Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Piano Guys and then some...

Are you all ready for Christmas?  We are just about ready here.  I need to buy two more things for me and we'll be set.  We'll probably wrap Christmas presents tonight too!   I am getting very excited for Christmas break and being with family for the New Year! 

Last week I attended a babyshower for a friend that is moving back West.  I am so sad that she is leaving!  Well, as far as a I know, they're on their way right now!  Shanna, Haley and I went for a little while, then did a little shopping before heading home.  My friend Megan made these yummy petite fours. I had a chocolate one.  She makes great cupcakes and cakes too!
Dec 9 2014 Abby Hurd babyshower

Last week I went on a field trip with Haley to the JMU planetarium.  I was pretty tired and dozed off a few times during the presentations!  Haley loved the field trip.
Dec 11 2014 Haley JMU field trip (2)

The same day as the field trip we took off around 4pm and headed to Baltimore!  We surprised our kids with a trip to see the Piano Guys Christmas Concert.  It was soooo great! If you haven't heard about the Piano Guys check out their great videos on YouTube.  Here is one of our favorites: click here.  The sunset was so pretty on the drive.  Haley took some pictures, but with our camera it's hard to capture pretty sunsets! Here is one of photos.
Dec 11 2014 Piano Guys Concert

At the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall during intermission.  Thankfully some of the kids took a nap on the way up because the performance didn't start until 8pm!  On the way we stopped at McDonald's for dinner.  The kids were so excited.  Clark said this to the other kids: "This probably won't ever happen again."  Ha ha.  Good expectations Clark.  Thankfully we found parking very quickly, and it was next to the Meyerhoff.
Dec 11 2014 Piano Guys Concert (2)

Dec 11 2014 Piano Guys Concert (3)

I asked a lady to take our picture.  It was funny because she said "The kids just keep coming!"  Ha ha.  Wouldn't she be shocked if I would have told her I came from a family of 10 kids, one of my sisters has 7 kids and a friend of mine has 8 kids? 
Dec 11 2014 Piano Guys Concert (4)

A few of the water fountains had a cup dispenser....what a great idea!  See Shanna in the background...
Dec 11 2014 Piano Guys Concert (5)

Dec 11 2014 Piano Guys Concert (6)

The concert was AMAZING!!!  It was so fun seeing Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson live.  Our seat were at the very top, but they were in the middle and we were pleased with them.  No pictures were permitted during the performance, sadly.  Steve showed us some cool things about his cello, they talked about how Piano Guys came about, and played some of their "classics" plus Christmas songs. 
Dec 11 2014 Piano Guys Concert (7)

Steve has 13 cellos...if I remember right. On one song they did different cultural variations on it.  I think it was to Good King Wenceslas. They played what it would sound like in Germany, Russian, India with probably a couple other countries.  That was fun to hear.  At the end we clapped and clapped and when they came out for the encore they performed Silent Night, with us joining in to sing a verse.  The kids all seemed to enjoy it a lot too.  It was wonderful hearing fantastic music and feeling the spirit too.  My kind of concert!  We would love to see them if they are ever in the vicinity again.
Dec 11 2014 Piano Guys Concert (8)

We got out of Baltimore about 11pm.  I felt tired so took a nap right away.  We told the kids we'd stop and get a treat afterwards but I think they all fell asleep pretty quickly.  Elden was asleep about 10 minutes after we were back in the van.  Lee and I switched driving about half-way through, and I drove the rest of the way home, arriving at about 1:50am.


I slept till about 8am and Lee got everyone up and going for school.  I met Elden that morning as his class and reading buddies put together gingerbread houses.
Dec 12 2014 Elden gingerbread houses kindergarten (2)

Dec 12 2014 Elden gingerbread houses kindergarten (8)

Lots of frosting later, and on his shirt, he was done! 
Dec 12 2014 Elden gingerbread houses kindergarten (3)

Elden and a very tired me.
Dec 12 2014 Elden gingerbread houses kindergarten (4)

I stayed with Elden for a little while and headed back to his classroom with him.  His teacher has the kids help out with which day of the week it is and the weather (maybe some other things too?). His teacher is fabulous! Elden actually was in charge of the "weather" that morning.  It was cute seeing him walk over to the window, then look out to determine what kind of weather was happening at that moment!
Dec 12 2014 Elden gingerbread houses kindergarten (5)

Dec 12 2014 Elden gingerbread houses kindergarten (6)

They had snack time then too.  I think the little cups are so cute! After I walked him to gym then left.  It was fun spending time with him that morning. 
Dec 12 2014 Elden gingerbread houses kindergarten (7)

Enjoy your preparations for Christmas!  Nine days left!  YAY!

2 comments:

Lois said...

What happy memories

Deb B said...

I want to see them sometime. I'm so glad you got to go!