Catching Up...

It has been awhile since I last posted and so much has happened I can't possibly write it all here. I will give a little recap of the most exciting events here. The kids had lots of performance opportunities around St. Patrick's Day. They were asked to play for the retirement home where Haley performs monthly with her Suzuki teacher for their first paid gig. Things just exploded from there. I keep likening their music to a snowball that keeps gaining momentum. They played at the coffeehouse with a local strings group...did their own 15 minute set in between the other group and received a standing ovation, played at a retirement community, played in bars (okay, we only took Haley to hang out in bars), and had the opportunity to play with a new set of "adult friends" (Haley's title for the people she plays with at adult sessions.) at the Charlesworth in Fortesque and then with a few just last weekend at one of their homes. That was a beautiful afternoon...peach blossoms everywhere, warm weather, playing in a garden, and Irish music.



Haley finished up Book 3 and played a mini concert for her teacher and I. She is now working through Book 4. She will play her first polished piece from the book at their retirement home concert on Friday. We are very excited that she received a full scholarship to the fiddle camp she begged me to register her for...Kevin Burke will be her teacher for the advanced fiddle classes. She emailed him to let him know she was excited to be coming and he emailed back saying he couldn't wait to see her (very cute!!) We are at a crossroads now with her violin playing. Her music is getting more difficult for me at the speed she is moving and we are considering options like an extra lesson or a practice partner to help.

Dylan saved and saved his money for months and months and last week purchased himself a new Fender (1X12) amplifier. He practices all the time now and is getting really good. This weekend I heard him calling out the chords for another guitarist and even though the other guy probably may have known them anyway, it was neat to see Dylan able to do that.

Newt was very excited that Poppop and Grammy bought him an electric drum set. It is very light and portable so when the kids perform as a "band" he can take it along. He gets bored just playing the bodhran and loves being able to "show off" his skills with the new drumset.

The kids have been having a great time "writing" their own music and recording it at the studio. It is neat that they have the opportunity to explore that side of music. I am so grateful to Frank for doing that for them.