Spring Piano Recital 2022

Here are the pictures from my Spring Piano Recital! I had it a few weeks later than I normally do (June 4). I attempted to have it at La Casa de Cristo Lutheran church where that organ event was held back in March, but it didn't work out. Something about needing insurance that I didn't have. So I not-so-subtly suggested to have the recital at a students home instead of mine (I've had recitals at my house enough already), and the offer was quickly and heartily taken up by the Lewis family. I've been teaching them for years and have taught five of the six kids so far. 

I decided to have a lunch after the recital. I've never done a full lunch before, only refreshments. I opted for sloppy joes and hot dogs, as those are the cheapest and easiest food to serve to a large crowd. I also served chips, a southwest pasta salad, donut holes, and watermelon. I also made some fruit punch using pineapple juice, squirt, and Hawaiian punch. The hosting family contributed a veggie platter and cookies. I asked the other families to also bring a dessert to share. 

The recital went smoothly and overall, really well. One of the best I would say. The kids performed their best. I wonder if its because I had the recital a week or two later than I normally do, and the kids had more time to prepare. I also didn't stress too much over this recital for some reason, despite putting on a full lunch for everyone. It was sure nice to have it at someone else's house.  Too bad Erik missed it all because he had to work. Lunch also went well. I was worried I didn't bring enough sloppy joes but turned out I brought plenty, I was eating the leftovers for days to come. I think every one had a good time. I don't think I'll have very many students for my December recital, two are moving and one is going to college.

The program. The order was alphabetical by first name

The crowd

Carson

Hannah played the teacher part with Edmond.

Cute Elisa played her songs well!

Gabe's solo was next. He played "Rage Over a Lost Penny" by Beethoven. He played nicely!

The cutest duet ever! Gabe and Ian playing "Praise to the Man". They also played this in church as a special musical number a week or two before this. They played great both times!

Lydia

Hannah. My oldest and most advanced student playing Moonlight Sonata

My sweet Ian played so good!

Makayla and Kaiden. Usually their performances a bit iffy, but both of their solos and their duet were played quite well.

Lunch!

Random June Happenings (pre-UK Trip)

 Here are some fun things we did in the month of June, pre-trip:

June 1

I gave Elisa a hair cut! She had gotten her hair cut a month or so before, but she wanted it even shorter. She asked me if I could cut her hair. I said ok, even though I don't really have much experience in cutting girl's hair. I went slow though, and mad sure to cut evenly. I think it turned out cute! She seems happy with her new hair cut

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June 2

Ian performing "Yellow Bird", a West Indies Folk song. We used the steel drum setting. I don't actually know if the steel drums are playin in the West Indies or not, but whatever. Gabe Played this at last year's spring piano recital, which means Ian is only a year behind Gabe in his piano books, even though they're six years apart! Way to go, Ian!
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June 2

Ian got a little too into his 'smore haha

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June 3-A church friend invited us to go with them and a few other friends up to Lake Pleasant. I've never been there up until this point, and now I'm wondering why! The admission to get in was $7 per vehicle. We had a really great time. The water was clear and cool but not cold. The air was warm but not stifling. We don't own any paddle boards or canoes but the others that came did, so we were able to use theirs. The kids had a great time. I even got in the water, after paddling Ian to a little island not to far. Gabe and I got a little sunburn but not too bad. Elisa just got tanner. She sure enjoyed playing in the water with her friend Lily! I packed a lunch and the kids ate everything. I hope we get to go back sometime soon! I can't believe we've had a nice swimming lake so close (only 1/2 away) and have never been.

So much lake fun!

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June 5

I snuck a quick pic in primary of Ian

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June 6

I made a new shirt for Eesa. I don't like it too much but she does!

June 7

Gabe and Plushie Productions proudly present....this Mario flag pole!

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June 7

I spent $75 to rent this French horn, so I figured Gabe may as well learn it before I take it back later this month. I had him watch several YouTube videos on how to play the French Horn, and now he can play at least five notes on it!

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June 8

Ian following Dad around the back yard, hopefully helping.

