School Today

School in December is nobody's favorite thing.  Seriously.  That tree goes up, and all I want to do is plan presents and play piano.  Period.  But today was a beautiful example of how schooling looks different for us in December but is completely legit in my opinion.

Our day began with me needing to rouse both boys from sleep in order to leave the house by 7:45 a.m. to be at the nearby elementary school in time to deliver 6 bags of groceries for the Backpack Buddies kids.  Paul wasn't just reluctant.  He was kinda ticked.  So, I stopped and had an important conversation about serving even when we would rather sleep in.  All I had to do was quietly explain the purpose of the bags.  It's food so those kids can eat over Christmas break.   And he was all in, folks.  With a smile on his face.  It didn't hurt that I promised pumpkin bread from Starbucks at the end of the trip.  Service is rewarding, people!

We arrived at the school and delivered the bags, Merry Christmasing our way through the building.  It was so good.  And educational.  The lesson?  It's not always about us.  Sometimes we have to climb out of our warm, comfy bed in order to do something for others.  Good lesson.

When we got home, post-Starbucks drive-thru, it was time to practice piano.  Music.  It's school around here.  It counts.

Then they went downstairs and played while I practiced piano.  Soul-care for the teacher.  Also important around here.

After that, I called them upstairs and read to them from Johnny Tremain for about an hour.  History and literature rolled into one!  They were entertained, and we are all learning lots about Boston during the American Revolution.  That's just cool.

Now they are playing chess on the living room floor while I write this blog post beside them.  I can hear them strategizing and problem solving.  It's all school.  I know it's not traditional.  And yes we will get back to math and spelling and vocabulary in January.  But sometimes learning is best snuck in between the everyday stuff.  It's almost like I'm preparing them to learn in real life situations rather than just a classroom.  Right?

Here's the pic:

Piano Tuning

We got the piano tuned today.  Why is this blog-worthy?  What's the big deal?  Let me explain.

Most of you already know at least some of my backstory, growing up below the poverty line in suburban America.  It's miraculous that we owned a piano, and I am SO grateful for the church that sold it SO cheaply to my mom the Christmas that I was seven years old.  It was magical.  They snuck that beast of an upright grand into the house on Christmas Eve, and I was overjoyed the next morning.

And I played it untuned and without a treble C (it had fallen and couldn't get up) for all of my growing up years and through college.  When Erik and I moved into our little starter house in Puyallup, we brought the piano home.  And I tried to get it tuned, but having been moved unprofessionally multiple times (it had been rolled up the street on one occasion and had fallen over in the back of a pick-up truck once), the sounding board had cracked.  Irreparable to our newlywed budget.  So it sat.  I played from time to time.  But mostly I just mourned.  It was playable sort of, but I was playing a well-tuned baby grand every Sunday at church now.  My piano just hurt my ears.

Eventually, shortly after or right before (my Mommy Brain can't recall) Luke was born, we gave it away.  I placed a classified ad (yep...in the paper...it was 2005, but we were in the suburbs and who knew craigslist existed?) offering the piano "as is" and free to a good home.  The man who called me let me know that he takes pianos, fixes them up, and gives them to underprivileged kids who want to learn to play.  Okay.  So, that was perfect.  He came and got it.

Then came the electric piano my dad gave us about two months later.  I'm not kidding.  We were without a keyed instrument for less than a quarter of a year.  God knows us, people.  He knows what feeds our souls.  God knew what I needed.  My dad brought the electric piano to our house, and I knew it for the blessing it was.  And folks, I do love that instrument and am SUPER thankful to my dad for giving it to me.

But it wasn't a real piano.  And until a few weeks ago when we acquired this beautiful instrument from Uncle Bob and Aunt Cindy, I didn't realize how very much I have missed playing a real piano.  It's different.  It rings differently.  It physically hums.  It sings with me.

