Soaring

A couple of weeks ago Bunch decided she wanted to compose a song to perform in her school talent show this year. She worked on it for the week before auditions, and was  pretty nervous that day. Seventy-one acts tried out, but only twenty-one would make the cut and there is a LOT of talent in her school. She felt good about her performance, but either way, she was just glad to have it behind her.

Well, she made it.  I was scheduled to fly that day, but ended up being in town because of a head cold.  I made sure I was all ready with a full battery and empty memory card to record her performance.  So imagine how disappointed I was when a minute into her song my camera turned off...I realized that it had been on the camera setting and not the video setting, so after 60 seconds of inactivity it powered down.  I quickly switched on, but only got the last half of her performance which was AMAZING, the best I've ever heard her play it.  The kids cheered like crazy.

But today I was happy to have another chance to capture her playing it during a small piano recital at her teacher's home.  In her words, "it wasn't quite as good as the talent show", but she still did a fine job. 

The name of her piece is Soaring.

Here is her recital piece from last spring, and the one a year and a half ago with her first piano teacher.

Recital

My little songbird had a recital today. She's not thrilled with her performance, but she's a perfectionist. I personally think it's amazing for a long, complex, fast-paced song...and done all from memory.  She was the only performer who didn't use sheet music at the recital.  It's fun to look back to her recital last year and see how she's changed!  Love this kid!!!





Grateful for:


1) Happy relationships
2) People who develop amazing talents and share them
3) Springtime. At last. (!?!?)  And just in time for our spring break!

For Bunch, and Everyone Else Who Loves Her

Grateful for:

1) My Happy Family
2) Fourteen years of motherhood
3) A working oven

Battle of the Jedi - A Stop Motion Movie

Gator isn't interested in sports, which, he laments, makes him different from other kids. Most of his time is spent reading, playing with his Legos, or begging for screen time, which features Star Wars a disproportionate amount of time. But every few months, he also decides to make a movie.

His interest in movie making dates back about seven years, when one day a question that had just occurred to him popped out of his mouth, "do people who make movies get paid for them?" The concept seemed to blow his four year old mind.

Not that he has specific film industry ambitions. It's just a fun hobby and we've enjoyed a number of his short productions in the past two years. It's quirky, but I've assured him that before he knows it, he'll find "his people" who have similar interests. Meanwhile, my favorite movie creations star his massive paper airplane collection, and his snakes and plastic animals. So far they have all just been on the camera, without audio tracks.

This year he decided to make a movie to enter into the Reflections contest held by the PTA. I'd like to say I was a supportive, involved parent, but the truth is it was all his initiative. Suddenly, he informed me that he had hundreds of photos that he needed to edit.

So I did the honorable thing of A) giving up the computer so he could work on it, and B) walked him through a crash course in Windows Movie Maker software so he could put the thing together. Oh, I also bought him the music and installed a new font for him. But this is his baby, including adding all the "blood" and special effects (just in case you were wondering if that was my handiwork).

As far as I'm concerned, different IS good!

Grateful for:

1) Gator. And yes, I realize that the movie calls him something else, but as far as we're concerned, he will always be our dear Gator. Just like I will always be Blue to my online besties!
2) That sunset tonight was a gift straight from the good Lord above!
3) Working out to "24". I'm doing stepper while I watch it. Hope it gets me into exercising again!

Carried By The Wind

Bunch loves music. Earlier this year she wrote a song. By "wrote", I mean after composing it, she actually wrote it down...which no one had taught her to do, so I was duly impressed because I am about 1% skilled when it comes to unraveling the mysteries of written music. I'm pretty much a play-by-ear girl...which means it doesn't take much to wow me. But still.

Bunch has been making up songs for a long time, but till now she'd never written one down. It occurred to me that maybe we should look into finding a teacher who would be better able to support her in her musical efforts. Her lovely teacher of the past 4 years had given her a fine foundation, but she wasn't going to take her the distance.

