My Man and His Choir

On Sunday the ward choir sang Randy's piece Like a Dove Descending with the accompaniment to Debussy's Arabesque. It was so beautiful and brought such a nice spirit to the meeting. Randy does such a great job with the choir. I really enjoy every number. (Not just the ones that he writes.) One of the things I really noticed this time was how much trust and love there is between him and the choir. They have developed such a great relationship. They know he will help them to sound their best. And there was know hesitation even though it was a difficult song with the parts coming in and out at different times. I know this all happens at practice that I don't get to see, but I can benefit from the results.

After the choir sings, he always asks me for feedback because he says I am honest. Sometimes the children are distracting and I'm not able to focus on the number like I would like. I tell him that I usually spend the time watching my favorite conductor. He leads with such energy and emotion. I like to see what he wants the choir to sound like by his direction. He sets the tone for the entire piece.

Last month Randy decided to try and record the choir singing his arrangement of More Holiness Give Me. He did this in his little recording booth with four people on the same part at a time. He has never attempted choir before so it was a learning experience. He found out that it works pretty well, but just takes extra time. I think he will attempt it again. He made his little ward choir sound so good. You can't quite duplicate the added spirit that comes from sacrament meeting, but I think it is the second best thing.

Pudding Face

Our messy boy sure enjoys his pudding. Nathan and Marianne found a package in the pantry and requested we make it. I don't make many extra things at home lately, It seems we're good to have dinner every night. I know that these little things don't take much time, but I sure feel overwhelmed. I blame it all on the sage brush right now. They really give me a headache, literally.

We had our last soccer games this week. I was doing so well during the rain, but then Janae's game was really windy before another storm. It has taken me two days to recover. I am hopeful that now if I stay indoors I'll have the energy to maybe make something beyond pudding for my cute deserving children.

Soccer Mom

With four children doing soccer this season, I can say with complete acceptance that I am officially a soccer Mom. I have been one for many years but never wanted to take on the title. I know I drive a van and have children, but I didn't want to be so labeled. I now will own the title with all the pride that accompanies it, and brag about my wonderful children which I take to all their fun events and cheer them on.

Julene has been fun to watch. When she is focused she is a great little player and usually scores a goal every game. She has also started keeping track of what she calls "goalies". This is when she kicks the ball towards the goal, but it is stopped by the goalie. This is a positive term, and she is as much excited by it as by an actual goal. She gets tired out on the field because she is always with the ball (since they have no concept of positions except for goalie.) I told her to start just playing half the field, and if the ball got behind her someone else could get it. This helped a little.

Janae's team play positions pretty well and have gotten some fun corner kicks that have resulted in goals. Randy is pleased that they're learning something from his coaching. Janae has scored some goals that were a team effort of some good passing.

Marianne has enjoyed playing with her friends and has improved. She's even a pretty good goalie. She had some pretty hard stops.

Nathan's team is really good. I've never seen such good team work in a team so young. They really play well and are learning some fun positions. They sure move that ball around fast. Nathan likes to tell me how many goals he and his team makes each game.

With the over lapping schedules I haven't been to very many of Nathan and Janae's game, and Randy hasn't been to many of Julene and Marianne's. So when we can all go, they sure get excited that we're all there to cheer them on. Which is a very fun thing for a family to do for each other.

Next week is the last week of games and in many ways it's time for the extra busyness to end. But we have had a lot of fun. We like going to the fields on these beautiful summer evenings and cheer on our favorite players.

My favorite red ball

My little buddy sure loves balls. Especially if they're red. He holds on to what he has decided is his red ball very tightly and protectively, like his sisters did their favorite blanket or doll. He's kept a soccer ball in his arms while in the stroller as we navigate from our far away parked car to the field without it once accidentally being dropped. We also have quite a few little balls around our house that he tries to gather up. I think his record is 5 balls clung to his chest.

We always try to remember to bring the extra red soccer ball for Jared to play with at the games. Then he is in heaven if no one kicks it away. He loves to through his ball and push it with his hand while he crawls behind. I'm sure once he can walk it will turn into kicking. It is so fun to see him lift the ball above his head and contort his face as he chucks the ball as hard as he can.

Sometimes he lifts it a little too high and it ends up behind him.

Julene loves to kick her ball back and forth with a friend while she is at the other soccer games. Most of the time the little stranger is eager to play in her game, and she makes a new friend. But a few times she has tried this tactic with older boys that are not too pleased by the attentions of a little girl and don't want her to play with them. She quickly rebounds and usually finds someone or me that will oblige. She much prefers this to her regular soccer games that she says are too hot and make her tired. It is true quite a few of her games have been really hot, and there have been times when both coaches have looked around for their missing players only to find them all getting a drink. They seem to have quite a few unofficial drink time outs.

Jared also loves cars! I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I thought we had such a collection of toys that maybe his preferences wouldn't be so stereotypical. But of his inclination for cars and balls is quite evident. The children have taught him to say "Dwo, dwo, dwo, go!" (One, Two, Three, go!) right before he gives the car a push. Randy has also mistaken him for Julene, when he came into his office pushing a car and making vroooom noises. We didn't realize his vocal abilities.

The children have been enjoying school and all the fun that it offers. My seasonal allergies seem to be quite worse this year, and I seem to have a sinus headache most of the time. It is good that the older ones are gone so they have activities to stimulate their growing minds. Julene has kept busy with puzzles, play-dough, coloring, games, educational computer games (and fun ones too), as well as virtual free reign over all the toys in the house. She is also very insistent to have her own homework to do when everyone else does theirs.