First Piano Recital!

Well, in addition to having birthdays and playing baseball, Andrew and Elizabeth also began piano lessons on March 1. The lessons are here in our home, which is wonderful for me for several reasons. It gives me an added incentive to get the laundry folded and put away that's been on the couch for a day, and secondly, I don't have to load everybody up and drive them to an activity. We actually eat lunch and keep living life while she is here! Having lessons in our home makes it so much more personal--so much more like a lifestyle than just another activity. As wonderful as this is, our teacher is even more wonderful! Mrs. King has taught piano for 62 years!!! She is sharp as a tack, has great communication skills, drives a big blue pick-up truck, adores the children, has several cats and at least two dogs and brought us fresh sugar snap peas last Tuesday! (I just finished the last of them as an after dinner snack!) Did I mention she adores children? She just laughs and laughs with them as they tell her stories from their lives. And she tells them stories from her life, or about her experiences with other students or about herself as a little girl! Hannah likes to dress up, showing her all her play dresses and likes to have her piano lesson as well, which lasts about 30 seconds. Last week, she ran out of the house after Mrs. King, saying, "I love you, I love you, I love you and I want to give you a hug good-bye!" For those of you who know Hannah, getting this personal with someone she's only seen once a week for 6 weeks, this is a huge stretch. It says a lot about this delightful woman. I posted their portions of their very informal recital on YouTube. They have four recitals a year. We did not know she would be announcing each song, and the kids were prepared to play through each song they were playing in a certain order with no interruptions. All the announcing their pieces and applause threw them off a little bit, but it's still delightful to see what they've learned and that they enjoy playing for others. Here's the site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd1S8jdA7JU Look to the left to see the option to watch Elizabeth's pieces! She's wearing a navy blue dress and is in braids. Enjoy!