...Oh, NO, she didn't!!

For the past few months I have been "collecting" sayings, phrases, and questions that my preschooler has either repeated, or come up with on her own. Once again, I would like to send out a very immature "I told you so" to people who criticized me for teaching Liesl ASL as a baby, fearing that her prowess with sign language would inhibit her speech. Yeah, we're beyond that. Oops...I mean, "YES, we're beyond that." (Explanation of that in a moment.)

DISCLAIMER! Those of you who know me well know that, on occasion, I am prone to exaggeration for dramatic purposes. I promise you, each and every one of these incidents is 100% true.

Read on...

* Liesl took her children's Bible into the grocery store with us. While we were checking out, she told the cashier--who was obviously Jewish--the following story: "This is my Bible. Baby Jesus was born in this Bible. Then He turned into a hippo."

* Mommy: "Liesl, you are not allowed to go downstairs by yourself right now."
Liesl (in a defiant tone): "Well, Mommy, ACTUALLY, I am."

* With our Pastor in our church, after seeing Liesl wearing an MSU sweatshirt:
Pastor: "Yeah, Liesl!"
Liesl: "We say 'YES,' not 'YEAH,' Pastor."

* In the car, after I roused her early from her nap to take her to my teaching job:
Liesl: "I'm tired."
Mommy: "I'm sorry, is it because I woke you early?"
Liesl: "Yes. You're starting to annoy me a little bit."

* At the same teaching gig, a roomful of conservative Christian moms who homeschool their children:
Another Kid (pointing at Ava): "Ooooo...look at the BABY!"
Liesl: "I have a baby in my tummy."

* After a particularly good violin practice session:
Mommy: "You're my little violinist!"
Liesl: "...No, I'm LIESL."

* With our friends Kelly and her children Emma and Jack, at dinner:
Kelly, Emma, and Jack, being Catholic, crossed themselves at prayer time.
Liesl (shouting joyously): "Happy Hanukkah!"

* When her Uncle Robert and future Aunt Karen, both University of Illinois fans:
Robert and Karen: "Liesl, say 'Go Illini'"
Mommy: "No, Liesl, say 'Go State!'"
Robert and Karen: "Go Illini!"
Liesl: "This is making me a little bit upset."

* When Ava was trying to take a toy out of Liesl's hands:
Liesl: "I would say 'no' to you, but I'm not your parent."

* After accidentally knocking a pile of books off of a table:
Liesl: "That was totally my fault."

* When I came home from a particularly good violin lesson:
Mommy: "Liesl, Mommy started learning vibrato today!"
Liesl: "Rock on, Mommy."

* When Ava tore a page out of my favorite cookbook:
Liesl: "You are so busted."

* After accepting a cracker that I offered to her:
Liesl: "Thank you for this delightful cracker."

* Random conversation with me:
Liesl: "After I’m 4, I’ll be big enough."
Mommy: "Big enough for what?"
Liesl: "Big enough to be 4."

* While I was preparing lunch, after sweeping up a mess of delightful cracker crumbs off of the floor, Liesl picked up the broom and proceeded to "help" me finish the sweeping job by scattering the delightful cracker crumbs across the floor:
Mommy: "Liesl, please move out of the way, I'm trying to prepare lunch."
Liesl: "Well, I'm trying to finish my work, but you keep stepping in it."

Music is What Moves Us...

...ALL of us.

This music is from a local world fusion/jazz group called Musique Noire. I "know" the lead violinst, Michelle Ann May, through a very bizzare set of circumstances. She's a neat lady.

The CD is called "Good Hair" and the song Ava is getting all funky with is "Heretic." I really like it.

Success

SUCCESS
by Martin Buxbaum

You can use most any measure
When you're speaking of success.
You can measure it in fancy home,
Expensive car or dress.

But the measure of your real success
Is the one you cannot spend.
It's the way your kids describe you
When they're talking to a friend.

Kids on a Plane

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by McMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
------------------------------

I give up on "Not Me Monday." I have many things I'd like to post for "Not Me Monday," but my Mondays are usually totally swamped with getting back to "normal" after a weekend. Our weekends seem to fill up quickly with family activities, and it's almost a relief to have things back to "normal" on Monday, the day that most people seem to dread. They have normal jobs. I do not.

