Music, Music, Music...

This weekend was FILLED to the brim with music! On Friday, the 2nd-8th graders at New Hope had their Christmas program, which had been canceled last Wednesday when we received "mountains" of snow. The program was BEAUTIFUL.

A month or so ago, Ellie told us she was going to play a piano selection in the pre-program music. Wonderful!!! (Especially since I dropped the ball with the craziness of our move and didn't get her auditioned for the church pre-music playing this year!) And a week before the program, I was picking up the piano books and saw Ellie's song...and thought "Wow....I bet she'd like it if I played a duet with her!" (Of course, she was elated when I asked her about it.) The funniest thing was that most people in WI had no idea I play the piano! To watch the duet (really, nothing to watch...just listen!), click HERE. It was a special song and now all the girls play duets with me for fun!

Also about a month ago, Ellie came home from school saying "I got a solo for the Christmas program!" We were so excited for her. She absolutely loved participating in this program and her solo started off the program this year. The words are "Savior of the nations, come, Virgin's Son, make here Your home! Marvel now, O heav'n and earth, That the Lord chose such a birth." So true---Jesus made THIS His home....and that the Lord chose SUCH a birth....how blessed we are!!!! To hear Ellie's solo, click HERE.

There were many more songs during the program...here are snippets of all of them (click on song title to view):
Silent Night part 1 (the 3rd graders were singing in KOREAN!)
Silent Night part 2
African Alleluia
Tell The World
Go Tell It On The Mountain
He's Got The Whole World In His Hands
Joy To The World


After school, we zoomed home to drop Ava off with Miss Valerie (who, by the way, SAVED the day--she ended up being able to babysit Colin during the program, which was during his nap! Whew!). We had a HUGE surprise for the big girls--they had no idea what we were doing with them on Friday night. All they knew was 1) it was just for big girls and 2) they had to bring their winter snow gear. The above picture is of the 4 of us JUST prior to leaving for the surprise. To see us reveal the surprise to the girls, click HERE.

The girls were beyond excited. Andy had heard about the Sara Groves concert a few months ago and said 'Put it on the calendar...and how about we surprise the girls?!' 2 years ago, Andy and I went to see her in concert--she is one amazing musician. We now own almost all her CDs and it is neat to hear the girls sing along to them. Both times we've seen her, she's played at the Cup O Joy coffeehouse in Green Bay. And get this: the concerts are FREE....they do take a freewill donation....but basically free--totally amazing! 2 years ago when we went, it was COLD. Actually, COLD doesn't describe how it was. It was SO cold back then that school had been canceled due to the cold temperatures. This year? THE SAME! But school wasn't cancelled! It was hovering around zero when we got to the Cup O Joy coffeehouse....to see the big crowd waiting in line....

Andy was the first one in line!!! He was dressed to wait outside and the girls and I took off to find a McDonald's. By the time we arrived back at the Cup, Andy could not feel his feet! He sat in the van while I waited in line about 10 minutes and then Andy took over again...in the fridgid weather. For his (crazy) dedication to being 1st in line, he received a CD door prize! The above picture is lone Andy waiting in line at 4:30 for the 6:30 concert and then all 4 of us FREEZING waiting in line just prior to the doors opening. What a fun memory...and the concert had not even begun yet!

Waiting....waiting....waiting....for the concert.

And finally.....Sara Groves. The little video Andy captured does not due her justice....so if you are interested, type Sara Groves in youtube.com....her music is amazing. For the 2nd time, we LOVED her concert and will continue to wait patiently for her to come back to Wisconsin!


While we were at the concert, Ava had fun with Miss Valerie making Gingerbread Lollipops! She had names for all of them--it was cute to see her creativity. The next day, Ellie and Jayna worked on a Gingerbread house...and oooopppps...there was milk in the frosting! Thankfully, I had some 'spray' frosting and that did the trick. They love doing these creations at Christmastime!

Finally, today, Ava's Sunday School class sang at church. She is very shy; she is VERY serious....and we don't have ANY video to show you! :) These were the only 2 pictures that turned out--let it be said that she was darling and we'll have more Ava at the end of this week when she has her school Christmas program!!!

Happy Music Viewing!