First piano recital

I taught Ian to play the piano up until this August. One advantage of me being his teacher was the only cost involved was buying him music. One advantage of him taking lessons from someone else is he was able to participate in his first recital. It was a duet recital. In February he will participate in his first solo recital. The boys performed The Waltz of the Flowers on Saturday evening. All of the pieces in the duet recital were by Tchaikovsky. Paul's dad came to the recital and then spent some time at our home. He beat Ian in a game of chess and played a Mario game on the Switch with all three of his grandkids.

Yesterday Nadia and Ian sang in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale's fall concert. They sang in this group in 2019 and 2022. The group was on hiatus in 2020-2021 due to COVID. The group was much bigger in 2019. Because they had fewer students, the concert had a LOT of solos. Neither of mine tried out for a solo so they spent a lot more time sitting in the audience at this concert compared to the other two fall concerts. In 2019 it was a patriotic theme (for Veteran's Day). Last year they performed music that was about music (ex. Do, Re, Mi). This year it was all Disney music. They accidentally omitted Nadia's name from the program. Ian needs to OPEN his mouth more, and both kids need to work on smiling. Nadia did smile during when they sang the original Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song. Paul's dad came up for the concert. One of Nadia's small group leaders and two girls from her small group also came to the concert. Nadia left with them because her group went to Olive Garden for dinner tonight. Pop Pop came back to our house. I gave Pop Pop and Oliver each a haircut. Pop Pop used our foosball table for the first time. He beat Oliver, and Ian beat Pop Pop. 

Thursday night the kids and I met Cheri at the movie theater where we saw the (musical) movie "Journey to Bethlehem." On Friday night, Paul took Oliver to Lancaster Bible College for a concert featuring Jordan Feliz and Colton Dixon. Ian had his piano recital on Saturday evening, and Nadia and Ian had their choir concert yesterday afternoon. Paul went to work today. Oliver and Nadia were home all day today. I took Ian to his piano lesson. Tomorrow Nadia will again stay home all day. I'm taking the boys to an orthodontist appointment. We don't have any plans to leave the house Wednesday through Saturday. 

Winding Down

 Sunday was my last day for doing anything with the Sound of Music. There is a cast party at 4pm on December 10, but I won't be attending due to the fact that it's my father's 80th birthday (and he'll be up here that day) plus Nadia and Ian have a Christmas candlelight concert that same afternoon. Monday was Nadia and Ian's last regular Monday night rehearsal with the youth chorale. They have a dress rehearsal on Saturday morning and a short rehearsal on December 4, but we're done with the 2.5-hour commitment on Monday nights. Next fall it will be only a 1-hour commitment because Nadia and Ian will both be in the Valley Singers (high school group). Our six-week session of a small co-op in our home came to an end on Tuesday. I asked Paul to use Oliver's cotton candy machine to make the kids cotton candy as a treat on Tuesday, which contradicted what we talked about in the Health and Nutrition class I taught. The kids did a great job with their speeches. On Tuesday we had seven demonstrative speeches - Ben demonstrated how to clean a gun, Nathaniel demonstrated (outside) how to build a fire, Juliana demonstrated how to make a cheese pie, etc. She served that cheese pie at lunch after it had chilled in our refrigerator for a few hours. Last night was also the last night of The Chosen Bible study for the fall session for Paul and me. The study will resume on Wednesday nights in January.

We are planning to start another session on March 5. That session will likely last somewhere between 8-12 weeks. We're bouncing around ideas as to what classes we will offer during that session. Ideas have included drama (me), continuing the health and nutrition (me), geography (Paul), simple circuitry (Paul), book clubs, and chess club. If we continue the co-op next fall, Paul will teach a chemistry lab as Nadia and Ian will be taking chemistry next year. We've determined that one of the book groups will be discussing The Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkien, and another group will be discussing a Magic Treehouse or Imagination Station book. If we have a third group, we haven't determined what book they will be reading. I lead the discussions for two of the groups this session (Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince and the Pauper). The Much Ado about Nothing group was on their own although I did supply a list of questions for them to discuss each week. 

Next week, because it's Thanksgiving, we also get one week off of art and chorus at the Christian school. Nadia and Ian usually have those two classes on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Next week is Nadia's last week of her U.S. History class through Grand Canyon University. She will get a week off and then will begin a communications class on December 4. 

More pictures were posted on Facebook from the musical. The photographer took the photos during our dress rehearsal. We were in costume, but we hadn't done our hair or makeup. I wore different jewelry for the performances than I wore for the dress rehearsal, for example. The lack of makeup/hair wasn't a big deal for the pictures of the nuns, but it was more noticeable for all of the other photos. Still, I'm very thankful for these photos to remember this event as I doubt that I'll audition to be in another musical. 

Since I don't have rehearsal tonight, I decided to make plans to do something with my friend before she has shoulder surgery and won't be able to drive for a few months. The kids and I are meeting her to see the movie Journey to Bethlehem and then have dinner with her at Panera.

First Place!!!

