Testing mobile Blogger

So I just downloaded a Blogger app for my phone. Testing it out here.

Concert Festival - Wind Ensemble

Today my Wind Ensemble (top band) performed at the Georgia Music Educators Association District Two Large Group Performance Evaluation, aka district festival. We performed a very challenging program:

• Semper Fidelis - John Philip Sousa
• October - Eric Whitacre
• Procession of the Nobles from "Mlada" - Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, transcribed for band by Erik Leidzen

October is a Level VI piece; Procession of the Nobles is Level V.

This photo pretty much sums up the judges' reaction to our performance:

Straight Superior ratings (best you can get), with all A's/I's (best you can get) in every caption from all four judges (including sightreading). Yeah, it was a pretty good day today. :)

The Superior Beard

Back in September, the marching band was getting hyped up for its first festival/competition of the season. A couple of seniors promised they would shave their heads if we earned a Superior rating -- something we haven't done in marching band in the past four years. They wanted me to shave my head, too, but ... well, not a good idea. Then the band captain suggested I grow a beard if we earn Superior. I agreed.

We did in fact earn a Superior at our festival in Hawkinsville, so on October 11 I started growing a beard. We were on fall break for two days, so I thought maybe by Wednesday it would at least be noticable. Nope. No one even noticed until it was almost a week old. After that first week I decided to go for the goatee instead:

I think it looked OK. But after it started to get long (and never did get very full), I didn't like the way it felt. So, with the end of the regular season of football last night, I felt it was time to get rid of it. But first, why not see how I would look with different types of facial hair?

Wow. I *really* don't look good with a mustache! Don't worry; I didn't keep it long:

Light the Night

Earlier this evening, Tammy and I participated in the Light the Night walk at Chehaw Park in Albany.

Light the Night is a fundraiser for the Lymphoma & Leukemia Society. It's a special thing for us since Mom lost her battle with lymphoma two years ago. The band helped out by bringing in over $200 in donations as I walked with the Lee County High School team. Tammy walked as an independent.

Tammy walked in memory of her grandmother; we both walked in memory of my mom.

The Remembrance Ceremony was touching. Each family who had lost a loved one to a blood cancer brought a rose to add to the vases. By the end of the ceremony, both vases were full.

Mom's rose from the Remembrance Ceremony

The sea of red, white, and gold balloons blinking in the night:

Arkansas

Well, since we're about to leave Arkansas, I guess it's as good a time as any to show you what we've been up to:

Our digital camera died, so we reverted to -- oh my -- FILM!!! Whoever heard of such a thing??!?!? Dug up the old film camera, and we had four rolls of unused film sitting around. Well, now we have two rolls of unused film, plus a new digital camera. All these pictures are taken on good ol' 35mm.

Here's us visiting Leonard's BBQ in Memphis. We stopped there for lunch. If you watch Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on Food Network, you may have seen this restaurant. Our review is not as glowing as Guy's. We thought it was pretty ordinary, actually. But oh well, it was still fun.


We were almost to Little Rock on our second day of driving, and it was time to feed Ryan. So we pulled off the interstate to a playground I knew of -- the playground at Oakbrook Elementary School, where Pete and I went to school when we lived in Arkansas in the mid 80's. Ryan and Jacob and I are standing next to the path that leads from the playground to the back yard of our old house. Can't believe the path is still there. Of course, once we arrived in Arkansas, we had to check out the TRAINS!!

The next day, we hit the pool. Jacob was not a fan -- which is funny, because he loved the pool last year. But Ryan liked the pool a lot!

Speaking of trains, one day we headed over to Creekmore Park and rode the train in the park. It's hard to believe you can still ride two laps for just 25 cents! All the boys had a great time.

Ryan has a favorite toy. It's an elephant. The ears make crinkly sounds when you play with them, and the feet rattle. He loves it.

Happy BIrthday to Tammy

It's been a while since I blogged here - but since this was my birthday, thought I'd post it here.

What a crazy weekend! I turned 40 and Hank threw me a surprise party. We hung out in the backyard until we all almost passed out from the heat and then we took it inside for cake.

the cutest cake I've ever had!! decorated by Hank and Jacob


Jacob always loves a good chocolate cake :)

THANKSGIVING!!!!!

We are having a great week with the Spells. Last night we made cute Thanksgiving turkey cupcakes:

And last night, I (Hank) made a pie.

