The title is the title of a library book that we have been reading to Willa. Yesterday I took her to Build a Bear and picked out a My Little Pony to build and we stuffed her pacifiers inside. She was brave and even a little distracted, I think she didn't realize that that was it.
Last night she went to bed with Pinkie Pie and didn't ask for her pacifier, but this morning when she woke up and again at naptime, she told me that her mouth hurts without her pacifier and she was teary. Ryan and I are both sad to see her lose something that comforts her, but it was definitely time.
I couldn't get a good photo, but you get the idea.
I have lots of ideas or thoughts to post about, but in reality we are in the dog days of summer and it's been rough. The kids seem extra whiny and with it so hot outside there isn't a lot of escape sometimes. I think it's just the post-vacation doldrums, but I've been struggling not going crazy! By 8:00 am, I'm already so worn down and annoyed by all the cries and whines and tantrums. You're shocked that my children do that? Yes, it's true. Behind all the pictures are little people with opinions and feelings and desires!
Everything came to a head on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, I ending up posting about it on Facebook. We were having Brandon and Rebecca for dinner and Brandon ended up showing up an hour early. He brought Blue Bell ice cream and several Lindt chocolate bars and then asked what he could do to help. I asked if he could help Willa clean up the toys and he went right to work entertaining and cleaning and the girls were happy and I had a few minutes respite and it was great. He's a good guy.
On Saturday, Ryan was helping Rob Thalman move some of their things so he was gone most of the day. Around 9:00 am, I was just determining to be happier and more patient. June started strumming the strings on the little harp, which made Willa want to play. I told Willa she could, but that she needed to wait a minute for me to get a little stool. Well, she didn't wait and then she pushed June out of the way (I think, I was in the other room quickly), which made June push, and then CRASH the little harp fell over!
I ran in and thankfully, things could have been much, much worse. It broke a big chunk of wood off of the harp, but it was mainly cosmetic. I was mainly worried that the little harp would have fallen on the big harp and punctured the sound board, which would have been thousands and thousands of dollars to repair. Still, there is a big chunk of wood off of the folk harp on the sound board. I think we can probably glue it on with wood glue, but I'm also nervous to do any fixes myself. Still, it's probably not worth the thousands it would be to ship it to Chicago for a real fix.
Anyway, I was fuming and angry and sad and mad at myself for losing it, but also mad at them (especially Willa because she is the one who is old enough to know better). I found myself wanting to slap her! I wouldn't do that, but that's how I was feeling. I roughly put her in time out and sadly, yelled in a not nice mommy voice. Then, I shut myself in my room for a good while. I'm calm now and I try not to dwell on it. Things like this are part of having children and I accept that.
It was just a rough end to a rough week (and sadly, this Monday has not started out better as far as whining and screaming). I'm trying to figure out what we need to do. We went to the park this morning and maybe I need to get some crafts to do while we're inside, which is not my strong point. Anyway, things are getting real here, folks.
We drove home last Tuesday to be able to make an eye exam for Willa on Wednesday. We have been waiting six months for this exam, but more on that later.
Here are a few happenings from Utah. We visited Donna and the girls had a great time looking at Fiona the cat.
Willa helped my dad pick apricots, rather my dad would toss them on the ground and she would collect them. She can't say her L sound and so many things just sound super adorable. She kept saying, "I to yittle to reach. I put them in the bucket." While we were visiting, she picked strawberries, raspberries, and squash, which was all very thrilling.
As you can see from the photo, she got a haircut! I've been toying with the idea for a while because she doesn't really like me to spend the amount of time and water squirting on it to make it look well. I've seen so many cute bobs on little girls and thought (as I have thought many times previous) that cute short hair is better than not cute long hair. It could look good long, but it wasn't on an everyday basis. My mom took her to our curly hair stylist and he did a great cut. She was very nervous but behaved thanks to a wrapped present that was waiting for her in the car. Thanks grandma! In her quiet way, I can tell that she likes the new 'do. She will stop to look at it in the mirror and feel it. Today we put a headband on for church and she said, "I am a beautiful little girl." She is so sweet and she did look adorable.
Lastly, there were many sink baths and Willa even got a turn, which was funny since she is getting on the big side.
Now whenever I do dishes, June wanders over holding out her hand and asking for "bubba" bubbles.
It was a nice trip. My niece Ashley drove home with us to have a Vegas adventure and just flew home today.