So I'm just doing a "Not Me" post--any day. Since I had such interesting (I think so, anyway) and funny incidents on our Florida trip, I want to post them now, even though it's already Wednesday...and we went on our trip more than two weeks ago. (Oh, yeah...I'll try to post more pics about our Florida trip soon, hopefully before the girls graduate from college.)

This is not the first time I've flown with a child...but it's the first time I've flown with children (plurality being the key point here) and it was much, much different. First of all, Liesl was 9 months old when we flew to El Paso for my nephews' baptisms. And while it was not a direct flight, it was still immensely simple to fly with one child, and a small one who was taking two naps a day at that (she napped during the majority of ALL FOUR FLIGHTS when we did our El Paso trip. I actually read my book during each of those flights. Dear Lord, I did not know how good I had it.) And while I did not kid myself into thinking that traveling with two children on direct flights (no connections, woo-hoo) would be in any way easy, and while I spent oodles of time preparing activities and diversions in order to avoid getting my entire family's seating arrangements downgraded to the wingtips (read: outside the plane) in mid-flight; I sort of thought we had it handled.

Boy, was I dumb.

So here goes, my "Not Me" incidents:

Between strollers, laptop computers, violins, diaper bags, and other paraphernalia, we did not have seven pieces of carry-on luggage (or eight, if you count Ava) when we approached the TSA checkpoint. And when we got there, I did not jostle my violin case, which had our metronome in the outside storage pocket. And as a result, the metronome did not start to "tick….tick….tick….tick…." as we approached the security lines. Upon raised eyebrows of the TSA officer, I did not fumble nervously with the zipper of the case, jostle the metronome dial in the process, and cause it to speed up: "Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick…" And when I started to get REALLY nervous, I did not hit the dial all the way to the right, thus speeding it up still more: "TICK!TICK!TICK!TICK!TICK!" And the TSA agent closest to us did not reach for his gun.

My husband did not threaten to abandon me due to the above embarrassment.

On the way home, at the Fort Meyers airport, I did not cause the security alarms to go off at the TSA checkpoint due to too many hairpins stuck in my fabulously fashionable (ha) messy bun. I did not subject my baby to being meticulously patted down by a kind, but quite thorough, female TSA agent because I just happened to be carrying her when I walked through the metal detector. My father, who had taken us to the airport and escorted us as far as he could, did not stick around to watch me (and Ava) get frisked in order to find immense humor in this situation.

TSA did not put me on their "most wanted" list after the metronome/hairpin episodes.

Upon arriving to our gate for our return flight, my children were not 2 out of the 25+ very small children--half of whom were screaming--waiting to board the same flight. Noticing the *horrified* looks of all the childless people waiting at the same gate, I did not find their obvious dismay upon discovering who their flightmates were--and how loud they were--VASTLY amusing.

My children were not amongst the whiniest, most obnoxious children on the flight. And if they had been--which they weren't--they did not alternate their strident outbursts with each other to make sure that Tom and I (and, indeed, all other passengers within a 7-row radius) never had a moment's peace during the 2-1/2-hour flight.

The (obviously childless) crotchety old fart elderly gentleman in the row in front of us did not oh-so-subtly (!!!) refer to me as a "Moo" when our LOVELY, DARLING, ANGELIC <*cough* *cough*> children got slightly (!!!!!) out of hand. As a result, I did not even consider encouraging Liesl to kick the back of his uptight wife's seat repeatedly for half an hour, all the while singing, "Helloooooooooooo, everybody, so glad to see you...hellooooooo, everybody, so glad to see yoooooou," a few decibels higher than was really necessary. No way, not me.

Don't get me wrong: The trip was great fun. Florida was wonderful. The flights were, all things considered, handleable (is that even a word?). I mean, nothing's easy with two tiny children, and I have fewer tiny children than many of my friends do. But think of the last flight you had, by yourself or with companions who are chronologically-mature adults: You got to watch out the window undisturbed, if you happened to have a window seat. Nobody was kicking your tray table from the underside, thus launching your Diet Pepsi into the laps of everybody in your row. (You probably weren't tempted to ask the flight attendant for a shot of vodka in said Diet Pepsi.) You didn't have to stand up and make all the passengers in your row stand up too so you could(awkwardly) change a diaper in mid-flight on your seats, because the changing table in the plane's restroom is a joke. Nobody looked at you in disgust when that diaper turned out to be of the very fragrant poopie variety. (Hey, people, suck it up and deal with it: Kids have to poop too, you know.) You actually got to READ the book you packed, and had a rational discussion with your companion--or you chose NOT to have a discussion of any kind--without having topics such as poopies, pretzels inserted in facial orifices, or barf bag puppets come up. (Yes, I realize having "barf bag" and "come up" in the same sentence is a pun. Totally unintended.) You didn't have to quell your flight companion's urgent desire to shriek "HAPPY LANDING!" four hundred and twenty-seven times when the plane touches down. I mean, really.

