Thanksgiving Traditions

Malia is in kindergarten which means that yesterday Malia had the tradition kindergarten Thanksgiving feast at school. She wore the traditional paper bag vest and ate the not so traditional offerings of her allergy friendly snack bin. All the a.m. and p.m. kindergarten students came in the morning. It was completely insane…and there were two classes missing because they are off-track. But she had a fabulous time.

Yesterday was also our traditional pie day and we made pie. So. Much. Pie. As always, it is an insane amount of pie. But we started early and finished fairly early so we took the kids out to eat on the way home. We opted for the not-so-traditional sushi and while the big folk ate that, Matthew joined in the fun and ate his tater tots with chopsticks. He’s such a good sport about packing his own food when we go out. I know it isn’t the way he’d like things to be, but he accepts it and is so great about it.

Today we ate the traditional turkey and got to partake of the pies of our labor. There was a delicious variety to choose from and as usual, I think we all ate too much pie.

Malia also got to wear a (nearly) traditional pilgrim cap thanks to my friend Tiff and Sabrina's decision that she was too old for such things.

One of my favorite things about the holidays are all the family traditions. I’m looking forward to all the traditions still to come in this holiday season.

Musical Bliss

Earlier this year, Nathan’s piano teacher of 3ish years told us that he had reached the point where she had taught him everything she knew. We started the search for a new teacher which turned out to be much harder than I thought it would be due to the fact that there a billion kids out here and all the teachers had as many students as they could handle and in many cases, a waiting list. After asking around, I got the name of a teacher who lives just up the street from us (in a different ward and stake) from one of my good friends. This teacher’s schedule was also technically full, but because Nathan was already a fairly advanced student, she added him to her schedule anyway. Over the past five months, his playing has improved a lot. His teacher makes him play scales which he griped about at the beginning, but he’s starting to see the improvements in his playing so he doesn’t mind it so much now. He has taken great strides in musicality, which was one area where he was falling short and he’s learned enough music theory that he can look at a piece of music and start improvising a boogie woogie or jazz bass line, something that is immensely interesting to him. So the change has definitely been a positive one.

Last night was his first recital with the new teacher…actually it was his first recital ever since his previous teacher didn’t have any other students. He has been pretty stressed out about it because his work load at school has been pretty heavy of late, but he did a great job. His teacher decided this recital would be hymns or primary songs. Nathan played two numbers and I was completely impressed. The recital hall had a gorgeous Steinway grand piano which was incredibly responsive to even the lightest touch and Nathan made it sing. His teacher and many of the other students have a really heavy touch on the keyboard, but Nathan does not. Afterward, there were a lot of people who came up to compliment Nathan. There was one gentleman who said he could listen to Nathan play all day and a number of others who commented on the emotion in his music or how it made them feel. He has definitely begun to discover his musicality and it is making his playing better. And I’m so proud.

This evening we went to another of Nathan’s performances, this time the district middle school honor choir. Each middle school is allowed to send a certain number of students and our middle school did not have very many boys audition, so even though preference is usually given to 9th graders, Nathan pretty much begged and was allowed to go. He loved singing with a group of talented kids, all of whom wanted very much to be there and were focused and hard working. They did some challenging pieces (which Nathan just loved) and they did them very well in spite of only have two days of rehearsals.

So it’s been a busy week for Nathan, but he loves the music and it makes him happy. Finding your bliss and wrapping your life around it is something I’m very familiar with, and I’m glad to support my kids in their adventures.

You’ve Got to Be Freaking Kidding Me…

This time it was Kev’s card. Someone in California bought themselves some groceries and filled their car with gas and then drove to Las Vegas and bought more food. We have two different banks and while the three previous hacks were on cards from the one institution, this one is from the other. And oddly enough, it is on the card we’ve switched to using instead of the one that kept getting stolen. So we’re thinking that someplace we shop has some big security issues. Unfortunately, we don’t know which place it is. So instead, we’re jumping hoops again and feeling grrr arghy.

Boo to You Too

Halloween was pretty laid back for us this year. Our elementary did the costume parade and class parties on Friday which was nice. It meant I didn't have to dash home after helping with a party and rush to get my kids fed before the trick or treating began. I'm sure it was also nice for the teachers since Friday is short day and they got to send the kids home instead of trying to get them to sit still and focus for the rest of the day.

With Halloween falling on a Monday, there really wasn't time to gather all the cousins together for dinner and trick or treating like we have the last two years so I went super easy and bought a jack-o-lantern pizza for dinner and threw together a Matthew friendly pizza to get him fed. We also had brain Jello since Malia requested it.

Daniel and Nathan both dressed up for school today. Daniel revisited the Inspector Gadget costume he wore for Fan-X earlier this year, just swapping out the umbrella for a configuration that made it easier for him to walk through doorways and crowds. Nathan went as a newsie, obviously still loving his experience gift of this past June. Matthew went as Darth Vader. He originally wanted to be a storm trooper, but storm troopers don't have light sabers and the saber tipped him in the direction of the dark master instead. Malia stayed true to her four-year plan (Rapunzel then Cinderella, Snow White followed by Belle) and dressed as Snow White.

Matthew went trick or treating with his friend Boston and Kev took Malia. She didn't complain at all when they finished up and came home, but she did cry when it was time to close the front door and turn off the porch light to let any residual trick or treaters that we were done for the evening. And when she woke up this morning she started crying before she even got out of bed and said that she just didn't want to stop trick or treating. I guess that means she had a good time. ;-)

A Direct Line of Communication

This evening the phone rang and Daniel answered it with, "Dear Hea...I mean, hello!" I laughed so hard I snorted. I kind of wish it had been a real person on the other end and not a computerized announcement from the middle school. ;-)

Insert Giant Eye Roll Here

My debit card just got hacked...again...for the third time in 13 months. I'm not an unsafe shopper, I swear. I'm careful with all my info. This time the fraudulent charges were right here in the valley and luckily for us, they are still pending and not paid.

This is getting completely ridiculous and a change in how we do business with our current financial institution is in our immediate future. :-(

A Little Bit of Awesome

My five-year-old just asked me to sing "Praise To the Man" for a bedtime song.

At last! Some Sharks!

Matthew and Malia are off-track and due to the fact that we never saw any sharks while we were on vacation in July, I felt that a trip to the aquarium was in order. Today was a perfect day to go. Not only are all the kids in school except for the year-round B-trackers, but it is early in the school year and a Monday so there were no field trips happening. The whole place felt nearly deserted which was great because we didn’t have to navigate any crowds to see the exhibits.

We saw the penguins and otters (all of whom were super active), the new Asian clouded leopard, macaws, frogs, and many, many fish. But the highlight of the trip was, of course, the sharks! Malia was thrilled and insisted we sit and watch the “shark show” for a good 20 minutes which is a long time for an energetic five-year-old.

This afternoon she watched “The Little Mermaid” and the beginning of “Finding Nemo.” Then she promptly renamed her stuffed shark (previously known as Sharky) Bruce.