A Musical Week In May

Well, so far I was correct in my prediction that April would be a more busy month than May. The sudden rush of blog posts you've seen recently is evidence of that. I've actually had a couple of days that were relatively peaceful and stress-free; such a unique experience this spring! This is probably the calm before the storm; the next couple of weeks will be hectic, what with Nathan's birthday, the girl's dance recital, Memorial Day weekend, and the end of school all approaching in a huge rush. But it's been a blessing having these couple of weeks to catch my breath.

Last week wasn't totally uneventful, though...I got to spend some quality time with my daughter Lorelai, and have some music appreciation time as well! Her third-grade class announced several weeks ago that they'd be taking a field trip to see a special "concert for kids," put on by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. I haven't gone to many of my daughters' field trips; the school doesn't allow younger siblings to accompany parent chaperones, and I am always reluctant to ask someone to watch Aurora all day. But an opportunity to see the symphony orchestra was too good to pass up! Luckily, a good friend with a daughter Aurora's age volunteered to watch Aurora for the day, so I was able to sign on.

Even though I've never played in a symphony orchestra before, I really love listening to live symphonies. It's probably because I am a classical music buff in general; I was classically trained on piano, and that experience bled out to include a love of all classical music, not just piano music. I attended symphonies as often as I could in high school and especially college (my alma mater, BYU, has an intense, hyper-competitive music program that results in spectacular performances). But in my ten years and counting as a Tucson resident, I had not yet had the chance to see the Tucson Symphony Orchestra...an oversight I planned to rectify by chaperoning Lorelai's class!

As a chaperone, I had the "honor" of riding in the charter school's bus with all the kids. Great Expectations Academy's bus is actually a former tour bus, so it's quite comfortable, especially for short trips. It was quite noisy with all the third-graders talking to each other the whole time, though! It gave me some flashbacks to field trips in my school days.

It was great to see all the kids dressed up in their "Sunday best" to attend the concert. Even though it was mid-morning, it felt like we were out for a fancy night on the town. We arrived in downtown Tucson a little bit early, so Mark (our school director/bus driver) took us on a slight detour...

...a quick jaunt across the Rattlesnake Pedestrian Bridge! It runs over Broadway just at the edge of downtown Tucson, and marks the point where the Aviation Parkway turns into Euclid Avenue. Some may call it a tacky eyesore; I call it AWESOME, and I always get a smile on my face looking at it. I must have driven under this bridge hundreds of times since moving to Arizona, but I had never yet walked across the bridge. It was to be a day of many "firsts," apparently!

The kids loved looking over the edge at the cars passing beneath their feet. My favorite part of the walk was reaching the south side of the bridge, and finding the rattlesnake's "tail." When you walk out of the bridge, there is a speaker that plays a loud "rattling" sound. Awesome!

After our little constitutional, we headed back to the Tucson Convention Center to watch the show...

It ran just under an hour long, but was a lot of fun (for me and Lorelai anyway; I'm not sure how all the other kids liked it). The conductor was a very enthusiastic guy who took frequent breaks to speak to the audience about the power of music; how it can shape moods and feelings, how it can inspire action and change; and so on. He also encouraged audience participation; there was a lot of hand-raising, clapping, and "anvil-pounding" (for Verdi's Anvil Chorus, of course!). Some of the other songs played by the orchestra included (I may be missing one or two numbers):

-Lizt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (the audience had to raise their hands every time the "mood" of the song changed; this song has been in all sorts of cartoons and TV shows over the years)
-John Williams' Olympic Fanfare, the piece that was composed originally for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and has since been played ad nauseum by NBC at every one of their Olympic broadcasts. Williams is a national treasure, I tell you!
-Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, also known as the "sad but beautiful music people like to play at funerals." The conductor used it as an example of how music can set a specific mood.
-The University of Arizona fight song, which...okay. It made all the Wildcat fans in the audience happy, that was for sure!
-"We Shall Overcome" (a fully orchestrated version, of course!) This was the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States in the 1960s. They had a soloist come out, and he did a pretty darn good job!
-There was also a new composition, called "Waltz," which was written by a young woman who lives in Arizona. And it even had a choreographed dance number attached, performed by members of Ballet Tucson. Not too shabby! After the number was over, the conductor invited the composer herself up on stage to say a few words about the experience. Pretty neat.