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June 9

While Gabe was at YM camp, Ian happily went into Gabe's room and borrowed all of his Mario Plushies and set them up in is own horrendously messy room!

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June 9

I finished two luau shirts for both Ian and Aiden to wear when we go to Hawaii. They were quick and easy to sew up. I even ordered buttons made from coconuts for the shirts. I can't wait so see the boys in Hawaii in these shirts. I kinda wish I had bought the rest of the bolt so I could make Gabe and Calvin a shirt, too. No matter, I ran out of time before our trip anyway. Oh well.

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June 8-10

Some of the dads sent us these pictures of the boys on the campout. He was excited about going. It looks like Gabe had such a fun time! I'm super glad, because I was worried he would be too shy to keep up with the other boys. Camping is good for boys. 

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A Creepy Encounter

 May 15

It was around 10:00 pm. I was on the piano minding my own business when all of the sudden I feel something brush up against my right foot. At first I though it was a spider, but when I looked down, I saw that it was definitely not a spider, but instead was a horrible, hideous and HUGE centipede. I've never seen such an enormous insect in all my life--at least not in the house and definitely not in close proximity to me. I was on the other side of the room in no time. I don't even remember how I got there. I freaked out for a few seconds, which I'm sure would have been quite funny for someone else if they were watching. Really though, anyone would freak out...this thing was probably about 7-8 inches long. And it touched me. IT TOUCHED ME. I wasn't too sure what to do, but I sure as heck didn't want that thing loose in the house, so I ran to the kitchen and trapped it (luckily it hadn't gone too far) with my dehydrator lid. I looked for our bug killer but I couldn't find it. I meant to leave it for Erik to take care of in the morning. It actually was a pretty cool bug, had it been outside or somewhere far away from my living space. I made the mistake of having Gabe come down and see it, and he freaked out at just the sight of it. After quieting Gabe down, I went to bed, but couldn't go to sleep because I kept thinking about the fact that the container (lid) that I had trapped the centipede in, had some narrow slits at the top. I had no idea how small of holes centipedes can crawl through, and I couldn't abide by the thought of that thing getting loose in the house. So I devised a plan to rid the house of that thing so I could sleep peacefully. I took a large, flat piece of canvas from my craft room and carefully slid it under the lid, and walked outside and let that thing go on the ground as far away as I was willing to walk in my robe and flip flops. I looked up this centipede and its a "giant desert centipede" and yep, they have venomous, painful bites. Yeesh. I'm wondering if I should have just squished this thing, but I didn't want to deal with cleaning up any of its gooey guts, and they're good for pest control, even if they are one themselves. I'm trying to decide if a scorpion would have been better or worse. I'm thinking worse, because centipedes don't typically invade houses I think (hope) this one getting into the house was just a fluke. If one scorpion is seen, that means that there are 10 more in the house that you're not seeing.  Luckily, I rarely see scorpions, maybe once a year and usually they're dead. I think by now my heebie-jeebies have subsided, but for a while there, anything that touched my body made me jump:

Here it is, trapped under my dehydrator lid

Gabe's reaction to the centipede!

This is all the pests I have found in our house. One of them doesn't quite belong though. Of course this doesn't include flies, mosquitos, crickets, ants, and random other tiny bugs.

Random May Happenings, Part II

Here are pictures of more fun things we did in the month of May:

May 17

Current Elisa next to infant, one-week-old Elisa. She's grown quite a bit since then! 

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May 17, 18,  & 19

Ian had  such a fun last week of school! They had bubble day, glow day, and enjoyed Kona ice and a movie the very last day! Ian loved being in Mrs. Dew's class for first grade

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May 21

A "rough draft" of the boy's piano duet, Praise to the Man. Gabe worked really hard on his part-that was much trickier than Ian's. They played it mostly perfect in church and also at the piano recital (I will post on that later)

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May 21

It's probably a better idea to take before/after pictures of organizational projects, but I never remember to. I did remember to take a picture during the organization of our pantry, as you can see it was quite the project! I had Erik pick up a few can organizers and shelf organizers while he was at Walmart, I'm not sure why I didn't buy them when we first moved in, that would have been smarter of me but better late than never! I also organzied the closet in the guest room...that was an all-day chore. I really need to remember to take before and after pics!