Now, again: I have fewer children than most of my friends. My friend Colleen flew with her THREE children to LEBANON, for Pete's sake, and loved it and can't wait to go back. Nobody arrested her for cursing in public and she still seems quite calm and sane. Really! I saw her yesterday and her hair--and her kids--are all intact. So why were we so flippin' exhausted from our flights alone? It was chaos, I tell you.

Plane ride humor aside (and it is VERY funny to think about...now), we had a terrific time in Florida. I will post photos shortly, I hope. I would love to go back--preferably when the girls are old enough to haul their own gear (and their own butts) around the airport themselves, but we did have a truly wonderful time.

Wednesday...but not Wordless

I like to post pictures on Wednesdays without cluttering the post with words...but these pictures I took yesterday simply scream for captions.

Since we missed Liesl's regular lesson last week due to our trip to Florida, I took her in to our teacher on Monday morning for a makeup lesson. Of course, I brought Ava along, so Miss Sharon spent a few minutes with Ava as well, playing games on the piano, and playing a few versions of "Twinkle" on the violin for Ava to dance to. (I am loathe to admit that I forgot my camera on Monday.)

I keep a few recent magazines and catalogs on the family room coffee table and thumb through them when I have a (ha!) spare minute or two. Ava decided to follow suit. So she picked up a copy of the most recent catalog from Shar Music, a stringed instrument catalog from a large company that just happens to be local. Given the fact that Ava has had her first "lesson" at the age of 16 months, and sees her sister and her mother practice the violin several times a day--and her father picking up his violin several times a week as well--it's only right to assume she is studying the catalog with plans of future purchases.

"The sky's the limit, right, Mom? After all, you want me to have a good, quality instrument in order to fully develop my musical potential."

"ELECTRIC violins? Um...I don't think that's what Miss Sharon has in mind."

(Never mind that the catalog is upside down.)

"Ah, here we go: page 13, the Guarneri del Gesu Kreisler. Only $4,400.
Yes, that should do it. Order this one for me, will you?"

(That doesn't include a bow, by the way...I guess Mommy and Daddy better get a paper route...or 2, or 3, or 12....)

To Miss Sharon, from Liesl

Dear Miss Sharon,

Greetings from sunny Florida!

We are so glad you convinced us to purchase a "roll-up piano" for occasions such as these! Liesl has been working hard on her piano scales, as well as her violin study. We are finding violin practice to be even more enjoyable on vacation. With fewer pressures and responsibilities on our shoulders, we've been able to devote plenty of positive energy to our music studies.

So we have prepared a little video for you below:


If you think this is good, wait until you see--and hear--the progress she has made on her violin so far this week, too. We are so glad we toted our violins and other musical gear with us.

For Miss Sharon, and anyone else who would like a good laugh: Stay tuned to our blog for stories of approaching the TSA checkpoint station with our violin cases in tow, when our metronome, packed in the outside pocket of Becky's violin case, was jostled, turned on, and suddenly started ticking very loudly...we had a bit of explaining to do. :-)

Wordless Wednesday

Me and My Big Embouchure

Many of our friends and family are considerate enough to ask us what kinds of gifts we would prefer for Liesl and Ava. I usually ask that toys or clothes don't have any kind of characters on them, like Disney Princesses, Dora the Explorer (gag), or Barbie. These companies make enough money without my kids being walking advertisements, and having to pay for the privilege of doing so. I also ask that toys do not require batteries, or make any noise--unless the noise is kid-powered. But in the last 6 months, I have informed people that since we are so immersed in musical education for the kids, musical toys are welcomed...and actually preferred. Or were.

Yeah, I'm an idiot. My dear friend Amy, who is also Liesl's godmother, took me up on my little suggestion, and brought Liesl her birthday gift of bathtub flutes by Alex Toys. These nifty little auditory torture devices toys allow a lot of creativity in the bath--the kids can fill the water to different heights to achieve different pitches. Lots of creativity and learning going on in the bathtub, folks. Lots of Excedrin being popped by the bathers, too.

