Lowcountry Wind Symphony photo from our first public performance this evening

https://www.facebook.com/judy.helgesenvanwie/videos/10204513501700120/?comment_id=10204513954991452&offset=0&total_comments=1&notif_t=video_comment_tagged
above video of the combined bands: theme from "Captain American"

Begging For Treats....Video of our Favorite Goat:)

scene from Central FLA Zoo

Buddy the Girl Turtle excited about her shrimp snack!

The Diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) or simply terrapin, is a species of turtle native to the brackish coastal swamps of the eastern and southern United States, from as far north as Cape Cod, Massachusetts and as far south as Cape Sable, Florida.

Theme From Schindler's List--solo clarinet

I did not do this out of vanity---but I have family and friends who live too far away to attend my last concert with the Brookfield Civic Band. I was very grateful to have had the opportunity to perform the solo clarinet part for "Theme from Schindler's List" (and just today I finally figured out how to get my videos off my digital camcorder (and we've had it since 2007), burn to dvds, edit, cut, add captions and titles AND publish to You Tube--I figured this out all by myself; my mommy should be proud:D:D So, here is your featured presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuBQUoJrgU0

Vocal Tracks--Take Two! (Fairy Sings a pretty little song)

Vocal Tracks take one

First Time......

Without training wheels!!!!!! Age 4.5!!!!

We were in TWO St. Pat's Parades

The girls and I had a blast yesterday. They rode on the bandwagon with me for two St. Patrick's Day parades. We met the bus (their first bus ride:) which took the band to our downtown Milwaukee parade route, and participated in that parade. It was pretty funny watching a whole bunch of whisky-infested parade-goers stumbling around---the heart of Milwaukee culture:) I heard an interesting story yesterday that in the late 1800's, the Irish population of Milwaukee used to be a lot higher than the German population; until a boat coming over from Europe sunk and the populations shifted (or it could be the other way around, not sure). I don't really know the facts or all the details, but I thought that was interesting.

After the downtown parade, we hopped back onto the bus (ok, I admit, there were a few of us who couldn't find the bus, and I had to make some calls for the bus driver to come get us, tee hee:) and went to Wauwatosa for our second parade. We had some time between parades so we went into a McDonald's and hung out for awhile. Ok, I'm not proud--I can't believe I did this, but I will share: I was holding a tray full of food with one hand, turned to try to get my girls seated and situated, the tray tipped and everything spilled onto the lap of one of our percussionists (ooops, sorry Mike:) Thankfully, I had not filled my soda or obtained any ketchup at that point:) We still had some time after, so we enjoyed walking through the parade line up and looking at some of the floats, listening to the bag-pipers, and hanging out and taking pictures with THE SAUSAGES---true Milwaukee Icons (mascots of The Milwaukee Brewers, for those not familar with the area). We had a great time on the second parade as well--my girls loved it, and waved to the parade-goers as our band played.

Two parades were of course an all day event for us--but we decided the day was not over---so we rushed back to the car and headed up 20 miles north-west of Madison to attend the very fun-filled benefit for the "son" of a high school friend. A few of my grade-school/ high school friends also made the trip and we had a great time. The girls made new friends quickly, and the kids also had a blast!

We had a fun-filled festive day yesterday (while J stayed behind to tear out the creme-colored carpeting in the front living room; he's getting ready to put the wood laminate in, as we speak---the plastic sheets are hung, so I don't have a house-full of dust, like I did the last time he did this:) *** NOTE: My girlfriend said she saw our float on Milwaukee's TMJ4 News!:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1GzXcg-P7g

Tropical Waterfalls

This Video is dedicated to my adorable great nephew!

And for the record, I'm really not old enough to be a GREAT Aunt:)

Sisters and BFFs

Beach Time in January! (Anastasia State Park Beach-St. Augustine, FL)

Sand Piper at St. Augustine Beach

New Year's Eve --Video Part Deux

The kids started doing the limbo while they awaited the "surgery" of the poor snowman pinata--soon after the first hit or two, his poor head was detached from his body, though the candy remained:)

New Year's Eve---video: part 1

Piper The Puppy's First Christmas

Merry Christmas from Piper the Puppy!

A Grizwald Christmas

Merry Christmas from Our Family to Yours!

And Now, A Word from Piper!

And Now, A Christmas Song (and video test)

Ok, my first video test/ attempt--we've had a very nice digital (technically analog) video camera for two years now, and have yet to figure out how to apply titles to it on our computer and to be able to create dvd's on the external drive we bought. I'm leaving it up to my hubby the engineer who is NOT technically challenged at all, and he's spent hours on it already, trying to figure it out. We'll make it work. In the mean time, I actually DO know how to use my still camera, and the video function on it, but never found a good use for the video function, until now:) (thanks for the inspiration Julie, though this is not quite as cute as your smiling and cooing two month old:)

Please note some humorous moments--if you listen carefully, you can hear my Farmville cows a-mooing--and as soon as I stopped the camera, Angel said, "mama, that's enough, our voice boxes hurt." And Fairy Girl said, "yes, and we need juicies!."