Well, the crowning event of February, of course, was the culmination of the months of preparation for
Oliver! The performance absolutely blew us away--Theo and Addy played to full houses at almost all of their six performances, and everything from the choreography to the sets to the live orchestral music fell into place beautifully. As much as they were ready to reclaim those hours of their days, I think both Theo and Addy were sad to see it all end. They've both grown remarkably in so many ways, and I wouldn't change a thing about it.
Sadly, all the hard work and rehearsals took a heavy toll on Theo's schoolwork. I'm not quite sure how to handle his poor grades. I know his after-school hours have been busy, but I get a sense that he's not applying himself as fully as he could during school hours either. He has been loving his band and art classes, but his academic classes seem to be getting less of his attention than they should. Though theoretically having less going on after school should automatically remedy that, more often than not, he seems to think that getting a snack and laying around are the ideal after-school activities. For now, I'm taking a more hands-off approach--for me at that age, I'm afraid it required seeing the real-life consequences of laziness before I decided there were reasons other than parental nagging to work hard in school. We'll have to wait and see how that works out.
Of course, maybe there's more post-performance fatigue happening than I realize--even Addy had a less-than-spectacular quarter. On the other hand, the fourth-grade Biography Tea this month was one of the outstanding events of the year. Addy chose Queen Elizabeth I of England, and worked very hard researching her and some of the details of royal life in the 16th century. I loved getting to come to school to visit not only with Queen Elizabeth, but with many of her consorts, including Amelia Earhart, Grace Kelly, Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Albert Einstein . . . the list goes on. It was a remarkable afternoon and made me grateful once again for a wonderful school and teachers who go the extra mile to help the children in their classes get an in-depth perspective on history.
Meanwhile, down at Aboite school, Emerson has been chugging along. He's learning quickly and loves both his teacher and his classmates. Recently he also brought home quite a prize from Cub Scouts, which he has loved getting involved with. He could hardly wait to take on his very first Pinewood Derby after watching Asher win it all last year, and he had a great time making his derby car with his dad. Although at one point he and his car were hanging on to second place, in the final race-off he ended up in third. He couldn't be more thrilled with his fancy trophy, though, and he's happy to have a dad who has gotten so good at figuring out the aerodynamics of a successful derby car.
Sera has been rolling right along as well, enjoying school, enjoying coloring, enjoying taking care of all her little zhu-zhu pets. She's become a bit of a bedtime Nazi, however. She absolutely insists that she be tucked in every night no matter what. While most of the time we're delighted that she wants to give us a last snuggle before sleep, there are days when her relentless calls down the stairs of "tuck me in! right now!" are less than adorable.
The next big performance on the horizon in our family is Aaron's. Recently a position with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic came open--the chorus-master job. I have been eying this position on his behalf ever since we moved here, as choral-orchestral music is a particular gift of his, not to mention his favorite part of the repertoire. He applied for the job and was recently invited to guest-conduct a performance of Schubert's mass in Eb this spring to audition. Additionally, he and his choirs at the university have been invited to participate in a performance of
Balshazzar's Feast, which is one of Aaron's least favorite musical works. Annoyingly, he is working hard to make it successful alongside one of his rivals for the position, who was invited to prepare the choirs as an audition for the job as well. Obviously Aaron is working hard to make it a wonderful performance, but it's a little frustrating that many of the extra things he's taking on (providing practice resources for all members of both choirs on his website, taking class time to make sure his choirs can carry weaker Philharmonic Chorus members in performance) will reflect better on the other candidate than on him. Still, Aaron is utterly incapable of putting anything less than his best into any performance he is involved with, and I hope that the other candidate, as well as the board members tasked with making the hire, are taking note of his efforts.
As for me, I feel like I've had a little more time to dedicate to writing this month, polishing off a rough draft for another book. I'm hoping this is the year that everything finally comes together--I would love to make some money doing something I enjoy so much!
