They Might Be Giants. . . My Kind Of Show. . .

We've been able to work with some pretty well-known groups during the last several years but, in most cases, they aren't exactly well-known to me. Many of them have won Grammy's and other awards and most of them have appeared on one or more late night talk shows but if they don't have air play on the 3 or 4 stations I listen to, I probably haven't heard of them. My musical taste has been broadened through these experiences because I do my homework and find out as much as I can about them before the show. Besides looking at Youtube videos, I usually check out one or more of the incoming artists' CD's from the Library and can almost always find interesting information about them at Wikipedia.org. Some of my favorites have been The Gourds, DeAnna Bogart, Antsy McClaine, Natalie MacMaster, Cadillac Sky, JJ Grey and Mofro, Ron Sexsmith and Nick Lowe. And now, after Sunday's concert at The Egyptian, I have a new group to add to my growing list of favorites:




I had fun doing research on this group and even listened to several of their songs often enough that they were stuck in my head!! They Might Be Giants have been around since the early 80's as a rock group but have enjoyed a lot of success writing and performing children's songs. The concert on Sunday was a children's show and the only things required from us was our time and a little bit of gear. They pulled up at 8 a.m. with a semi loaded with everything else they would need for the hour and a half concert in the afternoon:





I really wanted to post a bunch of pictures of their very elaborate set up but the inside of the theater is just too dark for either my phone or my camera to really do it justice. These are just a few of the case that rolled off the semi and onto the stage inside the theater:



There really wasn't much for me to do at the theater so I ended up spending the day at the shop continuing my quest to catch up all of my summer paperwork complete with color coded spread sheets (I LOVE color coded spread sheets!!). After picking up Gloria and Megan, we headed back to the theater and anxiously awaited the start of the show:










The Discovery Center was one of the concert's sponsors so they had a juggler perform to keep the hundreds of kids and their parents occupied from the time the doors opened at 3 until the concert started at 4. Of course, Gloria volunteered to be a part of his act right from the beginning!

The concert started with my favorite song:

The whole concert was full of energy and entertainment. . .

. . . AND confetti cannons!!!!

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves except for one little boy a few rows in front of me that kept his hands over his ears the entire time!!!

They have a bunch of videos on Youtube but these are some of my favorites:




It was definitely my kind of show. . .

Sheep / Dog

There's a funny sheep on the farm that thinks he's a dog. . .


He has no fear and apparently wants nothing to do with the other sheep. . .


He even wears a cute blue collar. . .

He followed us right out into the arena and begged to have his ears scratched. . .

Other than having a sheep/dog join our lesson, it was just another ordinary lesson on the farm. . .

Finally. . .

Good things have been happening around my house lately as we play catch up from years of building a business and neglecting our home but the most exciting thing that's happened to me in quite awhile happened on Monday:

We have had two crippled vehicles in our driveway for many, many years. They have gathered dust and cat hair (gross, I know) and, just like I handle the embarrassment of my back yard, I have worn blinders and pretended they didn't exist. I can only do so much between work and school and laundry and getting rid of vans just wasn't something in the realm of what I can handle on my own. . .

Out of the blue on Sunday evening, Rob listed them both on Craig's List for $100 each and by 8 a.m. on Monday morning we had received over 20 calls. The first caller reached us within minutes of Rob placing the ad and he was the lucky winner of BOTH of the vans. I was so happy when they rolled out of my driveway that I almost cried. I still grin every time I pull my truck into the driveway and purposely take up as much of the empty space as I can!! If only I had known how easy it would be. . . I wonder if we can put the backyard on Craig's List. . .

Halloween. . .

For the last several years, Rob and Zach have bonded over a scary Halloween maze that they build in our front yard. I go along with it in spite of the fact that it is big and time consuming and messy and well, you know, in our front yard. I'll admit that I get a kick out of it when neighbor kids are having a great time getting scared and saying how cool the whole thing is so I won't pretend that it's all Rob's and Zach's idea. For reasons I can't quite put my finger on, the maze didn't happen this year. There were weather issues and time constraints but the excitement building up to the event just didn't seem to be there this year. When Rob suggested we have a little party at the church instead, Zach just got on board with it. No disappointment, no resentment, no tantrum throwing. We were all just OK with not having the maze this year. I think Zach knew all along that he just wanted to throw himself into character as Michael Jackson instead. . .

