Time for Piano Too

The day after Joy started cello lessons . . .

. . . Daniel and Anna began taking piano lessons again.  It's fun to hear familiar Suzuki songs (and Hendrickson kid variations of them) in our home again.  I forgot how long it takes to supervise daily music practice for three children though.  And now Todd is asking to start lessons.  I want music to enrich his life, and I want him to start young enough to easily pick up whatever instrument he studies, but I have no clue how I would fit another lesson and daily practice session into our family's schedule right now.  

Slippery Slopes

I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that Daniel came sledding again with us today (and I didn't even have to bribe him).  The bad news is that it was so cold that we didn't stay long, and the icy parking lot was so slick that we couldn't get back up the hill onto the road to drive home.  After a dozen attempts and lots of prayers, a couple men pushed our van to give it a good rolling start, and we managed to get up and on our way.  Whew!

Music Soothes the Soul

Daddy, Joy, and I went to a concert put on by a local orchestra this evening.  They did a great job . . .

. . . but as we all got up to leave . . .

. . . I noticed that someone had dozed off during the final number.  Joy is quick to point out that I nodded off during the atonal songs earlier in the evening, so she was just joining the club I started.

Cello Fingers

Now that we're settled in our home, I've started looking for music teachers for the older kids.  Joy decided that she wants to keep studying a string instrument, but she doesn't want to continue with the viola because there isn't much solo music written for it.  She also doesn't want to study the violin because that would just be too obvious.  What non-obvious string instrument has plenty of great solos and duets written for it?

The cello!  Joy began cello lessons this afternoon (under the approving gaze of J. S. Bach).

As Joy's instructor gave her pointers about how to hold the bow, I had a flashback to when Joy was a newborn in the hospital, and some of Phillip's family members were visiting to meet her for the first time.  His family was very musical, and someone commented that Baby Joy had long, slender "piano fingers."  His sister Laura, who studied the cello for years, replied, "No, they are cello fingers."

Maybe Aunt Laura was right. :)

That's a Fancy Trick There, Fuzzy

Remember a few weeks ago, when I said we didn't know how Joy's hamster got out?

Well, now we know.  Joy had left the top hatch of the cage open, because until tonight, we didn't realize that hamsters can clamber around the roof of their cages UPSIDE DOWN!

Oh, and by the way, Joy has officially decided to call her hamster Doc instead of Artie.  I suggested we call him Doctor Houdini, but my proposal was vetoed.

How about Doctor Fuzzypants?

Biking in January

Even though . . .

. . . it looks like snow cars are parked in this local church parking lot . . .

. . . the weather was delightfully warm and sunny this afternoon.  We dusted off our bikes and scooters, then went cruising around the neighborhood together.  It was a fun way to spend this unusually warm winter day.  Freezing weather will be back in full force tomorrow, but until then we'll enjoy this "California winter" day.

Pinch Me

Sometimes I still have to pinch myself that I live in a cute, cozy house that is five minutes from a grocery store and our church . . .

. . . and has a view like this.

Bribing My Son to Sled

The kids kicked off 2020 . . .

. . . playing with squishmallows . . .

. . . and a water tornado toy.  Todd likes to get the tornado going, then see how many laps he can run around our staircase before the water in the top bottle runs out.

Later in the day, the kids decided to go "skating" on our snowy front yard.  It's icy enough now that they can get a running start and skid across the ground for a foot or two, but the novelty of that soon wore off, so we decided to take things up a notch . . .

. . . by going sledding.  The girls were eager to go, but the boys weren't.  I tried bribing them with donuts (which usually works), and Todd took the bait, but Daniel didn't.  Daniel eventually revealed that his last experience with sledding was really scary (it was on a very steep hill), so he didn't want to try it again.  I explained that we've since found a great sledding park with some shallow slopes, but he still didn't want to go.  

I was just sure he would enjoy sledding if he gave it another chance on a manageable slope, so . . . I quietly offered him $1 if he would come sled with us.  He gave me a sidelong glance, and asked for $100.  I told him not to push it, and made a counter offer of $5.  He asked for $10, and we shook on it.

As I expected, Daniel had a lot of fun sledding . . . until Joy crashed into him at the bottom of a hill, knocking him flat on the hard, icy snow.  He then insisted that he just wanted to watch for the rest of the time, and I worried he would never come sledding with us again.  Then, just as we were about to leave, he asked for one more turn on a snow tube.  He was smiling when he finished his ride, but he didn't let me off the hook about the donut and $10.