The concert concluded with the "Ode To Joy," from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. One of my all-time favorite pieces of music; it's triumphant, powerful, emotional, joyous, inspiring, you name it. I love it. It amazes me to this day that Beethoven composed this when he was totally deaf; he never actually heard his masterpiece performed. I hope he has listened to it a lot on playback in heaven! The conductor didn't have time to teach the audience all the lyrics, so we hummed along when the chorus came around. Even just humming, there was so much positive energy in the room that it made me tear up a little. I am a total sap. Luckily I managed to brush away the tears before any of the kids saw me; nevertheless, it was a great way to finish the program and send me out the door with a positive buzz.

I was so glad I got to share that neat experience with Lorelai; I don't know if any of my girls will have the same deep love for music that I do as they grow up, but I am glad they tolerate my obsession with ease! For her part, Lorelai seemed to really enjoy the experience; she recognized the music when I played it back to her later on the computer and fondly remembered hearing it live. Maybe there will be other trips to the symphony in our future!

Later that week, we attended another musical performance...but this time, Lorelai was playing music, not just listening to it!

 It was the spring recital for all my piano students. It had been a while since I had the kids perform in the springtime; last year, I used our LDS ward's talent show as their performance opportunity. This was also the first time I used the public library as a site for a piano recital...I thought it might be easier to fit all my students and their families into the larger conference room.

All things considered, the recital went very well (despite the piano being somewhat out of tune). Everybody was able to come (I was missing a student at the Christmas recital); everyone played well, and the set-up and clean-up of the room went smoothly. The only thing I forgot was to get a group picture of everyone, aargh! That's why I have a bunch of individual shots...and I even missed photographing one of my students this way! I'll have to do better next time.

Never having used the library as a recital venue before, I deviated from tradition a bit and didn't have anyone bring refreshments (usually, I have every family bring a plate of treats to share). As it turns out, refreshments would have been allowed...if I'd thought to ask the library staff. Oops. To make up for that, I volunteered to take all my students down the street and treat them to some ice cream or a cupcake at Cayley Cakes, a locally owned sweet shop. That seemed to go over well with everybody; however, next time I might revert to tradition and do the pot-luck, so no one will feel left out.

Three of my students were performing for the very first time; I was so proud of all of them! They stayed very cool under pressure and did quite well.

This recital was also somewhat bittersweet, as it was the final recital with Hyrum, the student who's studied longer with me than anyone else. Hyrum's family are friends of ours, but last winter they moved to Vail, a small town many miles east of Sahuarita. We'll still see them from time to time, of course, but they no longer attend church in the same place as us, and once the school year's done, Lorelai won't have Hyrum as a classmate any more. She and Hyrum have been good friends for several years now, and it will be hard on her not to have him as a classmate this fall. Hopefully our families will keep in touch regularly, so she will be able to see her buddy once in a while.

I am so happy to be a piano teacher. It can be time-consuming sometimes, but mostly it is fun, and I love working with the kids. It is so rewarding to see kids learn this skill and gain a new talent that they can share with their family and friends. I hope I can keep my current group of students for a while; they have a lot of potential! Now to keep them playing throughout the summer; it should be fun! Just a few more weeks until school's out.

I Love It When My Parents Come To Visit

One of the best parts of Lorelai's school play was that one of her Colorado grandparents was able to come watch it. We are so grateful that Nathan's parents live close by; it is great to see them on a regular basis, and they have been able to witness a lot of the girls' milestones. But all of us are very grateful for those times when my parents are able to travel from Colorado to see us too.

It's even better when they can make it for special events our kids are involved in. They were able to take time out of their busy schedules to come witness Lorelai's baptism last September. Now, the following spring, they were able to come see Lorelai's play and spend Easter Sunday with the family. Lorelai has sure been getting spoiled by "Colorado Grandma & Grandpa" this year; maybe next time Celeste or Aurora will be able to get some special attention (although in fairness, Aurora did get to spend the days with Grandma & Grandpa by herself when the older girls were at school).

