Happy Adoption Day!

In honor of Penguin's adoption day ...

a Great adoption-related post. 

10 years & 2 days ago today, Hubby & I stood in a Russian court room as they threw any and every kind of question at us.  We even had to explain what a mortgage is ... apparently they don't exist in Russia??

Photography by Peacock

Photos by Peacock ... May 5, 2013

Then Sings My Soul - EVMCO Concert

 Me & my awesome stand partner!

Back in April, the kids & I participated in three EVMCO (East Valley Millennial Choirs & Orchestras) concerts.  It made for a very long, but rewarding weekend.  Peacock & Turkey sang Oh Happy Day & Onward, Christian Soldiers with their choirs.  Penguin's choir sang Peace Like a River, River in Judea, Holding Hands Around the World, & He's Got the Whole World in His Hands.

Watch the following video to learn more about EVMCO (which is growing to two new cities this fall) and listen to our latest recording of How Great Thou Art:

Covenants & Ordinances - Young Women Lesson July 2013

I taught a combined YW lesson a few weeks ago.  Thought I'd share the handout that I made - I got all the ideas for my handout online, but I wanted to combine a few nice ideas onto one handout.  I attached a Ring Pop (big canister of Ring Pops can be found at Sam's Club) to go with the "I Do".

Feel free to save the handout to your computer and use it.  If you get it printed as a 4x6 photo, use a matte finish - glossy does not work as well.

I used this video excerpt which can be downloaded from You Tube:

Plans in Hands

About a week ago, we picked up our plans from the printer.  It was a long-awaited & joyous day.  We've had a couple small hiccups this week, but nothing too serious.  Now we are waiting for our HOA & town to review everything & give us feedback/things to change.

Baby's First Photoshoot

When newborn Ivy was about 1-1/2 weeks old, we tried to take photos ... things did not work in our favor that day.  Ivy was fussy & didn't want to sleep ... and she kept peeing everywhere!  My 3 year old niece and 5 yr old son tried to play while I took photos, but they were pestering each other, pestering me ... it was just kinda chaotic. Despite all the craziness, I think we captured some nice memories.

All my helpers ...

Baby Ivy

Late one night, several days past my sister's due date, she sent me a text to let me know she was at the hospital & finally in labor.  I was already in bed, but quickly made my way over to the hospital so that I could be present for the birth of my newest niece & take photos of the birth.  I wasn't at the hospital for too long before things got exciting ... but not a good exciting.  Machines keep sounding alarms, so a nurse finally came in & checked my sister & her baby.  After the nurse checked my sister, she said, "NO!" and ran out of the room.  My sister & I just kinda sat there & stared at each other, wondering what it the world was going on.  Her easy-going husband was sitting next to me on the couch and said, "Hey, now if something was really wrong there would be at least 7 doctors in here right now."  The door swung open and the nurses started pouring in ... my brother-in-law starting counting the number of people coming in & we started to realize something was not good.  Before I knew it, they were telling my baby sister that she had to have an emergency c-section & they we were racing her down the hall.  Almost immediately, I was left alone in a all-too-quiet room, feeling stunned, and too scared to even cry.  And then it was my job (because I was the only family member at the hospital) to call all our family & tell them what was going on.  I was shaking, but deep down I felt strongly that everything would turn-out well.  My mom came down with sodas and we sat & waited for news.  After about 30 minutes, we got a text that my sister & her baby were both safe & doing great.  I eventually went home & tried to sleep a little before I had to get up with my kids, but I was anxious to see my sister & her baby with my own eyes.

The next morning, my kids went to play at Bushka's house so I could go visit my sister at the hospital & meet her new baby.  We were bummed about all the photos that we missed-out on, but of course those things don't really matter and we still got a few fun hospital photos.

 

Academic Night

Beginning in 4th grade, kids that get all A's on their report card get to participate in Academic Night.  I've attended a lot of Academic Night's in my day and I think by the time I got to high school, I quit attending the actual event and just picked up my award the next day at school because the actual event was so long & boring, but this year's program was great!  The whole thing lasted less than 30 minutes, which was WAY nice! The principal said a few words, one of the students gave a short speech, all the "Golden Scholars" were presented their award, and then we watched a little slideshow with photos of all the Golden Scholars.

