Piano Recital

I have been teaching piano lessons off and on for the past 7 years. Since we have lived in Indiana I have added more and more students. I am now teaching 21 kids, including my 3 and I love it. I had my first piano recital here on Saturday and it was great. I think I was just as nervous as all of the kids who were performing. I heard from my kids that I talked really fast...but not any faster than usual :-) Alexa, Mackenzie and Dayton did a great job. They got to play on the most amazing C. Bechstein grand piano. I was told it had a price tag of approximately $85,000. There were also some half pianos set up at the front of the hall that the kids had a blast playing.

I am so proud of the talents that were shared yesterday. It brought back so many memories from my childhood.

Easter

I decided that I wanted to try and make the girls skirts for Easter Sunday. I asked them what colors they would like and then I went to the store and bought fabric. My good friends Sara and Lyndee helped me figure out what I needed and then taught me how to cut out, sew and create these cute skirts. The girls liked them and I was really excited that I was able to do it.

Once I decided to make the skirts I then wanted to do something for Dayton so I made him a tie...with lots of help from Sara. The kids all wore their outfits to church on Sunday and they looked so cute. I know they weren't super excited to be matching but they wore their outfits and didn't complain until we got home and wanted to take some pictures...

When I asked the girls what colors they wanted, I got a "no pink" response and then a request for lime green and teal blue. I couldn't decide between the two fabrics so I made two. They wore the blue ones to church on Easter. It was a beautiful day but a little chilly.

Swimming Lessons

Alexa, Mackenzie and Dayton have been taking swimming lessons for the past 15 weeks every Saturday morning at the local YMCA. Unfortunately the YMCA here in Fishers is not the YMCA in North Canton, Ohio. The kids have not had very good teachers and they really haven't learned a lot from the teachers they have had. A couple of weeks ago the girls had substitute teachers who were attempting to teach flip turns...the one teacher just about drowned with his attempt.

Today was the last day of lesson and they were doing water safety. It was great to see the kids in the canoes and throwing out the donut to save the teacher. After lessons the teacher of Mackenzie and Alexa told me they are ready to participate in the Y swim team if they are interested. We'll see..

Baby Chicks

We got back from Ohio on Friday afternoon so that night we went to see the baby chicks that had come to the store on Monday. Dayton was a little hesitant to hold a chick this time and they were in bigger tubs so it was harder to catch them. Nathan caught one and offered it for Dayton to hold. All was going well until the little chick went to the bathroom on Dayton's hand. He was, needless to say, very unhappy. He freaked out...which means lots of tears. After he had calmed down he came over to me and said, "You'd better not put that on the blog!" I then told him that I had to put this experience on the blog so that when he had a son and an animal went to the bathroom on him then he would have this story documented to share with his posterity.

These pictures are prior to the incident.

Spring Break

We spent a few days in Ohio for spring break and although we didn't go and do anything super exciting, like go to Disney World, it was so nice to just be at a different house for a while. The kids had a great time playing Super Mario Galaxy with grandma, who happens to be semi professional and doing a whole bunch of other stuff...

We made a new scripture bag for me and another bag to carry my other "church" stuff in. The scripture bag fits inside of the other bag and I love the colors.

Then we made matching purses.

Mom had a pattern for the kids to make stuffed animals out of fleece. The all picked out the elephant pattern and then decided what fleece or flannel they wanted to use. These turned out super cute and they are all quite proud of their little project.

I am a huge donut fan and when we lived in Ohio, my favorite donut shop was Johnnie's bakery. We would go to the bakery and get a huge box of donuts and then share them all. We'd cut them into pieces and let everybody taste whatever they wanted. It was fun to go back and let the kids pick out whatever they wanted and then eat them. They were just as yummy as I remember!!

Unfortunately we were in Ohio during the week and grandpa had to work but we did get to see him at night and play some Mario Kart, Super Mario Galaxy, and de Blob with him. He also treated us to dinner at Quaker Steak and Lube for some yummy wings. While we were in Ohio we rented The Music Man. The kids had seen the play and wanted to see the movie. They loved it. As we left the restaurant they were using the straws from the drinks they'd had as instruments and played them the whole way home while grandpa drove the car to the rhythm. It was a great spring break. Thanks mom and dad for a fun and productive week.

Baby Ducks

On Thursday afternoon, Traci called to tell me about baby ducks at the Tractor Supply Store. As she was talking I was convinced she had bought the adorable ducks and wanted me to concur with her smart purchase. I was about to tell her that she was crazy and had she even thought about where would she put these cute little ducks when I realized that she was just excited to take her kids to see them and knew my kids would fall in love as well. Well this morning before Conference we took the kids for a surprise and they LOVED it. First, we found the bunnies and then we walked just a little bit further and saw the cutest little ducks ever. As we held many little ducks the conversations went something like this: "Mom, please can we get a duck." "They only cost $4.29, I have that much money." "Alexa, when we grow up, let's buy farms right next to each other and we can have tons of ducks and a pond, too." As we left, I reminded the girls that as cute as these little ducks are, we would never be able to offer them the life they deserve. So we are content to plan for farms in the future...note to future husbands...and visit the store often in the next couple of weeks.

Easter Egg Hunt

For the past 3 years (that we have lived here), our dear friends, the Soelbergs, have hosted an Easter Egg hunt. Past years have been yucky Midwest weather, last year there was snow and it was REALLY cold. Today was beautiful. The sun was shinning, it was in the mid 60's. We sat outside. The kids, of course, have a great time getting their eggs and we enjoy the time spent with good friends. Thank you Soelbergs for a fantastic afternoon.