Odds and Ends

Hi All. Hmmmm, 15 months since the last post. Lots has happened. I decided that this was the best way for the grandparents and other extended family to enjoy the kids' piano competition. If I have time, I will post some other pics later.

So, here goes an attempt to post 2 videos . . . . (FYI - it's been an hour and the first one still isn't done. I'm thinking this might take a bit of work.)

Several days later and I'm trying a different route - the first never worked. Here is Molly's performance. And here is Peter's performance.

Each year our piano teacher signs her lesson kids up for the ACSI piano festival. The kids have to prepare and memorize a song, and then depending on their level, they need to do various scales, cadences, minor scales, know the key and time signature of the song and what those mean, etc. Peter (level 3)did Pachelbel's Canon in D and Molly (level 1) did On Wings of Song. They each did great and earned blue ribbons. Peter was a bit upset because he forgot to use the pedal until the very end . . . ah well. Other than that, he did great. Molly was very shy and a little "goofy". I guess you can pull that off when you're only 8! She also tends to rush through the song, so I reminded her to slow it down. She definitely slowed it down . . .

The other big news here is that Sofia (seen in the back of the picture to the right) applied to Diakonia at her school. That is the 8th grade student leadership group for the school. They help organize chapels, fund raisers, community service projects, school activities, back-to-school and new-student activities, etc. She had to have 2 teacher recommendations, a pastor recommendation, write some essays, go through a grade and behavior check, and an interview. There are only a limited number of spots available, so it wasn't a sure thing. I am so proud of her for going through with it - it's the first time she has ever done anything like this. She got her letter yesterday after school informing her that she did make Diakonia. Wow! The brand new 7th grade Diakonia members will go to their first meeting in a couple of weeks and start their training for next year. Needless to say, she is a bit excited.

I don't seem to have a good picture of Peter winning the district spelling bee, but I have a cute picture of him waiting for the regional bee to start - only Peter would calm his nerves by calmly reading my Simple and Delicious magazine. Doesn't he look great in a tie???? (his goal was to NOT be the first person out . . . he met his goal. And no, he wasn't the second person out either!) Regionals is for the top 4 kids from each district in grades 5 - 8. Being a 5th grader (and not realizing that he might go to regionals) he didn't get too far, but he has plans to go again next year, and the next, and go all the way to nationals in 8th grade. My nerves can't handle it, so I'm hoping this madness will fade with the years!

On the Micah front - he is now a big 4 year old boy! I can't believe how big he is getting. He is totally crazy about Thomas the Train, so of course we had to have a Thomas birthday cake.

What else??? Hmmmm, spring has hit us this past week. I thought my parents might like to see how the tree in our front yard managed to pull through after not being watered all last summer. Mom, is this picture making your eyes itch??

Peter got a home run Tuesday in his baseball game - right over right center field. Beautiful hit!

Todd has been working on overhauling our kitchen counters. He has the granite countertops in (can I tell you that granite is REALLY heavy when it's 2 adults and 3 kids moving it??????), and he's started working on putting in the back splashes. Here is a nearly done picture of one section of the kitchen. He still needs to put in the grout and drill the holes for the plug-in face plates. I think it looks awesome!!!! However, I'm ready to have this be done. I'm tired of the dust!

I think it's time for me to stop now. There is so much more I could say, but I'm tired of sitting at this crazy computer. Time to see if I managed to succeed with the videos above . . . .