We have sprouts!

Granny and Granddaddy gave Michael an Aerogarden for this birthday. He's quite excited about it and looking forward to growing stuff. He chose to grow salad greens for his first plant.

So Saturday afternoon, Mike and Michael got the aerogarden all set up. He has been watching it often, thinking perhaps he might actually see it grow! It does say that first sprouts will come in 1-3 days - and they were right.

Its been just over 48 hours and we have sprouts. Before long, I think I'll be able to harvest our dinner salad right before dinner!

Dance Competition

After the piano recital this past Fri night, Samantha and I headed South - 5 hours South - to Fayetteville, NC for her dance competition.

This is the first year her teacher chose to attend a convention that had dance workshops in the morning and then competition in the afternoon / evening. The classes were great and I think Samantha learned a lot, but it made for another long night, as all of the competition dances weren't completed and the awards given until well after midnight!









Samantha performed in 5 dances:
Stomp - Funk Tap dance based on the Broadway show with trashcans and buckets!
Beautiful People - Jazz
Paquita - Ballet
Love and War - Lyrical Ballet
Step in Time - Tap



Lyrical Ballet: Love and War


Left - Jazz: Beautiful People. Right - Ballet: Paquita

My favorite, by far, was Step in Time. It is based on the dance in Mary Poppins. It was a large group of girls - about 18 of them. They even had some of the signature chimney sweep kicks like Dick Van Dyke in the movie. I loved it.

That said, they actually performed quite well in all of the dances. Its clear they have been working hard. They were scored by professional dancers using a professional scale - and did very well. In addition to great marks, they earned a 3rd place award for Small Groups for their Stomp tap and 2nd place award for Line Groups for Step in Time. Quite impressive.

Left: Step in Time. Right: Stomp

Piano Recital

We had our annual piano recital this past Friday. It was nice - and short. In comparison with previous years, that have seen 3hours or longer recital, this recital was just over an hour.

Samantha and Michael did great. They had difficult pieces for their level, so I found myself gritting my teeth and holding my breath, hoping that they didn't mess up. Not that I cared if they messed up, but they often lose their focus if they mess up and then can't get back into gear.

After the recital, their piano teacher presented some awards. Samantha and Michael were 2 of only 5 kids in this recital that completed the 200 club - practicing 200 minutes each week since January. That is often a difficult task to accomplish, but we did it. Samantha also passed 7 books this year, 2nd place for all of her students in number of books passed. Miss Turner then gave out some special awards, and Michael earned the "Highest Achievement" award and Samantha the "Most Advanced" award. There weren't many awards given, so I was quite pleased that they earned these. Finally I feel like all my nagging has paid off!

Anyway, I have included some videos of their songs at the recital. Lighting isn't great but you can hear their songs clearly.

Samantha - "Whispering Hope"


Samantha - Spinning Song


Samantha and Michael's duet - O Store Gud


Michael - Rock of Ages


Michael - Solfeggietto

Lots to report on

I have a lot to report on, just not yet.

We have been super busy, which has given me a lot to update on but not a lot of time to do it.

We've had:
- our final drama production
- our Spring piano recital
- Samantha's dance competition

I'll update you on all of it soon - as soon as I feel better from this cold that I think started on Fri morning but was full-force Sat evening and made for a BRUTAL drive home from Fayetteville, NC on Sunday!