Circus Time

Xander's class went to the circus a few weeks ago, so I took Maia to the same matinee. We had a lot of fun. There were trapese artists, tiger & lion trainers, clowns, trained elephants, a bunch of scantily clad spinning women, a screaming ball full of motorcycles and a human cannonball among other things.

These aren't the greatest pictures, but here's a glimpse of what we saw.

Preschool Wrap-Up

Maia's last day of preschool was almost a month ago, but here's some pictures:

Maia and Miss Julie


Maia with Kelynn & Preston


Maia's class in the program doing the "Tootie Tot" (with the same actions as Jamin's version of "Singin' in the Rain" which campers will recognize- Thumbs up, feet apart, knees together, bottoms out... etc.)



Maia


Veronica


Gabe, Kelynn & Makai


Preschool was sure good for Maia this year. She'll go three mornings a week next year. We're excited to see her starting to recognize her numbers and letters (finally), and showing signs that she might actually be ready for kindergarten next fall.

Summer Has (Sort of) Begun

I suppose this is what we get for trying to make our summer start earlier by getting out of school on May 18- but it does not feel at all like summer here.

Jay Trobec (our beloved weatherman) said last night on the news, "I hope you enjoyed summer, or as we like to call it around here, Sunday afternoon..." Good one Jay!

Summer vacation means many adjustments to my schedule and the kids' lives. Matt just keeps plugging along, but doesn't have to leave quite as early for work (to take Xander to school).

I have adjusted my lesson schedule so that I only work on Mondays and Tuesdays. I went from 30 students 2 weeks ago to 8 this week. Makes my life considerably more flexible (and less profitable).

Our first week off from school was a little rough- we did teach Xander to get his own breakfast, so I can get my "beauty rest" (amazing how fast I switch to Night Owl mode when summer hits)- though Maia has been climbing into bed with me around 6:30 or so and wiggling around until I decide to finally get up, so that's nice.

We had to limit Xander's computer and video game time to 2 hours a day. It took Xander a few days to adjust to that, but we were getting sick of all of his conversations revolving around video games... We sent him outside to our terraces to play Bionicles on Sunday afternoon (you know... summer) for a while, which he enjoyed once he got the hang of it.

Everyone except Matt has been sick already. Stomach bug of some sort. Maia started it by getting sick in the night on Friday night (then proceeding to climb into bed with me- thereby passing her bug to me in the night). I got sick just in time for church Sunday morning, so Matt had to lead the hymns in first service. He says they'll appreciate me more now. :) Xander came down with it Sunday evening, and had a rough night. By Monday (Memorial Day), we were all feeling fine (though waiting for Matt to fall victim, which he never did).

Memorial Day was nice. Mom & Jim came up and we finished painting the inside of our garage. This was Jim's obsession this week. He came over last Thursday and primed both our garage and the neighbors' (in the duplex), and Monday we finished painting our garage, got some serious organization done and it looks almost sterile out there now (the lack of color is somewhat disturbing to me, but what are you going to do? I only know one person who's decorated his garage- Keith Conner- his is black inside with fog machine, laser light show and disco ball... fun, but maybe not what we're looking for here.

Last week, we had a chance to go to the park and try to get Xander on his bike. That's one of our major goals for this summer (it was our goal for last summer too, but didn't happen), getting him to learn to ride his bike. Matt & Xander spent a while working on a grassy slope trying to get his balance, which is still... undeveloped.

If we can get Maia to encounter a bug or two without freaking out, I'll consider it a successful summer with her.

I had a jewelry show for my friend Kim last week. I know, like I need more jewelry. I think I got about $500 worth of stuff for about $100 as a hostess. I'm looking forward to that coming in! I was moderately pleased with my turnout. I sent 36 invitations, and 4 people showed up, and 2 placed outside orders. If I didn't know the business, I'd think I was miserably unpopular, but that's just the way it goes in reality. I was excited that I knew 36 people to send invites to!

Big plans for the summer include sending both kids to the YMCA camp across the river from our house for a 2 week day camp. They have a very well established camp called Leif Erickson camp for kids Xander's age, and a preschool version called Little Vikes for Maia's age. They'll be going at the same time as a couple of friends, so that should help with the adjustment. I like that they can see our house from there, and that they come home to sleep every night. That will be the last 2 weeks in June.

