Catch up - arts

I have been so bad about neglecting my blog!! Things got so crazy with the Christmas season, going home to Alabama and returning with a severe case of strep, and taking advantage of our new Netflix membership (since Tim had a little "down" time this month). I know that I have a lot of catching up to do.

Jamie played in his first band concert in December. They call it "Bandarama". There were 8 different full-sized bands that played in the gym at Belmont High School. The gym was huge -
all the groups were set up in the gym - maybe the size of an indoor practice football field. The concert was about 2 hours long, but it was good. Jamie actually got to play in 2 groups - the Saturday Morning All Town Advanced Band and the 6th grade band. We got to see Jamie play bass drum, snare, chimes, tambourine, and xylophone. He even ended up getting to make the "cracking the whip" sound in one piece (he was drafted at the last minute because on member of the band chose to come to the concert in ratty shorts and t-shirt and wasn't allowed to play). He did a really good job! We may have a drummer on our hands even when we come back to Hartselle. Jamie has been asked to play in a percussion symphony by his drum instructor. He will practice for 6 weeks and then have the concert on Feb. 14. We're excited about getting to hear him play. We were also very excited by an art assignment and grading sheet that Jamie brought home from school this week. It was a watercolor painting of a surreal beta fish; he called the piece alien fish. His art teacher gave him a rating of "advanced" in each grading criteria area; then at the bottom of the page she wrote, "See me about the art show." I don't know what that means yet, but we're looking forward to finding out.


We have made our first arts excursions. In mid-December, we took the whole family to see a Christmas matinee concert by the Boston Pops. We had kind of crummy seats, but the concert was excellent!! Our favorite piece was a new version of "The 12 Days of Christmas" - premiering this holiday season. It was a great rendition, with each day having a style of its own. For example, the "5 golden rings" verse was done in the style of Beetoven's 5th. I looked for a recording, but it's not available yet. The concert included a visit from Santa Claus and ended with a sing-a-long. They played "Sleigh Ride" as an encore. Afterward, we walked to the Prudential center and had dinner at PF Changs (my first visit). David discovered that he likes the spicy chicken ( I told him it was Flamin' Hot Cheetoes chicken); he gobbled it up!
After our trip to Alabama, Tim and I went to see Rent. The production was fabulous! And the singers were all terrific! There were two Idol winners in the cast (one American and one South African). It was a wild-hair date. We decided to go that day (if we could get a sitter) - we did and it was great!
We still want to take the kids to see Blue Man group.

Rachel is still playing hard on her violin. She has learned several more songs. Her final concert will be in early April. Next week, she will begin a class on Cartooning. It's an after school program offered by the art teacher at Rachel's school. I will be eager to see what Rachel produces from this experinece.
Rachel is also on a team for the town Spelling Bee. She is on a team with 3 other girls, and is the only American. The Bee is next Saturday, and our team is practicing hard!

Snow Day!

The Nor'Easter arrived, but didn't pack quite the punch they had feared. We got about 7" of snow here in Belmont, a bit more than Boston. Turns out that we have received almost 35" since December 1st, which is about 22" above normal. Not bad, eh?

The kids were very happy tobe out of school Monday, but the roads were clear by mid-afternoon, and things got back to normal quickly. We even went out to dinner Monday evening to Bertucci's, one of Sonja's favorites in the area.

Here are a few pictures:

Here We Go Again...

The Kids have their first SNOW DAY IN BOSTON!

Belmont has already cancelled school for tomorrow (Jan 14), as the bulk of the storm will hit between 7am and noon. Tomorrow will be rough, but should be great sledding by Tuesday! Quite a change from last Tuesday, when the high was mid 60's and I wore shorts to MIT...