My mom just missed out on Lorelai's performance, because she'd taken a detour to Salt Lake City and wasn't able to find a flight to Tucson at the right time. Mom had taken a mini-vacation from Colorado to attend a science fiction convention that was being held in the Salt Palace Convention Center. The con was only a year old at the time, but it was already huge. Mom was a little overwhelmed, but she still had the presence of mind to call me and ask what kind of souvenirs our family would like. That's true love for you! She brought Nathan and I some neat T-shirts:

 

Mom also got each of the girls a cute little stuffed animal as well. She did feel bad about missing Lorelai's play, but she is getting a DVD of the play soon so she'll be able to experience it that way. Plus, the girls were so happy to see her on Easter morning that I think they forgave her very quickly.

My parents went to sacrament meeting with us on Sunday morning, then left afterwards to help hide our Easter eggs. Since we have had afternoon church for such a long time, Nathan and I had wondered how we were going to pull off the Easter egg hunt with church in the morning. Do we hide the eggs that Saturday night (or really early Sunday morning), then tell the girls to ignore them as we hustle out the door to church? Or do we do the egg hunt in the wee hours of the morning, and then start eating them after church? Luckily, my parents helped us sidestep that problem this year.

 

Grandma and Grandpa stayed a few days after Easter as well, just to hang out with the family. Confession: I like to think of myself as a grown, independent woman. But when my mom and dad come to visit, I love to be spoiled by them. I love going out to eat every day, I love that they offer to buy me clothes, I love that they ask what home goods & products we need, and I love that my dad always wants to help with home projects when he comes. This storm of generosity sometimes makes me feel like a helpless teen/young adult again. It can also make me feel like a huge moocher, despite my parent's protestations that I am anything but. I hope I will be able to pay all this kindness forward someday, either to my own children & grandchildren or to others who may be in need of it.

Here's a quick list of all the things Mom and Dad did for us on this trip:

-Attended Lorelai's play
-Ate Easter dinner at our house
-Bought us some groceries, on more than one occasion
-Took us out to eat several times! We went to Oregano's in Tucson, a fun fusion-styled Italian restaurant; Poco and Mom's for lunch, a terrific, New Mexican-style cafe; Saigon Flavor, a local Vietnamese place; and Asian Sky, a local Chinese place that delivers. Among other places!! My parents love to go out to eat and they love to treat their children. These things definitely worked out in our favor.
-Bought us a bunch of home-improvement stuff from Lowe's (details to follow)
-Pruned our mesquite tree in the front yard (I finished the job after Dad left, but he helped out a lot with the lower-hanging branches)
-Took down four sets of cheap Levolor blinds and put up some sturdier ones in their place (the girls had destroyed one of the cheap blinds in their bedroom. As a result, the whole neighborhood could see into their room at night. Luckily, this incident happened right before the grandparents visited, so we were able to hit them up for some newer, faux-wood blinds that will be much sturdier. When we first moved here three years ago, Nathan's parents kindly helped us install all the blinds in the house. However, due to budget constraints, we had to mismatch some of them. Our upstairs windows now all have matching blinds, for the first time since we've lived here. Hooray!)
-Sprayed our backyard with pre-emergent grass and weed killer. Pre-emergent is a chemical we buy from a local store, which kills all seedlings underground and prevents them from growing during the rainy season (and thus turning our backyard into a jungle in the late summer). It's pretty easy to spray the yard; you just attach a prayer to the hose, make sure you have a proper mix of chemical & water in the tank, and spray away. Still, it was nice to have Dad's help.
-Installed a new ceiling fan. Lorelai will soon be getting her own room; she's moving to the middle of our three small bedrooms. Unfortunately, that room hasn't had a ceiling fan that's worked since we moved in. Thanks to my Dad (and Nathan, on a steep learning curve), the room now has a beautiful ceiling fan that should keep Lorelai cool at night.

At least, after all these wonderful gifts, I was able to take Mom and Dad out to lunch on their last full day here:

Yes, this is inside El Guero Canelo, the cafe which makes better Sonoran dogs than anyone else. This is the original location in southern Tucson; it has a very "I'm in Mexico" vibe, which has become a reassuring feeling for me when dining out. My parents may prefer more comfortable chairs when dining, but my dad specifically requested this place, because he remembered how good those hot dogs were! We left very satisfied.