Penguin with her ALP & homeroom teachers:

Penguin with a couple of her friends: 

Penguin with her classroom's student teacher:

Honors Recital Auditions

 

We found out late last night that my cute Penguin made it into the live & final round of auditions for the Honors Recital.  Yea!!  She's so excited & I'm so proud of her!!

We've never done something like this, but my understanding is that teachers can submit videos of their students ... so any instrument, small ensembles, singers, etc are all welcome to audition.   I still have no idea what the competition is like or what to expect, so we'll see what happens.

To view her audition videos, go to THIS post.

Mother's Day 2013

 {Mother's Day 2013 ... Turkey told me he was making his "bear face".}

I'm totally trying to avoid cleaning the bathrooms today.  It's my least favorite job.  It goes pretty quickly but it's just so gross & so mind-numbing.  I'd love a maid! Who wouldn't, right?

I had such a nice Mother's Day ... actually weekend.  Hubby had a 3-day weekend which is a rarity!!  Just having Saturday's off if a nice treat, so I was excited to see that he got Friday & Saturday off.  Friday I pampered myself a bit & went to get my hair done which included a goose-bump-giving scalp massage.  Ahhh! :)  Then my boys took me to my favorite pizza spot for lunch followed by a little shopping.  Friday afternoon we met with our architect, had a harp lesson, and dinner was squeezed in there somewhere but I honetly can't remember anything about dinner.

Saturday, Hubby went for a 50-mile bike ride with a couple of his friends.  When he got home, I was craving Jimmy-Johns so we packed lunches for the kids and grabbed ourselves some JJ's.  Then we headed to the mall ... my hubby entertained the kids at Pottery Barn Kids, Apple, & the Lego store so I could wander the mall alone.  Saturday night Hubby & I went to one of my favorite restaurants & enjoyed an outstanding meal!!  I'm still drooling and wanting more!

Sunday the kids went with Hubby to pick oranges for fresh squeezed OJ.  Then they made me Nutella filled french toast with raspberries for breakfast.  At the breakfast table, I was showered with cards & gifts of all sorts.  I'm a very blessed momma & wife.

At church, we enjoyed talks about motherhood.  And during the 3rd hour (yes, I go to church for 3 hours!), all the women 12 yrs old and up combined for a lesson on motherhood, ate cheesecake, and then had some time to socialize.

After church we stopped by my in-law's home to visit & deliver a gift.  Dinner was at my mom's house and it was way fun & yummy.  Definitely my kind of food!  My mom made a pot of potatoes, corn, & shrimp and then dumped it out along a couple long tables that were set-up by her pool - no dishes needed.

 

Plans for the Home

Sooo ... we've been working on plans for our home for about 3 months now.  I think we are finally just about done.  It's been consuming many-a-days and we are counting down the days until we can move onto the next phase of the process ... sending everything to engineers & then submitting plans to our town for approval.  Slowly but surely we are making progress.

Audition Videos ... Done!

It's 11:44pm and I'm finally finishing up Penguin's audition videos for an honors recital.  This was a somewhat painful project.  I had to record her playing two pieces which we did on three different nights.  Recording is frustrating because we kept trying and trying for a perfect recording, which just ends up being frustrating for both of us.  I tried to keep recording sessions short because I found that her best recordings were usually the first few ... after that I think she gets tired ... I don't blame her!

After I recorded Penguin on a few occasions, I probably had about 50 videos to go through and I had to choose which video was best for each song.  I kept nodding off, getting up for breaks, etc but I think I found two winners ... well, I hope these videos make Penguin a winner. :)

We've never done something like this before & we have no idea what the competition is like, so I have no idea what to expect from the judges.  I think 3-4 judges review these videos and then some kids are invited for a live audition, so at this point, all we can do is wait ... and practice, practice, practice!  :)

So ... here is my Penguin after playing the harp for 6-months - probably about 6 months exactly.  I'm so proud of her and I can't wait to see where she's at after playing for another 6 months!! 