And then Taylor Mackinnon arrived today at 12:30 pm to tune it.  I greeted him at the door and he had a  warm smile on his face, reminding me just a touch of Santa Claus.  No joke.  The boys were downstairs playing and I left them there.  He got started and eventually the boys came roaring up the stairs, but I cut them off in the kitchen.  They could hear Taylor tuning.  And I told them they had to be silent.  Ready for another Bangsund Family Christmas Miracle?  They were.  Silent.  Like the night in the song, people.  I couldn't believe it.  They stood by his side and watched him work.  He didn't shoo them away or even looked askance at them.  In fact, at one point when swapping between registers, he engaged them in conversation and told them that they should encourage me in my lessons because having a mom who studies piano is great.  So, he works for Concord Piano Services (503-648-5247) and everyone should hire him.  Just sayin'.

As he was finishing up, I realized that in the thirty plus years that I have been a piano playing person, not once have I lived in a house with a tuned acoustic piano.   Tears.  Blessedly, I was in the kitchen and the poor man didn't need to witness that Amy Craziness.  But seriously, folks, I am so abundantly grateful, to Bob and Cindy for parting with this beautiful instrument, to Dave and Lynne for gifting me with the birthday money that started me back to piano lessons, and to Jesus Christ for creating me with a heart that loves music so much and gifting that matches that passion, allowing it to feed my soul.

Okay.  Of course I took pictures.  Pretty sure Taylor thought I was crazy.  ;-)

 I didn't time how long they stood there, but it was definitely longer than five minutes.

This is the reason that the treble B and C were sticking together.  This had been dropped into the piano at some point.  Both boys were in the room when Taylor pulled it out.  And Luke immediately said, "I did NOT put that in there.  I promise, Mom."  I had a hard time not laughing.  (I found the sticky keys while the piano was still at Bob and Cindy's...pretty sure it was one of theirs...not mine...whew!)

And now an attempt to share how much I love this instrument.  This is a super short, twenty-three second clip of me playing my current favorite passage.  I promise not to become one of these people who posts tons of videos of myself playing the piano.  But this kinda reflects some of my joy, and I wanted to share it with all of you.

More December Fun

Bangsund Christmas traditions continued last weekend as we procured our Christmas tree and decorated the business out of our home.

We went to the tree farm we go to every year, owned and operated by Don Schneider.  It's the free toy place.  My kids still love it, so we still go.

The weather was not great, so I quickly picked a tree.  My main goal is always a skinny tree because our living room just gets REALLY crowded with anything other than a mildly anemic, Paris runway model version of a Christmas tree.  Know what I mean?

Here's what I found:

It's so slim, it doesn't really show from behind the boys.  Dang!  Luke is going to be taller than our tree in just a few years.  Oy.

So we (meaning Erik) cut it down, the boys picked their toys from Mr. Schneider's free toy shed, and we headed home.

Then came the fun, new Bangsund Family tradition.

Luke Bangsund helped his father put up the outside Christmas lights!

By this I mean that Luke did ALL of the ladder work.  All of it.  Erik stayed on terra firma while the ten year old climbed the ladder and did all the gutter clipping and tensioning.  What just happened?

Like this.  Crazy, huh?

Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, our little tree was decorated by mostly me.  I'm still not super comfortable letting the boys touch my grandmother's antique ornaments.  Maybe next year.  They did get to decorate the tree in the basement...that's cool, too, right?

Here's how our upstairs tree turned out:

I hadn't put the tree skirt on yet, or eliminated the boy legs from the area, but you get the gist.

And now, one of my favorite pictures of the season so far - Paul doing his spelling by the light of the Christmas tree this past week.

He found this location all by himself, and I love it.  Even spelling is better by tree light!

Some December Fun

December is only half over and look at me, blogging!  Be impressed, people.  Okay, not that impressed.  Erik and I are currently snowed in a bit at the cabin in Sunriver.  So, I have a little time on my hands.  :-)

We have enjoyed some great family moments thus far this month, the first of which was a brand new experience for the boys and a very nostalgic one for Erik and me.  We took the boys to the PLU Christmas Concert held here in Portland each year.  Let me explain.  Erik and I sang in this concert every year of our PLU lives.  And in 1997, having just started dating in November, we sat together on the bus ride down and back, dancing with each other in PLU's Red Square after helping unload the buses at midnight.  This concert is meaningful to us for LOTS of reasons.

