Why I Teach...

Last night my school had their annual "Holiday Night" which included a performance that I coordinated with the 2nd and 3rd grade classes and the chorus. In addition to teaching music at Bell, I also teach an afterschool chorus comprised of approximately 50 4th and 5th Graders. I recieved a letter yesterday from one of my students whom I have had since she was in 3rd grade. She is now in the 5th grade and has been one of those kids I really had a heart for from the beginning. Here's what she wrote:

"Dear Miss Jenkins, Thank you for the great job in the show. You did a great job of telling and teaching us to do. I enjoy being in chorus because of your work. I just wish I could be a kid forever so I could stay here in chorus. You can make everything fun and that's just what you do. I hope you can do more with the little kids becuase they did great. I hope we did great too. I'm looking forward to music class. Thank you for coming here. It is an honor to have you. You are the best music teacher I've ever had. Your student, Pamela"

A Belated Fall Overview......

Okay, so we've been out of the BLOGGOSPHERE for a while, life has been busy! We thought we'd leave and overview of our past two months and what we're looking forward to this holiday season. I unfortunatlely have only purchased ONE Christmas gift thus far, way behind most of the family and Jenny Ford! Now that things have slowed down (October was crazy) Blair and I are looking forward to some downtime before the holiday rush begins. So here it is in a flash, the Jenkins fall overview.......

1. Jonathan and Ali North, who are planting a church here in Asheville (Fellowship Asheville) stayed with us for a night. We had great conversation and are REALLY looking forward to being a part of this church. By the way friends in Denton, it's official: Fred Baker and his wife Stacy will be moving here with Jonathan and Ali to launch this new church. More incentive to get you out of Texas and into God's country, NC!

2. Labor Day weekend: We celebrated Lee Anne's 27th birthday up here in Asheville. The whole clan came including Brad's parents, Nancy and Jeff. We had a great time visiting some well known Asheville sights including the Biltmore house. Here is a picture of Lee Anne loving on one of the goats at the farm house.

3. Jenny comes to visit! Jenny + Cara = double trouble! That's right, my sweet heart friend from Austin TX came out to visit. We tore up the town; ate good food, shopped, drank lots of coffee, ate more good food. I miss you friend!

4. Weekend getaway in Blowing Rock: Blair suprised me with a getaway weekend to Blowing Rock NC. Here is a view of the condo he rented for us, AMAZING. I woke up early and DEnton and I watched the sunrise over the mountains. We had a much needed relaxing weekend that included good food, 310 to Yuma (Blair's new favorite movie), cinnamon rolls, OJ, and lots of good talk time. He even came prepared with the most recent issure of People magazine (now that's love).
5. Blair's 10-year reunion: Can't believe it's been 10 years since Blair graduated HS. We had a great time seeing Blair's old friends...6. Cara turns 29: Can't believe it, only one more year from 30! We enjoyed the B-day weekend camping with Denton. Blair bought me a great clock for our hallway (he has great taste).
That's all for now. I'll try to be better about updating our lives. Things to look forward to:
1. Thanksgiving: Chris and Caroline McGlade will be joining us this year in Greensboro, we can't wait.
2. Holiday Night 2007: Oh Yes, Cara's big program this year is entitled "Dancing through the Holidays."
3. Wearing sweaters and postponing leg shaving!
4. Blair's trip to Florida in mid-November with students...

RA People Hunt...

WHO ARE THESE TWO FINE ASHEVILLIANS? CHECK OUT THE NOSE RING! Blair's staff at UNCA had a people hunt for the 60 RA's they have working for UNCA this coming year. It was hilarious, no one recognized Blair since he had the fine wife and dog on his side...

Blair or Axle Rose?

Check out this funny picture of Blair at his end of the year party with the RA's...I meant to post this earlier, but forgot. He sang "sweet child of mine" to everyone's surprise! It was hilarious!

Check out the veggies!!!

BEFORE....AFTER...

DOES ANYONE HAVE A GOOD SQUASH RECIPIE?

The Porter Wedding...

Here are some highlights of our week in Charleston at Brad and Lee Anne's Wedding...

Thursday: Mother Daugher Day

Friday: The Rehearsal

Rehearsal Dinner
Saturday: The wedding!

Throwing the bouquet!The garter toss...

The Porter's first dance - they did a shag dance!

Blair and Cara with our favorite girls!

Check out our new house project...

Summer time for the Jenkins...

Here's some of the things we're looking forward in the next few months...

1. Cara is finishing school on June 8th!
2. Brad and Lee Anne tie the knot on June 16th.
3. The Besio's coming to visit us in Asheville in June.
4. Trip to Myrtle beach for the fourth of July.
5. 2nd year anniversary on June 25th, no babies yet so don't ask.
6. Cara will be playing in a musical this summer; Little Women
7. Camping with Denton, she loves the outdoors.
8. Bele Chere (huge outdoor music festival in Asheville in late July)
9. More gardening...oh yes, our flowers are blooming and the vegetables are sprouting!
10. Slowing down...

Bell Elementary makes the news...

OK, so I know we haven't written in our blog for a WHILE. We've been busy, and the wave of business is about to end in two weeks. I thought I would leave you a link to watch my Kindergarten and 1st grade students who made the news with the program we just performed last night. Hope you enjoy, especially those of you who have kids this age, I wish they were at my school! Click here to watch!

Hiking and Biking in Virgina...

I hope this is motivation for our Texas and California
friends to come out to NC and visit us SOON!

March Madness with the Jenkins...