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May 22

Cute Ian pressing the scariest key he could find on my new piano. Haha!

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May 22

Erik decided to make use of my new dehydrator by making beef jerky. He used ___ from our beef hoard in our freezer, made a marinade, sliced the meat thin, smoked it for a bit, and then put it in the dehydrator for a couple hours. It was a little chewy but very flavorful. It didn't last long, especially not with Elisa devouring it!

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May 23

 You know its time to cut Ian's hair when we can make him into a unicorn!

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May 24

For some reason of another, I was asked to help out with the activity day boy's Tuesday activity. I'm still wondering why I out of all people was asked, who knows. Anyway, I took Ian, whom I made change out of his swimsuit, only to find out it was a swimming activity (with some memorization of some church motto). Luckily we were able to borrow a suit for Ian! He was bit hesitant at first but he quickly warmed up to swimming and hanging out with the older boys (Elisa's age). He enjoyed the swimming, and surprisingly, he loved playing basket ball! He tells me that was his first time playing. I'll have to find more opportunities for him to play! Ian made 7 or 8 shots in the hoop.

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May 28. A day out with the boys! Elisa refused to come so she stayed home. I don't usually go out on a Saturday, but I needed to go to Music & Arts and Gabe really wanted to go to DI and Michaels. Our first stop was DI. We didn't find much but it was fun to look around. I spotted a weird keyboard thing. I'm thinking its a postive organ that was possibly homemade. It was in bad shape and the keys wouldn't even press down. The bellow was torn about and it looked like a hot mess that probably should be in the trash, but hey maybe someone knows what they're doing and can fix it up! 

After DI we went to Music & Arts. I needed to return Elisa's clarinet rental and rent a French horn for Gabe. He wants to switch to French horn from trumpet. I emailed his band teacher and she told me to sign up for the Music Rocks Camp (for kids switching to new instruments), but it wouldn't let me since Gabe was past the age limit. She emailed the guy in charge and he emailed me to get my number to call me to work something out. He never did call, but if he did he didn't leave a message (my phone automatically blocks unknown numbers). So I never did get Gabe into the camp, but no matter, as his Young Men's campout coincided with the last two days of the music camp. The cost of renting a French Horn was more than double the price of the clarinet. Luckily, the school has one he can borrow, so we will only have had this horn for a month.

After Music & Arts, we headed to Michaels. In the same parking lot, a Farmer's market was going on, so we browsed that for a bit. I bought Gabe (Ian mysteriously didn't want any) some shave ice to enjoy.  We didn't buy anything else at the Farmer's market. Then we walked over to Michael's and I let the boys pick out a couple of things. They found a teeny tiny miniature instrument pack, which included a French horn, trumpet, and a flute. They boys obsessed over those for awhile.

We almost went all the way home, but decided last minute to stop at Cracker Barrel for lunch. Ian ordered cheeseburgers off the kid's menu, and Gabe ordered himself a full cheeseburger off the adult menu, and didn't finish it of course. Good thing he's good at eating up his leftovers! I let the boys pick out a few things to buy in the Cracker Barrel store with their own money.

May 28

The weird, sad, and broken organ at DI.

Ian enjoying the drums at Music & Arts

Shave ice at the Farmer's Market

Cracker Barrel for lunch!

Gabe was happy with his new French horn! Now, to figure out how to play it...!

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May 29

Elisa giving the scripture in primary. I like sneaking videos and pictures of the kids in primary! Might as well, while since I'm there already!

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May 31

Silly Gabe made a Plushie shop so he could make some money making little plushies out of felt. Actually, he had been taking a few orders from school kids and made a few dollars even before this. Elisa and Ian soon followed suit and made their own little shops, mostly trying to "sell" stuff they found around the house, and Elisa made a couple of things out of pipe cleaners. It was funny to me, that for a while there, the kids were passing their money around and around, just buying each other's things! This is what they do when they're not on screens---they create and socialize with each other!

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