Elena 
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1 The kids had their piano recital last week. It was… interesting. My kids attend a music academy which is associated with our parish. Because the academy is just starting up and doesn’t have many students (certainly not many advanced students), they invited a local conservatory to participate in the recital.
Out of courtesy I suppose, they let the conservatory students play first. They had a printed a program, sort of, but they didn’t follow it at all. None of the young musicians were introduced by their teacher and I had no clue where we were in the program until they played a piece I recognized. I have attended a lot of recitals over the years, and performed in them for years before that. This one was just strange in my opinion.
Also, since the conservatory kids went first, they left with their families as soon as they were done playing. When our kids were finally up to perform, the church was almost empty and we were sitting with just the families of the academy kids. Since we waited an hour and sat through all of the other performances, I think it would have been nice if the other parents had stayed to listen.
I dunno – it just had a strange vibe to it, AND since none of the administrators of the academy were even at the recital I sort of felt like we were the abandoned step-children of the music program.
But the great teacher who teaches my kids every week was there and gave his support. I think they have grown a great deal under his direction and support this year! Videos to follow sometime this week.
2. Noah is taking a Shakespeare course via the Bravewriter program. It is kicking. his. butt. He is putting as much work into it as he did with his Latin assignments last fall. But he loves it! He gets excited about some of the points he is making in the online forum and he is enjoying the writing. He spent three or four hours on it today and the time just flew by for him! To see him so excited about literature and writing was well worth the cost of the course!
3. Noah is also going to take the ACT next week. This week, I received a copy of his results and the test so that he can look it over and see what he did wrong. I think this is going to be very helpful in preparing for the exam.
Also, full time running club starts for him next week – Noah is going to have a busy summer!
4. We went to the splash park today. Everyone loved it!
5. Sam, my second son, really stepped up his game this week! Three important women in Sam’s life had birthdays this week, me, Rosie and his long-time girlfriend. That’s a lot for a fella to handle, but he did! He took me out for dinner to Chipotle, and he took Rosie to a movie! It was great to spend time with him.
6. My son and his fiance are using this new site WedPics.com to share pictures of their wedding. I have been uploading tons of pictures from the past for their Memory Lane Section. But I guess we will be able to take photos during the wedding and add them to the site as well.
I’m really getting excited for this wedding!
7. We finally closed on the house we hope to renovate and flip. And as luck would have it, I don’t have any transcription to do next week so I can concentrate on just the house.
This is really going to use a lot of my other skills and I’m sort of looking forward to working with my family to get this house fixed up and flipped! Pictures, of course, to come!