Believe it or not, I was trying to go easier on my parents this time. They aren't as young as they used to be; my mom is constantly battling one illness or another, and on top of that she has to do more care taking for my dad, who was diagnosed a few years ago with Parkinson's disease. He doesn't like to admit it, but Parkinson's has slowed my dad down quite a bit; he doesn't have the stamina he used to have, and he often dozes off suddenly during the day. His mind wanders a bit more than it used to.

But one thing hasn't changed; his desire to be useful and helpful, no matter what. Every time my dad comes to visit, he offers to help us with projects around the house, no matter how he's personally feeling. It's something he's gotten very good at over the years, and it's one of the ways he shows us he loves us.  For this trip, I purposefully tried to pick tasks that weren't so...well, tasking for him to do. But I have the feeling that I could have asked him to climb up on our roof and hack off half of our mesquite tree, and he would have done so happily. I admire my dad's endless desire to do good and provide help.

I love both of my parents so much. I am always glad to see them, and always sad to see them go. Their flight was early in the morning, so they had to leave quickly. They left behind three wailing little girls; they are always so sad when Grandma and Grandpa leave, and their tears were heartbreaking. But our time together was not wasted. The girls, Nathan and I all have a lot of pleasant memories to carry with us until the next time we see one another (hopefully this Thanksgiving, if we can arrange it! We want to show the girls Colorado in winter).

Thanks for everything, Mom and Dad. I am truly fortunate to have you as my parents. Love you both!

"Impossible Things Are Happening Everyday"

Way back in September, I mentioned that Lorelai got a part in her school's stage production of Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. Well, after months and months of practicing, showtime finally arrived this last Easter weekend! It was a great opportunity for Lorelai and it was really fun, as her mom, to watch it all unfold. I had actually never seen Rogers & Hammerstein's version of the Cinderella story before, so that made it doubly exciting for me.

When Lorelai first got a part in the play, I was a little worried she would be jealous of the kids who had bigger parts. As it turned out, she was content with her smaller role. Lorelai isn't a very "dramatic" girl (not as much as her younger sisters, anyway). Although Lorelai can be a ham within our house, she is more reserved in public and doesn't actively seek out the limelight. She has a good singing voice and speaking voice, but she doesn't use either very loudly. So it made sense for her to be part of the chorus, and fill some small supporting roles. She was still excited to do these small parts, and to watch the whole thing come together as everyone contributed their efforts.

The rehearsals were almost always after school on Thursdays, and I didn't see any of them. In fact, I didn't even drive Lorelai to the rehearsals most of the time! Thursday afternoons tend to be one of my busier days of piano teaching, so I always had to find someone to take her back to school for me. Luckily, my friend Shannon, who lives pretty close by, had two children also in the play (in fact, her oldest daughter Sarah was playing Cinderella for the Saturday night performance!). She graciously volunteered to drive Lorelai to and from school almost every week. I was so grateful to Shannon this school year...and to all the other moms who helped drive my daughter around! Without them, she might not have had the opportunity to appear in the play at all.

Here's Lorelai reciting her line

Even though Lorelai's part was small, she did have a solo line as a towns-person in the opening number, "The Prince Is Giving A Ball." Officially, her character's name was "Sloppy Sister," and her line was "I wish that I were nice and neat." This was one of the biggest numbers in the whole show; everybody sang it. As a result, I would hear Lorelai loudly singing this around the house for months. Each cast member also got a CD with all the music from the play on it, and so I had some familiarity with all the numbers long before I ever saw the play. I probably wasn't as sick of the music as the directors were, though!

Besides that opening number, Lorelai appeared in a number of choruses and one additional dance number as a member of the royal palace staff. The staff were all carrying large platters of food to show to the king and queen, in preparation for the upcoming ball. Lorelai was the shortest of the dancers, and she was carrying a huge (fake) turkey on a plate. I thought it was pretty adorable.

The play director (a woman named Diana, in my LDS ward) enlisted the help of several other church members to put the play together. The bishop's wife sewed dozens of costumes. Another woman was the "voice coach" who helped the kids learn how to sing the songs. Still another woman choreographed the ballroom-dance numbers. Others helped build the sets, distribute flyers and generate publicity, run errands, and do any other number of things.