Their saving grace--and the reason I haven't (yet) brutally murdered my best friend of almost 20 years, however good her intentions--is that they are, indeed, confined to the bathtub. (Did I also mention that Tom is primarily in charge of bathtime, so he has to deal with the brunt of the racket music that comes from these lovely instruments?)

Thanks, Amy. The kids really do love them, as shown below. Remember, though, what I warned you about yesterday: Paybacks are a b*tch.

The Rundown

1. My dear (skinny) friend Kelly told me where to find this absolutely fantastic guacamole mix in the store.

2. I found it, bought it, and made it on Friday night.

3. It was gone on Saturday morning. (Tom only ate 2 Tbs. of it.)

4. My skinny jeans are not traveling to Florida with us.

5. I am never speaking to Kelly again.

Kids 'n Strings

Liesl and I went to the Kids 'n Strings event at the Oak Park Jewish Community Center this afternoon. Oh, we loved it! We had such fun. It featured the Ambassador String Quintet, which was a treat for us--we have seen a few quartets, but we have not seen a double bass in person. The musicians prepared a very special interactive presentation of several pieces for us, and showed the differences in their instruments. The kids all enjoyed it and got involved, and it was fun to see the adults getting into it as well. (Myself included.) This was a rare opportunity to introduce very small children to live classical music without having to worry (too much) about their behavior, how they were shuffling in their seats, or all the noise they make.

Our favorite piece was when the quintet played several of their own special versions of "Old Mac Donald." They had a different key and a different tempo for each version...but most importantly, they had a different animal in each version that we were supposed to "listen for." The violins chirped like a bird; the viola "skittered" like tiny mouse feet; the cello "hee-hawed" like a donkey; and the bass player did an absolutely hilarious version of a cow chewing and mooing. Liesl had such a ball with that piece. I just love it when kids are so into something that they don't even know they're learning!

I was able to turn this into an event on the FAMC calendar, and got a few of our FAMC members to bring their children to the event. There were also two other students from our violin teacher's studio at the event with their parents, so we got to see a lot of familiar faces.

(And I'm fairly certain that my kid was the only Christian kid dancing to "Hava Nagila." Priceless.)

The bass playing the cow

She actually sat still and paid attention!

Yeah, it was that good!

Dancing to "Hava Nagila"

Liesl and Miriam, who coordinated the event for the JCC.
An absolute sweetheart.

The Early Bird Gets...to Learn

Today, we attended a very special Mom's club event, an "Explore Your World" playgroup given by my friend Kelly. The object of the playgroup was to learn about the benifits of vermicomposting for the home gardener, and the planet. Kelly prepared a very special demonstration for the kids, including a lot of hands-on activities--and later, of course, they got to see and touch the worms. :-) There was a HUGE crowd in her house, and so many questions! About 15 moms and well over 20 kids showed up. Afterwards, there were great snacks and social time for the kids and the moms.

Liesl and her buddy, Tiama, (age 6 and homeschooled) watching the presentation. The kids were REALLY into it. They all stayed very still and quiet, listening to Kelly's talk. She had lots of hands-on stuff for the kids to look at, touch, etc. I was amazed that such a large crowd of such little kids could sit still and pay attention for so long. Must've been a darned good presenter!

At the end of the demonstration, Kelly opened up both her bins so we could see the worms! The kids were FASCINATED. They couldn't tear themselves away.

Colleen with Nadeem, age 2; and Tiama, age 6, asking questions of Kelly. Julia, age 3.95, in the bottom left corner (Christine's daughter)

Christine with daughter Julia. Julia was fearless! Most of the kids were very comfortable with touching the worms (mine included.)

And what would a worm workshop/playgroup be without dirt cake? There was also lots of fruit, cheese and crackers, salsa and guacamole. But the dirt cake was the hit of the show!

"...You've got WHAT living in your house?!?!?!"

That's the response I had when I told some friends about my new vermicomposting bin. Yup, I have masses of tiny, wriggly little redworms living in my house. Intentionally. I asked for them, from a dear friend who got me excited about vermicomposting. Many of you who visit our home on a regular basis are used to seeing Cool Whip containers of kitchen waste sitting on our counters, waiting to be taken to the compost bin outside. When the weather is warm, we don't mind taking trips out to the compost bin in the corner of our yard. However, when it is cold, snowy, and wet outside, it is a pain to get bundled up just to carry a couple of containers of scraps outdoors. Ta-da! Instant solution: set up a worm bin. Perfect!

