Ben's First Piano Recital

Tonight was Ben's first official piano recital. The weather was not particularly cooperative, and we sort of slid our way to the downtown church. Luckily, we made it just as the recital was beginning! He played "Jingle Bells," as a duet with his teacher, and then also played "Go Tell it on the Mountain." This is his first year for lessons and he's doing such a great job!

Sarah Goes Solo

Sarah's 5th/6th grade class put together a performance of the Christmas musical, "The 6th Grade Scrooge," tonight. The kids all did a great job! Of course, our eyes were on Sarah since she had a solo part. She was the expected nervous/excited. It was clear the kids and teachers had really been working on this to make it special. To top it all off, there was a spread of yummy treats! We made mini chocolate cupcakes with candy cane frosting. Strangely enough, there weren't any leftovers...

Learning from a Pro

Ben and Sarah have fun doing piano lessons together. Sarah refers to her old teacher's notes, and Ben uses her early piano books. She enjoys being the teacher and Ben is pleased to have someone interested in showing him the piano. He's made a lot of improvements this year. We're just enjoying two kids on piano!

Waddle, Waddle

After practicing for a couple of weeks, Ben and Kristian finally had their moment in the spotlight to sing, "The Duck Song," for the homeschool group talent show. It is a fun song for young boys and makes them laugh. There was a bit of nervousness, but they did a great job with Kristian's grandpa helping out on the guitar.

Sarah saw her old homeschool friends, including Emily shown here. All the kids took at bow at the end and we left feeling really great because it was over!

Camp Meeting

Today we were excited about the last day of Camp Meeting. The kids are in the same class this year, and it made it a lot more fun for them. They both saw several friends, and made several new friends too. Today their programs started at 10:30am, and went until 9:00pm, with a few breaks in between for meals. The kids' theme was Bible heroes, and they kept having a different Bible hero walk into the room.

Our meetings were set around the ideas of mission and service. We made it to one meeting about recreational evangelism which really struck a cord with Becky! Our day ended with a fantastic community concert with Fernando Ortega. We have enjoyed his CDs for about 10 years, and it was a treat to hear his concert. I was concerned he wouldn't play a couple of my favorites, but he came through in the last few minutes. :)

Signs of Praise

The kids joined a new group at church, Signs of Praise. They practiced some key sign language words for a recorded song - "How Great is Our God." Today was the big performance in front of church. They wore black clothes to help their hands stand out. Next time we'll use the white handbell choir gloves. There are eight kids in the group ranging from 1st-8th grade. It was a great performance, and we are really glad the kids had this opportunity. Several families stopped us on the way out to make the kids feel appreciated. We're taking a break for the summer, but hope to pull the group back together in the fall.

I'm trying out adding a video clip so you can hopefully view a bit of their performance. Let me know if it makes your computer go crazy slow or if you think the video clip it is a great idea for future blogs.