TODAY

Kate and Spence at the funeral. Kate's getup makes me laugh.
Sydney's best school friends. Kate and I helped at the lapathon. I got to squirt water all over the kids with my squirt bottle. I took that job very seriously.
Warm colored goodness from Maddie
Ali letting Kate help with homework.

Today is the day. Christmas goes up. UP, UP, UP. My carolers are going on the grand piano. They will sing to people as they come in. I'm hanging some big ornaments from my curtain rod. There is no space for the tree. Eek. Seriously, no idea where that is going. No big bay window anymore....

It's ok. Kate would probably wreck it anyway. I'll get creative. I do know that snowflakes are going all over my fireplace on both sides. Covered with homemade snowflakes. What else?

I think, gulp, I might start the pie night tradition here. The night before Thanksgiving, pies pies pies and friends friends friends. Si, what do you think? Do I dare? I always loved that tradition so much at your house. Should I wait until I move-maybe next Thanksgiving?

I'm excited about something that happened yesterday. For the Christmas concert, the choir teacher decided he would choose 5 specialty numbers to fill in between the choirs--duets or trios. Lots of kids tried out. My two girls each tried out with guy friends of theirs. Ali and friend Tyler sang "Mary Did You Know." I can't help picturing Clay Aiken or Donny when I hear that song and was also not crazy about 3 verses of the same. Not a lot of variation there. We got the music off of the internet, and as I usually find, the piano was awful.

Here's the deal. When you hear a song on the radio and it has been recorded with either a guitar or strings or whatever, when that same piece of music is transcribed to piano and put on paper, it just isn't as good. If it's not written for piano, the right hand usually just mirrors what the singer is trying to sing. Why have that? Anyway, I tried to "fix" it a little bit. First of all, we had to add a second part, right? So the night before the audition (major rushed because we were gone until the night before) we got Tyler over here and made something up. They sounded great, echoing each other, descants over the melody, etc. I could also hear a guitar with my piano picking the simple chords which would add another layer. I'll have to see if the teacher would let us do that.

I guess the choir teacher loved them! I was so happy! He asked where they got that arrangement? Ha ha. Ali said, well we didn't like the internet version so my mom did it. Then I guess he told all of Ali's classes about them and Ali's mom who did the arrangement. Yikes. Is that even legal? Do I need to get permission from the composer to rewrite his song? I think there are rules about that. Here's my same old problem. They have a guy who plays for all of the choirs, a professional accompanist. What do I do? I don't want him to play the normal version, I want to redo it, but when I write music out for people, it is very hard to read and it seems way obnoxious of me anyway. "I took the liberty of rewriting the accompaniment. Here you go. I hope you can read my little handwritten notes." Help. I just hear it the way I think it "should" be and I can't let it go. I dreamt about it last night.

Maddie and friend Scott also made it! They are singing "Baby It's Cold Outside." Way cute. I'm going to try and let them do it themselves, but I won't be able to help myself. I'll hear them singing by the piano..I'll wander in..and before they can say "Hey mom, get out!," I will be making changes all over the place. ARG!

Does anyone have a warm little body on your lap with chunky arms wrapping around your neck right now? Can anyone else hear "mom, mom, mom, mom" over and over? Is anyone else getting their hair "brushed" with the flat side of a hard brush? Is anyone else liking turning on their mac and having that big picture of the Beatles stare at you as they announce they are now on itunes? Did anyone else just have frosted mini wheats and scrambled eggs? Is anyone else listening to Kings of Convenience while you type? Does anyone else still have pajamas on as you are getting out Christmas boxes? Hey! Me too! What a coincidence!

Celebrate Life Today.

Do something for Someone Else.

Study Your Scriptures for a Little Bit Longer Today.

Give Someone a Compliment.

Say Thank You More.

Call Or Write Someone You Haven't Heard From Lately.

Be Nice To Yourself. You Are Better Than You Think You Are. Believe It When People Tell You.

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