Sadly, I didn't get to help much on the play at all, due to my aforementioned busy schedule. As a former drama club member in high school, I am very aware of how much work it can be to put on a play...especially on the level Diana was shooting for. I felt a little guilty about not helping out the whole year, so when performance week rolled around, I overcompensated by coming for all the dress and technical recitals. I even volunteered to be backstage for the Friday night performance, to help change scenery, costumes, props, and the like. By then, the show was running pretty smoothly (well, as smoothly as it can when elementary and middle schoolers are the stars!). However, it felt good to provide help, miniscule as it was.

Plus, I got to take some really cute pictures of the kids in all their costumes.

It was so cool to see them all dressed up and reveling in their characters! Those were very long nights (especially the tech rehearsal, which involved stopping the actors over and over and over again to tweak the sound/lighting/etc.), but the kids were patient and all the adults were troopers. I don't think I cooked a proper meal all week, but my family was incredibly understanding. It was a fun week...it reminded me of the "performance weeks" for all the plays in high school, and the adrenaline rushes they produced. However, I think I am a little older now than I was then, because I was totally wiped out when this week was over, while Lorelai seemed to recover a lot more quickly!

I went backstage before the show on both Friday and Saturday (the Primary room had been converted into the girls' dressing room), to help Lorelai get her hair and makeup done. Being a Plain Jane myself, I actually had to watch the other moms to see what to do with both hair and makeup. I felt pretty worthless, especially the first night! Luckily, there was a ton of extra makeup handy to bring out Lorelai's eyes, cheeks and lips.

She looked so lovely, no matter which of her costumes she was wearing. No matter what she thinks of herself (in her personal bio written for the program, Lorelai said, "I am a tomboy"), Lorelai is turning into a beautiful young lady. She had fun oohing and aahing over herself in the mirror after she'd gotten all dolled up.

 

One of the many things this week taught me was that my girls are growing up fast, and before I know it they're going to want makeup of their own (which I should have had ready to hand for this play!), and hairstyling supplies of their own. They're going to want their ears pierced (in fact, Lorelai is already begging to do just that). They're going to want their own sets of curlers (Celeste has already borrowed mine within the last week). In short, I need to start stocking up on more beauty supplies! Whether I use them or not, chances are my girls will make good use of them eventually.

The show played twice: Friday, April 18th and Saturday, April 19th, 2014. Diana was very fortunate to be able to use our local LDS Stake Center. It was a really nice venue in which to hold the play, reflecting well on both the church and the school. It also ended up being something of a missionary opportunity, as people from other faiths attended both shows.

Nathan was originally going to bring the family to just one show, but ended up attending both. That way, he was able to compare the two shows. The seven or so largest parts in the show were double-cast, meaning that a different crew played the main parts on each night. This gave more kids the opportunity to gain performance experience. While I had certain actors I preferred to others in certain parts, all the main actors did a great job. The sound system and lighting were semi-professional, as well. All told, it was very impressive for a play put on by a K-8 school!

I was also so glad my dad was able to attend; his hearing is starting to fade, so I'm not sure how much of each play he heard (despite the nice sound system). However, he was so patient and kind in his support of his granddaughter.

Lorelai looked so cute in her "ball gown" at the end! However, she wasted no time in changing out of it; she couldn't wait to be back in her T-shirt and shorts again. At least I managed to take a few pictures.

 

A couple of weeks later, every member of the cast got a DVD copy of both performances. It was very well put together and the girls loved it; they watched it over and over again for a few days!  We also got extra copies to send to both sets of grandparents. We are very happy to have a physical back-up of the experience.

When the play was finished, everyone was exhausted but very happy...especially Diana and her sister Cindy, who'd served as assistant director. On Saturday night, Diana said she would have to wait a few years before trying the show out again. Then suddenly, within a week, she totally reversed course, and declared that yes, there would be another musical put on next year. And it would be Disney's Beauty and the Beast, which will be a more complicated production in many ways! I have to admire her ambition. On the plus side, though, she will be able to recycle a lot of the costumes & sets she used on Cinderella, so from a budget perspective, the play won't be as challenging next year.