Xander's also going to a 3 day dance camp. I think he'll have a really fun time. That's the first week in June.

Second week in June is Tour de Kota (Sunday & Monday), Maia's birthday (Tuesday), and then we're sending the kids home with Grandma Georgie & Grampa Bruce while Matt & I go to the Scheels' awards banquet in Braynerd, MN (sp?). So I guess we have a few things scheduled, but really not a huge deal.

I'm trying to avoid the hyper-scheduling of summer, and just letting summer be summer. I've got a recital to prepare for in September, and of course, the school musical in March (which I need to be preparing for already), so I'm trying to do some pre-paration.

Never Too Old To Get Nervous

Tina says I have to tell you how it went tonight (See previous post), and I'm very obedient...

I think they really liked it. My students had fun and sang well, I was proud of them. Several people came up to me inquiring about how much voice lessons cost, and how good you have to be to start. My non-musical best friend at church asked if I could make her as good at Anna (one of the students) in maybe 3 lessons?

It was mostly an older crowd. This is an invite your sister/ daughter/ daughter-in-law tradition with the Good Shepherd folks, and they represented well. We also had a good sprinkling of Mercy ladies there (I begged them to come).

I focused really hard on not speaking too quickly and tried to keep things interesting by using the students as examples frequently. I did not hold the attention of the 4-7 year old crowd (2 girls), but from age 11 and up seemed pretty well engaged the whole time.

It didn't take as long as I feared it would, but I probably presented for about an hour. That includes using some songs- some were just segments, but 4 were whole songs. I sang one song so they'd know I can practice what I preach.

The singing and accompanying were fine, I could relax into those parts, but whenever I was speaking, my knees and hands were shaking uncontrollably. I suppose it WAS my first time speaking a full message EVER. Maybe when I have to preach at church in August, I will not have such a violent nervous reaction. No, I probably will. Better program some songs into that too, so I have some moments of peace! How backwards!

Making Your Life Sing

So, I've been asked to be a speaker- a SPEAKER- (not just a singer) at our Co-Workers (the Mennonite women's group) soup and salad supper this evening.

Anne (pastor's wife) called me last week and asked if I'd be willing to share what I do with the group. They have this annual soup & salad supper and usually ask someone who has a particular skill set to come in and share about what they do, maybe have a little interactive activity together. Last year Anne (an artist) was the speaker and had everyone make greeting cards just in time for Mothers Day.

The funny thing is, I came up with my idea about what to talk about 2 weeks before I was asked. The Lord is funny that way, huh?

Anyway, I'm going to be using voice lessons as an allegory for spiritual growth. I've got 2 college students who are going to come in and be guinea pigs for me, I'll talk about Breathing (being filled with the Holy Spirit), Trust (chipping away at layers of bad habits), Baggage (emotional strongholds), Language (going deeper into God's Word), Resonance (finding your fit in ministry), and Performance (trials and temptations/ refinement). I'll use my students as examples and let them sing a few songs. We'll end with a short mini-recital. I think it'll be really fun.

So today, I should be working on refining my outline instead of blogging about this.

The Maestro Comes To Church

OK, so last week was a good week at church. It was Mothers Day, so that means our first service (traditional) was bigger with quite a few family guests and the second service (emerging/contemporary) was smaller because the young people went to visit their mothers.

I didn't think much of a visiting family in first service, except that I thought I recognized the dad. I asked if he'd been to our church before, but he said he hadn't. His wife was very bubbly and friendly- and they stayed for coffee/ fellowship time between the services. I felt like the first service went well, Cecile was playing piano (she's a fantastic play-it-by-ear kind of gal), and I didn't screw up too many things. I was asked to lead an extra reading that I don't usually read, and in general, felt like it was a good service. I was really feeling refreshed by the Holy Spirit's power and felt like He was really in control of both services.

Second service went pretty well too. We had the kids help lead worship on the first two songs- one of which was Keith Conner's "Great Big God" which they TOTALLY love! People came ready to worship and we had a great time of "going deep" in our Mercy service.

Matt had to work Sunday afternoon, so I took the kids out to lunch at Dairy Queen with our friends the Dixons. Stacy Dixon doesn't pull any punches, and if she senses any performing and hiding from me, she calls me on it (she's an annoying friend- in a good way). She felt like things went really well too.

