Halloween 2010

Here's a few pics taken October 30, Halloween observed.

This past summer a sister in our ward gave swimming lessons to the kids, gratis. She was great. She had the non-swimmers swimming and the pseudo swimmers flourishing in no time. As a trade Marie offered, come Fall, to have us rake all their leaves (they have some good sized trees). Well, as it always does, Fall eventually arrived, and we all found ourselves over at the Davies's, cleaning up nature's mess. This year has the weather has dithered quite a bit so the trees have taken a while to moult. (Yes, I know only birds moult, but what would you have said if I had said, "Abscission has been somewhat spotty"?) Consequently it took a couple trips to finish the job.

Anyway, here's some photos of the kids dispersed amongst the morning's booty.

That's Porter peeking out from within.

Here we are after the raking, enjoying some awesome peanut butter/banana/cocoa smoothies, a recipe given to us by my sister, Maren, when we were visiting her in North Carolina. (More on that later.) The kids loved them. They are destined to become regulars around here.

And the obligatory costumery photos:

 Emma Einstein

Joseph & Grace the Lion

Jarom the Pooh

Hannah Running Bear

Porter the gangster, I guess. We like our children to aspire.

Kerina the vampire with Joseph Smith looking on.

Andrea as. . . . I have no idea!

At the ward trunk-or-treat. (It was raining outside so they moved it inside.)

Joseph was going as Michael Jackson, unfortunately he wasn't too convincing, as his glove didn't shimmer, his derby was too tall, but mostly because his skin was too dark.

Porter, Future Engineer

Working at a large apartment complex with boilers and chillers, et al, I come across a lot of broken odds and ends. When I find something interesting (eg. a pressure gauge, pressure reducing valve, or even air-handler blower motors) I bring it home for the boys (aka. Porter) who proceed to tear it apart and investigate.

Recently Porter was asking me if a battery could power a light bulb, so we started with a 9v and then graduated to 18v. But first he drew up a plan and then put it together.

 

And here's the finished product:

Odds/Ends

Here's Grace and her brother Heinrich. Actually that's Jarom. But doesn't he look like he should be wearing lederhosen.

And this is Andrea and Rosie (short for Rosalina, a name Jarom pulled out of thin air when we first got her). If your observant you'll notice that we can't seem to do anything the easy way. About 4-6 weeks ago there were a few days that we tied up Rosie outside as we were gone all day. Well, we don't have a fence, and Rosie apparently ignored every lecture we gave her on the law of chastity. So now there are two females in this house who are in a motherly way. Marie's a bit annoyed that the dog got pregnant much later and yet will give birth much sooner then herself. Not only that, but Rosie will get much more bang for her buck. 

By the way, you'll all be receiving belated Christmas gifts this year. When you get them, make sure you open them immediately as they contain perishables. 

Joseph's Choir

Joseph's school choir had their Christmas concert this past week. Great director. She seems to get a ton out of these kids. Very impressive. Also, a very Christian concert -- she conceded nothing. (Sorry about the video quality. It was taken with my phone, as we forgot to bring the good camera.) Oh, and Joseph was smack in the middle on the second row.

Musical Notes

Look out Ray Brown!

Recently I've been playing for the musical Plaid Tidings, a Christmas spinoff of Forever Plaid. It's been a kick. Haven't done a musical since Oliver Twist (w/ Christopher Lloyd) at the Sundance outdoor theater back when I was an undergrad.

Anyway, here's the four Plaids in their calypso digs during intermission. The elderly fellow is the pianist, Bob Bailey, who is 89 years young. In his earlier days he played piano for the Dean Martin show, as well as Nat King Cole, Ginger Rogers, Bing Crosby, Pearl Bailey, and Mel Thorme -- to name a few. He and his wife have served four missions. He's quite a guy and an incredible pianist. I have been gigging with him since I was an undergrad. He's one of these guys that can play just about any standard in any key. For the Dean Martin show he'd have to arrange on-the-fly in rehearsals to accommodate the various celebs that would appear each show, constantly having to shift keys around & alter pre-arranged tunes to put the guests and Dean in the best light. I've heard him make key-wandering vocalists sound great. 

If he's doing an actual performance-type gig, one of his schticks is to have audience members give the last four digits of their phone numbers which, using them as scale steps, he then improvises a tune using the consecutive digits as a motive of sorts. It's very cool. 

This is the pit band (we're actually right on stage). That's Mitch Lee (a drummer I have been gigging with for at least 14 years), Bob, and myself (with the double-chin, as Andrea likes to point out). 

Revlon's Newest Model

Grace recently got into Mom's lipstick. Not shown is Gracie's putting lipstick on the picture of Hannah and Andrea in the bathroom.