So now she has started studying with a new teacher who is inspiring her and making her reach beyond her former aspirations. (Though some days, truth be told, it's me making her reach, but I think secretly she's kind of glad to have me keeping her on top of things.) Because, while my childhood lasted seventeen-hundred years, Bunch somehow only has a short window of time left before she flies the coop and is out in the big wide world on her own. These next four years are going to fly by, and this is her chance to really solidify things and make the most of her abilities.

So I ride her some days. When she's passed that tipping point and her abilities are firmly established, she'll thank me. Till then, I'm bribing her with toffee.



Grateful for:
1) Fine Autumn days
2) Help getting our yard cleaned up for winter
3) The Dollar Theater...kids and I saw the Despicable Me matinee. It made me laugh!

Validation

Happy Thursday!
This is one of my all-time favorite shorts. Sending it out to all my awesome bloggy friends. Have a great day!!!



Grateful for:
1) You. You Are AWESOME!
2) Met a new insta-bestie at work this week. You never know when you wake up in the morning what treasures the day will hold.
3) Today Doc starts his Transitional Year...he's earning money again!!!!

The Mother of All Candy Cards

I finally did the video like I promised. Here is Doc reading the candy card I made him for his birthday last month, which was the day before he graduated from medical school.

Grateful For:
1) Friends. Don't they just make life grand?!
2) Sunny, hot days. 'Cause we've had a shortage of them round here this year. (It's only 55 degrees Fahrenheit right now!)
3) Our kids are taking swimming lessons. I'm so glad about this! (I've been rather a lame mom in the making sure my kids are well-trained in water department.)
*•♫*♥Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ♥*♫´¯`☆

Bunch's Recital

This was a busysuperawesome weekend. More on that later, but for tonight, I give you Bunch's Piano Recital Performance:



Grateful for:
1) Talents. For the joy they bring us throughout our lives as we work on them.
2) Teachers. They really are unsung heroes.
3) Supportive family. Bunch's grandies spent 3 hours driving to be at her recital tonight.

Ordinary Days

The video clip below sums up perfectly how I've been feeling lately. Life has seemed like an engorged river, rushing swiftly by, leaving only a light mist in it's wake, which evaporates too quickly for me to savor the moments.

January tends to always be a quiet month for me...I get introspective and draw into myself more, as I wait for the brightness of spring to return.

January is also an expensive month, when healthcare deductibles get reset. I always manage forget about that aspect of the new year, until I'm at the doctor and realize we'll be paying for everything out-of-pocket till we hit our annual OOP max. Ouch!

This month I have been working a bit more to try and earn a little extra money. We are coming down to the end of the medical school journey. Doc finished up his last interviews this week, and is about to start up a new rotation next week. The kids are back in school with all their activities and commitments pulling them in other directions. And I am trying to juggle our four schedules, with less success less than I'd prefer in the "being there for my family" department.

While I was working this week, I missed Bunch's first orchestra performance...which I didn't know about till recently. Happily, Doc was able to go, and said "the whole experience was so beautiful it moved me to tears." Which didn't help me feel any better about not being there, and also reminded me that I have yet to hear her perform on her viola. Her recital last year was rescheduled after I had it on the calendar and had planned around the original date...but it was too late for me to change my work schedule so I missed it.

These kinds of things cause me pain of the "mommy sort". I know that childhood won't last forever, and I feel somewhat helpless in my inability to do it all. There are always going to be Good, Better, and Best choices in life. Work is Good, and maybe even Better, but the time with my family is always going to be Best. I hope I can become better at juggling, or maybe I just need to find a different job. (but I love mine so!)


Grateful for:
1) The poignant reminders in this video clip (thanks Keri!)
2) Being a mom
2) The love and support of those around me (this week's heroes are Shelah, Jean & Doc)

I have a new theme song

Like it?

Moments...

...they're all we have



Grateful for:
1) the moments Doc and I share
2) fleeting glimpses of my real self
3) generosity of heart

Timely Reminder...

