Uncle J

Jared telling me about seeing The Staves open for Bon Iver:

Me: Were they good?

Jared: "Yeah, it was like Stevie Nicks times three."

Cellist and Tinsel

Janey never complains about practicing and it's almost been a year now. I thought the novelty would wear off long ago but maybe she really does love it. She gets it done first thing in the morning while I am making breakfast (oatmeal or pancakes). Charlie will do his chores while she practices and then she does her chores while he practices, then we eat. Somehow cellos go with Christmas in my mind but I don't know why.

Music From Heaven

Our friend Jody told us to make these homemade bagels and they were tasty tasty. Here is the recipe if you want to try them. They are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Yum. Jane enjoyed the part when you drop them into a boiling water bath while they were still in dough form.

Jane is in the most beautiful stage right now. She is so happy and cooperative and helpful and sweet. 

She will be baptized when she turns eight in January, so we have been spending time with her preparing for that. She is genuinely studying and working hard to understand what being baptized means for her. She memorized this really long scripture about baptism and I didn't even know she was doing it.  She came up to me and said, "mom, watch this" and then recited it to me. I was shocked and asked her how she learned it and she told me it was because she reads it to Scarlet every night before bed (they share a queen size bed) so now she knows it by heart. Cuteness.

Another cute Jane moment was last Monday. We do history on Mondays and we were having a rather mundane lesson on ancient Egypt, nothing overly exciting. When we finished, I was tidying the table and getting things ready for the next lesson and Jane, out of now where, gives me a juicy hug and says, "I'm so happy I get to be in home school." If you educate your kids at home, then you know how good that kind of moment feels. It was a victorious feeling. 

On Saturday Tim and I took Jane out on a special date. We went to see a strings trio called the Ivory Strings. The trio is a violin, cello and piano. Our friend Rachael is the violinist and she was thoughtful enough to invite us- she knew Jane might be interested in seeing the cellist. Anyways, it was an amazing evening. Rachael and the cellist are in the symphony so we knew it would be good, but we didn't fully understand how good. It was unreal good. They played in someone's home so it was an intimate setting and the music was heavenly, literally. One song in particular that changed my life was called, Oblivion by Astor Piazzolla, arr. Jose Bragato. We looked at their music during the intermission and I seriously didn't know music with that many notes existed- the page was just black and covered with notes! I was so happy that Jane had the chance to experience such an inspiring evening and that we got to share it with her. 

Summer Camp

So the kids already posted on this but if I'm going to print my blog off one day as a photo album then I have to double post these things. Jane and Charlie and I had a week getaway together to Medicine Hat. Not exactly a vacation destination but we had a lovely time. Jane was there for cello camp so Charlie and I tagged along and Charlie ended up going to Sports camp too. While they were at camp I did a lot of studying and planning for the upcoming school year- which was nice to have done without interruption for once.

 These top two pictures are on the way there.

We rented the loft of this house for the week.

 First day.

We went to an animal farm and this shot is for Jared because he likes Eeyore.

We spent a couple of days at Echodale park.

We frequented the health food joints around town. 

There was lots of swimming.

This is Jane's recital on the last day. She performed a new piece she learned during the camp.

Jane playing chamber music with the junior orchestra. She got to do all kinds of engaging things like a technique class, theory class, private lessons, music crafts and games etc. They even had a real violin maker come teach the kids about making string instruments and he started making a bow in front of them. How cool is that!

I loved this picture because I caught them doing stretches before their performance. Ha. Cello stretches??

Jane and her spectacular teacher.

She made delightful new friends. 

Charlie made friends with the kids in his group too. At his camp he got to play golf, soccer, water polo, floor hockey, swimming, dodge ball, badminton etc. When I came to pick him up he'd be flushed and sweaty and happy.

This was the Echodale pioneer homestead we visited. 

Charlie's first day.

Charlie's last day.

I have to admit that around the third day we were gone I got a little homesick. The kids were totally fine but I was missing Timmy. I know, I'm an adult! What's up with that?? Needless to say, I was happy to be home. Timmy had a super duper dinner on the table when we walked in, he unpacked the car for me and like always, the house was clean.  He even got me flowers. No wonder I was homesick.

We were especially excited to get home so we could give Jacob the new bike we picked out for him. He's been riding a princess bike for the last year so it was about time!

Chickadee the Cello

This is Jane's first day of Cello lessons. She's been taking cello for a few months now. Her first assignment was to name her cello. She made a brainstorm list with these names:

Chocolate 

Cherry

Charlie

Chickadee

Cordelia

In the end she picked Chickadee. 

On her first day, Jane was looking forward to going to her lesson just with me- sort of a mom and daughter date. But little Charlie was in agony. He couldn't bare to miss out on Jane's big day. He didn't stop expressing his sorrow the whole day. I wanted Jane to decide that he could come on her own so I waited even though I could see it was hard on Charlie to be in limbo. In the end she let him come but it was quite the last minute fiasco. Of course they ended up having a fun time together and everyone was happy. So many delicate feelings to keep safe around here.

Jane brought Chickadee cello on our family vacation to fairmont and even tucked it into bed.

Scarlet calls it a "Chewoh"

 This is the night Tim took Charlie and Jane to the symphony. We got tickets for his birthday.

They got home sooooooo late. They were tired but so excited by the whole experience.

(She lost her front tooth in March)

I made them each a little symphony packet to work on in case it got difficult for them to sit for the whole 2 hours. It had all kinds of music worksheets and coloring pages etc.

All The Cool Kids Are Listening To It

After Scarlet's first use of the english language was the song Hush Hush (I'm not kidding its brutal) I've been stuffing my music library with yummy happy kid songs. This Elizabeth Mitchell album is perfect. Besides, it has a Neil Young cover and the album is called You Are My Little Bird which is awesome.

Here are the paraphrased highlights from the itunes write up:

"Elizabeth Mitchell has been lending her lovely voice to folk-leaning indie rock for years, and in recent years she's been displaying the same intelligence and playful joie de vivre on a handful of recordings for children. You Are My Little Bird is a sweet, simple little gem, as warm and joyous as a clear spring day."

This one is way good too- Johnny Cash Children's album. My kids like, There's a Bear in the Woods, Call of the Wild, and Why is a Fire Engine Red.

Rad.

In case anyone needed proof that Timmy did some rock'in out in college, here's the link (this is for Tracie). Thank you Jordan.

Rockstar

The First Piano Moment

You have to wait until the end of the video to hear him do the song perfect. I showed him how to do each hand and then he was determined to teach himself how to put both hands together. I was so impressed with the way he took initiative. There's something about his chubby bear paw hands that makes Timmy and I so happy.

All Songs Should Have La La La's

It was "Corner" for me today. Love the rhythm of this song.

Doo doo
Ooh
Ooh

When your world trembles and quakes
And your footing suddenly shifts and shakes

Take my hand
We'll hide in the corner
Hide in the corner
Take my hand
We'll hide 'til it's over
'Til it's all over 

La la la la la
La la la la la
La la la la la
La la la la la la la

We have choices to make
We have promises that we can't break
There is nothing left to lose
So hold on to me
I'll hold on to you

Take my hand
We'll hide in the corner
Hide in the corner
Take my hand
We'll hide 'til it's over
'Til it's all over

Ooh
Ooh
Ooh
Ooh
Ooh
(Ooh)
(Ooh)
(Ooh)
(Ooh)

La la la la la
La la la la la
La la la la la
La la la la la la la