Gift of Music!!

I am going to brag, but it is my right as a mother. John has been playing the violin for about two and half years, which is not that long, but he is really good. For his Christmas concert he had to audition to see what chair he would get and he got first chair. He did not think he would since he knows that there are several kids who have been playing much longer than him. This video is of John walking out to tune the rest of the orchestra and then their first number. It was a great concert full of Christmas music to get us in the mood for this wonderful time of year.


Just a few days later we were able to go to John's first piano recital. John loves playing the piano and has fiddled around on it for years. This year I decided that I better get him into lessons before he picked up too many bad habits. He surprised his teacher by picking this difficult piece, for a first year student, and then surprised her more by actually being able to play it. The gift of music is something he has certainly been blessed with and Matt and I love having our home filled with music!!


Sorry they are not the best recordings but they were both done on my camera.

The Nutcracker

As a family we went to see the Nutcracker Friday night and we all loved it. I was not sure if it was going to keep Abbi and Jess' interest for the full two hours, but it did. I loved the questions that I kept getting from Abbi. She wanted to know who all of the characters were and what there names were and what they were doing. Thank goodness I have seen the Nutcracker before and know the story because she was not happy with the simple answers or watch and see. In the program was a short version of the story and John read it to Jess while we were waiting for it to start, so that helped the two of them understand the ballet. I was very impressed at how well the dancers did, it made it so fun to watch.

I don't have any pictures because I forgot my camera, which ended up being fine because we were not allowed to take pictures of the performance anyway. It was a great night out as a family, one I am sure the kids will always remember.

Photography!!

So as many of you know photography is a hobby of mine. I love taking pictures and then editing them. It is especially fun for me when the subjects are my kids. Here are some pictures that I recently took while at a local park.


Jessica is always so photogenic and loves to come up with poses as we do our photo shoots. She is always finding fun places and then says "mom take a picture", the one of her standing is one those poses that she did all on her own.



John often does not like to do a photo session as he finds them "boring" and is getting "too old"!! But he was very fun during this photo shoot and most of the pictures turned out great. He is growing up way too fast though and no longer looks like a child, he is turning into a very handsome young man.


Last, but not least, is my beautiful Abbi. She loves to take pictures and is very cooperative, but on this morning it was very chilly, that is why her coat is on. No matter how much I tried to convince her that she would be fine without her coat for a few minutes she would not take it off. Towards the end of the shoot she did finally take it off, but I love these pictures with it on.