LATER... that afternoon, I found out that this family in first service was the family of Delta David Gier, the conductor of the South Dakota Symphony.

I KNOW!

I found myself not sleeping over this on Sunday night. Why would he come to our little Mennonite service? I don't figure he'll come back. We're just not very high-falutin'. Matt says, "What makes you think he wants high falutin'?" I guess our wonderful friends, Bruce & Darla from Vermillion (who are friends with Gier), recommended Mercy to them. And the wife has been emailing Pastor Shel, looking for a church that didn't need to depend on Power Point. Well, our Good Shepherd service certainly doesn't!

So my challenge is to keep my focus on allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and guide and not be concerned about how I'm perceived. Who cares, right?

My Newest Stage Disaster Story

OK, so I've haad a few nice stage disaster stories in my past, my favorites being the time I lost all the crinolines out from under my skirt while singing "I Enjoy Being A Girl" alone on stage with just me and the orchestra in high school. Another was the time at USD when I was accompanying a guy who skipped from the first verse to the coda on his song, I flipped 3 pages and we ended the song in 45 seconds.

Today's experience is bound to go down in history.

I've spent a lot of time on the stage in my life. I've been doing recitals since I was in the 2nd grade, which was roughly 28 years ago. I am in front of people every Sunday at church and I'm used to being there, so usually I'm pretty unflappable. But today presented a new challenge I've not faced before.

I was playing for one of my students on USF's departmental recital, a weekly recital that all students taking lessons in any instrument must do once per semester. My student had chosen "Sei Miei Sospiri" (formerly known as "Pieta Signore"), which is a standard out of the 26 Italian songs book. It's a long song which repeats back to the begning after playing it all the way through, totalling somewhere around 5 1/2 minutes.

I usually play for my students, and I always photocopy my music for departmental so that I don't have to take all the books with me across campus to the recital hall. I copy the pages front to back, so that it's just like the book (I destroy all the copies afterward, and I own all my original copies, so don't bother calling the copyright police on me).

So I go out to play for Corbin, my singer who was performing, play through the whole first page introduction, turn the page, and IT'S UPSIDE DOWN! I realize at this point that I have copied all the back pages upside down. O CRAP!!! Luckily, this song is in an easy key, has a lot of two measure a capella sections (where I don't have to play, so I can gather my wits), and I've played it several times.

SO... I read through the entire song, half of which was upside down, then I had to go back and do two of the upside down pages AGAIN!!!

Obviously, I didn't do it flawlessly, my poor singer kept looking at me like "what am I doing wrong?" Poor guy! He was trying to figure out why my eyes were bugging out and why I was on the verge of laughter the whole time.

This story is going to stick with me for a long time. I'll never forget poor Corbin!

So, I Got A Bike...

Check it out! It's even wilder in person! I call it The Mystery Machine. :) It's very Scooby Doo.

This is the bike I've kind of had my eye on for a few months. Matt found it for me (of course) in the new Trek catalog, and was trying to talk me into it. I'd really rather have this:


We are in desperate need of a replacement for the car that Matt drives, and I've always wanted a yellow car. The thought is to get a Bug for me and the kids to tool around town in, and Matt would get the Aztek. The kids are big enough to climb into the back seat of a 2-door, and the Aztek really looks more like a Matt car than an Amy car... But I've been warned that a Bug can be a lemon, so I want to do my research before I get one. Plus, I need money (details, details!).

But anyway, the bike is my Mothers Day gift from Matt & the kids. It was too hard to keep the secret, and Matt spilled the beans the same day he built it. He says he'd still like to accessorise it for me, with a basket and a bell and I don't know what else. I got to go visit it at the store this afternoon, and I took one look at it and said, "I'm definitely going to need a lock, because EVERYBODY's going to want to steal my bike!" Matt's trying hard not to let the store order any more so that I'll be the only person in Sioux Falls with my bike (of course, he doesn't have any control over what the other bike dealers in town do).

So now, I'm no longer the bikeless wife of the bike salesman.

The Magical Land of Oz

Today was the day of All City Elementary's annual all-school musical. They have a series of 4 musicals that they do on a rotation. Last year was "Little Red Riding Hood" and this year was "the Magical Land of Oz" (same story as the Wizard of Oz, but with lamer songs).

