Day 103

Yesterday was a very busy day.  We went to church in the morning, despite the dreaded ice sheet that passed for a walkway and driveway.  The roads were fine, thankfully, and the kids always like going to Sunday school thanks to their wonderful teacher, "NotMe".

After that, it was prepare prepare prepare as we had our bi-annual concert for orchestra in Kingston followed immediately by a family get-together for the kids' 10th birthday.  We brought our three plates of goodies for the food table (music is almost always followed by food!), our instruments, our stands, and our music, and headed to Kingston. 

This year, we tried something different and all wore black and white.  It was really quite nice!

This is about 2/3 of the whole orchestra.

Our audience was a bit smaller, but I think that helped my crew relax some.  The best moment was when Luke came up to me at intermission, and with no prodding told me that he was having a great time!  I guess he does like the trumpet after all!

It was a busy time, full of running around, playing hard on those instruments, a few mishaps, and lots of laughs. 



My girl plays!



He actually LOOKS happy!

I was so glad to see the kids participating whole-heartedly, and not doing anything too crazy when other people were playing and we were to look attentive.  They did a good job!

When the concert and the eating were over, and everything was picked up and put away, it was time to race home and get the house in order so that when family came, we could have pizza and birthday cake!  We had two set of their grandparents, their aunt and uncle, and their three cousins over.  A stretch for our little house, but it was fun. 

Today, we went to orchestra!  Usually, we have the day off after a concert, but as it turned out, we could have played all day, I think!  It almost seems easier to play the pieces after the concert.  Maybe because the pressure is off?  I don't know.  I do know that I finally got one of the pieces!  That's ok, because we have a couple more concerts later this year, and we'll be playing those pieces again.  No one really wanted to stop at noon when some people had to leave.  Then it was time to play outside after snacks.  We didn't get home until about 2:30!  The rest of the day was time off.  Hey, after all that hard work, it's only fair!  :)