Sunday, May 8, 2011

music, music everywhere

Happy will have his first "official" violin lesson tomorrow. The teacher Curmudgeon is student teaching with is a Suzuki guru and has kindly consented to meet boy-o and give us some further tips on how to teach him at this early stage.
So in the spirit of that lesson, here's a cute video I took of him playing the other day:

Also, if you're interested, I promised to post some of the music from our Easter Program a couple of weeks ago. I'll refer you to my other (dedicated music) blog: singlikeanything.blogspot.com. So you'll know what might be most interesting to you, I'll give a list of what we were involved in:

Choir Numbers (I'm the director and C sang in the bass section)
  • "In the Upper Room"
  • "Mid the Stillness of the Night"
  • "Dona Nobis Pacem"
  • "Abide With Me" (I arranged and sang on this one. The balance is a bit off because the mic wasn't exactly in the middle so I'm louder than I should be, but you can still get a bit of a feel for it)
  • "He is Risen!" (C arranged this one and sang too. Ditto about the balance issues)
  • "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth" (C on bass)
  • "Who is this Jesus?" (C on violin. But I feel I should mention that he didn't feel great about how this one went, so just bear in mind that this may not be a fair representation of his skills)

By the way, on a totally unrelated topic, you may have noticed that we've gone two whole weeks without any movies! Worry not, the weekly tradition will continue...probably next month. Or maybe when we're settled into our new place.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

What a crazy week!


It's been a whirlwind around here for the past little while. Easter (more about that in an upcoming post), a fast trip to the prairie, a new job and then back to home and business as usual without a breather. Can you blame us for neglecting you for a little while? I thought not.

Congratulations (and a deep sigh of relief) are in order as Curmudgeon has accepted a position as orchestra director at a middle school (with a couple of elementary classes too) in Overland Park, Kansas. So we're headed west after he finishes student-teaching in June.

whew. For having said we had such a crazy week I feel like I should have more to say right now! Guess I can explain a little of why it was so busy. Last Sunday we had our Easter Program in church (which I planned, directed, and wrote. So yeah, it was a big deal for me) and it went very very well. Immediately after sacrament meeting was over we jumped in the car to drive to Kansas. Happy wasn't with us at this point--he spent the weekend with C's parents (thank you Grammy and Gramps!!), but Punky was a pure trooper through the whole trip. I hope all of our kids will be as good at traveling as these two are. They can't sleep, but they sure are good in the car (usually).

here's our cute girly in the hotel room late at night after riding in her car seat for many hours across many states. So happy!
Once we got into Overland Park C had a great interview with the other music staff members and principle. They seem like a great group to work with and he felt very warmly welcomed. He was offered the position almost immediately and that was that! I am quite relieved that we don't have to fill out any more online applications! Those are a complete mess! To my siblings, remember the "place that sends you mad" in Asterix and the 12 Tasks? I think online job applications are that place.
Anyway, now we have the happy task of finding a place to live, packing up our belongings and readjusting to a new place. Stressful though those things may be, I was serious when I said "happy task". We're blessed to know we've got a job lined up in a great place and we're excited about the possibilities ahead of us. The only downer is leaving our family behind. And I don't even want to think about that yet so I'm going to stop talking about it.
One last parting shot...
it's been rainy-rainy all week, but somebody is so prepared. I know it's blurry and you can't even see his face, but somehow he still manages to be so cute! (yes, it is sunny with no sign of rain and yes, we are indoors. whatever.)