Piano Recital

Sarah, John and Janine had a piano recital this morning. It was for all 30 students of Mrs. Scott, their piano teacher. Each student played a piece that he had chosen and practiced, none more than three minutes long. The pieces varied from beginner's exercises to Bach partitas.

Here's John at the baby grand. Click here for video of his piece. It's from a recent Harry Potter movie. Because John likes everything Star Wars, he really likes John Williams, and by extension Harry Potter.

Please note that each child introduced himself by stating his name, number of years taking piano and the title and composer of the piece he will play. Due to the limitations of the microphone on the digital camera, you can't really hear the introductions. The recital was held at a nearby church.

Here's Sarah with Nana. Sarah choose "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Grieg. While she was sometimes reluctant to practice, she practiced anyway and I think she did very well. But of course I'm her Dad. Click here for video of Sarah's piece.


Of all three Janine went first. In fact she was the second overall. Click here for a video of Janine's performance. Janine played an exercise piece called, "Dancing." She was very brave going so early and was very good sitting quietly next to her friend Kaitlyn for the rest of the performances.

Here they are after the recital. Sarah and Janine both changed their clothes almost immediately after their performances. In typical fashion, John kept his blazer on until we went out for lunch.

Overall, Sarah, John and Janine all worked very hard, practicing their music until they could perform it dressed up, in front of an audience. Mrs. Scott was very pleased. Mommy and Daddy were very proud. I have to leave the final complement for my wife. She rode herd for them to practice at home. She even arranged for them to practice their introductions and play the piano at our church earlier this past week. Kudos Mommy!

Nature Path

This past Sunday Janine and I walked to church. Not only was it a fantastic morning, sunny and about 55 degrees, but we got to use the new nature path running behind our house. Here's Janine on it. Note that she is holding not only her purse, but her two favorite Care Bears.

The big story is that the township is building a nature park on the empty land behind our house. Originally the school district owned the property. All sorts of rumors went around that they would build everything from a new school (good) to a bus barn (bad). About 10 years ago the township bought the property. Then the rumors shifted to lighted ball fields and all night softball leagues.

Finally the township parks director drew up a plan for a nature park and presented it to all of us skeptics who lived next to the land. (About 300 feet of our lot fronts it.) We gave it our grudging approval. The parcel is too small to be developed for houses profitably while meeting township requirements. We all also knew that it would be developed someday, so why not now? Besides, a nature park would pose the fewest potential problems.

It's still under construction from last fall, but they have put in about a mile of walking path, the base for the small parking lot and leveled the land for the all-purpose field. The plan also calls for a tennis court, playground, rest rooms and a sand volleyball court. The parks director tells me that they are building it as the funds become available, so I'm not holding my breath for sand volleyball. We'll keep you posted.

(It's been a hectic week so it took a few days to get this posted.)

Sisters

Sarah and Janine have been having a lot of fun lately playing piggyback. John captured this moment of silliness this past Sunday. Thankfully nobody was hurt and nothing was broken. Shortly thereafter Sarah was off to youth group at church and Janine had Nana to herself. But moments like this are like gold.

I love it when they enjoy each other like this. It reminds me of how much fun I had with my brother and sisters growing up.

Erin Go Braugh

Happy St. Patrick's day! We celebrated yesterday with the tried and true corned beef and cabbage. Yes, it's another food picture, but don't you think it is nicely presented and appetizing?

OK, OK so I did cook the meal, that is if you can call two Crock Pots and two pots of boiling water cooking.

Now comes the best part, leftovers! corned beef hash and reubens that is. Don't worry there will be no chance for photos. It will all get eaten very fast.

Chalk Lines

Yesterday while Bobbie was doing the Latin lesson with Sarah and John, Janine was busy. She quietly got to work on the chalk board and finished with this multi-media "installation."

You see, Janine is counting the days to the first day of spring next week. It's part of her Math lesson to each day write the date and day of the week and draw a picture if it is sunny, cloudy, raining, snowing, etc. (I don't think she has a picture for an occluded front.)

With spring on her mind after a beautiful sunny day Monday, she had the inspiration to draw. Here it is; a spring day with trees, flowers and a bird. That's Twee-twee, the squeaky bird toy, taped to the scene.

Fierce Birthday

Sunday was Sarah's birthday so she got to choose the dinner. We all enjoyed lamb chops, risotto, spinach salad. All three of our kids prefer pie to cake so we had apple pie for dessert.

Here's the pie held up by a rather fierce Sarah. She is at the age during which she doesn't like to have her picture taken so she either mugs or runs away. In this one I think she wants to mug me!

Note the properly browned crust on that pie. It was flakey throughout and the filling was not overpowered by any one spice. But the final proof was in the very small amount of leftover pie which Sarah claimed Monday morning for breakfast. Great job Bobbie!

Skating Show

This past Monday night was the skating show. It's hard to believe that this is the sixth year that the kids have participated in this event. Starting with the Tiny Tots six years ago, now Sarah is the anchor of the Alpha group and is ready to move up next year.

Here she is with her friend Karissa (aka Hermine Hilton) who is on the skating team. I think Sarah would like to participate, but she is concerned about the time commitment. Skate Team members skate three to four times per week, year 'round at odd times when ice is available. I think Sarah likes to have some spare time from three days a week at the ballet studio.


John grinned it up for his photo. Janine and John are both in the pre-Alpha group and it's a big one. There must have been about 30 kids on the ice for their number. So there were two large loops of about 12 kids each with John and the tallest kids (including one adult) in the center. Thankfully as the kids have grown, the costumes no longer obscure their faces so it's a lot easier to spot them on the ice. The kids are almost lost in the videos of the early performances. I just set the lens on wide angle and let them skate. Now I can track them much more easily.

Finally, there's Janine mugging on the ice. She is the one who rules the roost among the little girls. When I took them over for practice Janine had them all running around and giggling. But that just seems to be her nature. The greatest contrast was watching her run around with her friends then reach into her backpack for her favorite teddy bear for a quick break, then return to her buddies. She seems to switch between the two and back so effortlessly. I don't know what to think about it other than simply remind myself that I am watching one of the wonders of childhood.

Haircut

John and I needed a haircut the other day so we went to the barbershop up the street from the ballet studio. As a baby boomer who grew up on 1960s TV the likeness of Floyd the Barber on the sign attracted me.

For the non Baby Boomers, Floyd was the barber in the town of Mayberry, NC where the Andy Griffith show was set. He was played by an longtime character actor named Howard McNear. Click here for more.

As you can see John liked his haircut, and wants to go back there the next time. John gave Eron the barber his greatest endorsement, "he really knows how to cut my hair."

John has not had great haircutting experiences in the past. Other barbers just chopped and combed it away. Because Eron paid attention to John's thick hair and dual crown, he will get our repeat business.