Piano Recital at Good Samaritan Retirement Community

Rian and Hayden had been practicing their recital pieces for weeks, and today was the big day to show what they had learned.  Hayden had been through this experience many times before, but this was Rian's first recital and she was quite nervous to say the least.  Yesterday, she handed me a note in bed at 6 am that said she was too sick to do the "recidal", and could she please stay home instead.  Then she asked me to check either the 'yes' or 'no' box to let her know the answer.  But after butterflies left and she took a deep breath, Rian performed really well.  She was first on the playlist, so after she played "Chopsticks" and "Jolly Old St. Nicolas", she was off the hook and was able to enjoy the other pianists. 

Hayden's piano teacher, Mrs. Peiffer told us after the show that Hayden had her best performance yet.  She played four rather difficult pieces (Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, Canon in D, When Johnny Comes Marching Home and The Irish Wedding Dance) all from memory.  It was impressive to watch and filled our hearts with pride to see our two girls work so hard and perform so well. 

Everyone posed for a few pictures by the Christmas tree before leaving. 

Grandma and Grandpa came to watch (they haven't missed a recital yet!) and Joan and Arlen were there too, along with their friend Wendy, who was interested in seeing Hayden's progress since the last recital.

Mrs. Peiffer- what an amazing lady!

So Jessie was a bit (ok, a LOT) fidgety all througout the recital.  She kept saying her back was itchy and she was scratching at it and lifting up her shirt every so often.  It was only after we got home that I realized the problem- Jessie had stolen one of Hayden's training bras and was wearing it under her shirt the whole time! (Sorry, Hayden, this was too good not to share! xo)

Taekwondo testing- Fall Quarter

After having been out late every night all week due to working on the Robin Hood play, Hayden had to get up early Saturday morning for the most grueling Taekwondo testing yet.  It was a three hour test designed to see which black belt candidates would be ready to test for their black belts this June.  Master Skip Leanord flew in from California to help the other examiners in their decision. Hayden was exhausted, and also VERY nervous! Unfortunately, I took mostly videos, so I didn't get many pictures. I did get a couple of Hayden and Mariah sparring.  But I missed out on Hayden sparring against two attackers because I was videoing it instead.  It was all great fun to watch.   Hayden did great on all the areas they tested her in: Forms (all 16 of them), Hapkido, Sparring, Kicks, Blocks, 11 Basic Stances, and Breaking.  She had to do a two station break this time- a side kick followed by a spinning hook kick.  By this point in the journey, there is so much information to remember, I don't know how she does it!

                     

Everyone was relieved once it was all over and the eight students who tested (4 black belts and 4 black belt candidates) posed for a picture with the instructors. And Master Leonard gave his blessing for all four black belt candidates to test for their black belts this June!

Robin and Robin Hood

As if her scedule wasn't already full enough, Hayden decided to add the 5th grade play to her list of commitments.  Luckily, she chose to be more of a "behind the scenes" player, rather than one of the main actors.  She was in charge of doing all the sound effects throughout the play.  This included making sounds on her own, as well as downloading sound effects onto a CD to play during each scene.  The kids had rehearsal several mornings before school, as well as everyday after school the week before Opening Night.  She had a lot of fun and learned a lot about play production in the process.  After a few minor technical difficulties at the first run through of the show, she had her timing down and her sound effects even brought laughter from the audience at the appropirate times! The 5th graders were in charge of producing the entire play themselves- directing, acting, costumes, set design, managing the microphones, you name it.  Everyone worked really hard, did a fantastic job and had a lot of fun in the process.

Second annual Father-Daughter-Daughter-Daughter Dance!

Mike and the girls got all gussied up for the Father/Daughter dance Saturday night. They had looked forward to it all year and it didn't disappoint. The dance is held at St. John's in Loveland and it is always decorated to the hilt.  They had a red carpet rolled out at the entrance, the "couples" were announced by microphone upon arrival, and the fun began!  They had fancy desserts (cream puffs, mini cupcakes, cookies) and punch, and the room was decorated in snowflakes, balloons, streamers and glitter to the theme of "Winter Wonderland".

Waiting for daddy to get ready!

After a long preparation of showers, perfumed lotion, lipstick, nail polish, and flat-ironing, everyone was ready to get the party started! (Much to mom's dismay, nobody was willing to wear color coordinated outfits this year, much less matching dresses).  

Keeping with tradition, the Kensora Girls joined the Thomas Girls for the dance.  Hayden spent a long time curling Sarah's hair- doesn't it look so pretty?

I am told this was not the first trip to the snack table.

Boo doing the chicken dance. Mike wasn't able to get many pictures due to the lighting, but everyone danced the night away and had a great time, especially the one-on-one slow dances with daddy.  (Well, ok, they tolerated those and totally loved rocking out to Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga!) After a couple of hours, Mike brought Rian, Jessie and Jasmine back to our house to watch Rudolph and fall asleep, while Tim was a good sport and let Hayden and Sarah stay until the dance was over.

Mike and Hayden started the tradition three years ago, just the two of them, and now it has expanded to a party of four. I'm sure it will be an anticipated annual event for many years to come.  

Kindergarten Show and Tell

For this month's IB planner at McGraw, We are all Artists, the Kindergarteners had to do a show and tell showcasing an artistic talent.  Some of the kids did a dance, sang a song, painted a picture, etc.  Rian decided to play the piano.  We brought in our keyboard and she played two songs:  Jolly Old St. Nicolas and chopsticks.  She was pretty shy at first, but once she started playing she did a fantastic job!  And she had fun showing the class how the keyboard could play songs "by itself" and how you could change the music to sound like different instruments were playing. 

Mrs. Themm held the keyboard for her while she explained things about it.

Elfie Red

The day after Thanksgiving, ever since we can remember, a little elf magically appears in the morning along with a book, "The Elf on the Shelf".  We read the book together, though this year Rian was able to read the entire thing by herself, and follow the directions- the magic elf watches over the girls during the day and every night flies back to Santa to report on their behavior.  The elf (or Elfie Red as Hayden named him years ago when he first appeared) then shows up the next morning in a new location.  The girls are so excited each day when they wake up to go and hunt for Elfie- you never know where he will appear! The  rule is that you may never touch Elfie- or he may lose his magic.  Watching over the girls and their daily behavior really makes our job as parents much easier during the days leading up to Christmas :)

His first appearance- on top of the paino in a little candle holder.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a nice relaxing Thanksgiving this year.  Mom started out the day at a Sun Salutations Yoga class, which was a great way to start off the weekend- and the girls all helped with various cooking projects throughout the day.

Rian helped mom make the pumpkin pie.

Jessie helped daddy with the cranberries, and also helped keep Sugar entertained!

Mike made two really delicious and moist turkeys on the grill.

Hayden helped baste the turkeys. Grandma and Grandpa came over at three o'clock and brought a nice fruit salad and a green bean casserole.  We also had candied yams, stuffing, cranberries, acorn squash stuffed with apples and cinnamon, and three kind of pie for dessert! (apple, pumpkin ad pumpkin pecan- thanks to our neighbors the Willsons).

 We said prayers of Thanksgiving, and then had a toast using sparkling cider. It was a nice low key way to spend the holiday.

What a handsome pair!

Rian, the carnivore of the family, delighted in eating the turkey leg AGAIN this year.

The next three members of Overeaters Anonomyous. Though all of our bellies were a bit distended by the time we were done, only these three bellies were cute enough to photograph! After dinner, Grandma and Grandpa and the girls watched "Polar Express" on daddy's big TV in the basement, while mom and dad cleaned up dinner and the kitchen.  After that, we were all too tired to do anything but relax.  Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

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