Music Night

We enjoyed another delightful Music Night this year.  Many people came to participate, listen, and support.  It was a wonderful night full of wonderful music.  All the girls participated this year and picked the songs they played.

Eliana learned the theme song to Super Mario Brother's.  There was a lot of syncopation and she NAILED it!  I was super proud of how carefully she learned the rhythms.

ELIANA - SUPER MARIO THEME

Lillian was extremely excited to finally participate in Music Night this year.  She picked the theme song to "Bluey".  Not only did she have to learn new notes to play this song, her hands also had to move positions--she mastered it all and had a lot of fun with the audience participation.

LILLIAN - BLUEY THEME SONG

Hylie learned an oboe piece called "Ariette".  She's come a long ways with playing with dynamics and using amazing breath support.  It's been fun watching her really grow into this instrument.

HYLIE - ARIETTE

The piano piece Hylie picked was "Seven Nation Army" by White Stripes.  It took some coordination when her right and left hands were contrary to one another, but she kept at it and really thrived with the song.  I was trying to figure out ways to include the steady drum beat but in the end, the audience pulled through and added that element for her!

HYLIE - SEVEN NATION ARMY

I had a harder time squeezing in practicing anything this year because of the involvement I had with Cabaret Night.  So three weeks before the event, I selected "Belle Nuit" and was grateful Heather Buss was willing to accompany.  I enjoyed learning the piece but blanked at the beginning of the song while performing it and played it the worst I've ever played.  Oh well.  I'm still grateful to have these nights that encourage me to incorporate music into my busy schedule.

DIANNE - BELLE NUIT

Fairy Tale Court Room

 Hylie auditioned for the middle school play and was so excited to be a part of the production.  She was cast as "The Badger"--the Big Bad Wolf's friend who was bribed to say positive things about the perpetrator.  She did a great job, had so much fun, and can't wait for her next acting opportunity.

As part of the show, witnesses were mixed in the audience.  Hylie told Lillian which seat she would be in and we were lucky there were some empty seats right next to her!

The Badger waiting for the attorneys to finish a match of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to see if an objection was to be overruled.

Badger next to her "buddy", B.B. Wolf

B.B. Wolf was pretty specific about what the Badger needed to say, so witness notes were carefully written down.  Lillian was THRILLED when Hylie asked her to help write down the cues.

Stage makeup, crimped hair, and a beanie--this Badger is ready to roll!

Happy Halloween!

Trunk-or-Treat event at church the Saturday before Halloween

Even though we had a colder (and SNOWY!) Halloween, it was still packed with fun and we made some wonderful memories.

This year, Hylie wanted to be a little character from the cartoon show "Bluey".  She dressed up as "Muffin", a tiny cousin with a huge personality.

Eliana was pretty excited to dress up as Zelda, but not just any outfit would do--it had to be from the video game "Breath of the Wild".  She knew I generally use a hoodie to serve as the 'base' of the costume, but this year when she told me she wanted to be a princess, she hesitantly asked, "And can it not be a hoodie costume?" Ha ha!  I was grateful to assure her I can attempt costumes outside of the hoodie realm.  I won't lie, this costume presented it's challenges...and I also found out how much I didn't know about sewing with metallic, four-way stretch fabric.  Yikes!

After we had our trunk-or-treat event at the church, I could tell Eliana was a little less enthusiastic to dress up for Halloween.  Eventually she shared she was 'embarrassed' that not very many people recognized who she was dressed up as.  

Well, thankfully the kids at school pulled through on that one.  There were a TON of boys dressed up as Link and many of them expressed excitement when they saw Zelda was there with them.  I was delighted to see Eliana's smile in the (cold) school parade as she enjoyed being in character.

Lillian decided to take a little break from her Panda obsession and dress up as a squirrel.  She was pretty specific on wanting the tail to stand up and not hang down--so I was pretty excited to have found this costume online for the same amount of money I would have spent on the fur alone to make the tail!

At first, Kyron said he wanted to be Mario...but when he announced that he got pretty quiet and then hesitantly revealed, "Actually, I want to be Bowser."  Bowser terrifies Kyron.  Whenever the kids are playing their Mario games and Bowser makes an appearance, Kyron leaves the room.  And when we watched the Mario movie, Kyron was pretty quick to disappear when a scene with Bowser in it was even hinted at.  I truly think this was a 'facing his fears' move, ha ha!  But he LOVED the costume and even helped make it!  

When I told him I was working on the spikes, he slowly looked up and asked, "Are they going to be hard or soft spikes?"  And the grin on his face when I told him "soft" told me he approved.  He then sat next to me as I sewed and turned the spikes right side out and pushed the pointy part up with a pen cap.  

Lots of kids (and adults) expressed excitement when they saw him coming and it was fun seeing his slightly bashful responses.

As we were out trick or treating, I loved watching them go up to each door together and just as I thought Kyron was teetering out, he burst into a run and shouted, "I LOVE this, I LOVE this, I LOVE this!"  Ha ha!  Me too.

Carving Pumpkins

 I'm happy to report that this year we all came out of pumpkin carving with all fingers intact!  I thought letting the kids draw their design and then you get to figure out how to cut it was stressful...Geoff and I have reached a new milestone in parenting where the kid does all the carving!

Eliana patiently waiting for Hylie to scoop out her pumpkin 'guts' because she definitely was NOT touching the stuff!

I captured Kyron just as his big scoop of pumpkin goop got away from him.  He recovered pretty quickly from the ordeal.

Lillian's 7th Birthday

 We got to celebrate this ball of energy turning 7!  I found myself giggling when my Mom and I were discussing what we could get Lillian for her birthday, because I feel she still loves the same things she has for five years: crafts and stuffed animals!  Lillian loves snuggling, being creative, and sharing her art.  Often we'll come to dinner with little notes and drawings on each person's plate that were hand drawn by Lillian.  For her birthday this year, she wanted to make sure each classmate got a little personalized drawing and a handmade 'pacman' from her.

Even though going to school is not something she prefers right now, her learning has not been stifled at all.  She continues to read up a storm, writes like crazy, and figures out math like it's nobody's business.  Lillian is one bright, lovely, and energetic girl and we're excited to see what's in store for her this year!

She wanted a chocolate squirrel cake to match her upcoming Halloween costume.

Anytime you see a picture of Lillian, you can almost guarantee that two pictures were taken.  Above is the typical first take...

and then we show her the picture to remind her that her super cheesy smile is a tad overload and then we get this take!