The way they do it, is each grade gets assigned a role- so this year, the Kindergarteners were trees & flowers, 1st grade was munchkins, 2nd grade was the Citizens of Oz, 3rd grade was flying monkeys. The 4th and 5th graders get the speaking roles. I volunteered to help with makeup for both the dress rehearsal this morning and the evening performance, so I got to see it twice. Matt & Maia came for the morning performance as well, because matt led worship team practice in the evening.

It was fun. The kids did a great job. I might have to help direct in the future. I'm sure it's not an easy job, so I'll save my comments. :)

Here's the 2nd graders at an off-stage moment:


Xander, Alexis and Robert getting ready to go on stage this evening:

If You Don't Laugh You'll Cry

I try not to complain about the weather around here too often. Nobody wants to hear it, and everyone thinks they've got it worse where they live. But here it is 2 1/2 weeks until Easter, and it snowed last night, going to snow again tomorrow. Today we had a high of 16 degrees and it just doesn't look like spring will ever come.

Depression has set in. That SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)? Yeah, we all have it. And we're pasty white ghosts. We need some sunshine around here- the kind that warms things up, not the kind that means it's colder because there's no cloud cover.

I find Matt's approach to handling his attitude amusing. He blames the weatherman. Literally. Poor Jay Trobec! This evening as Matt watched the news, I heard the following things,

"Curse you, Jay Trobec!"

"Oh, now you did it."

"That's it, I'm never speaking to Jay Trobec again."

"Seriously, the only way he's going to get back on my good side is if he comes in and buys a Madone 5.5 full carbon frame..." and blah blah blah bike talk.

"Jay Trobec's off the Christmas Card list."

"Jay Trobec better hope I never see him, or I'm going to punch him in the face."

Now, if you know Matt, you know he's not a violent man. Jay Trobec, if you read this, you really have nothing to fear.

Interestingly, I saw Jay Trobec at a coffee shop a few weeks ago. Kind of weird seeing people from TV out in public. Matt seems to spot them all the time, including one Sunday morning at church when one of the local anchors attended Mercy (not Jay Trobec, thankfully, or there might have been some voilence done in the name of Jesus).

Anyway, I was glad Matt was not with me when I made the local celebrity sighting, or there could have been some serious damage done to his perfect hair and smile.

Jay Trobec, tell the truth. Will spring ever come to South Dakota?

When I Grow Up...

Maia says that when she grows up she wants to be a grandma & a doctor. And she's going to fix people's teeth and toes.

I asked some of her preschool classmates what they want to be when they grow up (apparently it's a hot topic at school these days). Veronica said, "My name is Dr. Iseminger." So I asked her if she also wanted to be a doctor when she grows up. "No. I'm going to be a cow."

Preston says he's going to be Spiderman.

Best of luck with that. Which college do you think he'll attend? One that has red & blue for colors, I'm guessing.

Someone's Been Paying Attention

Tonight, Maia was not being very helpful in the assembly of a 750 piece jigsaw puzzle that Matt & I were working on (Matt got it to work on with Xander, but it turned out that it was too hard and Xander lost interest pretty fast). I called her a "stinky turd," not an uncommon thing for me to call her (that's awful!)

She retorted with, "I'm NOT that! Everybody chooses me. God chooses me!"

To which we affirmed that yes, indeed, God chooses her and me and the rest of us.

Sometimes you just need a reminder that none of us are stinky turds in God's eyes.

Non-Athletic

I got a phone call from the Sioux Falls Skyforce basketball organization today at about 1:30, begging me to come and sing the National Anthem at the ballgame tonight. Hey. Free tickets for me and the kids (Matt had to work). Unfortunately, we were only able to stay for the first quarter before venturing back home in the sub-zero temperatures to get the kids into bed.

It was fine. I did fine, and I would guess they'll ask me back. They didn't pay or anything, but we did get free mini-basketballs for the kids.

The last basketball game I went to was a Pacers game in Indianapolis. Let's just say, the energy level was not quite the same. It was ... fine.

New Fish Day for Maia

First off, let me say, I'm not sure what the deal is with our big "Presidents Day Break" here in Sioux Falls. I told one Indiana friend that we just really honor the presidents in South Dakota. The kids had last Wednesday through yesterday (Monday) off from school, right during the same week when I finally resumed teaching at USF after Christmas and J-Term break.