(by the way - our house is right above the quotation mark (") in the graphic below!)
--
A Classic Nor'Easter, according to WBZ-TV:

Nor'easter To Slam Southern New EnglandBOSTON (WBZ) ― Brace yourself for a treacherous commute Monday across southern New England. WBZ meteorologists say a Nor'easter will bring about a foot of snow to several communities. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning from midnight until 7 p.m. Monday.The snow will start falling after midnight in the Boston area. About one-to-four inches could be on the ground across the state by sunrise. There will be a mix of snow, sleet, and rain in southeastern Massachusetts.Heavy snow will move in all over southern New England around 7 a.m. and stay until the afternoon. The snow could fall at a rate of one inch to two inches per hour.It will start to taper down to flurries in the afternoon, making the evening rush hour tricky as well.By the time it's over, the Boston area and communities north and west could get eight-to-12 inches of snow.

Stay with wbztv.com and WBZ-TV for the latest forecasts.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Even more snow!

Sunday, Dec. 16

We got about 8 more inches of snow last night! Tim made it to his bus for New York, and the drive to NY was only 6.5 hours!! At least it was a limoliner - Tim says he was very comfortable! The kids and I ventured out to build a snowman and play in the snow. All three kids love the snow. Rachel, Jamie, and I threw snowballs at each other.

Jamie jumped into a snowbank that was up to his waist! David waded in and lost a snow boot once, but it didn't deter his enjoyment of the snowy day.

Yesterday we all got our first experience with sledding. We walked down the street to the resovior and the fun took off from there. David really had a good time sledding! He's very brave about riding down even big hills on our little plastic sled. He gets to go sledding at preschool, and the teachers all say that he can't get enough of it. David thanks God for playing in the snow each night during our bedtime prayers.

We're also aclimating to the cooler temperatures up here. Yesterday the high was in the 20s, and it was cold. Today the highs were in the mid 30s and it almost felt warm. We're going to feel like we've gone to the tropics when we're home for Christmas!

Snow Day? Of course not!

12 inches of snow? No problem! Plows work all night, sanding crews all morning, and it's business as usual in Belmont. Two immigrants from Alabama are a little disappointed, but the third is glad to have a day to play with his buddies at preschool! Now Daddy just has to go dig the car out...






Here goes Jamie walking to school in snow up to his knees!

Sometimes one should heed the warning...

And this was one of those times!

At 1:00 this afternoon, the ground was clear, and it began to snow.

By 6:00 this evening, we had received almost a foot of snow.

Welcome to New England!

Jamie made it home first, a little after 2pm:


Rachel was delayed about 30 minutes due to the weather (pretty tough commute for less than a mile):



I had a four hour commute to get home tonight, but that was nothing compared to many. If you are curious, check out the stories on myfoxboston.com!

Here are a few more pictures, just to give you a feel of what we were hit with:









But, true to that New England can do spirit, the Boston Public Schools stayed open until the normal end of the school day (3pm).

Will post more after the sun comes up!

HEAVY SNOW WARNING

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A HEAVY SNOW WARNING...

A SHORT DURATION BUT HIGH IMPACT SNOWFALL WILL AFFECT SOUTHEAST AND CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE MASS PIKE THURSDAY AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 10 INCHES ARE LIKELY...WITH MOST OF THE SNOW FALLING IN A 6 HOUR PERIOD.

SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AROUND NOON IN THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY... SPREADING EAST ACROSS SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS DURING THE EARLY AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL QUICKLY BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES AND SNOWFALL RATES MAY REACH 1 TO 3 INCHES PER HOUR FOR A TIME DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. THIS WILL HAVE A MAJOR IMPACT ON THE EVENING RUSH HOUR AS THE HEAVIEST SNOW AND LOWEST VISIBILITIES WILL BE DURING THIS TIME.

A HEAVY SNOW WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN AN AVERAGE OF 6 OR MORE INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED IN A 12 HOUR PERIOD OR FOR 8 OR MORE INCHES IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD. TRAVEL WILL BE SLOW AT BEST ON WELL TREATED SURFACES...AND QUITE DIFFICULT ON ANY UNPLOWED OR UNTREATED SURFACES.