Violin and Piano Autumn Recital

These boys had their autumn recital with their teacher Andy Happel today. Andy is Link's one and only teacher and he is a great match for Link. Meo has done some private lessons with Andy over the summer, but Meo mostly just does group lessons with Andy. It gives him a great opportunity to play and perform regularly with other homeschool friends as well as learn some non-classical pieces and techniques. These two practice practically everyday and we are grateful that some of their grandparents were able to make it to their recital to hear all their hard wor,.

Here are videos of both of the boys' performances.

Link playing "Morning":

Link playing "Oh Susanna":

Meo playing "Hunter's Chorus":

Meo featured in "Fiddler's Dream":

One of the several group performances. This one was "Off She Goes":

Afterwards, Grandma and Grandpa treated us all to pizza which has become a fun after recital tradition. Thank you so much! We love you guys!

365 Project: January

My life, a photo a day. January 2019.

Linky is 5!

My beautiful little boy, who is full of life and love, turned 5 this weekend! This boy is almost always moving, whether it be spinning in circles, bouncing in place, or running around. He is clever and loves to learn. He is incredible at memorizing poems and recites them with such pomp and gusto and drama. He started learning piano at age four and loves to practice. He also sings while he plays and amazes me with his ability to find the right pitch with his little voice. Link loves to tell stories and to play pretend. He loves building with LEGOs, blocks, ball tracks, and train tracks. He loves to draw and paint. He loves animals, especially frogs.  He is incredibly independent and imaginative and never needs to be entertained. He loves to snuggle and we lay with him every night and every nap time to cuddle and sing his favorite songs and tell him stories as he falls to sleep. He is very outgoing and loves to talk and play with new people that we meet.

This year Link wanted a Luigi (from Super Mario) party. We decided to have a smallish party at our house this year with some his very good friends and family. It ended up snowing the day before, so a lot of the party had to be in our not so very large house. But it was a nice kind of cozy and I think everyone had a lot of fun. We had crockpot mac and cheese, and start shaped biscuits, yoshi [hard boiled] eggs, fruits, veggies, and all sorts of yummy food to eat. Link helped me to make an apple spice cake with cinnamon whipped cream frosting, and we decorated it with a big Luigi "L". We played a Super Mario version of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey", had a question block piniata filled with goodies inside. Outside, Robbie had made Peach's Castle out of a bunch of big cardboard boxes. We played Luigi's Balloon game (someone has 30 seconds to hide some balloons and then the others have to try to find it in under 30 seconds). Since there was snow, people also ended up making snowmen, having snowball fights, and went sledding in the front yard. Here are some photos from the party:

That evening we ordered pizza and had dinner with Jess and Ryan. Link wore his birthday crown with his new charm for this year (he chose a pink rose) and we set up his birthday wreath. Then we shared stories about his life so far as we lit the candles. After diner we all played Mario Party together on the Nintendo Switch.

Thank you so much to everyone who came to celebrate with us. It was perfect for Link and he loved it and we are so happy to have such amazing, loving family and friends. Thank you for all the wonderful gifts too, Link loves them all. What a wonderful 5th birthday our little guy had!