Musical Kids

Brandon and Kate just finished up the year of piano lessons with a lovely recital. They both did very well considering they refused to practice any more. I had never even heard Brandon play his pieces as he would only play them at his lessons for his teacher. She is moving so they are finished taking lessons for now. I am sad they are done, but they were both wanting to quit anyway. Funny thing is now that they are not taking lessons anymore they are both on the piano more than before! Silly kids. :) They are both so talented!Kate needed a little help in the middle of her first piece. Otherwise, she did great!

The kids also finished up their year on the 3rd and 4th grade Chimes teams at school. Kate enjoyed it very much. This picture is awful, but it's all I got that night.Brandon finished his second year on the chimes team and is sad to leave it behind as he moves onto intermediate school. He is excited about the music options coming up, though! He wants to go into percussion. He will be awesome! He is so musical.

Other December Musical Happenings

Brandon and Kate are both on the chimes team at school. This is a very fun group who play these chimes that make the most beautiful and heavenly music. I just love to listen to them play! This year the 4th graders had their own music night at the school and then the 3rd graders had their music night the week after. Then all the chimes teams (3rd grade team and 2 4th grade teams) went on tour together. They visited two retirement homes in the area and played Christmas carols for them. Carli and I were able to go along and it is so neat to see all the faces light up when these kids come in the room and play their music. They especially love seeing the little ones, like Carli and a small baby who was with our group as well. It was a neat day.

Megan's grade has a little "sing" at the beginning of school one more last week. It only lasted 5 minutes, but the kids love to dress up in their Christmas clothes and sing these sweet songs to their parents and the rest of the school. Megan donned her bright red Christmas dress and sang her heart out. :)

Here are some pictures from all of these happenings.

Megan singing with all the other 1st graders. We couldn't get very close because the rest of the students in the school were sitting in the main part of the gym. Megan off to class

Kate playing on the tour.
Kate playing her chimes at the 3rd grade music night

After the chimes tour they all went out to Cici's Pizza for lunch. Everyone enjoyed that!

Sorry about the open mouth (Brandon!!!). Here he is with his buddy, Ryley, who is on the 3rd grade team.

Carli sure enjoyed the pizza and pasta! Yum!

Carli has to walk the curbs wherever we go. This was outside one of the retirement homes.

Brandon got right up to the camera lens and this was the result. Silly guy!

Brandon (center boy) playing on the chimes tour. His team played Hark, the Herald Angels Sing. They did an awesome job and it was really beautiful to listen to.

A few pics from our crazy week before Christmas

Carli wrapped up in her blanket. A little "deer in the headlights," but still cute. :) She loves her blankets! Brandon performing with the chimes team at their holiday performance. He did a great job! Kate getting into the actions during the 2nd grade sing. Watch out Broadway, she's coming!
The 2nd grade had a Polar Express Day. They made train cars and wore their pjs and slippers. They put on a parade around the school. It was a fun morning. Kate wanted her train car to be hot pink and she decorated it with her own drawings and snowflakes. Definitely not the most creative of the morning, but I thought she did a great job!
On to the class parties. Brandon's class played bingo and when they got a bingo they each got to go choose a gift from the book exchange. They had tons of yummy food, too. Here he is with the Magic Tree House book he recieved (funny, it was the same book that Kate took to her book exchange). He was excited about it. :)Kate's class did a book exchange, too. Her teacher read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" with a twist. The words "right" and "left" were added to many places in the story. They all sat in a circle and had a gift. Every time he would say "right" or "left" they would pass their book that way. At the end of the story the gift they were holding was theirs to open and keep. Cute idea and the kids had a blast with it!Here's Kate and her good friend in her class at their party.Megan's class started their party by performing "Jingle Bells" in sign language for the parents. It was really good! They knew all the words and signs. So cute!They did the funniest relay race. Megan's teacher put a glob of vaseline on each of their noses and then seperated them into 2 teams. They had to race to the chair, stick their nose in a pile of pom poms until one stuck and then run back. It was the funniest thing to watch! The kids thought it was so fun and were laughing the whole time. Here is Megan and her friend with their red pom pom noses.Here's the whole class with their noses. Megan making her reindeer craft. The parties were very fun and successful! However, next year I'm not sure I'm going to try to help with all 3 of them! It was crazy! :)