They spent a lot of time with other people.

Mom & Jim shouldered the bulk of the load, I took the kids there Friday afternoon, and left them there until Monday evening (USF does not honor President's Day, and I teach all day on Mondays).

At some point over the weekend, Maia decided that she also wants to have fish as pets. I said that since she hadn't spent her Christmas money yet, she could buy a fishtank and some fish when we got back to SF. Mom actually had a fishtank that had belonged to Aunt Rene', so she sent that home with the kids on Monday.

Today we went fish shopping. We wanted to get our fish at Mini Critters, because our friend, Megan, works there. But they didn't have any Bettas. I've really been impressed with Xander's Betta. It's lively, hardy, fiesty, and has a habit of snacking on the goldfish's long fins (well, they're not so long anymore).



Xander's got a "spicy fish" (red Betta) like this one, and a no-longer-long-tailed goldfish, as well as 2 golden snails. His fish are (as of today), named "Spic" and "Spam." Because they live in a clean tank (Matt & I cleaned and conditioned both tanks yesterday), and because one likes to eat the other one. His snails are named Bob & Joe. (Again, as of today).

This is what "Spam" looked like when we bought him. He's much stumpier now, and skittish for some reason...


These names are much easier to remember than the old names he had for them... one of them was Zahita, for a while his snails were Snickety and Snickerbob, but I think those are the two that died. So Bob & Joe is a lot easier to remember. His snails are pretty much identical, and he was thinking of naming one of them Noodle. I said he should call them Mr. Noodle and his brother, Mr. Noodle (Sesame Street reference).

Again, this is what Xander's snails looked like when we bought them. He has two. Now they're kind of grimy, and like to latch onto each other as food after we clean the tank!


ANYWAY- Maia chose a lovely deep blue-purple Betta, as well as a kind of purply-silver something... I don't know what it is. And one snail with a purply swirl on it's side. She decided to name the Betta, "Captain Hook" and the smaller fish, "Tinkerbell," while calling the snail "Peter Pan." So we have a theme tank going in her room. Her tank is a bit larger than Xander's. Maybe we'll continue to add to the tank with such characters as "Wendy," "Little John" and a whole school of "Lost Boys?"

How To Raise A Nerd in Today's Culture

Business Time

Melissa Kessler sent me this video on Valentine's Day. I laugh harder every time I watch it.

Valentine's Day

This year, Valentine's Day was such a nice blessing! Starting from the beginning:

The kids are out of school for our ridiculous "Presidents Day Break" from Wednesday until Monday. I started back to work at USF this week, so that made life a little tricky. So the kids spent the day at Aunt Rena's. I was scheduled to start teaching at 11:30, so in the morning, I made the shrimp kebobs planned for dinner (shrimp wrapped in prociutto or lemon slices, skewered with Calmata black olives, drizzled with olive oil, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes and parsley), wrapped them in foil and stuck them back in the fridge while I simultaneously did some laundry.

Took the kids to Rena's then stopped by JC Penney's to get Matt a new pair of pants. While there, I decided to see if there was a dress I could wear that evening - and found a lovely little number marked down from $90 to (are you ready for this?) $6.99! I KNOW!!!

I went over to school to start my afternoon, remembering as I was doing some driving that not only had I neglected to pack a lunch, but I had forgotten to eat breakfast as well (this is a frequent occurence for me). Luckily, I didn't have any students signed up until 12:30, so I ran over to the cafeteria to eat. While I was there, eating lunch with the husband of the teacher who hired me, I got a phone call from my brother, Casey, who happened to be in town and free for lunch. At first, I was sad because I figured I was booked all afternoon, but as I looked at my watch, thought we could at least squeeze a coffee in. I told him to come over to campus, and we were able to get him some lunch at the coffee shop in the basement of the student center. So that was a nice surprise.

I taught at school until 3, went and picked up the kids from Rena's (she lives on the opposite side of town from us), then taught for another hour at home until 5:30. My last lesson stayed and ate supper with us, then was the kids' babysitter for the evening.