We had never taken the boys because it requires sitting mostly still for two hours straight while listening to orchestral and choral music.  Right?  Not exactly their scene.  Also, in years past the concert has been on Tuesday evening, a night that I am committed to be at my bible study as the supervisor of the school-aged program.  But this year was different.

The advertisement arrived via snail mail in mid-October.  I glanced at it, interested in what the choir would be performing.  And there it was - Portland's concert was on Wednesday, December 2nd!!  I was so excited.  But I had a decision to make.  With or without the boys?  I decided to test the waters.

While sitting at the kitchen table for lunch that day, I not-so-slyly pulled up a youtube video of a previous PLU Christmas Concert and just started watching.  I NEVER do this, people.  I do not watch youtube during the day, unless it is very specifically connected with something we are studying.  Even then, it's always in our school room and has a big long boring introduction from me about what I want the boys to be watching for and things we will discuss afterward.  Educational.  Yep.  Not so this time.  I just started that video playing right in the middle of the Top Ramen.  From the very first notes, both boys were completely intrigued.

They stopped talking to each other.  That's so stinkin' rare.  Then, without speaking, they moved from their chairs to standing behind mine, silently staring at the screen.  After about a minute and a half, Paul reverently whispered, "What is this?"  And I knew they were ready.  I put a reminder in my calendar to purchase tickets when they went on sale a few weeks later.  And I did.

Next came some wardrobe improvements.  My children are homeschooled, people.  They spend much of the day wearing pants that are best suited for athletic activity and t-shirts with either Star Wars, Ninjago, or Mario characters emblazoned across them.  They wear these same clothes to church because nobody there cares about their clothes.  They each own two pairs of shoes - sneakers and rain boots.  That's it.  But for this PLU grad, the Christmas Concert held in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland was going to require something a bit snazzier.  In fact, before buying tickets I sat down with each boy and let them know that in order to go they would need to wear non-athletic pants and a collared shirt.  Period.  No arguments.  They both readily agreed.  And it was the first of a few Christmas miracles we experienced surrounding this event.

The boys and I shopped together for their concert attire.  I took them to Kohl's after doing some online research ahead of time.  I knew exactly what we were looking for and found it.  Wanna see the results?

Those ties have a character from Star Wars on them.  See what I did there?  It's called compromise.  You agree to dress up and I find you something that you absolutely LOVE to make it less painful.  The shoes were also a brilliant move on my part.  They are Vans, reasonably comfortable and absolutely awesome looking.  Not a single tear was shed during the donning of these outfits.  Christmas Miracle #2.  This picture alone might qualify me for Mom of the Year, folks.

We enjoyed dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory on the waterfront beforehand.  The boys did AWESOME.  A huge thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for introducing the boys to this restaurant a few weeks before the concert.  It was the perfect pre-concert family dinner place - fancy enough that I could be wearing my cutie dress and not feel WAY too overdressed - casual enough to be affordable and kid-friendly.  Seriously.  Perfect.

Sidenote:  This experience made me realize how much the boys are maturing.  They ordered their own food, stayed in their seats the entire meal, ate without complaint, and were uber polite to our server (I think she wanted to take them both home by the end of the meal).  I don't want to speak too soon, but these boys might actually turn out okay.

Okay!  On to the concert!  We parked the car and walked a few blocks downtown to get to the hall, taking us by the beautifully awesome downtown Christmas tree in Pioneer Courthouse Square.  I didn't get a picture because we were moving, but we all ooohed and aaahed appropriately.

We arrived at The Schnitz and both boys were super impressed by the marquee area.  All those lights!  I took this picture of them standing with Erik beneath it, but you can't tell it's them.  Oh, well.  The lights show very well!

We went in and the boys were again enthralled with the fanciness of the entire place.  I am basically just like them.  I think because I don't get out often enough, places like this still awe me.  It's not a bad thing actually.  But seeing it through their eyes made it even more enchanting.