Let me explain.

Sheri found this mix for shoofly pie. Add three eggs, 6 Tablespoons of melted butter, 1 Tablespoon of vanilla extract, and 3/4 cup of water to this mix. Dump it into a pie crust, and bake it for 45 minutes at 350. Sounds too good to be true?

Take a look:

Isn't shoofly pie supposed to be brown? This is definitely yellow-ish.

Tasted more like a custard pie. It tastes good, but it is NOT shoofly! :( What do you expect from someplace in Texas?

I think he knows....

As most of you know, we are expecting Baby Carter #2 in February. Lately, Jacob has been telling me stuff about his "little sister"...hmmmm...I tell him that it might be a little brother - but I don't think he's convinced. We find out for sure next Wednesday on the 23rd! Stay tuned to see if he's right :)

What we're up to

Well, it's been a while since the last blog. If you can't tell, it's a busy time of year for me. Concert festival is next week, which takes up most (if not all) of my brain cells. It also takes a lot of time with extra rehearsals, not to mention jazz band, band booster meetings, etc. And when I'm working a few extra hours at school, it means Tammy's working a few extra hours at home. Basically, when I get home, I spend as much time with Jacob as possible, and then it's time to (a) do home stuff like paying the bills, or (b) veg in front of the TV, usually watching American Idol.

Grandma and Papaw spent the week with us, which has been awesome.  Jacob really enjoyed playing with them.  

Jacob and I had fun this morning playing catch in the back yard.  We need to do it again and get some video - it's cute!

So, looking forward to a good but crazy week this week -- festival performances on Wednesday and Thursday, band golf tournament on Friday, and a jazz gig on Saturday.  It's going to be fun, but I'm looking forward to not being so busy!

Turkentacky Video

OK, so I'm way behind on this, but I hope you enjoy it anyway:

Savannah Fun

So here's a picture of me and Paula at her restaurant :) Just hanging out by the fireplace....If you are ever in Savannah - you MUST go visit The Lady & Sons. We had such a fun time visiting old friends. Until next year....

For Pete & Jen

you might want to read the comments on Laura's latest blog post. They have been updated :)

Gator Party

We had some friends and our neighbors over last week to watch the Gators win yet another championship (yes we could get used to this). As you can see, we dug out everything we had that was orange and blue and adorned our house. Looking forward to doing this again next January!

2009 - off to a great start

2009 is off to a great start!  Here's a short ramble....Hank is away for a few days up in Athens so me and Jacob will be hanging out by ourselves all weekend :(   We miss you Hank!  ...Tonight I decided that Jacob would take me on a date so we went to Cracker Barrell.  That boy sure can eat!  He enjoyed coloring his menu and then playing with the peg game.  He even paid!  Well - not really :)  We ran into a friend and he said he would tell Hank "I was out with another man".  Yep - he's short - but sooo cute :).....It finally got COLD.... After a very warm December - it finally feels like it should outside....Went to playgroup today;  I have some awsome mom friends - we always have a great time while our kids burn off their energy...Hank and I started our tv train wreck that is American Idol.  Yes we DVR every episode of every season.  We're nuts I know - but it always makes us laugh so here we are....Our friend Becca has moved here to student teach and eventually become a band director.  She is also playing in our church orchestra with Hank.... she's awsome and we like having her around :)......oh!  last week we had a blast with friends and neighbors watching the Gator's win another championship.  Pics to come......We got a new computer!!!  Yep - no more putting the old laptop on blue ice to keep it from shutting down.  YAY for a brand new Dell with a huge monitor and wireless keyboard.....Jacob got his first bike for Christmas.  We have "lessons" every now and then.  He really enjoys it - but doesn't quite get the whole pedaling thing yet....We are going to Savannah for our annual GMEA trip (Hank's music educators conference) at end of month.  It will be fun to see old friends, drive by our old house, eat out, stay in a hotel, see all our friend's new babies....always a fun trip......I think I will be visiting this store I love back in Rincon called Sweet Pea's - they have a huge Vera Bradley collection :)....I found out today when our church's VBS is - so I'm looking forward to helping this year...last year we were out of town......Christy - this is for you if you read our blog.....A friend of mine collects nativity sets and fell in love with the one you sent us.  I was able to send her their website and she has ordered one.  She is real involved with missions and loves that it supports the ladies in Poland... Thanks so much for giving it to us :).....Facebook - I am sooooo enjoying finding old friends and keeping up with everyone else who is just as addicted to it as I am... - but NOW Hank is on too - so I would ask all you Facebookers to throw snowballs at him, kidnap him, send him flair - etc. :)  His wall needs more junk like that :)  He is having fun finding his old HS band buddies and also kids he taught back in FL - and also all his grad school buddies......well its late and the bed is calling.  Until next time....

trip to the zoo

this week we took Jacbo to the zoo. It was the perfect day :) Here's more pictures

Whew!...

