Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Meet my baby...

Isn't she beautiful?

We were able to buy our first piano back in August, and I absolutely love it! Each time I play I grow to like this piano a little more. When we were first thinking about buying it I played it a ton in the piano store to make sure I really liked it, but I still had my moments of doubt and wondering if it was really worth spending most of our savings on (scary purchase, I assure you!).

But I really do love it. I love the color, I love that it is very simple and stately, I love the action which is not too soft, but not too hard, I love the crisp sound it can get, I love that it gets a really big sound, even for an upright.

I also love that I can teach piano lessons in my house for the first time ever, and I've really enjoyed being able to take more students and try some new things.

I also love the handy adjustable stool (for the students too short to reach the floor) that Chris made me for my birthday and stained to match the piano. You can see it under the piano stool in the picture at the bottom.

There are only two things I don't like about it. It shows dust and fingerprints like crazy. The fingerprints seem to breed. It's kind of amazing. But...as the good points vastly outweigh these negatives, I am still very happy with my purchase. I figured that once we are ready to upgrade to a grand piano we would trade this one in, but now I'm not sure I will ever be able to give it up. We might just have to keep it AND buy a grand :).

Moving on...

For the last couple of months my friend Halsey (she plays the violin) and I have been working on some music that we are going to play in a recital this Saturday. We did one a couple of summers ago, and decided that we needed some motivation to practice again, and I know it would have been completely impossible for me if we hadn't bought this piano.

If anyone would like to come to the recital, you are invited and welcome but I have to explain a couple of things:

#1- Please understand that between the two of us we have a 3 year old and two 1 year olds and so our practice sessions together usually consist of 5-7 minutes of practicing, followed by 10 minutes of taking care of the kids, repeated for one hour at which point William is tugging on my arms whining for me to be done, Isaac is crying to get up and play the piano, and KJ is trying his very hardest to knock over Halsey's music stand.

#2- Finding the opportunity to practice on your own with kids is extremely difficult. When I was in college it was normal to practice 3 hours a day 6 days a week. Now, if I am able to practice 4 days out of a week for more than 20 minutes I think I had a great practice week.

#3- Sometimes you listen to yourself play so much that it's hard to know what to change, or how to make it better, but getting feedback from a teacher costs a lot of money and requires a babysitter for the kids etc. etc. etc.

So if you want to come, you are welcome. Please enjoy the music and don't judge too harshly :).
Here's the info:

January 29, 2011
3:30 pm
Piano Gallery Recital Hall

We are playing music by Mozart, Sibelius, Brahms, Debussy, Bach and Gershwin.

Have I mentioned that I love my piano yet?

Friday, January 7, 2011

Christmas 2010

We spent Christmas morning at our house with my family this year. My mom was called to a birth late the night before and ended up being there all day (bummer!) but we still managed to have a good time even though we missed her. Here is Christmas morning in pictures.





(Yes-Issac got a baby boy doll for Christmas, and yes-I vetoed the battle axe that Chris insisted was necessary to counteract this gift, and yes-Isaac absolutely loves his baby)

(Yes I do have tape holding my glasses together. Just a note--never let Isaac get near your glasses. He has managed to break 3 pairs so far.)





We spent Christmas afternoon at Chris's parent's house and had a lot of fun, but in all the festivities didn't really manage to get pictures--except this one.

I somehow managed to stay up until 5 am Christmas morning (the first non child caused all-nighter I have pulled in a LONG time!). By the afternoon I was exhausted and this was my unsuccessful attempt to get a quick nap in before we started opening presents. Luckily I completely zonked out later and Chris took care of the kids so I could sleep (not that it would have made that much difference with how tired i was).

Later that evening (around 9:00) my mom finally got home and we were able to give my Mom and Dad their present. My poor Dad had hardly had any presents to open since we had one for him and Mom from all the kids and we insisted that Mom be there when it was opened. He had all day to think up all sorts of things it might be, but I think we still surprised him.

Watch their reaction here. My Mom had been at births the last two nights with no sleep for at least 48 hours, so she was slightly delirious. I think they liked their present though, :) and we are all very excited for a Family Reunion on the Oregon coast this summer!

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas this year!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Sunbeams

Today was William's first day of primary. He is now a sunbeam! In our first married ward there was one couple who had a sunbeam age boy and a nursery age girl and they were the oldest ones in the ward! It was funny to reflect that we would be that couple now.

Naturally, we had to take some pictures of how cute he looked on his first day of primary. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and let me tell you, this beholder thought he was the cutest darn kid in the ward, possibly the city or the state.

GQ William
Doing his version of the Charlie Brown. So excited for sunbeams!
And my personal favorite. A completely typical silly Will face.

One funny thing about all of this was that as I was telling Will all the things that would happen now that he is big enough for sunbeams, I mentioned that when all the kids go up on the stage to sing he will be able to go up and sing with them. Apparently in his head that meant that sunbeams=going up on the stage. For the last year or so Chris and I have been going in to sing with the sunbeams for the first 5-10 minutes to get some wiggles out after sacrament meeting, so we did that today, and when we got up to leave William tried to come with us. I told him he needed to stay and he said, "But I want to go to SUNBEAMS!" I explained that this was sunbeams, and Chris decided to stay in with him a little longer. After the lesson they let the kids play with toys, so Chris decided to leave, and as he was walking out, William said "But Mom said that we were going to go up on the stage!"

Apparently, despite the disappointment of not going onto the stage, he had a really good time, and even got to hold one of the pictures during singing time. Lets just hope they do a primary musical number soon, because I have a feeling that he is going to ask to go on the stage every single week until they do.