Only three kids from our church's Bible quizzing team traveled to Ohio this past Friday for a quizzing event. Their coach accidentally forgot to register them, so they were unable to compete as a team as planned. Ian was placed on another team from Pennsylvania, and the girls (Nadia and Leila) joined The Branch's team (Indiana). That team won first place in the team competition. Ian earned 8th place in the written portion of the competition. Nadia and Leila tied for seventh place in the finals of the individual competition, and Ian won FIRST place in the individuals!!! Christopher was one of the top quizzers, and he graduated from high school last spring. Ben is typically one of the top quizzers, and he didn't attend this quiz. However, the boy who has won the individuals at the national competition the last few years was Simon, and he was there. Simon came in second to Ian. I was in shock when I found this out!!! Way to go, Ian!! Both Ian and Nadia showed improvement from past years. Here's to hoping that will continue over the next seven months! At this quiz they only covered all of Galatians plus the first two chapters of Ephesians. There will be a wider array of content at the Nationals as they are studying five epistles this year. 

On Thursday night we had our first performance of The Sound of Music. The final performance was sold out, and Saturday's matinee was also very close to being sold out. In general, all five performances went very well. One exception would be the first eight syllables of one song on Thursday night. We nuns sang a lot of our songs acapella, and we were split into two locations for one of the songs. We didn't use a pitch pipe on Thursday night, and that was a big mistake as we started in multiple different keys and sounded hideous for those first eight syllables until we all made it to the same key. Thankfully that never happened again! At every performance the two cast members who got the biggest response during the bows were for Mother Abbess and Gretl. Gretl was just so cute; she turned eight during the production. Mother Abbess has a powerful set of lungs! Maria also did an amazing job. She's our version of Julie Andrews as she also played Mary Poppins a few years ago. Yvonne and the rest of her family who live in Quito were able to watch a livestream of Thursday night's performance. Her son, Andrew, who is in college in Ohio watched the livestream on Friday night. I don't believe any of my relatives watched either of the two performances on Saturday. Paul, the kids, Paul's dad, Cheri, and Tab all came to see the performance on Sunday afternoon. The first photo in this post is of everyone involved in the production - backstage crew, cast, directors, sound technicians, etc. 

In general, we brought our own meals when our rehearsals were long, but on Saturday a meal was provided in between our two performances. If I had been at someone's home and they served chicken and waffles, I. would have eaten it to be polite. In this case I opted to bring a bean burrito, but I did eat the delicious dessert they provided. I like waffles, and I like chicken, but the thought of mixing the two is repulsive to me, especially when gravy is involved as I don't like gravy on anything. The other time they provided food was last night. Pizza, veggies, and chips were available to eat after the show because we were expected to stay and help clean up the rooms we used, tear down the set, put away the props, etc. Last night was the first night in a week that I was able to go to bed prior to 11pm. It was so nice to go to bed at 9:30! Despite the fact that I got to bed at an earlier hour, it was still a long day as I left for church at 8:40 am and didn't come back home from church until 8:20 pm. I have a whole new appreciation for all that goes into putting on a musical!

I'm the one walking across the balcony in this scene.

It was very strange to only homeschool one child on Friday. In addition to doing his schoolwork, he and I worked on a Spiderman jigsaw puzzle that he had received for his birthday but hadn't put together yet. On Saturday afternoon Paul took Oliver to a Stronghold (foam sword fighting) competition that lasted for three hours and included time for a devotion plus some Minecraft competitions. On Saturday morning I made a casserole that Paul and Oliver had for dinner on Saturday night, and he and all three kids had it on Sunday night. 

 

Tech Week

The Sound of Music rehearsals have primarily been held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings along with several Saturday rehearsals. This week we have three long rehearsals (Monday- Wednesday) and then five performances (Thursday through Sunday). I believe this week will be record breaking for me in terms of the number of nights in a row that I am not in bed at home at 11pm. I am eagerly anticipating Monday night when I can resume by normal sleeping habits. The time change this past Sunday hasn't exactly helped as my body hadn't yet made the one-hour transition.

I recently realized I had totally forgotten to take Oliver's 11th birthday portrait. I have a frame in which there is a spot for a wallet size picture for most years (larger for birth and larger for age 18). The picture here was the one I snapped (3 months late) for Oliver's eleven-year-old portrait. A bigger mistake I made recently was that I *thought* I had bought tickets for Ian and Paul to see Tim Hawkins in Camp Hill. By the time I realized my error, the tickets were all sold out. I felt horrible about this mistake because Ian was really looking forward to seeing him in person. Hopefully in the future I'll be able to get tickets for him to see Tim Hawkins. I do have tickets for us to see TobyMac (all the kids really wanted to see him for the first time), and Tasha Layton is one of the other artists that will be at that concert, and she was on Nadia's "list" of artists she wanted to see whom she hasn't seen yet. I had tickets for a Steven Chapman concert, but that concert was cancelled. Not counting the artists she'd like to see again (Cain, Anne Wilson, For King and Country, and Matthew West are her top four artists I believe), I'm hoping in the next couple of years to be able to get tickets for her to see Riley Clemmons and Steven Curtis Chapman. Riley is on tour with Zach Williams for the next several months, and he's not one of her favorites so it will be a little while until I will likely get tickets for a Riley Clemmons concert. I hope to never make the mistake I made with the Tim Hawkins tickets again. 

