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?