Piano Recital, April 2014

The kids had their piano recital on this lovely spring day.  This year we were lucky enough to be scheduled for our recital together with the Mockerts.  It was fun to hang out with friends and listen to the music they've been working on so diligently.
Dave and I agreed that all kids did a fabulous job and that we are very proud of all of the practicing they've done to make their pieces sound so polished.  Go team!!

Here are the pianists with their teacher, Mrs. Larget.

They each played four or five songs.  Here are their favorites:

Wausaukee winter visit photos

Well, it's been over a month and I'm finally getting around to posting the photos from our visit with my parents mid-February.  There was a ton of snow and since the kids really wanted to go ice skating, our first task was to clear an area on the pond:

Then we were able to skate a little and shovel a bit more:

Saige and Maggie even joined in the fun, even though they weren't dressed for the weather (Maggie, where is your snowboarding outfit?).

Wow, what coordination!

Lovely arabesque :)

Even Dandy braved the deep snow!

Then there was tree climbing and snowman building:

And a tea party to warm everybody up:

That night it rained and all of the rain ran under the snow to the pond.  The kids went out in the morning to skate and fell through a layer of thin ice to a few inches of water before hitting the solid ice. Later, the ice froze smooth and solid making for some really nice skating, but also some strange sights on the pond:

No amount of chipping could remove the roaster from the ice.

Jack did some snowshoeing.  He was the only one who could stay on top of the deep snow:

And then in to warm up and do some sewing crafts:

Ice skating on the pond

The snow at my parents' is nearly up to the kids' waists. There was a lot to shovel out on the pond.  

Here are some videos of the kids skating. I'll post photos later. 

Cross country skiing and a fox sighting

Jack and Caroline are getting more and more comfortable cross country skiing.  Here are some videos.
I couldn't get any of Erin because her group immediately takes off on the trails and doesn't return until the end of lessons.  Jack and Caroline do some trail skiing but also stay near the chalet to  practice skills.

The neighbors have all been in a frenzy about fox sightings in our neighborhood.  A pair came through our backyard recently.  I was only about to get a picture of one of them:

Oh happy day

Erin received quite a surprise today after school when she got in the car with her friend, Gracie.

We were planning to wait until Erin's 10th birthday to get her ears pierced, but with soccer season (and rules about no jewelry) coming in April, we decided it was best done sooner.

Erin thought it was a pretty good idea.

Before:

After:

As we left, Erin said "I'm going to go home and stare at myself in the mirror all night"

Jack's new look

Jack got his hair cut today.  I'm always a little bit tickled to hear him tell Jenna, so seriously, exactly how he wants it cut.  Last time he wanted his bangs longer so they covered one eye ("are you sure?" Jenna asked Dave, sidelong).  This time he wanted the back buzzed, trimmed by his ears and his bangs up to here (with his hand in the middle of his forehead).  Afterward he said that he thought Jenna did even a nicer job than he had asked for!
Here's the look:

Erin ski jumping

Erin has graduated out of downhill ski classes at Blackhawk and for the second year is on Xploration Team where they try out all kinds of skiing.  Yesterday she did ski jumping again.  She loves it!  They went off the 5 meter jump and the 15 meter jump.  Here she is going off the 15 meter jump.

You may want to click on the full screen icon since I'm so far away when I'm videoing.