We easily found our seats and it wasn't long before the concert started.  From the appearance of the Concert Master to the final standing ovation both boys were pretty much attentive.  Paul got tired during the second half (around 9pm), but he just leaned on Erik.  It helped so much that there are many opportunities for standing and singing.  Part of this concert tradition is the audience sing alongs.  About every half hour, the entire audience stands and sings a classic carol, loudly and fully orchestrated.  It rocks.  The boys loved it.  And it helped them stretch their legs and get the wiggles out.  So good.

At intermission, we climbed the stairs to the balcony to get the real view.  I took a picture.  The ties were clip on and too uncomfortable to last the entire night.  If I am able to, I will replace them with real ties for the upcoming Christmas celebrations.

It's a little dark and blurry, but can you see Paul's face?  It really says exactly how he felt about the entire night.  "Can you believe something this amazing exists and happens every year?"  Yes, buddy.  Maybe someday you will be on the stage instead of in the audience.  By the way, we need to get balcony seats next year.  It might be that you need to know the fancy people to sit up here.  But it just so happens that we know the people who know the fancy people.  So, it could happen.  ;-)

The concert ended around 9:30 pm, a good solid hour and half after we usually put the boys to bed.  We REALLY wanted to stay for just a moment to greet our former director and all-around awesome guy, Dr. Richard Nance.  Unsure of how long the boys would last, we were heading up the aisle toward the lobby when Dr. Nance appeared from back stage.  Ready for the third Christmas miracle?  Both boys were polite and kind to him.  At 9:30 pm.  Really.  I'm not lying.  I promise.  They greeted him and shook hands and smiled.  They allowed us to talk for a few minutes and then we gave our hugs and headed for the door.  Dr. Nance did ask if they sing LOW like their Daddy.  Erik and I replied in unison, "Not yet!" C'mon genetics!  Give us some more bass power!  Okay, we will be content with baritones or tenors...sort of.  ;-)

The drive home was mostly fine.  They were tired and at one point thought it was a good idea to start a conversation about Minecraft.  They were soon at odds regarding a debatable point of which no adult knows or cares to know the finer points.  Erik politely told them this was not a good time to discuss such matters and we turned on some Christmas music instead.  Other than that, there were no disputes.  We arrived home and all went to bed while visions of coloraturas danced in our heads.

November Happened

I will say this about November - it was WAY busier than I really wanted it to be.  There were just more bits to coordinate for some of the ministries in which I am involved.  But it's pretty much over.  And although December's calendar is equally filled, all of it is more relational and less administrative.  WHEW!  :-)

Similar to the last post, I'm going to use pictures to catch up on our lives.  Here we go!

November 1st was the 6th birthday of a dear friend.  The celebration was at the Molalla Train Park.  I was SO happy to see that the boys still love this place.  A few pics to prove it.

 Dorks on a train.  Love it.

 The whole gang of birthday party attendees.  Luke is standing next to the birthday boy.  Paul is leaning on the birthday boy's big brother.  We love these folks.

 Someone said, "Let's do a silly picture."  I snapped this before some of the folks got close to getting silly.  My guys?  Instant silly.  I'm so proud.

And now for something completely different...Paul does math!

 We use Math U See.  Mr. Steve Demme, a veteran math teacher with a fabulous sense of humor, explains concepts clearly and concisely on the video.  I always sit and watch with the boys, pausing it to ask questions and check comprehension.  It's the only video we use for school, and I love it.  End commercial.

Then Luke decided that he didn't want these dollar store whistles, but he did want the string.  Telling him he could use a hammer to bust them up was a magical moment for me as a mom.  We are definitely entering new territory with this guy.  He's so capable and cautious.  I would probably let him make a fire in the fireplace...if we ever did that sort of thing.  For now, he'll have to be content with real tools whenever he has a project.

 I told him he needed eye protection.  He found these swim goggles in the basement.  Genius.

We got to go visit my dad in November.  This is a VERY long story.  I'll make it short.  He and I got re-connected after not seeing each other for eight years when my step-mom, Marilyn, had a heart attack in early September.  I went up there for two days in a row to sit with him in the ICU.  Stuff like that helps everyone remember what's important.  And I'm so thankful to Jesus Christ for using hard stuff to do beautiful things.  Marilyn is recovering nicely.  And this happened:

 Pretty sure this is my dad's first selfie ever.  And right before I took it, he said hello to the camera because it looked like video to him.  Adorable.

