Jazz It Up!

This afternoon I got an impromptu invitation from my sister, Kiki, to attend a jazz concert. She had forgotten until today that she had 4 free tickets to see Boney James. Neither of us had ever heard of him, but we learned that he is actually in the top 3 contemporary jazz sax players in the nation (I think Kenny G is first?). We went with Kiki's friend, Sarah, and Sarah's sister Annie, so it was a double sisters' date :)

I don't think any of us had a clue what to expect. It was in a part of town we'd never been to. It was an obviously nice part of town as we passed a Black Eyed Pea restaurant and none of the letters in their sign were burned out. We felt slightly underdressed when we got there as most women were in cute little summer dresses and most men were in fancy-ish outfits, many of which were topped off by fedoras. I don't think I have ever seen so many fedoras in one place. Apparently they are popular among the jazz crowd. Kiki was disappointed that she missed a chance to wear hers.

The first performer was another sax player. He was accompanied on the keyboard and the drums. His drummer was female and grinned through the entire performance. It was obvious that she loved playing the drums. That was actually something that struck me about all of the performers tonight - they all so obviously loved what they were doing. They made it more fun to watch because they were having so much fun. Both the first sax player and Boney were entertainers, not just musicians. I didn't know before tonight, but sax players are not confined to the stage by cords and amps and things like that. Both of them used a mic they clipped to the end of their sax that was connected to a box thingy in their pocket, allowing them to get off the stage and move around in the audience. They both frequently took advantage of this, playing directly to individual audience members, some of which even danced when they were in the spotlight.

Not surprisingly, considering his popularity and 3 grammy nominations, I preferred Boney over the first performer. First of all, the first performer got very, very sweaty. He was constantly mopping himself off with a white towel (which was even more obvious as he was wearing black), but even so, when he was sitting in the empty seat in front of me, playing to the lady in the seat in front of that one, you could see the sweat dripping off him. Ewww. Note to musicians possibly reading this blog entry - if you sweat profusely, don't get up close and personal with the audience. The first performer wasn't bad though - he was funny and played well. He couldn't dance worth beans though. My favorite of his moves was when he would randomly raise one of his feet slowly and stick it out in front of him. His keyboardist was very talented as well, but he couldn't dance either. He reminded me of one of those bird bobber things that has the bulb of red water at the end and keeps bobbing closer and closer to the glass of water. Occasionally, he would mix it up and go side to side instead.

I didn't know if perhaps playing the sax was just more physically demanding than I had imagined and every sax player got that sweaty. I was pleased to see that Boney did not. Maybe his fedora kept the stage lights from making him too hot. Just a theory to test if I ever happen to become a sax player. Boney had a guitarist/vocalist, who reminded me of a short Lenny Cravitz, a bass player, who worn a hat that covered most of his face, so I wasn't reminded of anyone, a keyboardist, who was a dead ringer for Beethoven, and a drummer, who looked a bit like a cool Urkle. They were all amazing!

I have never been to a jazz concert before. I don't know if it is normal for audience members at jazz concerts to get really into the music or not, but this audience certainly did. The whole audience seemed to be dancing in their seats. We were sitting on risers, which made the beat even more obvious. One thing I like about concerts is that due to the speakers they use and the acoustics in the room, you don't just hear the music, you feel the vibrations from it. It's like listening with your whole body. This audience was really into the performances. I loved watching the two older ladies in front of us. They nodded to each song in unison, except one was moving her head forward and backwards, and one was going side to side. Sometimes they would get really into a song and switch.

It was a lot of fun :) To top it all off, on the way home a biker passed us, and by biker I mean motorcycle gang biker guy. He has on a sleeveless leather jacket with the name of his gang on it (which was Booze-something) and had tattoos covering his arms. He looked like he could have been a very successful bouncer as he was huge. My favorite part of the outfit though was the electric blue converse sneakers he was wearing :) Nothing says "big, bad biker dude" like electric blue converse ;)

Recent Happenings

Jack and Eva go grocery shopping every other Monday with me. A few weeks ago, as Jack helped me move the food from the cart to the conveyer belt, I noticed a box of Lil' Debbie brownies on the belt. Knowing I had not put them in the cart, I asked Jack where they came from. He maintained a completely innocent look and explained that he "found them in the cart".

