Ward Christmas party

 

Seth sang with the Primary.... and our family sang Oh Come oh Come Immanuel together.  They really sound so beautiful together.

Symphony

 

We love that we get to do stuff like this.

Grandma's birthday

 

Ada's FBLA tree.

Sam's flute quintet.  Sam was the one in charge of this piece, but of course we have to tease him.... Sam and his girls.

Chilling at Grandma's for her birthday!

Orchestra

My Evelyn had her Christmas Orchestra concert too.  They did so well.  They played with the High schoolers.  Evelyn is so excited to work with the high school teachers next year.  I loved that this year she got to play Vivaldi's Winter.  It's so fun to see my children happy!  

Celebratory ice cream

 

Honor band and Christmas concerts

 

Along with the holidays come all the concerts and music opportunities. Sam applied to and participated in Honor band this year.  He really enjoyed it and loved playing the more challenging music and working with College level directors. I loved listening to him play. Jer and the girls already had a temple date with Grandma Robertson, so they weren't able to come.  

Sam and his friend Brooklyn

Sam had just come from an Esports tournament where he wore his magikarp hat.  I think he forgot to tame the hair down again after.  He joked with his teacher that magikarp was obviously Christmasy so he should wear it for the concert.  He didn't.

Another concert was his Jazz night.  He's really doing well there and just applied to be in the upper Jazz class.  He'll hear back in Jan.

Piano recital

Evelyn played God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen.  She was horrified the night before.  She realized that she'd been spending all of her effort in catching all of her classes up after our Japan trip and hadn't learned her song.  She spent the evening learning the right hand and played just the right hand.  I was proud of her for showing up and trying even through frustration and embarrassment. For one day's practice, she played it well.  

Seth played Frosty the Snowman.  He memorized it so quickly and was so proud to show Vivien what he'd learned.

This was a bittersweet one.  I love seeing my kids progress and learn.  Whether that lesson is "I can do hard things" or "I can perform in front of people" or "I should have prepared more"... I'm always so pleased with the progress that they've made.  This year might be the last one with all 4 of them.  With Ada graduating and Sam might need a new teacher... (his teacher only teaches through level 6 and Sam is in 6 now).   It was a really good experience to have all 4 play.  I still love our wonderful piano teacher. Vivien was in town too and was missing her recital, so we asked if she could play too.  It was spectacular.

Sam and I played a Carol of the Bells duet. It was so fun to play together with him!  I get so much joy in playing the piano... but playing with my family is my favorite. 

Ada played one of her Great-Grandma Wilcox's Christmas lullabies.  She has amazing expression and a natural flow with her music. My mom and I both had to keep ourselves from singing along with her.

Vivien did spectacularly.  She cried after because she forgot a portion of the song, but no one would have known.  She played precisely and beautifully.

Ada and Elizabeth

 

Biz Town

 

Seth had a fieldtrip to Biztown.  It was our charter school and a homeschool group.  He's been counting down the days for this one.  He was so worried that we would miss it, but we got there and I was so happy that it fell on a non daycare week so that I could chaperone. I was in the IT department and Seth was in the Gas company.  He was so cute that every time he walked by he made sure to wave at me but was all business.  I asked if he wanted to come take a picture with me at one point.  He said, "I'm doing my job."  I loved it so much.  I'm also very proud of his choice of friends.  His friend was voted as Mayor, another was chosen as the citizen of the day and both Seth and his friend are the spelling bee champs for their class.  They're always kind and playful together.  It's good to see good kids having fun together.  I'm bummed that all these good boys are going to different jr highs next year.  That was really hard on all three of my older kids, but I honestly don't know how to help them be resilient and be able to adjust to life's circumstances without actually letting them do it.  I hope he can find a good friend.  I know him and Lydia will be going to the same one, and they used to be friends.... maybe.

On our lunch break.  The two volunteers in my group, both of our kids were on red break... so she took half the break and I took the other half.

Family Night

Seth got a month of Jiu jitsu lessons from the school silent auction.  He's loved them and I think it's fun watching him do something new.  We're debating if it's something that we can fit into our schedule.  They do have a family plan, but Seth and Jer are the only two interested in it. 

After Seth's lesson, we met my parents at the giving machines.  It was fun to chat and let the kids choose something to donate.  Sam and Ada choose to spend their own money on something more to donate besides what we did as a family and I couldn't be prouder.  Then we did some walking and window shopping.  Our mall just got a lego store and Seth very excitedly bought a lego car that has a pull back option. 

If I had somewhere to store them, I would buy these cookie cutter decorations for my porch!  I love them.

 

AI

 

So, our friends weren't having a great week, so we hung out for a while.  Sarah introduced me to google's AI.  We turned Evelyn's deer park photo into this cute thing.  It's a fun feature.  We laughed at how Sam was either taken out of family pictures by ai or made into to people.... We tried to do a picture of him in his magikarp hat to see if it would just give him a fish head.... it didn't, but it was a cute picture anyways.

Dad gave his Christmas present to the kids early.  He bought them Avatar magic cards.  They were thrilled.

Sibling affection

Christmas tree

 

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to get a tree.  It was a very nice day for it.  It was chilly but not cold.  We found a few pretty ones and settled on this gorgeous one. Ada and Dad got it into the base and the lights on.  We don't usually put ornaments on until after daycare weeks are done, but the cats are addicted.  They drink the water, sleep under the branches and try to edge each other out of the prime spot.

Ada working on her creative writing assignment.  It's the cutest thing.  They went to a nearby elementary school, asked the kids questions and wrote/illustrated books for them using the interests from their interview.

Yep, I'll be the shortest one in a year or two....