A message from one of the leaders in my church from a few months ago.


Grateful for:
1) Heavenly Father
2) My Savior
3) Those who have helped me in my hard times

Parley's Nature Park II

At the risk of becoming known as the Crazy Creek Woman, I am posting for the second time in less than a week about Parley's Nature Park. Doc and I went back again for a walk on Saturday, and this time I brought the camera so I could capture a little bit of footage and photage. If you ever come for a visit, you can bet we'll be taking a walk to one of my favorite places together....so you may just get to fall in love with Parley's yourself someday.


The waterfall. Ahh, the sound of it!


Doc by the falls.


The peaceful creek




The kids here have made a dirt bike jump park all on their own here. The city had nothing to do with it. I just hope no one gets involved and tries to "regulate" this scene. We should all be able to just LIVE AT OUR OWN RISK.



The elusive voice of Blue.

Need your mind blown?

Lazy Post Number Two

It's almost Monday everybody! In a few short hours, millions will head out on their daily (or weekly) commute. Wouldn't it be awesome if commuting were this fun?



Have a great week!!! ♥

Lazy post

I don't typically do this, but I'm working and have just a moment with no time to write. Was feeling hungry at the moment which made me think of this.

So enjoy a hearty laugh...a classic SNL skit. I'll have another favorite short clip for you next time.
Have a happy weekend all!

Blue's Tip of the Week: Fancy Napkins

Note: you could use any similar object...doesn't have to be a water bottle.
Video Credits go to my fellow flight attendant Mike, who was a great sport about filming this.
It was completely unscripted and spontaneous, and we only did one take. Hope you enjoyed it!

I don't watch tv...

...as a general rule. I just kind of phased out of it about 8 years ago, and it's been a good move for me. We don't have cable, and with our rabbit ears on the set in the basement, we only get PBS and a couple random stations. The kids and Doc regularly watch two shows, which happily air on PBS, so for at least a few more months till they stop working next year, Nature and Nova are a weekly part of their lives. I am glad they're such cute little nerds.

But today I saw this episode of Oprah on the internet, and it was very touching. It's 27 minutes long (commercial free!), so if you have some time, I hope you'll give it a whirl. And have a great day! ♥

Click To Play

I may be one of the last people in the country to become aware of the show American Idol. That I know anything about it now is entirely the fault of Pandora.com and YouTube. That darn Pandora and YouTube! I may not watch tv, but a body can seriously wile away the hours watching vids on YouTube.

Anyway, Pandora.com introduces me to all these songs that I've never heard before, and sometimes I want to hear them again, so I'll search YouTube to see if anyone has put it up there.

So there I was, blithely listening along when suddenly I heard this song that I've loved my whole life, but I liked this new version SO MUCH BETTER than the original. I had to find out about the artist...which is a simple matter of link-clicking with Pandora. And there he was, some kid named Clay Aiken. Wikipedia told me all I needed to know about Clay. He's living the American Dream...small-town kid tries out for a big, once-in-a-lifetime-competition, and though he looked like an unlikely candidate, he won the hearts of the country and has had a total life-transformation. And no wonder--if you hear the big voice that comes out of this guy, it blows you away. He seems to be a really nice person of substance too; hasn't let fame and fortune go to his head. I'm sure part of the reason I'm fascinated is because there are a lot of aspects about his (pre-fame and fortune) life that I can relate to.

Youtube supplied me with loads of Aiken vids, and I've become a fan. Why at my age, for the first time, am I developing fan-ness? I mean, first Josh, now Clay. I've never been a fan before--with the possible exception of Donny Osmond and his purple socks when I was a kid (only I was "a little bit classical")

Here's the song that hooked me in the first place. I hope you enjoy this new rendition of the old classic by Dolly Parton. And though it does nothing for him, and reminds him of bad Woolworth's elevator music, I must dedicate it to Doc. Thanks for comin' again!

For Baby Zeth

Set to the song: "Lullabye for a Stormy Night" by Vienna Teng