Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Halloween piano recital

The annual Halloween piano recital... I used to be a trifle annoyed by how many recitals Carden (and now Seth) have, but I now enjoy them a lot more. Live performance is a real motivator for the kids, and Halloween is a great excuse to work on music that they love.

I, however, missed this year's recital, being at school helping run the PTA Reflections program (school art competition). It was judging night and I was responsible to make sure 150 works of art, carefully crafted from tin foil, paper mache, clay, straws and cereal boxes--as well as the more traditional mediums--survived the night intact. So kudos again to Tyler, who took all the kids and Granny to dinner at Sonic and then listened to "Halloween, Halloween" and "Spook House" for the nine thousandth time, all while pretending he'd never heard them before.

His report: Seth was a natural. He's been attending these recitals for years, so now that it was his turn he got up there (still too short to actually sit on the bench) and did his thing without missing a beat. Charlotte, however, insisted loudly and emphatically after every performance, "MY TURN NOW!" Now that Seth has started lessons, she does not understand why she is being denied the basic human right of daily piano practice. After I supervise the boys' practice, she and I will run through the repertoire of Disney princess songs so that she feels like she's practiced too.






Saturday, October 16, 2010

The big ONE for Claire-bear



(I know--she doesn't have the most original nickname of the bunch. But you have to drawl it out the way Tyler does--"Bee-yer" or "bee-bee-beeyers")

She did it, we did it. The first birthday!


We got cupcakes from a fabulous bakery. The kids picked out their favorite kinds, so everyone was happy.


You got really fun presents, Claire. I promise I'm trying to take them away from the other kids so you can play with them, too. At least you know the clothes are all yours.

I wish I could have gotten a better shot of her face. She was so tickled with the doll. It crawls, and Claire thinks it's so funny that she's faster than the doll.


For some reason it's harder to write about Claire. We have lots of tender feelings for her particular spirit and have sometimes felt that she may have a harder row to hoe than some of her siblings. She has a quiet, peaceful air about her and she just wants to be cuddled and loved more than any of the others. For now we're loving every day with her, trying to hold on to these precious baby days that are already gone!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

How Seth spent his summer

Climbing.

Calculating.

Flipping.


Discovering.


Swinging.

Seth had a great summer: swim lessons, tennis lessons, and lots of fun in the backyard riding his plasma car and tossing water balloons. He's growing up and enjoying life a lot more; the whining that plagued the previous two years has almost disappeared completely. Hurray!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

He didn't learn it at home


Despite the fact that we are not a family of sports fanatics, Carden has learned a few things from the local fan base, which as you can probably guess, bleeds BYU blue.

So upon opening today's newspaper, looking for his usual comics fix, Carden caught sight of the score from yesterday's BYU game--a loss to Utah State, marking BYU's third loss in a row.

"WHAT?!?" He screams. "BYU lost to the AGGIES??!!? What is with them?" he rants. They're losing left and right, and up and down and even diagonal! If this keeps up I'm going to have to start rooting for those darn Utes!"