If only I were as excited for school to end as my kids are! They are actively making (sometimes ludicrous) plans for the summer, I am scrambling to come up with some things we can actually manage. My darling sister Serenity just got home from a mission to Barcelona, Spain, and has already gotten herself engaged! She and Scott Embley dated for quite a while before she left, but apparently distance makes the heart grow fonder, because it wasn't until she was half-way around the world that he finally convinced her to seal the deal. I'm trying to figure out how to work their July wedding into the rather elaborate National Parks trip out west that I'm just shy of convincing Aaron that our family
needs.
Fortunately, we all got a chance to get a bit better acquainted with this Scott fellow who will soon be entering our lives as uncle/brother-in-law when both he and Serenity (only about a week off her mission) came out for an engagement tour of sorts. It was wonderful having them to visit, though they probably wouldn't have minded a little more time to themselves! We took them to the zoo and on a tour of the locally delicious DeBrand chocolate factory, and Scott won himself some serious fans in our kids by playing hide-and-seek with them (and eluding them very successfully at the top of our tree where he made some very convincing bird-calls). Meanwhile, Serenity continued her campaign to be everyone's favorite by scouring the kids' bathroom on the sly and doing way more than her fair share of dishes. We also dragged them with us to a bonfire and cookout with our dear friends the Andrews, who recently moved across town and invited us to hang out on their sprawling new property, where our kids had a blast hanging from trees, jumping themselves to exhaustion on the trampoline, and feeding chickens. We are certainly missing having the Andrews as close neighbors, now!
The following week, we were lucky enough to get a visit from my dad as well, who descended on our kids with all kinds of grandfatherly affection. Given the end-of term concerts and grading that were upon Aaron, we didn't get to do as many "activities" as we might have liked, but that was more than made up for in the one-on-one time that Papa is a genius at. I don't know that I have ever known anyone quite as good as my dad at looking into someone's eyes and making them feel like they are the most important person in the universe. I'm so glad my kids get to have him for a grandpa!
In other exciting events, Aaron took the boys down to Pole Day for the Indy 500 for the second year in a row, where the fast cars and fun times (minus the crowds) were almost enough to make up for the fact that we were too slow to snag some free tickets to race day through a deal at Kroger. The best quote of the day was when Theo asked Aaron "Dad, the sound the engine makes when it's coming down . . . is that an A?" (it was!) Sera had a bit of a brush with the famous when a few days before the big race, her teacher came to school sporting a Brazilian "wish bracelet" she had acquired at a wedding for one of her college friends. The friend had married a racer named Tony Kanaan from Brazil, and the ribbon bracelet, tied with three knots, was supposed to grant three wishes to the wearer when the knots loosened and fell off. When Mrs. Becker mentioned the entire kindergarten class' fascination with the bracelet to her friend, she and Kanaan sent a box of bracelets for the class with the suggestion that they make one of their wishes for Kanaan's victory in the race. Apparently the wishes of kindergarteners are pretty powerful, because Tony Kanaan won the Indy 500!!
May is always a month of concerts and recitals, and we put in our fair share! The KinderKeys recitals all went very well--I can't believe that two fully programmed recitals were required to fit in all the students! I have had such a great group of kids this year, and it has been a privilege to teach them. It's awesome to think that just two years ago the KinderKeys recital consisted of five classmembers (including Sera), my other three kids who I was teaching privately, and two additional private students. I ended this year with two preschool KinderKeys classes, four after-school KinderKeys classes, and the Piano Adventures class that I started with Theo and Addy this year! Everyone played beautifully, but it was especially fun for me to hear the progress my own kids have made--I don't know if it's me or them, but learning in groups has been the best thing for their musical skills.
In other performances of note, Theo has had an awesome year in band at school, and we enjoyed seeing the fruits of his labors at the band concert . He has made exceptional progress, and I totally credit his band teacher for all his improvement at sight-reading this year. Theo was inspired to audition for jazz band for next year (successfully!), and I look forward to more of his awesome trumpeting. Aaron's university performances was especially moving this year, as his concert was in tribute to the memory of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut in December. Additionally, he prepared the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Chorus for a performance of Schubert's final mass in Eb major, which was just beautiful.
And finally, we finished out the month by attending a bluegrass festival together. It was fun to hear the rollicking music from some very talented performers, though when asked about his less than enthusiastic expression, Theo said "Dad, if I look like I'm having fun, do you know what my friends will think?" Ah, the joys of adolescence. We have only just begun.
