Piano Recital

The kids just finished another year of Achievement in Music (AIM) in their piano lessons.  AIM is a music skills testing that enables the kids to show off what they have been learning throughout the year in their lessons. During the assessment, they are tested on sight reading, scales, theory, and performance. As part of the performance, they memorize and perform two songs.  They all did amazing passing off the levels they were placed in. Emily passed off level 4 scoring a perfect score on her performance pieces. Colby passed off level 2 also scoring high on his performance. Logan will begin AIM level 1 next year but still began learning the foundations for the testing this year.  

After completing the testing, the kids had a recital to perform their songs for their families.  After a year of virtual recitals due to Covid-19, we were finally able to have an in person recital! I am glad the restrictions are starting to lift. All three kids did an amazing job performing their songs.

Logan played "King's March," Colby played "Cool School," and Emily played "Fireflies." This was Logan's first piano recital and he did amazing.  They all did!

At the end of the recital, Emily and Colby were giving their medal and certificate for passing off their levels. All of their hard work and goals paid off! They are really improving their piano skills each time they practice.  Good Job!

Donating our Hair

One of my bucket list items was to donate my hair to charity at least once in my life. The thing that was hard was my hair really does not grow very fast and it usually has some dye in it too. Four years ago I lost all of my hair due to chemo.  Since then, I have wanted to do something to give back and help another cancer patient struggling with her sudden change in appearance. Donating my hair was a simple thing I could do. When my hair started growing back, I was so happy. I let it grow and grow and three and a half years later it was finally long enough to donate! 

Not only did I donate my hair but Charlotte's was long enough to donate as well! We got our hair cut together and we love our short cuts now. 

 I donated 11-12 inches of hair and Charlotte donated 8-9 inches. Charlotte liked having long hair like Rapunzel but when I told her she would not have as many tangles in her hair, she was all for cutting it.  She now likes her short hair and I love how full the short cut makes her hair look. It also makes her look more grown up.

Emily decided she didn't want to be left out of the hair donating party so a few weeks later, she went and got her hair cut too.

She was not so sure if she wanted short hair but was willing to give up 8 inches for the good cause. I like her short hair but she is hoping it will grow back quickly.

I decided to donate our hair to the Children With Hair Loss foundation because they provide wigs at no cost to children dealing with cancer, burns, alopecia, and other conditions. I would not wish cancer on anyone especially kids but unfortunately it continues to rear it's ugly head. Donating our hair is just one way we can help. 

This was a fun experience to do with the girls. We are excited to ship our hair off to help these kids! 

Happy 10th Birthday, Colby!

 Look at this big kid who is growing up so fast. I can't believe Colby has turned 10. It has gone by so fast. He has gotten so smart, funny and tall. He has such great personality and he loves fun fact about history. He is a great reader, loves school and he has some really cool friends. 

He wanted to have a cool birthday with his friends this year. He made the decision to go and play at the fun park, have dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe and home for cake and ice cream. He invited his best friends and they played laser tag, video game and went skating. During all of this, we fit in presents, and cupcakes and ice cream.

 It was fun watching them play laser tag. They were running around like crazy kids shooting at each other and running away from each other. If I remember right the red team won by around 1,000 points. They would have stayed in there all day if they could. I was having fun watching and reminiscing about my fun times at this age. 

Then it was off to the video games to get as many tickets as they could. They all had 20 tokens and lots of time to play. One game after another they collected tickets. Charlotte even got lucky and someone left a lot of tickets lying out of a machine. She was so excited when she saw them. The game above looks like an easy game but don't let it fool you. Colby went and didn't make it very far, so I said to him how hard could it be. I put a token in it and said watch the pro. It went around once and then I thought for sure I jumped in time but come to find out I was wrong. Colby laughed at me and left with is friends. 

Once the tokens were gone, it was off to skating.

Some of the boys had there own skates and we got the other boys rentals. It was a good time watching them skate. It was Noah's first time on roller blades and he was struggling. I couldn't help but laugh as I watched him. Finally we put him in some roller skates and he did better. The other boys were going in circles as fast as they could. I am amazed how fast Colby picked up on rollerblading. He loves getting out the hockey stick and playing up and down the street with his friends and brother. 

He got some really cool toys from his friends. He got a beyblade and they took it out on the skating floor and launched it. They were all laughing and saying this is way cool. He got a Grogu Bop It game from Quinn. They all sang him "Happy Birthday" and ate cake and ice cream. They went out for the rest of the time and skated until it was time to leave. It was a day full of fun memories with him. 

We had too much food and dessert at Pizza Pie.  We all waddled into the house afterward.  Then we opened more presents.  

Colby loved all the things he received.  He got a new fishing pole, baseball mitt, air-soft guns, and a shirt and new shoes. Once the presents were open, we sang him "Happy Birthday" and had him blow out his candles on his cake. We were all so stuffed from dinner that we held off on eating his cake until the next day.

We all had a great time with this kiddo. We love you Colby and are glad you are part of this family!