Y ARTS Concert Video

Brctv.org just uploaded the video from last week's choir concert.  If my attempt to embed the video doesn't work, you can watch it here.  The Kiddie Choir starts at 8:30 in the video, and they go up for "YMCA" at the end, at 49:22.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O17TCbIJ5aE&feature=player_embedded

The Boys' Choir Concert

This Wednesday, the boys were in their first choir concert.  The Y Arts has a new program, "Sing Free for All," so the actual choir programs (which are top notch) are free now (I guess they make up for it with the $10 ticket price for the concert.:)  They had learned two songs: "Clap Stomp Dance," and "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands."  Logan made a video, but all of my attempts to post videos on the blog the past few months have failed.  I'll just post pictures tonight and try the video tomorrow when I have time to fool with it.  I should also try to make a video of Abigail singing with her brothers, because she learned "Clap Stomp Dance" and it is adorable. :)

The boys sang with the 3-6 year olds:

Josiah's smile was a mile wide when he came to sit with us after their songs:

 After the other choirs did their numbers, with solo performances in between, everyone came up to sing "YMCA".  It was a fun concert!

In the car on the way home, Josiah said he didn't want to sign up for the next session of choir and that he didn't have fun at the concert, when Benjamin chimed it, "I did!  I LOVED that!!!!!!!!"  Benji has aspirations of becoming a rock star, so this was right up his alley.  :)  (Don't worry - Josiah's not getting off that easy!  He was clearly having a LOT of fun, and I'm a little biased when it comes to music education.  He'll thank me later.:)

Visiting Dear Friends in NH

We finally made it over to New Hampshire last weekend to visit our dear friends, Mark & Charis and kids!  We had SUCH a great visit!  Their boys are both less than a year older than ours, and Ati is just over a year older than Abigail.  Ati just came over from Ethiopia in March, so Abigail and Ati had similarly small vocabularies, and got along really well. :)

Mark and Charis truly have the gift of hospitality, making us right at home and feeding us delicious food all weekend.

 Miles and Benji  --  Josiah and Caleb

 Mark and Charis have been living right on a lake in Laconia for the past year and a half, but two weeks from today they are moving to Spain.  They have been raising support to become career missionaries for years now, so they are so excited to finally be making their big move overseas!

 On Saturday, the high temp was 71 degrees!  The lake had been partially drained, so the boys had an amazing time playing in the mud!

 This was as dirty as Abbey was willing to get. :)  Miss Priss!

 Charis and I were roomies in college - those were the days!  We were two peas in a pod. :)

 Before we left, I tried to get a group shot but it didn't really come out. :)

We had such a great weekend, it was hard to say goodbye and know it would probably be for a couple years.  We're excited for this dear family to hop the Atlantic and begin the next chapter of their life!

Outdoors Fun

The kiddos have been going to the local Farmer's Market every Thursday for a donut.  Last week was the last one, and they went in style:

Then we went for a hike:

 
Here is a sequence of photos, called "Trying to Get a Good Picture of the Kids".  Enjoy:

 I have a dozen more I could have included!

Here are a couple from another hike last week:

Fun with Papa

Here are some photos submitted by Papa -

He brought the boys to visit some horses on a farm, where they had great fun grooming them and putting them to bed,

 and the boys LOVE to paint at Papa's gallery!

Pumpkin Patch and a Birthday Party

Last Saturday, we went to the Railway Village for the Pumpkin Patch.  

This year, we also got to take a hose and carriage ride!

After the Railway Village, I brought the kids straight to their friend Cole's fourth birthday party.  It was at the Lighthouse Learning Center, which has a great big bounce house and all kinds of other cool toys.

Josiah, Ben and their friend Zaid were making the other kids a little nervous with their rough play in the bounce house. It looked more like a sumo wrestling match in there than bouncing!

Towards the end of the party, Abbey had conked out in my arms.  Turns out, she came down with the Parva (?) virus that weekend and was one sick little girl!  I ended up holding her all afternoon and night after she woke up from her nap.  She had a fever for a couple days, then a strage rash all over her body for several days.

 She had her two year check up last week - she's 90th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight.  Doing great!