They live in a Rubbermaid 31-gallon tote, in which I drilled several holes for ventilation and drainage. I filled it with shredded newspaper and corrugated cardboard for bedding and moistened it with water. (Liesl had a great time helping me shred and mix the newspaper, by the way.) I buried a week's worth of food scraps in the bedding and then impatiently waited for my friend Kelly to bring me a batch of her surplus redworms. That was such a great day--two grown adults (Kelly and I) and our four kids, ages 1-4, huddled around this bin watching a mass of wiggly pink worms in a pile of newspaper. Oh, the things we find amusing! :-) And it doesn't stink...seriously! It currently sits in our front hallway, and we have never noticed an odor. This is accomplished by carefully burying the food waste in the bedding, so that any rotting food is covered and not exposed to too much air.

We will be conducting some experiments in our garden this year. We plan to fertilize half of our pepper plants with vermicompost and half without, and see what kinds of yields we get.

And for those of you who are saying, "eww" (I know you're out there, I can hear you gagging), imagine the benefits: No more trudging out into the snow to dump compost into an outdoor pile. Free fertilizer for plants. And...it's science! Science is happening in your very own home. Our girls--even the baby--are fascinated by this phenomenon. Imagine the learning going on in their little brains! Ava cannot be torn away from the bin when it is open, she keeps pointing into it and saying, "Ehh? Ehh? Ehh!" She learned the ASL sign for "worm" very quickly! Liesl asks a thousand questions about what's happening in the bin, and talks to the worms. (On a good day, she can be found sitting next to the bin, earnestly reading stories out of her Curious George books through the ventilation holes in the bin. We wouldn't want the worms to get bored, would we?)

It's a win/win situation: The worms get a comfortable, safe place to live and plenty of food to eat. Free room and board! We get incredible fertilizer for free, and we don't have to trudge outside to our compost bin in the frigid cold.

My dear friend Kelly is hosting a vermicompsting playgroup on Friday through our Mom's club, to introduce kids and their moms to the concept. Kelly is working on getting her Master Composting certification, so she has become very knowledgeable. And, the snacks (for the humans) she is planning for her playgroup...well, let's just say I'll have to post some pictures soon. :-)

I drilled 1/4" holes in the bottom and sides of the bin for drainage and air circulation.

Based on Kelly's experiences, and copying her brilliant idea, I used a hot-glue gun and affixed small patches of old, cut-up nylon stockings over the holes, to prevent fruit fly infestation. (I hope worms are happy with the color of the nylons...I could have used my old black ones.)

This is the bottom bin, to catch any drainage. Tom cut and sanded PVC pipe pieces for me, to use as "stilts" between the bottom drainage bin and the worm bin.

Setting the worm bin inside the drainage bin, stilts holding the worm bin up.

And now, for bedding. :-) I had lots of help shredding newspapers, old bills, and credit card solicitations for the bedding. Kelly's husband is a police officer, and he made the observation that no crook will go searching in a bin of rotting food and worms for papers to steal our identities. :-) See, another benefit!

Liesl helping me bury the first load of kitchen scraps for the worms.

And they're home! :-) They were a little shell-shocked at first.

Kelly's and my kids: Emma, almost 5; Jack, almost 3; Liesl, 3; and Ava, 1--all hung out around the worm bin for a few minutes. Just look at the learning that is going on in their little heads.

Ava finally got a turn (look at how Liesl was "teaching" her dolly about vermicomposting, too)

All the "big kids" got to touch the worms...so of course Ava wanted to, too. Oh, I knew we'd have sibling rivalry, but I never imagined it would involve blind, cold-blooded, legless creatures.

The next day...overnight, the worms had migrated from the top of the bedding down to the garbage I had buried. Many of them were partying together in an onion skin.

Wordless Wednesday

Enough

We just can't seem to catch a break. The kids get sick. Then they get better, but I get sick. Then I feel better, but they get sick--and they are usually considerate enough to stagger their illnesses, in order to maximise the amount of time that we can't do anything outside the house. It goes on and on and on. Now both of the girls are on antibiotics, which I hate to do, but they really need them this time. I worry I'm going to be next. Our doctor is sick of seeing our faces. Tom can't take time off of work to help out because of the state of GM right now. The kids are bloody sick and tired of being cooped up in the house for weeks and weeks on end. But, I can't take them out because they'll infect every other kid they come in contact with, or one will spontaneously combust because she's really not well and needs her rest.