Every few months Beth hacks a chunk of her hair off. I have decided she likes looking like a little porcupine. A few weeks ago she did it again. She came to me with the hank of hair in her hands and announced that her hair "just fell out". As it was obviously hacked off with scissors, by her, I told her she cut it off. With a shocked look on her face, she exclaimed "I did???"

We bought a wagon for the kids. It is a very cool wagon with seats and a door and extra compartments and a removable roof thingy. Eva is quite enamored by it. The day we got it, she insisted on riding in it to pick up the girls at school, then sat in it all afternoon. That evening we sent the kids upstairs and Eva refused to go, instead getting the wagon and resolutely pulling it to the door, then sitting in it, eying us expectantly. We took everyone for a walk. It was then time for baths. Eva decided she was going to take her bath in the wagon. I told her that wasn't happening. In response, she attempted to put the wagon (which is fairly large and seats two children) up the stairs to the bath.

For the first time ever, we had a child call 911 while playing with the phone. We are pretty sure it was Jack. The first we heard of it was when the doorbell rang and a cop was standing there, asking if we were ok. He was a very nice cop, and wasn't surprised by it being a child playing with the phone, as the 911 operator heard Jack in the background. He checked everything out to make sure we were ok, then talked to us for a few minutes as he happened to be Mormon and was thinking of moving to the neighborhood. He said most of the 911 calls from our neighborhood are kids playing with the phone instead of emergencies, which made us feel good about the safety of our neighborhood :)

Listening to our kids, you can tell we are nerds. Beth was teaching Jack to play "chest" (chess) the other day. I overheard her say "You can't move your king or queen yet. You have to use your settlers first." Think we play Age of Empires much in our house?

Megan has been on a Harry Potter kick lately. She started reading the series a few weeks ago and is now on book 6. She snuck into our bedroom last Friday night to spend some time with us, so I kidnapped her and we went on an impromptu mommy date. We ran by Walmart to pick up a few groceries (and donuts for breakfast at her request). We checked the Red Box to see if they had the first Harry Potter movie, but they didn't, so we drove to a video store and rented the first two. The kids watched them that weekend and when we returned them, we check out the next 4 (it was rent 3, get 1 free). Kylie's favorite part so far is when Hermione punches Malfoy. Girl power! Megan has decided we should all move to Hogwarts.

 We tried Mark Twain's favorite fruit with dinner the other night. It is called a cherimoya. It's not like any other fruit I've ever had. It's pretty good, but the kids didn't like it much. It was pretty sweet.

We found a baby bird that couldn't fly yet in our backyard. We rescued it so it wouldn't get eaten by cats or something. It lived in a cat carrier in Megan and Kylie's room for about 24 hours. We let it back out the next day and it took a little bit, but it was able to fly away :)

I took Jack to kindergarten roundup this past Tuesday. True to form, he wore mismatched shoes, one on the wrong foot. He talked a mile a minute to everyone we saw and informed the kindergarten teachers and the principal that they were not allowed to call him Jack, but must refer to him as "Lightning Captain America". I think he's excited for school :)

I happened to mention this morning that Mother's Day is coming up. Rob overheard and exclaimed "OH, CRAP!" Thanks, hon :) That was just the response I was hoping for ;)

On a more sobering note, one of my very best friends, Leah, has been in the ICU at a hospital in RI for the past few days. She was admitted after collapsing on Tuesday with stroke-like symptoms. They discovered a significant amount of blood in her skull near the back of her brain. They have not yet discovered what caused it. Any prayers on her behalf would be greatly appreciated.

Surprise!!!

Laura Alice looks perfect and is even measuring a week ahead of schedule (just like each of her siblings did)! She surprised all of us, but we're pretty certain the sonogram technician is right :) Now we just need to figure out how to divide up the bedrooms . . .

Peter Pan Photos

For the past few months, Megan has been in a theater class at our local rec center. The class culminated in an abbreviated performance of "Peter Pan". As there were only four students in the class, most students (except the one playing Peter Pan) got to play multiple roles. Megan started off as "Flashy", a star who begins the narrative of the story. She also played Wendy and Tiger Lily. She did a fantastic job and had a wonderful time!

Megan with her teacher ~

After the performance, we went out for ice cream. A few of the audience members brought flowers for their performer, but we decided ice cream tasted better :) I took a few pictures of Eva enjoying her ice cream cone because, frankly, Eva is cuter eating ice cream than the other kids are :) Plus, I was a bit annoyed at most of them at that point. Jack wiped his boogers on Megan and Megan went into full-out screaming hysterics over it. It was a fun ride home.