Gloria was very happy to trick-or-treat in the Adams' neighborhood for the first time in about 5 years. She went as some sort of Goth Diva. . .

Rob set up Guitar Hero in the gym complete with speakers, subs and moving lights:

It was pretty cool. . .

It was laid back and unplanned which is my favorite kind of party. . . The kind where I'm not actually in charge of entertaining anyone. . .

At the end of the evening, all we had to do was clean up the snacks and put away the speakers and stuff. There was no maze to take down, no yard to clean up, no neighbors looking at us like we've lost our minds. . .

It was admittedly a bit of a let down to skip the maze but at least we can look forward to making it bigger and better next year. For now I can look back and remember how much fun it was as well as how much work it was!! This is last year and the year before. . .

The Games. . .

On Saturday morning, October 31st, all four of the people in the Baker household were up before the sun. This is a VERY rare occurrence. It's far more likely for us to still be up when the sun rises than for us to wake up, on purpose, in time to see the sky look like this:




It was about 32 degrees outside and we were on our way to Gloria's horse event. I kept taking pictures of the sunrise while I was driving because it's something I rarely see!!



It was beautiful. . .

We arrived on the farm before 8 a.m. so we could set up the small sound system that I had volunteered to bring. Of course I volunteered Rob and Zach to set it all up so you can imagine Rob's "delight" at getting to set up a sound system before 8 a.m., in the sand, outdoors, in freezing temperatures. I think he owes me one (or two) so I didn't feel too sorry for him. . .

Gloria and I went into the barn to get Penny ready to ride and found that Penny's young owner had already begun the process. Gloria chipped in to help her and had a chance to learn some tips and tricks from her as well. . .

This was our very first experience to join in the competitive games that the farm puts on several times/year. We kind of knew what to expect since Gloria has learned most of the games during class time but she was still a little nervous on Penny and wasn't entirely sure she would remember all the rules. Much to my relief, Penny's owner, Katherine, stayed by her side and kept an eye on them both as they competed! All of the riders younger than about 12 had "spotters" with them so that helped me relax and enjoy the games!

After the first couple of games, Gloria relaxed, too, and really had a great experience. . .

Her partner was a beginner, too, but was older and was on a much bigger horse. . .

The two of them did very well together. . .

The speakers looked and sounded great, too!! They usually announce winners and things with a megaphone at the games so they were pretty happy to have a sound system. . .

All of the races had a Halloween theme and one of them was called "bobbing for apples". The gist of it was to run to the far end, feed your horse an apple and run back. It was pretty funny. . .

This was a relay race with a baton hand-off:

This very short clip is the only proof I have that I was a working participant!!:

Gloria took part in the very first group of games and at the end of her rounds, the winners were announced and ribbons were handed out. . .

Gloria's team ended up taking second place!!!!

There were 5 more groups to compete so Rob and Zach were excused and Gloria and I stayed around to help. . .

I was pleasantly surprised to see little Cookie compete in almost every game. She had many different riders and really held her own all day. . .

Many of the riders were dressed in costumes and several people even decorated the horses . . .

I spent the day helping set up each game for the different divisions of riders. . .

There were cones and buckets and all kinds of different items that had to be switched out every 5 to 10 minutes. . .

The last group of the day to race was the adult division. There were many levels of riders in this group and it really spurred me on in thinking that someday I might be a part of this group. Despite walking through sand all day in cowboy boots in nearly freezing temperatures, I really enjoyed taking part in the games. I'm still surprised at my new found enjoyment of horses and the satisfaction I get from working with and around them. I'm still very unclear on how all of this will unfold but, just like every other aspect of my life, I'll take it one step at a time, breathe in and breathe out and see what happens. . .

Zach. . .

I took a series of pictures the evening before Halloween that have been forever banned from my blog. By Zach. I would love to post them all here but he might not ever forgive me if I do. I managed to convince him to let me show a few of them but the rest will have to be left to the imagination. It all started when Zach jokingly tried on a couple of items from Gloria's Halloween costume:



Gloria decided he looked like Michael Jackson with the red leather jacket on so she proceeded to help him get even more into character. The wig had to go and was replaced by the hat. . .


She also decided to apply a little bit of makeup. . .


The next half hour was hilarious and Zach was a very good sport but you'll just have to take my word for it (I'm also open to bribes) . . .

I won't tell you that Zach even pulled out some MJ dance moves . . .

. . . because that might get me into trouble. . .