I love, love, love Suzuki Institute. My mom, sister, and I attended basically every summer from the time I was eight years old. It's basically a week long music camp where you have master classes, repertoire, technique, and theory with a bunch of Suzuki teachers. All my harp friends and their moms would be there. Usually it was at a college campus and we would stay in the dorms together and it was just a week full of music, bonding, and fun.
As I go back now, it's the same. A lot of my harp friends from when I was eight are still there. Except, they are the harp teachers and harp moms instead of the students. Some of their children are students and it's so fun to see everyone and how they have changed. Sometimes, even the original harp moms are there. Some of my friends have multiple children attending so they call on their moms or dads to come help. Parental involvement is so key to the Suzuki method that you really need a parent with the student in the classes, so if you have multiple children, you might need help keeping up with double or triple the classes. It was so fun to see some of the original moms and talk with them.
Every time I go to Institute, I just feel so grateful and blessed that I could grow up and be a part of the harp and Suzuki community. It is wonderful. I love the Suzuki Method. It's focus is on love, nurturing, and making beautiful people through music. All the original teachers who taught me when I was eight and every summer thereafter are still there (including the original who traveled to Japan to study with Dr. Suzuki and who developed the whole program for the harp) and they give me big smiles and hugs when they see me. It is really interesting to be around people who have literally watched me grow up. To be part of a community like that is fantastic. Lots of the teachers live all around the country and I only see them at Institute, but they are part of this larger community that includes me.
I did teacher training for Book Four. I've taken it before, but only as an auditor (long story) and they've changed a lot of the repertoire, so it was time for me to take it again. In teacher training, you spend a week basically going through each song in the book and discussing what technique and principle that each song is supposed to introduce to the child. We talk and share tips for learning the pieces and make sure that we know all the teaching points. Then we spend hours throughout the week observing other teachers teach students in the masterclasses. It's a great learning experience.
At the end of the week, there is a big concert with all the children. When I was younger, Suzuki camp always included the other instruments like violins, violas, guitars, etc. and the final concert was everyone on stage. Utah has so many harpists that it has its own camp now. So, the final concert is just harps - but it's 80 harps on stage and it's very cool. Even though I've seen and participated in the concerts for my whole life, I still love them and think that they are amazing. The students were really playing at a high level this year and there were several very young and very advanced players.
This year I had two students attend and it was so great. I've been teaching Elise via Skype since she is still in Houston, it was great to be with her and give her some live lessons. My little student Ashlynn is brand new. She's really a prodigy and keeps shocking me with how quickly she is picking things up. She has only been taking lessons for three months, but is already halfway through the book. There is one particularly difficult song that usually takes most students several weeks/months to be able to play hands together. Ashlynn had her hands together after one day and within a week the song was basically polished and we moved on. I REALLY wanted her to attend institute, but it was out of their budget. I emailed my friend who is the Institute Director and asked if she could waive the late fee since they weren't even taking lessons when the deadline was. My friend agreed to waive the fee, then I told Ashlynn's mom that I would waive my lesson fee for the month and they could stay overnight at my mom's house during the week instead of paying for the dorms. It made it financially possible for them and I'm so glad they could attend!
I also want to note that Ashlynn is only nine and she earned $3000 herself to pay for a harp and lessons. She pays me in cash each month and hands the money straight to me. She has wanted to play the harp for years and when they found me as a teacher, her mom started researching things that Ashlynn might be able to sell to make money. She had some wholesale contacts and they decided on these scarves. They made a website and then Ashlynn bought the first batch and all subsequent batches with her own money. Here is her website. I'm putting it here in case anyone wants to support here, and the scarves are cute! It really is amazing. She went door to door to sell and took them to craft shows. She is very shy and I asked her mom how she was able to do it. The first time there were tears, but her mom said that she just looked at her and said, "Ashlynn, how bad do you want to play the harp? How bad do you want this?" So, she swallowed her tears and started knocking. Honestly, I don't know if I could do that with my kids, but I am amazed and impressed! Ashlynn appreciates her lessons SO much. She worked for them, she earned them! They're already brainstorming ideas to start earning money for a pedal harp in the future.
Me and the other book four trainees with Delaine, our teacher trainer.
With Elise
Phala Tracy, one of the harp teachers, has been coming up with all these ways to teach music theory to kids. Here is her time signature song, they sang it in the final concert. The words are, "The top number tells you how many beats in a measure, the bottom number tells you what kind of note gets one beat."
