School, School, School, School, School and Songs (FREE CD opportunity)

I know I am long winded. It’s just who I am – a detail girl. So if you want to get straight to the Free CD information skip to the last couple of paragraphs.

Today turned out nothing like I thought it would. But then when do our days turn out exactly how we think they will? I made 5 trips to the school today. Trip 1: I took the kids to school and ended up staying to help with a 3^rd and 4^th grade breakfast. The principal (who was new to the school last year) started a new tradition which the kids think is great. He makes sure they have a special BIG breakfast the day before MEAP (Michigan Educational Assessment Program) testing begins. PTO takes care of the expenses and parents volunteer time. Actually the principal deserves the real badge of thanks. He did all the shopping and I don’t know if he did it or his wife helped but he brought a HUGE roaster pan full of more than 500 sausage links ready to serve along with pancakes that were being made on little griddles by parents, in every corner of the lunch room. There was plenty for them to have as much as they wanted. Some of those kids really downed a LOT of food. It was so fun to see the kids excited and listen intently to the little pep talk from the principal about doing their best, getting good sleep etc. One of the teachers (who also has two kids at the school) asked that the extra pancakes be packaged up so they could send it home with kids who might not have breakfast tomorrow. COOL. Trip 2: I ran home to get plastic baggies to package them.

I also learned that it was Dan’s day to raise the flag. I picked up the camera while getting the baggies and hoped to make it back in time without missing it. Then I learned that it would be awhile because they had PE, Computer lab and Accelerated Reading. So after peaking in on Sam’s class without being seen, catching his afternoon teacher in the hall and learning of some challenges they were having I ran home, made a Dr appointment for Sam and managed to get a few things done before running back for flag raising time. Trip 3: I made it back in plenty of time and with all the activities of Dan’s morning it was probably the latest flag raising (it was about 10:45am). Trip 4: I ended up getting Sam a Dr appointment to see if we can get his snotty nose under control. Sure enough he had a sinus infection and inflamed ears. Yeah, now he has meds to make it all better. Trip 5: I had hoped to return Sam for a portion of the afternoon but it took so long at the Dr that we made it in time for school to get out, pick up Dan and instead of leaving and having them ride the bus I shuffled them off to one of the classrooms where they had some college volunteers to supervise the children while parents attended the PTO meeting. It was also Dairy Queen night for the school (the teachers and principal will work the counter, make ice cream etc and the school gets a portion of the sales). We didn’t attend last year and Dan so wanted to see his teacher serving up the ice cream. The line was SO long that we got to see her but he settled on the principal serving up his ice cream. By chance we ended up following the principal on his Harley Davidson to DQ. I think the boys were both more excited about that than anything else.

So I have covered the SCHOOL 5 times and now for SONGS. While Sam was in the car on the way to the Dr he started singing a Christmas song he enjoys from a CD we have. It wasn’t long before he asked to listen to the “Jingle songs”. Now we do not have snow here yet and it’s still beautiful fall!! But my family in Utah received a significant snowfall over the weekend. By Sunday morning my mom said she had 7”. So in honor of their early arrival of Winter and Sam’s need to hear the Jingle music we turned on the Christmas CD that stays in our car! It is the favorite Christmas CD for the kids and that is where we listen most to CD’s together. It is called Jingles and was released in 1998 by an a cappella group called Voice Male. Sam loves the sounds and rhythms and gets a HUGE smile when he hears the beginning to Jingle Bell Rock. We are also entertained with some of the things the boys think are the lyrics. Last year an ongoing joke began about Angels We Have Heard on High. They thought that the chorus was “we make Chelsea stay home” instead of “in excelsis Deo”. The song will never be sung right now by our family.

Now some of you might have heard of Voice Male and some might not. If not, you are really missing out. So here is some information about the group and best of all, a new CD that they just released!!!!! It is called Kid Stuff and has 15 fun songs on it including the last few being sleepy time songs. I know you are going to want it so listen up as you could get the CD for free (keep reading). You can check out the group’s very well designed website at www.voicemalemusic.com where you can listen to short clips of the songs. But FIRST you should also go check out the following BLOG (click on this link). Three CD’s will be given away in a drawing for anyone who leaves a comment in their blog.

OK I must admit that I do happen to have a connection to this group as a good friend of ours married one of the singers. We love them and wish we didn’t live on the North and South ends of the US. So for now we settle on reading their fun blog to keep in touch. I hope you all enter a comment on their blog!

Singing in the Dark

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What do you get when a squirrel gets into a transformer 30 min before church starts? You get to have church in the dark! Well this is what happened this past Sunday. The funny thing is that it was the Sunday for our **Primary Program which I mentioned in my last post. We had a full house with plenty of out of town visitors that day. I think everyone figured the power would be restored quickly but it was not. Had it been another day they might have likely just sent us home (which they eventually did). There were many excited young children and visitors there waiting to hear their sons, grandsons, daughters, granddaughters and friends. So we proceeded in the dark. Can you picture little voices projecting in a relatively large room without a microphone? One might think disaster was going to rear its ugly head. However, I have now learned that kids really sing out when they are in the dark. These children were doing pretty well in our practices the weeks before. But when the lights go out – they really sing! I thought it sounded great and everyone seemed to really enjoy it! So we might have lost power but we surely didn’t lose a great opportunity to hear children sharing their beautiful voices and messages with us.

I have to add that I was particularly proud of Dan who had a solo. He sang two verses of a song that is relatively unknown to most. But he sang out even though he looked a little nervous at times. I’m not sure everyone in the back could hear him but many who did hear him have commented to him and to us about how much they enjoyed his song. It was very sweet.

** In our church the children age 3 – 11 participate in Primary for 2 hours. During this time they participate in lessons, activities and learn songs about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Once a year the talks that would normally be given during Sacrament meeting are replaced by the children who present a program of what they have been learning in Primary. They sing songs and give short talks all based on a theme. I am lucky enough to be the Primary Chorister and teach the children the beautiful songs that help them learn and remember important concepts.