Paul finished assembling the foosball table on Sunday afternoon! Some of the kids who come to our co-op on Tuesdays were able to play some foosball this week. While he was working on that I was raking leaves, trimming bushes, cleaning the fence, picking apples off the ground, etc. I was the substitute teacher for our Sunday School class this past Sunday. I taught a lesson on the book of Jude. Paul will have to go to The Chosen Bible study without me tonight due to a Sound of Music dress rehearsal. He took the kids to choir on Monday night and took Ian to his piano lesson yesterday because of my rehearsals. Normally Ian's piano lessons are in the morning, but his had to be rescheduled this week #1 because we had to pick a time that was also good for his duet partner and #2 Ian and Nadia are leaving for a Bible quizzing event in Ohio on Friday morning. He'll have one more rehearsal with Josh next Friday morning, and then their recital is the next day. Nadia can't wait until he's done practicing The Waltz of the Flowers. She's tired of it! Paul is also taking five kids on a field trip tomorrow morning to attend a program about beavers for homeschoolers in grades 6-12 at a state park located one hour away. I'm very thankful he can help out more this week in light of my crazy rehearsal/performance schedule. I'm in six scenes of the musical - five as a nun and one as Frau Zeller. I have VERY little time to change from my party dress (when I'm Frau Zeller) back into my nun costume. On Monday I didn't make it back on stage on time. The director changed what time some of us are exiting the stage from the party, and I made it on time (with assistance) last night. Although I never plan to do this again, it has been quite a learning experience for me!

Trunk or Treat

The last time I wore a costume was when I was in a passion play at a church in Maryland in the early 90's. Last year Nadia and I provided a trunk for our church's trunk or treat, but we went with a Steelers theme, so I just wore a Steelers sweatshirt. This year the kids wanted us to do a Mario theme. We ordered costumes before we knew that the youth group was also doing a Mario theme. Ian and Oliver helped as candy runners. Ian demonstrated an excellent work ethic. Because the youth was doing the same theme, Nadia, wearing a Princess Rosalina costume, helped out inside with the youth group. Most of the teens were toads. Last year we brought Milo, and he became very cold as the evening wore on. This year the temperatures were much warmer on the day the event was held, but we are still glad we didn't bring Milo because the vehicle next to us had a dog, and I think it would have been difficult to keep the two dogs separated. I'm not sure when Paul last wore a costume, but I can say it had to be prior to when I met him in 1997. He was Luigi, and I was Mario riding Yoshi. I am assuming we'll wear these costumes again at some point. 

Our co-op has been meeting on Tuesdays. Usually, the kids bring their lunches and play chess for 90 minutes after lunch. Because Halloween fell on a Tuesday, one mom brought pizza and Rice Krispy treats, another mom brought soda and pumpkins, and I provided chips, plates, napkins, and cups. The kids enjoyed having a special lunch and carving pumpkins instead of playing chess. The temperature was MUCH colder yesterday than it was last Friday night. Paul took the kids and Milo trick or treating for about one-hour last night while I was at a Sound of Music rehearsal that lasted from 6:30-10:40pm. I got home and immediately went to bed. I was bone tired and had an awful headache. I can pretty much guarantee I won't be signing up to be in another musical. I woke up with a headache and really didn't want to get up (which is very unusual for me), but thankfully after I took Milo for his walk and ate my breakfast, my headache went away. Last Saturday the kids and Paul helped pack food at Experience Missions for 3.5 hours while I was at a 6-hour Sound of Music rehearsal. It was Paul's first-time packing food and also his first-time being at Experience Missions. I have five rehearsals and five performances between November 2-12, and then I'm done. Thank goodness!

Nadia and the youth pastor's wife

Four times a year there are five Sundays in a month. When that happens, all the children and youth are expected to attend the worship service with their parents. Our kids do that all the time so it just means Paul and I can't attend our Sunday School class on a fifth Sunday. We usually attend the 9:00 service together, but since we could only attend one service, we attended the 10:45 service this past Sunday. After having lunch at home, we saw the play Cheaper by the Dozen in Williamsport. On Saturday night it was my pick for family fun night. I chose for us to play the card game hearts. I didn't know how to play ANY card games when I went to college, and I don't want that to be the case for my kids so I'm trying to teach them several card games over the next few years. On Saturday afternoon while I was at my rehearsal, they had started watching the movie "A Man for All Seasons" which I was requiring them to watch as we recently studied King Henry VIII and Thomas More in history. Paul enjoyed it the most, and Nadia disliked it the most. Paul chose finishing the movie for his family fun night on Sunday night.

Nadia with two friends from their Bible quizzing team

 

Our trunk