Our Holly

Holly's in there. She really is:

Now do you see her little nose and mouth poking out from beneath the giraffe's head?

On one of our first trips to the pool this year, Holly was finished swimming before the other kids and climbed up on my lap in her towel. It wasn't long until she had fallen asleep in my arms. When it was time go home I managed to transfer her onto the pile of stuff in the wagon where she slumbered away on the ride back home. She woke up once we reached the house and gave me this wary look.

Holly will be three in a couple weeks. She's such a funny little member of our family and sometimes I can't believe my baby is this old. Thankfully she'll still do things like fall asleep in my arms, mispronounce words in the most adorable way, and cause perfect strangers to remark on her cuteness.

Yet, Holly is far from being a baby. She's very independent and doesn't require too many concessions for keeping up with her older siblings when they play together.  She was quite game for being the bound captive in one instance of make-believe a couple weeks ago.

I think that a knight in shining armor may have come in to rescue her.

Holly adds a lot of entertainment and joy to our home, and we sure love her.

10th Annual Music Festival, or Maggie's First Ensemble Performance

Since the fall, Maggie has been taking a group violin class as part of the school district's music program. The program normally begins for students in fourth grade, but because Maggie had already been playing the violin for well over a year and a half (and using the same book that the class would be using) I appealed to the teacher and was allowed to enroll her in the intermediate violin class. That meant that she was playing with children who began the violin last year as 4th graders, so they are all at least in 5th grade! Maggie is three years younger than any of the other students and has done an excellent job all year long.

On April 4, the elementary students joined with the middle school and high school music groups for an all-district Music Festival. (See Maggie there in the middle?)

The elementary string students were led by their teacher Ms. Poulin as they played "Lightly Row" and "The Can Can." The elementary band, middle school orchestra and concert band, high school symphony orchestra, wind ensemble, and symphonic band also played. Some favorite pieces were "Creepy Crawlies" (kids playing on just their trumpet mouthpieces sounded like buzzing bugs at the beginning of the song), "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (what's a high school gym without it?), "The Lord of the Dance" (those high school violinists were impressively fast), and several John Williams classics (Superman, Star Wars).

The final piece was "Winged Victory (Beacons of Light)" by Brian Balmages (whoever that is) played by the Combind Milpitas Unified School District Bands and Orchestras. It was a magnificent conclusion and I was impressed with the coordination of so many young musicians.

We're very proud of Maggie's participation in the concert. She was the youngest performer and learned a lot in preparation for playing in a larger orchestral ensemble. She struggled at times in the class, feeling a little out of place as a second grader amongst all the older kids, but she stuck it out and did a wonderful job. Brava Maggie!

 

Baylands Bike Ride

Damon works just half a block away from a large park with athletic fields, playgrounds, and picnic areas. It 's at the southern tip of San Francisco Bay, and also has 105 acres of wetlands preserve, with paved and gravel paths traveling next to and through the salt marshes. Damon regularly goes for walks there during his lunch breaks where he sees all kinds of seabirds, turtles, lizards, snakes, and lots and lots of snails.

When the girls were on spring break, Damon took all of our bikes with him to work in the back of his truck. At lunchtime, the kids and I drove over to the park and met him for a noontime bike ride. It was a beautiful sunny day, but very windy. There were times when we really had to fight against the wind. It was a bit tiring, but everyone did a great job.

Holly was clearly tired out by the ride. . . 

. . . or at least lulled to sleep. She was OUT.

 

Eastertime

Each year I try to make Easter more of a season than a single day. At Christmastime we really do take the whole month to celebrate and to tell the story of Christ's birth. I think there ought to be ways to have our family focus on Easter for more than a single day.  I haven't really succeeded in making it last a whole month, but we at least try to separate the secular baskets and candy and bunny from the sacred remembrance and celebration of the Savior's Resurrection. 

We always hide the kids' baskets on the Saturday before Easter. After they found them this year, we got on our bikes and rode to a nearby park for breakfast and an egg hunt sponsored by the primary in the neighboring ward. On Easter Sunday we attended church, where Adah and Maggie sang "He Sent His Son" as part of a special primary choir. That evening the missionaries came for dinner and participated in a special Easter lesson where we have plastic Easter eggs filled with different objects representing the events of the Savior's last days, crucifixion, and Resurrection that we look at as we read scriptures. This is a vivid, hands-on way for the children to remember all the things that happened.

The actual Easter eggs didn't get dyed until the day after Easter, making things last just one day more. It made an excellent Family Home Evening activity. Here are the obligatory photos of our family coloring the eggs. I think this was the first year that we didn't have at least one cracked egg. Whew! The kids really are growing up.

 

 

 

This year I had some ideas on how to improve our Easter observance for next year, so stay tuned for Easter 2014. Here's a hint of what I have in mind.