not been his main complaint, but rather the aftermath of the antibiotics- he is only now finally recovering, thank the stars! He has decided that he really wants to only wear pajamas now- he has loved this last month of "comfort".

This month has been a little crazy, so to help us take our minds off of the craze- we spent a night in face masks- that seemed to do the trick, or just added to the craze, it is hard to tell!

We also have birthdays this month- our darling Isabella turned 10 on the 16th. She is a real gem, and oh so funny. She still has a love of small things, but likes to snuggle in a big way. She shares her birthday with her Uncle Lloyd, which is always a cool thing. (Zach and I are the only ones who don't share a birthday with another family member- Joe and Jasmine are next on the 25th). She loves that her birthday is around Valentines Day and Presidents Day, since that means parties and holidays from school!!

For her birthday we actually went to a game night for the REM students and their families at the middle school. Eli and his friend Ava had a good time with Pictureka!

Then we came home for her requested DQ ice cream cake. She didn't want candles, so she tried to blow off some of the sprinkles.

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Luckily we could have our great friends come and join us for the yumminess!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISABELLA, WE ADORE YOU!

Now just to get Joe's concert over with!!!!! He has one here in the Burg on the 27th as a trial run amongst a familiar audience, then the one that really counts at Trinity Episcopal in St. Louis on March 7th. Should be a good time. Admittedly it is wonderful to have him playing again, and there will certainly be more to come. Oh, and we have to hurry and finish the Organ Room to house the new practice instrument. Truly never a dull moment around here!

Surgery for Eli

Well our young lad Eli had his tonsils and adenoids removed today- he wins the price for the first child in our family to have surgery of any kind. He was actually scheduled to have it done a year and a half ago, but we didn't feel comfortable about it at that time, which was right before we were leaving for NYC- not to mention he was so little. So thanks to our need to switch insurance by Feb. 1st we snuck him in at the last minute. The Doc was very accommodating, we saw him last Thursday and they got Eli in for surgery 4 days later.

So these huge green chairs do nothing for posture!

He wasn't troubled at all about having the surgery- he really liked his hat and crazy clown shirt! He has a new friend from surgery "T" the wolf- in honor of his beloved T-shirt that he made at Pre-school last week; he painted the letter T on his shirt and wanted to be sure and wear it for surgery day.

Sweet boy not feeling so great after surgery with his cool Transformer Head Temperature gauge that he got to see in the bathroom later on- "What's that?".

Though Eli was the one to have surgery, Bella is the one who looks a little medicated! (She gave the O.K. on that comment).

This afternoon our good friend brought Eli a bag of treats- coloring books, games, pudding, popsicles, and ice cream. She is the greatest- thanks heaps!

Not only that but we learned a little bit of family medical history as well- it must be a manly thing since Joseph had his taken out, as did both Grandpa Nielsen and Carter! Who knew, I had no idea that either of our fathers had theirs removed. The things you learn!!!

The Holiday Flurry

Alas the holidays are coming to a close, and Joe has gone back to work today and the kids are anxious to go back to school tomorrow- or perhaps they are not so anxious.

Since we didn't travel long distances this year for Christmas we were able to do some fun things together as a family and with our friends.

After our fun experience at the Moon Marble Co. we devised a plan for our gifts to our parents, and created for them handcrafted marble game boards and the huge marbles to go along with it! We had so much fun working together at the wood shop, where we used some extra scraps of cherry, birch, and walnut to create the boards.

We then had a lovely time celebrating the traditional Norwegian Holiday of Lille Julaften, or Little Christmas Eve (Dec.23) with several couples from church- I am sad that I didn't take a single picture of the evening, but suffice it to say that we enjoyed everyone's company and hopefully they enjoyed the food and the Norwegian tidbits that we threw in there- I know Joe did, and that was what really mattered to me, since that was my present to him!

(hors d'oeuvres with lox/smoked salmon, and dessert- Krumkake- to be filled with cream and berries-yum!) Our only 2 pictures of anything from that night.

Christmas day was wonderful- it snowed so we had a white Christmas, we had a fire going and just enjoyed being together- we waited until later on in the day to head down south to spend some time with family.

Kaija and Bella were all smiles, Eli was busting some catwalk moves in his new slippers, and Zach got a cool guitar which he is very excited about!

We spent some great quality time with the Kirkhams and the Calvins- (our sisters and their families) down in Springfield MO. We had just a fantastic time as we always do- we played lots of games, ate yummy food, played some more games, spent some time at the community center for a walk, then again for 3 1/2 hours of volleyball, fixed our van, saw a couple of movies- (which by the way, don't waste your time seeing Where The Wild Things Are; what a disappointment).

We are just now rounding out our vacation- Barb and her kids came up for a few days to finish off the holiday with us. We had a great time and got some electrical work done in the basement- we are such fun aren't we, putting our guests to work like that! Oh well, little by little we get the necessary work done and someday it will be a great spot to hang out!

Our last piece of news is................. Joe has found an organ to go in the house again!! I have drawn a line this time____________!!!!!!