I have so many little matters to tell you of, that I cannot wait any longer before I begin to put them down.
May 28th, 2021 by ECM
Susie went right from the orchestra concert Monday night to Fiddle Camp the next three mornings! Miss Sheila and Miss Cande taught the fiddlers several fun songs to play for their group performance at the Iowa State Fair this August. Susie’s favorite is Orange Blossom Special, which she learned for the first time this week. (She’s in the navy shirt and shorts and yellow shoes in the second row.)
May 27th, 2021 by ECM
Our fun-filled weekend with Grandma and Grandpa ended with the big girls’ big spring orchestra concert. They joined orchestra in March, after a few months of private lessons, but they caught on quickly and were definitely major contributors to the beginner’s orchestra section. We were supposed to have the concert outside, but the 10% chance of rain manifested itself about five minutes before the concert was supposed to start, so everyone grabbed their instruments and stands and set back up in the Homeschool Assistance Program Center’s gym, while all the families crowded in the other half to watch. Um, this is Kalona, people. Who cares about social distancing in Amish country?
May 23rd, 2021 by ECM
On Sunday, all the attention moved to Susie, who had her first violin recital with the other students in Miss Cande’s violin studio! Susie played Allegro and Minuet 1 from her Suzuki book and then joined the advanced players for several fiddle songs. All the students played one of the first fiddle songs together, as well. She played so well, and it was super fun to see how far she’s come since starting in the fall!
May 22nd, 2021 by ECM
On Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa were able to join us all to watch Janie and Daddy finish their team’s season with back-to-back games. Janie turns out to be a good little goalie, and she loved it so much that she’s going to do a church and parks and rec soccer camp this summer so that she’s even more prepared to play again in the fall. (Here in the Midwest, clearly there are more SAHMs, because summer camps are 9-11, not 8-5 like in SoCal) And let me say, after the insanity that was Thousand Oaks AYSO, I love a league where they show up on Saturday and practice for half an hour and then play a game, just for an eight week season. Janie has been wearing her participation medal around ever since!
May 21st, 2021 by ECM
We’re so excited that ball parks are open again, and back before we knew when the mask mandates would be lifted, Derek got us a suite for a Cedar Rapids Kernels game so that we could celebrate the end of the school year and eat and hang out with friends, without masks. We were so happy to have the Fellers and Lashmits join us on Friday, and Grandma and Grandpa Willett are up for the weekend and got to meet the friends we’ve all been talking so much about! As it turned out, our governor freed the state from masks last week, but it was fun to have the suite and the special all-you-can-eat ballpark food and unlimited pop. (Seriously, the kids all had like four cans of lemonade or root beer apiece.) Oh, and the Kernels won the game, too!
May 14th, 2021 by ECM
We woke up with waffles and twelve books, then Elizabeth and Gabby hosted a joint birthday party at the ice rink (because the Fellers are thrifty like us, we just brought in Costco pizza to the cafe court before the girls got on the ice, which they had to themselves without a reservation because homeschooled middle schoolers can totally schedule a birthday party at 11:30 on a school day when no one else is at the public sessions!), then the little girls made us three cheese ravioli and carrot cake for dinner.
May 10th, 2021 by ECM
Last Saturday, we celebrated Elizabeth completing her Suzuki Book 1 with a recital at the house. Her cello teacher, Ghyas, is very cautious due to losing his dad to covid this winter while he was flying back to Syria to see him, so we were originally planning to have the recital in the back yard so that everyone could spread out. But rain storms threatened, so we moved into the living room and had the cellists play in the family room, real chamber music style!
May 9th, 2021 by ECM
Leah texted last week to say that their little Lutheran school had a teacher work day on Friday, and it just so happened to be the only free day for weeks for our family. So the three little girls and I drove over to Davenport for the day to hang out with Lydia and William at our favorite Iowa museum! Because it was a school day for most kids, we basically had the museum to ourselves, with two other families wandering around. They spent a couple hours in the pretend city and then two long stints in the art room, with a long lunch break to run around, as well. Annie was really hesitant at first, since she hasn’t been to a museum in a year and a half, but she got more comfortable by the end.
May 2nd, 2021 by ECM
We didn’t plan it, but we were pretty well color coordinated for church this morning. Of note: Tommy is now wearing Men’s clothes.
Apr 29th, 2021 by ECM
Annie met Dr. Gardner in the fall, and last week, the middles had their well-child checks. As usual, they’re all petite, but their growth is proportional, so we’re not worrying about anyone’s growth anymore, even Annie’s. (And the next day, Susie had her surgery recheck with Dr. Hansen, and her ear has healed wonderfully. We’re going to wait a couple more months for things to settle, then we’ll recheck her hearing in July to assess how well the reconstruction worked to repair her hearing and discuss hearing aids or what else to do moving forward. Pretty much the best news we could hope for, under the circumstances!)
Annie at 4 years:
Height: 35.5 inches (Janie was 39 1/2 in, Susie was 39 1/2 in, Elizabeth was 40 1/2 in, Tommy was 39 3/4 inches)
Weight: 28 lbs (Janie was 32 lbs, Susie was 31 lbs, Elizabeth was 39 lbs, Tommy was 41 lbs 7 0z)
Janie at 8 years:
Height: 49 in (45%) (Susanna was 48 in, Elizabeth was 50 1/4 in, Tommy was 51 3/4 in)
Weight: 50 lb 15 oz (25%) (Susanna was 45 lbs, Elizabeth was 61 lbs, Tommy was 62 lbs)
Susanna at 10 years:
Height: 51 in (15%) (Elizabeth was 55 inches, Tommy was 55.5 inches)
Weight: 57 lb 9 oz (10%) (Elizabeth was 77 lb, Tommy was 75 lbs)