Friday, May 29, 2009

Time flies...

I am having a hard time keeping up with blogging. Time is flying by and before I realize it, another month has gone by. Own time is filled with schooling, running from one activity to another, keeping up with the house, and musical performances.

It seems that one performance leads to another for my kids like a giant snowball. The kids performed at Pittsgrove Day. They played three 20 minute sets. Someone called Sunday before last who had seen their card and visited their website. He asked them to perform with his Blues band last Friday evening. They had a lot of fun doing that and even got on stage with the Blues band to try out some blues. They have sold quite a few CDs and probably would sell more if I remembered to take some with us to performances. LOL

Haley is still working through Book 4. She will play the Vivaldi A Minor Concerto (1st movement) for the end of year concert next Sunday evening. It is a little risky since she just finished learning all of it a couple days ago. I mean, she has known the notes for a long time but played it her own way, without shifting. Don't ask me how. Anyway, she is getting it and tends to play better under audience pressure so I am hopeful she will pull it together. Her teacher and I decided that 2 lessons a week would be a good idea for now. So we've fit them in when able or when needed. Her music is getting more and more difficult for me to keep up with and I was a little panicked when her teacher agreed that it would only get harder.

We are headed to NY today for the Mid-Atlantic CCE Fleadh fiddle competition. Haley came down with bronchitis yesterday but we got her to the doctor's quickly so she is on antibiotics and nebulizer (I realized that she hadn't really had a respiratory illness since she was almost 4yo so we hadn't needed the nebulizer for years...I thought maybe she'd outgrown needing it but that's not the case, she just hadn't been sick.). She is feeling a little better today so she should be almost herself by tomorrow...just with a nasty cough.

Dylan really took a liking to the blues when he played last weekend. His teacher is a very good blues musician so has been teaching him a bit. When Dylan played the singer of the blues band told us he played better than some people who have played for 20 years or more! Dylan has been practicing guitar for hours lately. I love that he has found something he is passionate about and wants to work for.

Newt loves the new electric drum set. It gives him a way to show his skills during performances. We are about to turn in the paperwork so he can enter school in the fall and he is beside himself with excitement. I am happy for him though I will miss having him around so much. He will do great. He always does.