When I worked in a middle school as an interpreter, I was always disgusted with parents who sent their kids to school when they were obviously sick enough to infect everyone around them, not to mention not able to concentrate fully on their schoolwork. It isn't fair to the sick kid or anybody else around them. Now I sort of get it--eventually the kids have to get OUT of the house, or they'll miss a month's worth of schoolwork. That doesn't make it right to infect everybody else around them, but what are they going to do?

I honestly don't know where the perpetual sickness comes from. I make sure they get enough sleep; I feed them a pretty good diet with fruits, veggies, whole grains and lean meat; we do a fair amount of hand-washing in the house. Nobody is in daycare, I have limited contact with people outside of my "Mom" role, and nobody at Tom's work is sick. Sure, we expect to get a bug here and there...but constantly???? It's getting so old, it's all I can do to not sit down and cry every morning.

I shouldn't complain, either. Tom survived all the layoffs of salaried workers and still has a job as of now. He is going to take a pay cut, and the cost of our out-of-pocket healthcare benefits is rising, but he still has a job, and we still have health insurance. We will have to tighten our belts even more, but as long as he has a job, we will survive. We know so many people who have been laid off and are loosing everything. One of the engineers we know of has sent out 70 resumes in the last 6 months...and he has heard nothing from any of them. I should be thankful that we can at least afford to buy medicine to help the kids get better, that we aren't going to foreclose on our mortgage, and that we still have some creature comforts. If I didn't keep those things in mind, I don't know how much more I would able to take of this weather, these horribly crabby, snot-producing children, and being trapped for weeks on end in a house that is rapidly getting too small.

Spring cannot come soon enough.

For Grammie and Papa

For my parents, who are spending 2 months in Florida (oh, you poor things) but are definitly missing their grandchildren.

Here is the promised video of Ava climbing up on the piano bench. She also climbs up on sofas, kitchen chairs, and step stools. She has had limited success with climbing on a bed (she will carry a step stool to the bed to give herself a boost. Or use the nearest unsuspecting human being as a human stepladder.)

Oh, Deer

Look what decided to come over the berm to pay our yard a visit during breakfast (and drop some poop in the process!) Why, yes! It's a DEER! Oh, happy, happy; joy, joy! But wait..."This is Suburbia," you say? True, though we are fortunate enough to live in a subdivision that is much older, and has larger yards and lots of forest.

Tom and I constantly rebel against our parents, who curse and complain about squirrels, blue jays, and snakes in their yards. We, on the other hand, love these kinds of critters and enjoy observing them and discussing them during mealtimes. However, our tolerance is not extended to these lovely, malicious bandits. If you could see the damage these majestic beasts can inflict on flower and vegetable gardens in one night--not to mention dropping huge piles of rabbit beans poop on your lawn--you might not love the sight of them so much.

The kids got a huge kick out of it. Ava loved the thing. (Mommy and Daddy didn't explain that this is why we have the electric fence around our precious corn patch.) Liesl wants to name it "Mr. Deer." (I want to name it "Mr. Dead.") Though, since we're not exactly on intimate terms with the deer, we don't know what to call it. Sir? Ma'am? Him? Her? It? (I call it "Get-your-butt-out-of-my-gardens-you-thieving-cloven-hoofed-bastard!")

Ah, spring.

Liesl's 3rd Violin Recital

The February recital was last Sunday. It was a busy day, between Sunday School and the recital! She did very well, although we had a few, um, behavioral issues prior to her going up for her performance. Oh well...she's 3 and acts her age sometimes.

Here is her repertoire for the recital:

* "Blast Off Song," a game created by Miss Sharon to help her differentiate between the A and D strings (the two strings in the middle, which she often muddled together until we we started this game)

* Variation A Rhythm on all 4 strings (4 sixteenth notes followed by 2 eighth notes)
* The first line of "Twinkle Twinkle." Her first time playing a note other than an open string in a recital. She has been learning how to place the correct fingers on the correct tape of the correct string at the correct time. No pressure....

Earnestly practicing Saturday night

Hanging out with Mr. C. at the reception after the recital. Mr. C. is our violin
teacher's other adult student. She talked his ear off. Poor man....

Scoping Ava's tray for cookies, no doubt

Ava loves her portable high chair so much, she wants to sit in it at home too, while we were unloading the van.
What can I say. My kids are weird.