 Papa Leon took us fishing in the rain.  It was like re-living every weekend I spent with him as a kid.  Except this time, one of Erik's arms was around me keeping me warm while his other arm held an oversized umbrella to cover us both.  I don't have a picture of that, but it was a very good thing.

Sidenote:  My boys LOVED fishing in the rain with my dad.  They didn't complain once.  They ran around and threw stuff in the water.  They played with his dog.  It was a highlight for them.  I think having grandsons is going to fit my dad REALLY well.  :-)

More random pics

 Luke drinks coffee!  Black.  The caffeine seems to help him focus.

Backpack Buddies Shopping with the boys

 We did our final pack of the year and it required a LOT of business.  The boys were great at Winco, helping me get all this stuff paid for and loaded into the car.

Paul likes to play this card game - Monopoly Deal. He beats me most of the time.

 And he's adorable.

Final story of this post.  When I was 15 years old, my piano teacher moved to Michigan.  I never found a new teacher and shortly after that, I was sucked up by my first worship band at church.  I have played piano consistently for the past 25 years, but I haven't studied piano since 1990.  Until now.  I started taking piano lessons in September using my birthday money from my generous and loving in-laws.  And I love it.  I love getting new music.  I love being reminded of theory and being forced to practice scales, arpeggios, and inversions (most of the time - D# excluded).

But, we have been the proud and grateful owners of an electric piano since Luke was about three months old.  It was a gift from my dad and Marilyn.  And it's awesome.  But it isn't the instrument we are actually taking lessons to learn.  A piano has hammers and strings.  You play it differently than you do an electric instrument.  After about two weeks of lessons, I knew we needed a real piano.

Enter Uncle Bob and Aunt Cindy.  We spend Christmas evening at their house and a beautiful upright piano has sat in their living room.  Knowing that no one in their house is playing this instrument, I sent an email wondering if they would ever consider parting with it.  Forward of me?  Maybe.  But I believe that generosity brings blessing to both the receiver AND the giver.  So I asked.  And they said YES!  WOHOO!

So, this past Saturday, this bit of loveliness arrived in our home!

We are still working on the family history of it, but we know that it was manufactured in 1957.  Erik knows that it was the instrument that was in his home until they moved his third grade year and replaced it with a grand piano.  It needs to be tuned and there are some keys that stick together.  But already I enjoy playing it more than its electric cousin.  And the boys do, too.

We were supposed to go tree hunting this weekend, but I'm not the only one who is sick.  Erik has really struggled with a head cold since the day before Thanksgiving.  So, none of the grown-ups really felt like going to the tree farm.  The boys were a little bummed, but we will make it happen as soon as we are well and have the time.  But we needed to decorate something!

So we decorated the piano a bit.

 Paul loves these houses and they look excellent in this location.  :-)

And what did we do with the electric piano?  We moved it to the playroom of course!  (We had friends who came for a Backpack Buddies pack night on Tuesday - they helped Erik move it.)

Why have two?  Well, three of us need to practice every day.  So, having two means it doesn't need to take as long!  And it's just super fun.  Right?

October in Pictures

Yep.  All of October and November came and went without a single blog post.  Sorry, folks.  It happens.  But today I am sick.  Like "sent home early from my leadership meeting this morning" sick.  I've been ordered to rest.  I have slept some.  I will sleep some more later.  Right now I will sit lay on my couch and blog.  Here's October, folks.

There is no story behind this picture, but I love how cozy Paul looks.  The weather was downright balmy in our area for most of October, but mornings began to cool off, allowing Paul to snuggle with this blanket.

This is simply a very accurate representation of what these boys spend a lot of their time doing.  We are still able to finish school before noon on most days.  After that...they do this.  And play in the basement.  :-)

The next picture needs a little bit of introduction.  Our church, Roots Community, continues to serve a local elementary school by doing Backpack Buddies.  We deliver bags of food before each weekend for six students, enabling them to eat on Saturdays and Sundays.  In order to have bags of food, we buy LOTS of food each month.  The money came from Roots' Advent Conspiracy giving last year.  It's pretty awesome.   I had some help at Winco for the Backpack Buddies shopping trip in October.