Alright, so we haven't posted anything for almost a month, sorry! Thinking back over the past month, it was pretty good. V-day was fun. It was a symphony week for me that week, so Blair and I only had from 5-6:30. I surprised him with a picnic in our living room with all his favorite breakfast items, some John Mayer, and a back massage. I even bought rose petals! I have to say, he topped me with a home made card with Harry Connick Jr's picture on it (I was in his fan club when I was 12 years old), surprising me with tickets to his concert next week! That was so thoughtful, considering Blair would never listed to HCJ.
I'm in the middle of preparing 4th and 5th grade students for a program entitled "The Best of Broadway." THe kids are singing and dancing 10 different Broadway hits. We're also serving ice cream cakes from COld Stone Creamery; trying to create a 'dinner theater.'
We'll try to post some pictures soon. We're going on a ski trip in two weeks with some friends, some much needed rest. We'll write more later (hopefully not in a month)...

The Jenkins going for 0 hospital visits in 07...

That's right. For those of you who know our medical history over our marriage, you would know that we have dealt with pneumonia, bladder infections, stitches, cysts, kidney stones, and all kinds of colds and flu. We feel like every three months, we have a major crisis to deal with. Blair just had a cat-scan last week only to find that the cyst on his kidney that was found on an ultrasound, didn't even exist! Yea! Anyways, pray for us that we can stay out of any major medical facility for the next six months. We could have landscaped our whole back yard and furnished our whole house with the money we've poured into the health care system!

Christmas in Greensboro...

Our Christmas break was so restful and very needed! We had a great time spending a week in Greensboro with Blair's family. Diane's a great cook, I think we both gained 5 lbs from the visit! This was the first year I haven't been in California. We're planning to rotate, starting next year. The Besio's are making a trip out here in June for Lee Anne's wedding, which we're very exctied about! Here were some of the highlights from the trip...

Here's Lee Anne playing with Denton at Haagen-Stone park.
This is the park that Blair and I were engaged at two years ago!

Our favorite gift: Diane framed school age pictures of each of our parents!

Happy 28th Birthday Blair! We celebrated with lots of cake
and presents...

OK, so no family holiday would be complete without a contest. Lee Anne SWORE she could tell the difference between Dasani water and any other brand. It turned out that Brad and I had better taste buds; we guessed all three correct and Lee Anne, couldn't even tell which was Dasani!

We took at day to visit Chappel Hill, where Lee Anne went to school...

Here we are in the "Dean Dome"

Merry Christmas from the Jenkins!

Make video montages at onetruemedia.com

Bladder Infection anyone?

At 3:15 this afternoon in the grocery store, I felt some severe pain coming on and by the time I got home, I felt like a truck hit me. Here I am five hours later on two meds for a bladder infection. Good news is that it's supposed to kick in after an hour or so (still waiting). At least I get to take the day off tomorrow...

The Nutcracker: The video is here

Hey friends and family!

Thought you'd like to see an authentic version of "The Nutcracker." Here are two scenes from it: the children's dance and the fight scene.

Make video montages at onetruemedia.com

Not just a "Holiday Concert"...

As a musician, I am routinely hired to play a few "holiday gigs." Most of these concerts range from church musicals to background music.
This past weekend, the Asheville Symphony gave it's annual "Holiday Pops" concert. I wasn't expecting much, just the usual Sleigh Ride, maybe some Home Alone selections and a few traditional carols. I was right. Thos things were all programed. However, our conductor also programed several traditional Christmas carols. These turned out to be the focus of the whole program.
The first half set the mood for the rest of the concert. We began with what I mentioned earlier; Home Alone, Sleigh ride, and then transitioned into some pieces performed by the ASO Children's chorus. After all the traditional stuff you usually hear at Christmas pops, the first half concluded with selections from Handel's Messiah. This piece is always moving, especially the Halleluiah chorus. There is a tradition, branching back to the 16th century, to stand when the Halleluiah chorus is performed. When the King of England heard it for the first time, he was so moved by the lyrics, that he couldn't help but stand. Check out the lyrics...
I was moved to tears as I played and watched as the whole auditorium stood to the lyrics "For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth Halleluiah! Halleluiah! Halleluiah! Halleluiah!" and "And He shall reign forever and ever. King of Kings, forever and ever. And Lord of Lords, Halleluiah, Halleluiah." I was reminded of Romans 14:

"As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall give praise to God"

I can't imagine what it will look like when the whole world will bow before the Lord, can you?

Nutcracker Mania comes to an end....

That's right, Bell Elementary's production of "The Nutcracker" has sadly come to an end. It was a huge hit last THursday with more than 400 people in attendance. (Our school has only 320 kids). Every kid got to wear a costume, act, and perform a dance. It was the highlight of my year thus far and I can't wait to do it again in two years with new 2nd and 3rd graders. I couldn't get any more pictures to download, so here's one of the kids doing the "waltz."

And the Winner is........(drum roll)

18 votes candy corn castle, 7 votes casper's mansion, and 1 vote house of glob....That's right friends, you voted for Brad and Lee Anne's mansion "Candy Corn Castle." Did no one see the crafty work of Blair Jenkins and the hanging ghost made out of frosting? Oh well, congratulations to Brad and Lee Anne. This just means that we will take 1st place this year in the log cabin house contest (to be posted soon).

GGCC Tournament (a few weeks ago)

This is from a few weeks ago at the GGCC tournament. Wayne won a Calaway Driver and Blair won a T-shirt....yay!!!