Spring is Here At Last!

It's finally spring in our neck of the woods. After a week of heavy rain, we've got warm sunshine, blossoming trees surrounding our house, a relatively dry basement and the assurance that our sump pump works well. 

We've also got some outside fun under our belts already. A couple weeks ago we went to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa. Chubbles especially loves animals so we're grateful for pens and enclosures, otherwise she'd surely have been trying to pull the elephant's trunk and sit in the orangutan's lap.

We've also realized that we're now (responsible?) homeowners with a duty to keep up our yard. Happy helped Grandpa and Daddy assemble the new push-reel lawnmower. I've been hearing for a few years how much Curmudgeon wanted a push-reel mower and now that he's the proud owner of both the mower and the lawn, he could die a happy man.

And here's the rarest moment...our children never fall asleep spontaneously. It just doesn't happen. 

But look, here it is. Maybe dreams do come true.

Viola Swap

 Big smile from the Curmudgeon.

He now has a full complement of strings...A bass, a cello (as of Christmas) a viola, and two violins (one is Happy's little 1/16th). But also at Christmastime, we purchased a new viola to replace his student-grade one. The new baby is bigger, better, and much beloved by its new papa. 

Old viola? Just sold on craigslist two days ago. 

Grandparents, Artists, and a Happy Home

A few weeks ago we had a fun visit from Grandma and Grandpa. The kiddos were in heaven having their grandparents around always ready to read to them, build with blocks and lincoln logs and take them out for special trips. Grandma even introduced Happy to Angry Birds!

We've stayed really busy with lots of projects and plans. Curmudgeon participated in his first festival with other school orchestras in the district and was pleased with how his students performed. The 7th and 8th graders have been working on quartets for the past couple of months and tonight will perform their chamber music concert. I'm sure they'll do well, but Curmudgeon is excited to get back to a more regular schedule with technique and scales and ensemble numbers.
I've taken on a new project starting up the Kansas chapter of Artist, Interrupted. AI is a network for women artists who have put art on hold due to raising families, other careers etc. We had our first meeting last night which, in addition to being a wonderful experience, gave me some strong incentive to get my house cleaned and well on the way to being finished (if finished ever really happens).
I was pretty proud of the spread I made for the ladies last night: sushi and build-your-own fruit pizzas.

 We have been able to get further on our house projects as well...last weekend we finally got the upper dining room painted: 

dining room before

and now.

And as of last night, I feel like the living room is finally finished too. We finally got pictures into the frames and on the walls and the beautiful built-in shelves that my dad helped us build when we moved in are organized and filled. 

the living room while we were building shelves.

all finished!

We've also done a lot of work on the mudroom. When we moved in there was this tiny awkward space between the door outside and the door to the kitchen. They couldn't be opened at the same time and you had to squeeze around both doors to get into the house. While my parents were here they helped us to fix that by moving the kitchen door down to the opening of the basement. We also finished the floor and (though this picture doesn't show it well) we removed those ridiculously ugly shelves and installed shoe cabinets and a nice coat rack. Much improved!

before we bought it

and now.

Snow Fun and Home Updates

We've only had about 2 snowy days all winter, but the kiddos made the absolute most of it. 

Happy loves to play in the snow and as you can see, the sandbox is still (in January!?) getting a lot of use. Chubbles is a little more like her mommy--who took these pictures from the comfort of the kitchen window--and only lasted about 10 minutes in the cold.

Maybe it was because she could barely walk in her huge snowpants!

Happy made it much longer (about 45 minutes maybe?) and it was COLD outside! But he was still just as cheerful when he came inside all rosy-cheeked.

We've been working on the entryway and stairwell. It used to be covered with the same nondescript taupe textured paint. We stripped multiple layers of paint and wallpaper and sanded down whatever wouldn't just scrape off. The project has been ongoing for the past several months, but we're finally making some visible progress.

during the stripping process

Curmudgeon had Martin Luther King Jr. Day off, so he took the kids out for the day while I primed the whole area. Then that evening we got some much-appreciated help from some friends who came to help us paint. We've still got some work to do: another coat, moulding around the top of the teal, some touch-ups, etc. But it's slowly coming together.

When we are finished I'll be sure to post some more magazine-worthy pictures.

In other news, Happy is finally starting to sing (yay!!), count to ten, and sing the alphabet. Chubbles follows us around all day pushing books at us, still dances and now has enough hair for pigtails.

As for the parents, we're still here too, as evidenced by these portraits taken by our budding-photographer son.

Hope you're doing well. 

Feel free to comment (nudge nudge, wink wink) so we know that somebody is still with us. 

Christmas Album 2011

Let us present our second-annual Wood Family Musical Christmas Card! This is our biggest self-imposed project of the year and so we happily share with you a selection of holiday music that we have performed and recorded as well as arranged, composed or adapted to fit our abilities. Much of it will probably be new to you. This is not your every-day holiday album. But we love the music that we selected and hope you'll give it a listen and feel our best Christmas greetings coming to you through the sounds. 

(and be gentle with us. This is by no means a professional recording and if you listen hard you'll probably hear lots of squaks or squeaks or other little things that would embarrass us if we didn't love you so much. So listen, but don't listen too hard. okay?)  

Link to playlist

1. Christmas Day I’Da Mornin’  traditional......fiddle, Nate
2. I Sing of A Maiden  Patrick Hadley......vocals, Leslee; piano, Nate
3. Lo How A Rose  trad./arr. by N.Wood, L.Wood......violin & cello, Nate
4. That Yonge Child/Balulalow  Benjamin Britten.......vocals, Leslee
5. Hark the Herald Angels Sing  Felix Mendelsohn......bass, Nate
6. In Dulci Jubilo  trad./harm. by B. Gesius and J.S. Bach......vocals, Leslee
7. The Shepherd’s Carol    Daniel Lyman Carter......cello, violin, Nate
8. Star in the East  traditional......guitar, Nate; vocals, Leslee
9. In Natali Domini  L. Wood......violin, viola, cello, Nate; vocals, finger cymbals, Leslee
10. Silent Night  Franz Gruber.....bass, Nate

Leaves, Sand and Cardboard

These boxes are Happy's firetruck (with Chubbles in the trailer).

and yes, he is the coolest fireman ever (note his snazzy helmet).

It's started to get quite cold here, but the sandbox has never been more popular with Boy-o.

Happy was even willing to wear gloves and hat in order to play at 8:00 a.m. amid

and sweet little Girly loves to be outside too. 

How these two tiny people can be so much tougher in the cold than I am is beyond me. 

and they are such good helpers too!

Autumn Update

Here are a few little treats from our Halloween and other fall-time fun:

swinging at the kiddos' new favorite park

Just before Daddy took the little dragon out on his first time trick-or-treating.

They both decided to jump into my bed first thing this morning (notice the clock?) Yep, the fun starts early at our house.

In other news, Happy is just about potty-trained (yay! and now that I realize cleaning up poopy undies is easier than cleaning poopy cloth diapers, I'm wondering why we didn't start this months ago).

We've had about enough of sleep-deprivation, so Chubbles has had a rough week as we've started just letting her cry when she wakes up (many times) during the night. Our sleep has not improved yet, but it can only be a matter of time, right?

Curmudgeon had his first school orchestra concert last night and received many compliments and encouraging words from parents and fellow staff members. I think the first year is pretty rough for every new teacher, so I'm very glad that folks around him seem to appreciate his efforts...even if his students can sometimes be stinkers. Am I allowed to say that?

Anyway, we're all settling in very happily and enjoying life now that things have calmed down a bit. 

Coming soon will be more house updates and Monthly Movies in December. Excited? You should be.