Gardening and hummingbirds...

I don't know if you can see him but the male hummingbird who has begun feeding at our kitchen window is sitting on the feeder to the right. A male and female visit the feeder regularly every evening. I've even seen them feeding each other...what looks like kissing. I wonder if their nest is nearby.

Below are pics of the garden behind our house. Haley's sunflowers are over 9 feet tall and the first is just beginning to bloom. Many plants in the garden look almost prehistoric in proportion like the zucchini and those sunflowers. There are dozens and dozens of green tomatoes, watermelons, peppers, and pole limas growing. We have gotten peas, string beans, potatoes, salad, and more zucchini than I care to discuss already. Our blueberry bushes were just planted this year so still little but we did get a handfull of ripe blueberries every other day for about 2 weeks. The herbs are also growing well and I've used them to season the other vegetables we've grown.

The Graduate...

It seems like only yesterday when this was a tiny, skinny little boy running around my house, climbing my tables, and chatting up a storm. Now he's a handsome (albeit hairy...and where those curls came from I don't know), muscular, intelligent young man.

Time flies!!

Newt graduated from 8th grade on Wednesday night with honors from gifted classes. It felt a bit strange going to his graduation when it was his first year in school after years of homeschooling. In a couple months I will be sending him off to high school. He is looking forward to his new classes and wrestling. I can't believe in 4 more years he'll be headed to college. Part of me wishes I could stop time and the other is excited to see who he will become.

Violin Fingers....

Haley was very excited when after a day with lots of practice, she noticed residue on her finger tips from her violin. I don't know which "battle scar" she enjoys more...violin fingers or the red mark on her neck from holding her violin properly.

Orchestra and Convention...

Last week Haley, Grammy, Poppop and I drove to Minneapolis, MN so Haley could attend the SAA Biannual Convention and participate in the SYOA Orchestra 1. The orchestras were chosen from kids who had submitted audition DVDs back in October.The orchestra dd was a member of was composed of about forty 7-10yos mostly from all over the US but there was a child from Argentina as well. All the kids were musical kids and it was a wonderful opportunity for dd to play in anorchestra of kids close to her own size who all loved music like she does...musical peers rather than her being the "star."

She had been sent the music back in February and were expected to know it. The kids rehearsed on Thursday evening, most of the day Friday and Saturday, then again Sunday morning before a dress rehearsal and concert Sunday afternoon. The rehearsals were long and rather intense. I am not musical so it amazed me to see these kids from all over come together and in a few days perform as an orchestra. (Similar to a Suzuki institute orchestra but at a much higher level than any week long orchestra dd has participated in.)

During rehearsals I was able to talk with other parents and was delighted to meet parents from all over dealing with similar issues related to having musical kids. During breaks and in the evenings dd had a blast making new friends and playing with a couple "old" friends who she doesn't get to play with often. Itwas fascinating to watch them. While rehearsing, they behaved like"professional" musicians but once the instruments were safely in their cases, they transformed back into little kids playing, talking, and running around the room.

It took a little detective work and some help from a friend but we also had the fun of finding a couple Irish sessions in Minneapolis for Haley to join so she made a number of new adult friends as well. She had a wonderful week and misses her friends already especially Sofia.

Butterflies!!!!

Haley has 3 painted lady butterflies. They came out of their chrysallis' yesterday and we watched them shiver to dry their wings then made a sugar solution to feed them. We will keep them a couple days then release them outside.

Taylor!!!!

Back in October, Dylan and his Dad made a bargain. If Dylan learned Classical Gas on guitar exactly as written and played by Mason Williams, his Dad would buy him a Taylor guitar. It has taken him months...sometimes working on it and other times losing interest or getting overwhelmed...but last night after 2 days of working on the last couple pages, Dylan achieved his goal.

Today his Daddy took him to the music store and he played every guitar in the store then settled on a Taylor 414CE Limited Edition. It's a beautiful guitar and sounds amazing. He has been playing it almost constantly since he got home.

Congrats, Dyl!!

New Session....

Tuesday night we finally made it to the session at The Shanachie. Fintan, a wonderful banjo player who we've seen at various sessions around the area, has been asking me to bring the kids over to the session there. The problem has always been that it is on Tuesday nights and until recently I had to take Newt to wrestling practice on Tuesday nights. We've done some rearranging of his wrestling schedule to fit in his weight lifting which left us with on open Tuesday night. So, we made the hour drive and went to play. It was a very nice session with many different types of instruments. There were some people we knew from other sessions and some new people as well. One man invited us to play at another session he attends on Sunday afternoons so we may try that one as well. Just as we were getting ready to go, Chris, one of the leaders of Next Gen stopped in so Haley wanted to play a few tunes with her. She hasn't made it to Next Gen very often this year due to other engagements.The kids kept Grammy and I out very late and they had a great time!