Crescendo Open House

There is a music academy downtown that a lot of the people in KPhil teach at and they were holding their annual open house.  It involved live performances throughout the day, some delicious catered food and an instrument petting zoo.  This is where the kids get a chance to try out different instruments!  I think it's a great idea and I thought that the kids would enjoy it.  They had other fun activities for them to do such as a scavenger hunt, a wall to draw on and dessert :)

Our concert mistress from KPhil with her stuent

Our kids were only interested in the violin and the piano even though we tried to get them to try other things.  I'm thinking that maybe we start Dude on some piano lessons since he's so excited about it and it's a great gateway instrument!  It teaches you how to read music, do both clefs and play with both hands.  Will have to see how that goes.  :)

JVG

KPhil

As I've said before I am way behind on blogging and to prove my point I have already started KPhil and are almost to our first concert!  Nov 16 we are doing a pretty serious program but I have really enjoyed it this semester.  I was a little hesitant because I wasn't sure how Norah was going to do without nursing to go to sleep but she has proven to be a champ.  :)

I'm not a huge fan of sopranos but the song that we are doing with ours seems to be pretty tolerable.  The Mahler symphony is our big one and I think it's going well!  I am hoping to get a chance to practice a few more times before the concert because then I think I will have it down!  A lot of the music I feel like I could definitely play if I had all the time in the world to practice, but I'm doing pretty good so far.  haha.

Here is to year two of KPhil!  Loving every minute.

JVG

Pumpkin Pie Silly Putty

I found a recipe on pinterest for silly putty but growing up I remember it always having a funky smell to it... but this one promised to smell of delicious pumpkin pie!  Whoo!  So, I got wiley while G was at work and decided it was going to be a fun craft to do with the kids.  It was a bit messy but oh so much fun.  They each got a bowl of things to mix that would eventually go together.  There is a part that requires a lot of kneading and playing with it to get it into the silly putty consistency and they had a lot of fun with that.  Our little play table suffered the worse of the mess but it was all good.  Next time, we are making it outside!

Stirring their respective bowls.  

Goose got a little over zealous and stirred hers to much, but it all worked out

This is the kneading part... it is a bit liquidy at first but then it firms up

http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2013/09/pumpkin-slime-play-recipe.html

JVG

Froyo and Face Painting

I think that everybody remembers Lucy's face painting experience.  It was pretty epic... so much so our friend Gracie and Levi came down for dinner so that they could get their faces painted too!  I'm sure that they would say that it was to visit and see the kids (because, let's be real, nobody ever comes to see us anymore) but we all know they wanted froyo and face painting.  :)  I have to say that it is a pretty sweet way to end a Friday night.  :)

We had a great time hanging out with them, of course, and the kids loved showing them their froyo place.  I definitely enjoy their selection and am happy that the kids do too.  Gracie got her face painted like a purple panda, Levi got talked into getting a dragon, I got a butterfly and Goose got a monkey with flowers.  It was a lot of fun!



























I'm so glad that we got to spend some time with them and catch up a bit.  Looking forward to the next time we invite ourselves over to her parents house so we can see them too.  :)

JVG

Portage CC Invite

In high school I ran cross country all four years.  And during that time my favorite invitational of all was the one held in Portage.  It always snowed during our race, but we always got our PRs there and it was a great way to see how you were stacking up against others as it was the last big event before you headed into state.  Well, this year I was on the opposite end.  I was volunteering at the invitational.  They needed a couple hundred volunteers as this is one of the largest invitationals in the state as we hosted over 8,000 athletes!  It was glorious to see the course again and see all the different schools there.  They had a middle school race too which was adorable to see.





I had a lot of fun helping out and was amazed at the caliber of runners in high school.  They could definitely kick my bunda!  My job was a course ranger which meant I was stationed at a high traffic area that crossed over the course, and I had to make sure that people didn't walk out in front of the racers.  We got this ridiculously bright shirt... which, if you know me, I'm a shirt/event junkie.  Part of the reason why I love races are getting the event shirt!  And a medal, but I wasn't going to get one here... its nice just having things that are more current than college or high school... haha.  :)

But I had a lot of fun being apart of this community and hosting such a successful event.

JVG

NTC

As part of my half marathon training that Nike+ produced they incorporate running and this Nike Training Club.  And, I have to say that NTC kicks my butt every time!  I highly recommend this for anybody who can't get out to a gym regularly because you can do the workouts at home.  They have videos that demonstrate what they want you to do for the movement and they have a nice circuit for the workouts.  They're usually 45 minutes but you can start/stop whenever you need.  It's also nice for me because then I'm not just running running running and I can do them at night with Gaetan after the kids go to bed.  BE WARNED:  You will sweat like a prostitute in church.  Not PC?  Sorry... but that's the best way I can describe how much you WILL sweat (and this is coming from a person who doesn't really sweat a lot).

Anyhoo, I really like it because it works different muscles and I can tell that its really helping when I do go on my runs.  So far I'm up to 5 miles already (whoo!) and I'm feeling pretty good.  I'm hoping to get rid of the rest of the baby house with this NTC, so here we go!

JVG

Pickled Jalapenos

Lately I have been craving spicy and vinegary type things so I thought what better than to pickle my own jalapenos!  My parents had a bunch left over from their garden that they weren't going to get through so I took that off their hands and made these delightful little things.  The whole process is super fast and easy.  :)  And I love that it went from garden to table... I like these because they aren't soggy like the ones that you get from the store and they have such good flavor!

http://www.simplyscratch.com/2013/05/easy-homemade-pickled-jalapenos.html

JVG

Another Sunday afternoon walk

The weather has been absolutely wonderful for it being so late in October, so we have been trying to utilize it as much as possible.  My Dad loves taking the kids on walks and getting outdoors so they have been doing a lot of walking, playgrounding and eating ice cream.  :)  This all usually happens when Norah is taking her afternoon snooze so I just get to hear about all the fun they had and see the cute pictures.  :)


























My Dad is an odd duck... he has nicknamed all my kids, which is true to my Dad's weirdness.  He called Dude Schmedley, Goose is Booshma, and Norah is Va Va.  He only calls them this when they are small but they all got their own... and it's funny because now that the crazies are older they call each other them sometimes and definitely call Norah hers.  Just another fun thing for them to do with Don.

JVG

New plant

Kim gave us these start plant kits to try and I am happy to say that we have something growing!  Nothing came up out of Dude's but Lucy has a flower :)  I have been trying to take pictures of the progress and am impressed I haven't killed it yet... the kids love looking at it every morning and it's a great little mini lesson for them too!





















JVG