Music Lessons

Here's a picture of last spring's music recital. It was a smash but then the summer came.

We continued everybody's everything through the summer but with vacations, events and summer laziness we lost some momentum. So here's to a fresh start. All three of the girls are the proud piano students of Auntie Whitney. She is a fabulous teacher and I love that they get to spend so much one-on-one with my talented sister. Isn't that a great way to develop a relationship? Whitney enjoys herself thoroughly though the girls run and hide when she arrives. Sage and Faith are coming along nicely when they actually practice everything assigned. Sage has reached the piano milestone of "Fur Elise" and Faith was thrilled to get "The Pink Panther" this week. Jane has been taking on and off for a year now but is just starting to read the staff. Now that her reading skills are picking up, she's ready to play like the big girls.

 

Here's Jane at our second piano that the previous owners left for us. At first, I was ready to give it to the first person to haul it away. I'm a compulsive purger. It's badly out of tune and probably un-tunable. But it sure comes in handy when two little Rachmoninoffs need to practice at the same time and the Christensen's piano has earned it's spot in the office.

 

 Sage and Faith are also learning a string instrument - Sage in her second year of cello and Faith 6 months into the viola.  They are doing well and learning quickly and I feel so lucky to have wonderful teachers for each of them. I've always played the piano but recently, I think I've discovered that my heart is with the stringed instruments. When our friend Jen McConnaghie would play her cello in church, I found myself melting. Those strings can convey emotion and feeling so beautifully. I'm carefully grooming my string quartet for the day lovely strings are playing in my living room instead of having to wait until the next great musical  number. And the girls are very excited and motivated to learn something besides the boring old piano. Piano is a requirement in our house but the strings are optional. The girls have done a good job keeping up with two instruments.

And here's another picture from our music recital in May. Micah was the guest performer and wowed us all with his comeback after 20 years in piano retirement. You see, the piano was also a requirement in the Bodine household though Micah fought it tooth and nail. It was a real treat to see him tickle the ivories after years of avoiding the piano at any cost. But you should know that Micah is a remarkable guitarist. Maybe we'll recruit him as the guitar teacher someday.

Faith Celebrates Her Birthday on the First Day of School

I can't believe I am writing about Faith's birthday since I just updated the blog with her 8th birthday post. But here we are - Faith's a year older and just getting better with age. She is a lovely person who adds so much beauty, fun and affection to our family. 

 

We started the day with birthday breakfast and lovely balloon centerpiece compliments of Uncle Micah.  Well, the girls actually started the day at 5:30, dressed with their shoes and backpacks ready. 

 

And then came the first day of school picture with my three lovely MacArthur Mustangs. Sage will be in 5th grade, Faith in 4th and Jane in 1st. Janie was happy to join her sisters at MacArthur and is especially excited to eat her lunch at school and ride her bike.  Sage was delighted to get her new glasses in time for the start of school but not so excited that her prescription is steadily climbing upward.  Faith is wearing the cute dress she picked out on her shopping outing with Grammy.  Once the kids hit eight, Grammy gives them a budget and takes them shopping. It's a highly anticipated event.  Faith scored some cute things and learned a thing or two about budgeting - a win/win.

 Jacob also started speech preschool again with Mrs. Shellie. He was excited to get back to see his friends and ride the bus.

 After school, Faith got her heart's one desire and went to the nail salon. She's been talking about going there for months now and I was so excited to surprise her with a trip on her birthday. She got nails and toes painted with flowers and gems. Lovely! And the best part of the nail salon was the massage chair. Faith wants one for her room.

 And here is picture of our #2 and #5 - with just a glimpse of a smile on Jonathan's elfish face. I love these guys.

Summer Happenings

Surely, Jonathan's arrival was the biggest event of the summer but here are a few other highlights before I post first-day-of-school pictures.

When Jonathan was born the kids got to go camping with Grandpa and Grandma. Grandma understands that real campers need accessories so she provided the sunglasses. Good times were had by all - especially Grandpa who loves traveling and camping, in particular. Just kidding. It was all Grandma's idea.

Here are my three bathing beauties sporting some swim team ribbons. We completed yet another summer at Kino Swim Team. Jane had a stellar debut in the 6 and unders. It all culminated in something of a disaster of a divisional meet but we'll still be back for more next year.

 Bert goes to great lengths to get a family picture one Sunday.

Bert and the girls went with Grammy and Grandad to Shoensburg to get an old family homestead. Jacob and I missed them all terribly and banned them from anymore trips without us.

 Jonathan is growing like one of our babies - fast and fat.  He gets loved on all day and I'm constantly reminding his admirers to wash their hands and be soft with Baby Brother.

 Jonathan went for his first swim at 1 month old and he loved it. Honestly. He was never so happy as he was in pool. This is a first step on the way to Kino in five years. We realize we're still in the "honeymoon" stage of pool ownership but we've loved having a pool this summer. We hardly know what we did without it. The kids could swim all day if we let them and Bert and I love to take a dip and cool off after bedtime. We've even managed to keep it clear for the most part.

Foreshadowing at it's Best

We came across this picture the other night. It was taken in 2006 when we first bought our tandem bike. Yep, that's us 8 years ago in front of the house we'd live in someday. I love it.

Jonathan is a handsome boy

Auntie Elise took Jonathan's pictures at 9 days old. She is the baby whisperer - look at these gorgeous pictures.  She's at www.elisemillettphotography.com if you want to peek at her other work or hire her for your cute baby. He's grown up so much already. I'll post some more recent pictures later.