Adorable behind the trunk full of food.

So, then I took all that food home.  And some other AMAZING helpers did this...

The beginning

Finished!

Luke and Paul carried every single food item down the stairs in rather heavy bags that I loaded from the trunk in the garage.  And they did it with happy, joyful hearts.  Know why?  We have been abundantly clear with them about Backpack Buddies.  When we feed hungry people, we are feeding Jesus Christ.  This is ALL for Him.  And that gives us all joy.

Then came the super fun part - PACK NIGHT!  

This picture doesn't do it justice because there were a total of about sixteen people here that night.  Our Gospel Community (think awesomest version of a small group ever) came over and we packed the bags and prayed over the kids who would receive them.  It was so good.  I was so encouraged.  There were times during the last year when we had one other family at pack night.  It works, but it is so much cooler with a houseful of folks.  I love the Body of Christ.  And I'll take any opportunity for time together to serve, connect, laugh and point each other to Jesus.  It's just good.

Okay.  What else happened in October?  Apple cider pressing party!

 My friend Holly and I cut up a LOT of apples together.  It was sweet.

Then the kids took turns cranking this business to mush them up.  (Okay, the dads did most of the cranking.)

 Proof that it was hard to turn the crank...the littler people in the picture above didn't actually turn it.  But Luke was DETERMINED.

Pour the mush into this thingie.  Turn it.  And voila!  Cider!

Okay.  I posed this shot.  ;-)

The day after the apple cider, we helped Dave and Lynne host two German students.  We took them to a pumpkin patch near our house.  There was a hayride, but I failed to get any decent pictures.  Here's a shot of the girls with two goats and my children.  It'll do.

The boys have been really into making crazy faces for pictures lately.  So, I felt like this was a triumph.

The following Monday, I received a phone call from a Roots buddy in desperate need of childcare so she could go see the chiropractor.  My answer:  YES!  And look at this cuteness:

 Yes, he totally needed to go to the bathroom when I took this picture.  We took care of that.

And here's little brother:

You would have said yes, too.

Most weekends Erik does Science Saturday (or Sunday) with the boys.  Here's the skinny, people.  I've said it before.  I am awesome at analyzing literature, diagramming sentences, finding historical patterns and themes, and lots of other school bits.  The science experiments kill me.  When it doesn't go like the book says it should, I can't figure out why!  I can't tweak one little thing and make it work.  That's why God gave me Erik!!

They are studying all about electricity this year.  And it is so much fun to see these three "discover" together.  Our curriculum is amazing.  If you ever want to run super cool experiments with simple household objects, look into T.O.P.S.  It's fabulous.

They've built a circuit with a switch using a battery, aluminum foil and clothes pin.  So cool!

And then we did more pumpkin-related things...

 Paul used a fun craft kit from Grandma to create this spider pumpkin.

 Paul also cleaned the goop out of his pumpkin with just a little help from Erik.

 I wish we could convince him to do theatre stuff.  Seriously.  Facial expressions this large belong on stage.

Meanwhile...

 Luke organized the tools, removing the ones that were clearly no longer efficient.  Yep.  These dudes are two very different people.

 Luke didn't want to carve his pumpkin.  He wanted Erik to do it with precision.  So Erik did!

 It's a Minecraft character called a creeper.  Don't google it.

Paul's pumpkin didn't actually get carved that day.  He dithered for a few days about what he was going to do.  And then I failed to get a picture of the final product.  He basically free-handed the same face, giving it an upturned, smiling mouth instead of the frown.  

And now for the costumes!  (Sorry that it's nearly December and you are looking at costumes.)

 Paul was a Jawa from Star Wars. You can google it if you don't know.  Think short, funny sounding aliens who sell robots.

 LOVE the smile!


Luke was Link from the Legend of Zelda video game.  It's a multi-generational favorite around here, folks.  And our ten year old makes a perfect Link.

 The Brothers Bangsund

Okay, I'm going to publish this bad boy and start work on a November post.  :-)