Rondo:

Russian Lullaby:

Twist & Shout

 

Peacock participated in a school concert Thursday night.  The entire 4th grade played about 15-minutes worth of music on recorders, which was pretty cute.

When the 4th graders were finished, the kids in grades 4-6, that choose to go to school early and attend choir, had their spring choir concert.  The choir kids sang songs from different decades and they did a great job.  I knew Peacock had a solo part, but she never practiced it at home.  I expected her to get up and sing in her sweet choir voice, but when this came out of her mouth, I about fell out of my chair!  I asked her where she learned to sing like this and she told me she sings under her breath with the radio.  What a hoot!

Bravo! 

Busy Peacock

 {Peacock made this at the beginning of the school year to display on the classroom wall.}

Peacock has been busy, too ... always drawing, coloring, and creating.  She also brings home a new book each night to read to me and then she has a quiz every day at school on the book she read the night before.  She's whizzing along in her reading.  She's a great little student.  Her teachers says she's very self-motivated, hard-working, caring, and is such a good, good, good girl.  News like that makes this momma very happy!

 

 {Peacock's violin, piano, & harp ... complete with red & blue harp strings!}

April 3, 2013:

American Harp Association Spring Recital

 

Penguin has been learning to play the harp for the past {almost} 6 months.  Yesterday she played at the spring recital for the local American Harp Association.  She did an awesome job!!  I'm so proud of her & all her hard work.  This next month she'll be busy auditioning for an honors recital and hopefully passing off grades 1, 2, & 3 to an examiner.  For each grade she has required scales, arpeggios, and three pieces to perform, so she'll be polishing-up nine songs this month.  She'll be busy!!

Stuck

Sadly, the world of adoption is a mess and it seems to be becoming a bigger mess.  I won't get into all the politics of adoption today, but I wanted to share a video of my sister.

Consolari Concert Hall

Last Thursday evening, I got to take part in a little bit of history in the making.  At our EVMCO rehearsal, this video was played for us:

If you'd like to show your support for the Consolari Concert Hall & music education in the Phoenix area, please complete the survey HERE.

Our organization's name has been changed to East Valley Millennial Choirs & Orchestras and a third concert has been added to the line-up for this weekend.  If you'd like to attend a concert, please go HERE for more information.  If you want tickets for a sold-out show, please let me know and I can probably help you find some.

Newspaper article about the concert hall can be found HERE.

Happy Easter 2013

 

My Beautiful Girls

Easter 2013

Grand-kids {minus the youngest two}

 

Easter was a busy day at our house.  Peacock & I stayed up the night before scrubbing her head and then straightening her hair - her favorite new style!  Sunday morning we got up, went to "Daddy's Choir" (as my kids call it) ... Daddy directs the choir at our church, Penguin sings, and I subbed on the piano because the regular pianist was out-of-town this past weekend.  Daddy was VERY nice and made our family Nutella french toast with fresh strawberries for breakfast.  Then we were off to church where Daddy's choir performed two songs and we enjoyed wonderful speakers and lessons.  My parents, brother, and niece attended church with my family - they are great to support us in all our little music performances.  I was especially excited to have my brother attend church with us.  I haven't seen him in church since we blessed Turkey over 5 years ago.  He's been going through some hard things in his life, but he working hard and I see huge differences in him - he's seems happier now than he has been for a very long time.  I was also in charge of teaching all the young women (girls 12-18 years old) for about an hour.  I made a video presentation with video clips, music, etc that all related to Easter and Jesus Christ.  The girls came into the room in silence and we didn't have any talking until after the end of the video.  It was a great opportunity for all of us in the room to take time to ponder and reflect on the meaning of Easter.

After church & a couple photos, we finished up our cheesecake dessert and then headed to my parents' home for an egg hunt and traditional Easter dinner.  The kids had fun playing with all their cousins and enjoying the beautiful weather.  When the festivities wound down for the evening, Hubby & I snuck away to go visit my sister and her newest baby in the hospital for a little while.  Busy, but great day!

{Photos by me & my brother Ryan}