They were weird songs, but she is an original person and the kids learned! I'm kicking myself because I accidentally deleted this great video of her song about modes. She also had a cool song about the circle of fifths on a pedal harp. For my music friends, I am going to write the modes song out here, it's ridiculous, but so clever! She calls it the Pickle Song.
"I own a lot of pickles, I keep them in the door of the fridge. I get the lids of the jars mixed up some times. I say, "Aye" to old Ian at the local pickle store. Yay modes!"
This song teaches all the modes and the melody goes up a half or whole-step as you reach the next mode. Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolidian, Aeolian, Locrian. So, if you have trouble remembering which mode is which, you can sing the song and know!
Lastly, I'll put up a video of the final song from the concert. It's a very famous harp song, Seguidilla by Carlos Salzedo. It's a great song and the kids learn it in book two. They look forward to it and are so excited when they are advanced enough to play it. The little kids tapped out different rhythms on the harp while the others played. On the far left in the front, there is a little girl with Down Syndrome. It was so sweet. Her older sisters play and so she is taking lessons. That's why I love Suzuki. It's all about using and teaching music to enrich a person's soul. I love one of Dr. Suzuki's quotes, "Where love is great, much can be accomplished." We don't teach just to have the best little prodigies, we teach everyone who wants to learn. This little girl hasn't even learned taka taka jump jump yet, but she had a little hand cymbal that she could to the taka hand position and it would ding in time to the music. So sweet and moving. She was working really hard to get it to ding in the right place.
Happy Fourth! We drove to Utah last Wednesday (me alone driving the girls, please pat me on the back). On Thursday we played at home. I was looking at the city's website that afternoon and saw that the Children's parade was that afternoon at 6:30! I have so many fond memories of decorating bikes and doing that parade with all the neighborhood kids so I thought we could try it with Willa.
It was last minute, but we got a trike decorated and got down there. Willa loved it. There were lots of kids and a fire engine led the parade. Of course at the end they had Paces Dairy Ann Astro Bars for all the kids, just like when I was a kid. I love small town celebrations!
She was very excited about the Popsicle and while she was riding she sang, "Riding my bike is fun to do, fun to do, fun to do..."
Ryan flew in that evening and the next morning we ran the fun run. Longest fun run in Utah - 35 years! It would have been my dad's 35th year to run it, but he opted out this year in order to play his bagpipe in the parade!! A man who is slave to his traditions is not living. Ryan ran from the house to the race to warm up. He was running and some man working on his lawn said, "Oh, did the race start?" Ryan said no and asked for directions to the start. The man told him and then offered to drive him there! So friendly, I love Centerville! Ryan got first in his age group and I got 201 of the women :). NH met us there and raced too. I love the Centerville fun run!
Later we went to the parade and it was awesome. Our neighbors walked as father and son with the veterans, which was cool. Of course, we were so proud of my dad for learning the bagpipe in the last few years and working hard enough to be able to march in the parade! It was one of the better Centerville parades in recent history.
The differences between my two darling girls was starkly shown at the parade. Willa sat nervously on her dad's lap observing. It was only the very end of the parade when she was comfortable enough to try for a little candy. June, on the other hand, squealed, squeaked, and shouted with joy. From the start she was waving and clapping and pointing and flapping her arms with excitement. She was adorable and soooo thrilled. She has such exuberance for life, it is fun and tiring.
Hands out shyly for candy.
Mid clap
Can you find him?
Grandma gave her three dollars for the carnival!
That evening we went to my dad's office to light fireworks, since we aren't allowed to set anything off up on the hill. My friend Alyson, her new husband, and her family joined us. It was such a pleasant evening except for two overly tired girls! We had homemade ice cream, had snacks, and just enjoyed sitting in the nice evening weather and chatting. Since our families grew up together it was just comfortable and fun to be with her parents and to have her little brother and his wife with us.
I haven't mentioned it until now because details weren't solid and I didn't want to look the fool if things didn't work out.
However, all of our wildest dreams have come true and the Thalmans decided to leave Houston and move to Las Vegas! Huzzah! It happened very quickly and I didn't want to announce the good news until they were absolutely, physically here. I was scared that something would fall through and they wouldn't end up coming. Thankfully they made it. They are living about thirty minutes away, but it doesn't feel so far! We played together for two glorious play dates before I left for Utah and we're planning for many more fun times.
The very day that Kim called to tell me they were moving, I was praying about finding more friends for Willa. We still need to get some friends near home, but it is just so good to have them back.
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