Note to other females - if you marry someone who enjoyed incessantly teasing his siblings as a child, realize that you WILL end up with a child (or two) who do the same. *sigh* Mom K, I can totally empathize with the challenges you faced dealing with Rob's teasing :) He is paying for it now by being blessed with a clone.

I love this picture as it proves Eva is my daughter as well as Rob's. There is a photo of me at just about this age making the exact same face :)

Easter Baskets

This year, the Easter Bunny copied what was done last year and hid the Easter baskets. I really hate having to wake up at 6am so my kids can gorge themselves on candy, making it impossible for them to sit through church as they are like miniature energizer bunnies at that point. By the time we get home from church, the sugar crash comes and they are too tired and cranky to enjoy Easter dinner. Last year, we found a solution. The Easter Bunny hid their baskets, providing clues that sent them on a treasure hunt around the house to find them. The catch was that the first clue told them that Mom and Dad had the second clue . . . and the second clue was not given out until AFTER church :)

This year, church started later (last year it started at 8:30am; this year we're in the 11am slot) and apparently Daddy did not talk to the Easter Bunny about this plan. I got to sleep in a bit, but was told upon waking that Daddy had said they could get the second clue as soon as I woke up. We need to have a talk with Daddy ;)

Anyway, the Easter Bunny always leaves a few presents out for the kids to find with the first clue. This year, each child got a new pair of flip-flops and all of them got a bunch of new toys for their sandbox ~

The first and second clues read ~

This year it’s sand toys 

And flip flops for all 

Mom and Dad have the next clue 

Happy Easter y'all! 

To fly to the moon 

You need a special ship 

Run and go find it 

Be sure you don’t trip! 

Obviously the next clue was hidden in the rocket ship in our playroom, so the kids ran off to get it ~

The next clue read ~

At the press of a button

Your shows will all play

What do you use

To watch shows every day?

The kids flew upstairs to find the roku remote (a roku is a box that allows us to stream netflix and other channels to our TV). Jack got to read this clue ~

If Eva is baking

She can’t use Mom’s stove

What would she use      

To make several bread loaves?

They thundered down the stairs so fast that I only caught Beth and Jack in the picture. This clue was hidden in the toy stove in the little kitchen ~

When Cricket is hungry

Dad feeds him food

From a container

To better his mood

I got tired of following them up and down the stairs, so I don't have a photo to go with the clue they found in the cat food container, which read ~

To make a great dinner

Mom needs to use pots

Where does she keep those

When in use they are not?

Upon making it back downstairs, they ran to the cabinet where we keep the pots and pans. The Easter Bunny had moved all of them into other cabinets to make room for their stuffed Easter baskets ~

This year, they didn't get much candy. Enough to satisfy them, but most of the loot was non-edible. They each got a book (or a couple of books). Megan got 3 Nancy Drew mysteries, Kylie got a compilation of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books, Beth got a Strawberry Shortcake scratch and sniff book, and Jack got a superhero coloring book. (Eva didn't get one as she mostly eats books at the moment.) The older four also got books on tape. Megan got "A Wrinkle in Time", Kylie got "Tom Sawyer", Beth got "Little House in the Big Woods", and Jack got a collection of fairy tales that turned out to be DVDs instead of cds. Eva got new shoes (her others are getting a bit small), two baby bottles (she's really into dolls at the moment), and some new onesies (she also loves clothes).

After taking a small taste, Eva ate her entire Cadbury egg in one bite ~

To the kids' credit, they limited themselves to one plastic egg worth of candy before church and saved the rest for afterwards. Plus they were super fast and co-operative when getting ready for church. Eva was the exception. She did NOT like her Easter dress. I laughed as I overheard Rob as he wrestled her into her outfit, telling her "C'mon Eva! These priceless memories aren't going to make themselves!"

For dinner we had leg of lamb, cheesy au gratin potatoes, steamed veggies, cucumber and tomato salad, frog-eye salad (which I made for the first time and which we decided we are not big fans of), and crescent rolls with key lime pie for dessert. Kiki came over for dinner, as did an older couple from church, Linda and Graham, as their kids all live in other states. We had a wonderful dinner!

Later that night, Eva found one of Rob's t-shirts and proudly dressed herself. She stuck her head through one of the sleeves, and one arm out of the neck. It was quite the fashion statement. She insisted on wearing it to bed.