What a week!  I'm sitting here trying to get motivated to hit my "to do" list which involves mass amounts of cleaning, organizing, putting stuff away and trying really hard to stay away from the pile of sweets that are left over.  I also have pictures to get off the camera and videos too and add to the blogs.  hopefully soon....

I had a really great time with my parents here and also with Hank's dad.  Just about every day involved a shopping trip, a nap, driving around looking for Christmas lights (what was up this year?!! - no one had any lights!), at least 2 awsome meals, and hearing Jacob say "Grammaw - come play da puzzle?"... We heard that a LOT!  Thanks mom for the puzzles - Jacob sure seems to like them :)  And dad - you would be proud to know Jacob told everyone at church that he got a bicycle for Christmas!  We will be taking it out today as the sun has finally come out and the rain has gone.  Paw-paw - I'm sure once the replacement wheel for the choo choo comes - we will probably have to barricade it in as Jacob will want to be in it all day long!  I think it's time for Jacob to have his own garage as he now owns a bicycle, pedal train, electric car, wagon and lawn mower.  Yep - our back porch is quite full now! :)

And... I must say how much better Jacob is doing after his trip to the hospital.  We started off the week with a stay at Phoebe.  Yep - we always have to have an illness during the holiday - so this year it will be Jacob and his croup.  Can't anyone just get a papercut or something???

So, even though there are no pictures to look at yet - I just wanted everyone to know that we enjoyed hosting Christmas this year and hope to do it again sometime.  It was really special for us to open presents under our tree and hang our stockings on a fireplace that we have never had until now.  And it was also fun to cook the big meal.  I'm so glad the goose turned out good!!! - I had plan "b" in the freezer... what ?? frozen pizza would not have been good for Christmas?? :)

Well - back to my list and I wish all of you a Very Happy New Year!

I love this....

A friend posted this today...I've never heard of the song or the group - but the words are awsome..

These are lyrics written by Jamie Statema of the group Go Fish! Selah!

It's not just about the manger where the baby laid
It's not all about the angels who sang for Him that day
It's not just about the shepherds or the bright and shining star
It's not all about the wise men who traveled from afar...

It's not just about the presents underneath the tree
It's not all about the feeling that this season brings to me
It's not just about coming home to be with those you love
It's not all about the beauty of the snow I'm dreaming of...

It's about the Cross
It's about my sin
It's about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we can be born again
It's about the stone
That was rolled away
So that you and I could have real life one day
It's about the Cross.............................................

From the cd "Go Fish: Snow"

Posted by Tammy (I was signed in as Hank for some reason??..)

I Corinthians 13: A Christmas Version

I Corinthians 13: A Christmas Version
My Friend Ashley posted this on her blog and I wanted to share it with you. I hope that we all don't loose the real meaning of what this season is really about!

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows,
strands of twinkling lights,
and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family,
I'm just another decorator

If I slave away in the kitchen baking
dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals,
and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime,
but do not show love to my family,
I'm just another cook.

If I work at a soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home,
and give all that I have to charity,
but do not show love to my family,
it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a
myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the choir's cantata,
but do not focus on Christ,
I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love does not envy another's home that has
coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love does not yell at the kids to get out of the way,
but is thankful they are there to be in the way.

Love does not give only to those who are able to give in return,
but rejoices in giving to those who cannot.

Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails.

Video games will break.
Pearl necklaces will be lost.
Golf clubs will rust.
But giving the gift of love will endure forevermore.

The tree is up!

Slowly but surely we are getting our house ready for Christmas. We got this great tree and even got a new star for the top this year. Now on to the outside lights.....

Autumn

Autumn came while we were away for Thanksgiving....I just LOVE fall colors!