Spring Break

Ahhh!

This is so nice! USF is on spring break this week, and I haven't had a job that really made a difference at spring break before (except at Hanfield, when I had to work harder because a good portion of my volunteers took a vacation!), but since I have 15 students at USF, this week is significantly less busy.

How nice!

Let's see... updates.

The house: We MIGHT have a rent-to-own potential buyer on the line. A former student, Krystal Arce and her sweet little family of 3 need a place to live starting the first of May, but aren't in a situation to finance buying a home just yet, so we might try to work something out with them. Of course, that means that we have to get caught up on house payments and replace a few pipes and a window. We're not going to do all that until we know which direction they are for sure headed. Anyway, you can pray about that...

Maia is still our little princess. She decided she wanted to cross genres and be a princess pirate last week. We thought that was amusing:

Isn't she dainty?

I've also discovered that she doesn't necessarily need the TV playing all the time, the CD player will suffice. So, I'm currently listening to cheesy nursery rhymes for the second time this morning. We listened to the Veggie Tales Jonah soundrack before that, and she loves the Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid soundtracks we keep in the car. She likes to tell me what's happening during the incidental music. She's got a really good ear!

Monday, I got a perm, and Maia had to sit through 2 hours of self-entertainment at the beauty shop, which she did really well. Afterward, we went next door to Shopko to get some school stuff for Xander. I should never go there because they have Payless Shoes right in the store. We wandered over to look around (like a magnetic attraction), and Maia got her heart set on a pair of pink sparkly "fwop fwops." (flip-flops). So we now have pretty pink fwop fwops to wear. She's in them 24-7 if at all possible. She was pretty mad when she had footie pajamas on yesterday morning and couldn't wear her fwop fwops. It wasn't long before she was out of those jammies and wearing only a diaper and fwop fwops.

Potty training? Not yet.

Xander's news:

Xander's in a fun drama group after school on Wednesdays this semester, called FLY. They use drama games and role playing to help kids use positive language in relationships (avoiding fights and working things out constructively). They do a little play at the end of the semester. He loves it. I love that he comes home in a good mood on Wednesdays!

He also decided that maybe he might want to take voice lessons and sing something on my studio recital in a couple of months. We'll see if that goes any better than piano lessons did (we've suspended piano lessons indefinitely).

Xander was tested for his reading level at school and tested at the 97-99th percentile nation-wide. He's reading at a 4th grade level. I'm not surprised, I figured he was pretty high up there. He's sitting just average on the other skills of first grade, like writing, math, etc. He has learned how to burp on command, another important first grade boy skill. He learned that at church. Nice.

One of Xander's best friends, Isaac, from school had a birthday party last Friday evening. It was a "ball" party, and each kid was supposed to bring a ball to exchange at the party in lieu of gifts. Every boy would come with a ball and go home with a different one. That was a lot of fun, they had the bash at the gym at Central Baptist (possibly the biggest church in town). And Xander says he ate 3 pieces of pizza and was still hungry enough to eat a whole happy meal on the way home (really? Xander?). He enjoyed the whole experience until he realized that he wasn't giving a gift to Isaac. He REALLY wanted to get him a Bionicle, and was totally bummed that he wasn't allowed to give him a gift. "What kind of birthday party doesn't have presents?!" I told him that maybe his mom and dad were trying to teach Isaac about materialism and being satisfied with the toys he already has (which is plenty- I've seen his room!). It gave him something to think about anyway.

I have been very busy with lessons, and am trying to close out my jewelry business. I am going to have a going out of business sale next month sometime. Last chance for catalog orders and I'll be selling off a lot of my samples. Not the ones that I wear all the time, of course. I mean, I got into the biz in the first place because I love jewelry!

We had a vocal festival in Sioux Falls with students of SF teachers last weekend. I took 5 students, and they all did pretty well. It was the very first time in competition for my oldest (22) and youngest (5th grade) students, who both held it together remarkably well, I also took a 7th grader and two college students. My college guy blew everybody away with "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables. I wish I could take credit! He's only had 4 lessons with me!

Our judge for the day was Darla Earnest from Vermillion. She and her husband are coming up from Vermillion to Mercy on Sundays and Wednesday evenings. He is the head of the musical theatre department at USD and they're both radically talented. We had lunch with them after church Sunday at Bracco (very good!), and really enjoy them both. They're not only very gifted, but really neat people. Darla was a great judge for the kids on Saturday, and she was able to work with each of them a little to pull more out of each student. Mostly stuff that they get out in the studio but haven't learned to transfer to performance yet- but using slightly different terminology and methods. It was a good experience for everyone.

Tuesday, I had Division I Solo & Ensemble contest for my high school students. I had 3 that went, and I played for them all. They all scored I's this year - yey! I also got a phone call from a Washington HS student (not mine) Monday evening at about 9:30 asking if I could accompany her the next day... the time didn't work for me, so she was up a creek without a paddle. Plan ahead, girl!

Matt's loving his job- mostly - and gets to go to visit the Trek factory next week for Trek University. He's pretty excited about that! We had to break down and get a second cell phone so that we can communicate while he's out of town for 4 days. Luckily, we know a phone guy (my dad) who came over to the house and got us all set up this morning. That meant that I had the house cleaned before he got here at 8:30, so I only have to keep up with my little princess tornado to keep the place tidy for the rest of the day!

Oh, you can email if you want Matt's phone number. I don't suppose I should post it here. I'll update our Plaxo account, so you might get an automatic update.

That's what I can think of to update for now. Thanks for reading. :)