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.

A Walk in the Woods

In mid-March we met up with a few friends at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park to enjoy a leisurely stroll through the forest. I had expected more of a hike, but the trails were well-groomed and fairly flat, so we were able to really take our time exploring and marveling at the giant trees. We picnicked at some tables set in a grove of redwoods.  

 

Here's one that the everyone could go inside! Adah was the photographer and the other kids are here with one of their friends.

 

 

 

 

Do you see the spider webs in the crevices of this tree? Adah spotted this and took the picture. Damon & I only saw it when we saw the photos later at home. So cool.

We eventually happened upon a little river and the kids and dads had fun throwing and skipping rocks.  It amazes me how throwing rocks in water is a source of endless entertainment.

 

When a horsewoman rode by on the trail above us, Damon asked if she'd bring the horse down to the water, not expecting her to agree. Well, she plunged right down the slope to the water's bank, and then that horse would not budge. We were waiting there for a good 30 minutes as she repeatedly tried to coax the horse off the bank and into the water.

Eventually, she hopped off and tried to lead him in, asking Damon to give him a little flick from behind, something he wasn't too keen to do. We were all feeling awkward and Damon guilty by this point. Since the horse was still being trained, the woman was determined to not let it win, and we felt obligated to stay and watch. However, she eventually had to take him back up to the trail where she proceeded to find another entry into the river. We found her a short time later, with the horse up to its shoulders in the water, presumably learning that there was nothing to be afraid of.

We finished our visit to Cowell State Park by discovering a sandy beach by the little river. Our friends who'd invited us on the outing had been to the park before, but never seen this beach. Some other kids were swimming there and ours eventually turned wading into being wet up to their waists! There was a rope swing that was a big hit. This would be a fun place to revisit when properly equipped with swimming attire. Our children, who insisted they wouldn't mind the drive home in their wet, sandy pants, were not too happy with the realities of their discomfort when the time came. Still, we made it home just fine for baths, dinner, and bedtime after a full day.

The Kazam Cafe

About a month ago, after coming home from a full day's outing, Adah and Gunnar worked together to set up the Kazam Cafe. Adah was the chef, and Gunnar was the waiter.

The chair was roping off the cafe--please wait to be seated, you know--until she was ready for us.  And, everyone had to stay out of the kitchen:

The menu:

Here's the inside of the menu, where we were instructed to choose something from each group (A or B, on the right and left sides). This pretty much represents the entirety of Adah's cooking repertoire. Not bad for 10 years old. Do you like the section "The Sand-which-is on the Seashore"? Get it? (Read it aloud.)

 

You can't read this one very well, sorry. It says at the bottom, "FAMILIES MUST decide on a certain meal." In other words, we all had to agree on our order so that she was just making one dinner. : ) We chose "Salad Surprizes" and "Special Spagetti."  Adah's still learning a bit about the restaurant business. She knew that meals were prepared to order, but didn't understand that that meant the kitchen had many things staged and ready for final preparation. We were excused from the table while she got our dinner cooked, as she didn't even have water heating in the pot yet. Nevertheless, it was such a treat to have Adah mastermind our meal and to include her little brother in the process. The spaghetti and salad were just perfect that night.

Adah's Piano Recital

Adah began piano lessons here in California in January. We were lucky enough to find a piano teacher right across the street! It is so convenient and easy for me to just send her out the door. Damon actually discovered the teacher because her next door neighbor was playing the piano and Damon knocked on the door to ask where they took lessons.

After just  a few weeks of lessons with the new teacher, Li Ping, it was already recital time! Because of some scheduling confusion and miscommunication we only found out about the recital about three days before it happened. Adah knew it was coming up and was prepared to play, but we had to really scramble to fit it into our already overly-scheduled Saturday.

We finally made it to the recital hall at Santa Clara University and got to listen to Adah play all of her pieces perfectly! Shortly after she played, we all had to sneak out to make it to the next event, but Adah stayed and got a ride home with her teacher, who took these photos for us at the end of the recital.

Adah is progressing well in her piano studies under Li Ping. Adah is a great performer and has always been able to learn difficult songs and play them with feeling. She's quite good at memorizing pieces and never had to rely much on reading music. Li Ping is really working on that with Adah, which can be a struggle at times, but I'm grateful that she's learning that skill. It will combine with her natural talents for memorization and playing by ear to really broaden her options and abilities as a pianist. I'm proud of Adah's commitment to playing and practicing, even when it's frustrating for her. Well done, Adah!

Side Note: We were pretty bummed that we didn't remember to bring our own camera, especially during the pre-recital photo op with all of the students. Adah was one of the younger students, happily grinning amidst a sea of dark-haired Asian kids. She was the only blonde and I think only one of two white children in the group. It was quite a representative image of our community's make-up.