Supper was a remarkable feat. I managed a gourmet meal with about 20 minutes' prep time. It was on the table by 6:00. We had the aforementioned shrimp skeweres (baked, not grilled), ciabatta bread, Mediterranian curry cous cous, and fresh strawberries.

The kids had hot dogs.

I know you're dying to know what the evening was all about. We went to the opera. How 'bout that? Our local performing arts center hosted the Teatrico Lyrico d'Europa performing "The Barber of Seville." AND we got free tickets. Thanks, Bobbi! It's good to know people who know the right people, I guess! PLUS, we totally lucked out and got a parking spot right near the door (it was -4 degrees out). If you include the coat check, and the new clothes, the evening cost us about $42. The seats that we had would have probably sold for about $75 each, so we felt that we made out particularly well. Plus- new dress.

How was the opera? Pretty good. Opera's definitely an art form that takes some getting used to. I've only ever seen Madama Butterfly (twice, and been in it once), which is a Romantic Era opera. "Barber" is a classical era work, but Giaccamo Rossini. It's in a vein all it's own. There's a lot of text repetition, and the plot is absolutely ridiculous. The emphasis is definitely on the vocal prowess of the performers. The orchestra was excellent as well.



Isn't that a funny picture? You would think that maybe if your two leads are supposed to be "young lovers" that you might not zoom in quite so close, revealing that they're both well into their 40s. You also get the distinct impression that the tenor is actually Michael McKean (pictured on the right below), and you might get a little "Spinal Tap" thrown in for kicks.



Anyway, it was really nice, and the Mezzo did a great job. She was completely overshadowed, however by the Baritone who sang the role of "Figaro.'' He was awesome!

I've rambled far too long. That was our day in a nutshell. WAY better than last year, when Maia was sick, and I had to get a head gasket replaced on the car. AND work.

My Latest Thoughts About Europe

Matt I have been discussing and praying a lot about this opportunity to go to Europe (see previous post). Today, my thoughts are this:

The opportunity will still be there next summer. Maybe if we took enough time to plan things out, we could work out a ministry plan that would mean it really would work like a mission trip- especially for Matt. Hey, maybe we could even take a team with us? What if we did that, spent some time studying the language (I've been back into the German textbooks and listening to some confusing tapes from the library), and then Matt could go with the primary objective of mission, while I could go with the primary objective of continuing education?

I talked to one of my colleagues at USF today and she said there's a remote possibility that the school might even put up some money for a trip like that (IF all the full-time facutly haven't used it all up).

So maybe not this year, but I'm still hoping that one of my students will go. It would be a lot more fun with Matt along. He makes everything more fun. Plus, we've always wanted to go to Europe together.

Now to see if I can stay disciplined enough to focus that far in the future... :)

New Home for Pooh

Let's start by saying, "This is the jewelry armoire my wonderful husband got for me for Christmas."

Isn't it lovely? It holds all my jewelry in a multitude of drawers, with two hidden side doors, and since I've started using it, I haven't gotten my long tangly necklaces messed up as often - and never in storage, just on my neck. Notice the little stool sitting in front of it? That belongs downstairs in the kitchen. It's Maia's "I can't see" stool. She uses it whenever she needs to see what's going on above her eye level. It seems to have a mind of its own, as it will mysteriously turn up in the ideal spot to bark your shin or stub your toe at all hours of the day. Last night, I noticed it in our bedroom.

I should have known something was up, because Maia came downstairs during piano lessons yesterday afternoon announcing that she had a gift. It was the ring box (complete with the ring) that Matt gave me a pearl promise ring in some 18 or 19 years ago. I don't wear it often because pearls are fragile and the ring's sentimental. I saved the ring but let her play with the box and didn't think much else about it.

This morning when I went to put my jewelry on, I found new tenants in my jewelry armoire. Tigger had moved into the earring drawer:


Pooh had completely taken over the watch drawer:


And poor Eeyore had to go to the bottom drawer and displace the pins and brooches:


Maybe I should just rename my jewelry chest, "The Hundred Acre Wood" and put a sign that reads, "Mr. Sanders House" on it.

Would Xander move in too?

If You Confess Your Sins...

I am trying to teach my children the value of confession and repentance. I think Maia's on the right track, but might have a few kinks to work out.

Tonight at the dinner table she yelled at Xander, "Say you're sorry to Jesus! And to Santa!"