Despite being a little burned out after Cinderella wrapped, Lorelai is eager to try out for the play again next year. With a little more performing experience under her belt, who knows? Maybe she will land a bigger part next time. Or maybe she'll still have fun taking it easy as a chorus girl. Either way, I hope she has as much fun next year as she did this year. And I hope Celeste and Aurora will get their chance someday, too (Celeste will still be too young to try out for Beauty and the Beast next fall). I am so glad my daughter got this chance to be on stage; it made for a really fun school year!

Oh, What A Busy Spring It Has Been...And It Isn't Over Yet

I'm going to use the title of this blog post as an excuse for not having written in the blog much lately. It used to be that May was the "busy" month for our family, what with school getting out, extracurriculars winding down, and the like. But with each passing year, April seems to get busier and busier, as if all these extra activities are starting to venture out of their "natural habitat" of May and encroaching into earlier months as well.

I am trying to grow some plants again this spring! Here's what they looked like the day I planted them.

Of course, this year, my April and my May are both terribly busy, judging by my daily planner. And with our Disneyland trip in mid-March kicking everything off, well...let's just say I am really looking forward to summer vacation! Our spring has been non-stop, and I would like just one week of lounging around doing nothing.

So here's a "laundry list" of a blog post, in which I check off the comings and goings of my family in this spring of 2014. Some of these events will be covered in greater detail in future blog posts, but this should give my family and friends (and future-me) a sense of what our everyday lives have been like lately.

March:

-Disneyland Prep Time. I've written plenty about Disneyland already, so I won't harp on it any more here. However, a trip like Disneyland also required a lot of preparation/packing time in early March, so I'm going to include that in my "laundry list"! Packing, paying bills, making last-minute arrangements, finding a baby-sitter for our guinea pigs...these were the little, tedious things that occupied my time for the first half of March. But that wasn't all!

-Leprechaun Traps. I helped Celeste design a "leprechaun trap" for her kindergarten class, in honor of St. Patrick's Day (which we missed due to Spring Break, but what can you do?). I am no expert at home crafts, but I have to say, this one turned out all right. It's a classic "box held up by twig connected to string" contraption; hopefully we'll be able to find an actual leprechaun to trap one of these days.


-Pi(e) Day. As many of you (and by "you," I mean "math nerds") probably know, March 14th is unofficially known as Pi Day (because pi = 3.14 et al. Get it?). The traditional food of Pi Day is, of course, pie--any kind, doesn't matter, so long as it's round and delicious. For the last few years, the math-loving foodies in our LDS congregation (and there are more than a few of those) have organized a "Pi Day" celebration at a nearby park. Everyone brings pies they've made (or bought), everyone eats, plays, socializes, leaves. Pretty simple stuff, but fun.

I guess life must have gotten pretty busy for everyone, because nobody spearheaded the park get-together this year. But that didn't stop me from getting the pie-making "itch"; I cooked a few pies and bought a few more, so we could feed the missionaries that night:

Yum! I asked the elders what their favorite types of pie were so I could have some ideas. I ended up making a chocolate banana cream pie, an apple pie, and a pumpkin pie. I also made a tomato pie (basically a tomato/cheese casserole in a pie crust), and a chicken pot pie, and then got lazy (hah!) and bought two quiches from CostCo. It was quite a lot of pie, but elders are HONGREH people and so they ate most of it anyway (with our family's help). It's nice to see people happy because of food you made for them.

-Tucson Festival of Books. Maybe if I'd stayed at the festival for longer than an hour or two, this might have merited a whole blog post by itself. But alas, our visit there was quite short; we were busy getting ready for our trip to California, so we didn't have time to linger. That was a shame, because I found myself really enjoying the Tucson Festival of Books. I'd had friends recommend it to me in the past, but this was the first year anyone in our family had attended (I took Lorelai along with me, but everyone else stayed home).

The Festival was really cool, and had a little something for everyone. First of all, Lorelai got a free book of her choice in one tent. That was a great beginning! There were literally dozens and dozens of booths, vendors, performers, and interactive exhibits sprawled across the University of Arizona campus; it would have taken hours and hours to properly sample them all. I found myself overwhelmed at the volume of books for sale, both new and old. There was a whole section of the Festival devoted to science, with lots of hands-on (and often literary-themed) science experiments for kids (like the "Oobleck" paste Lorelai is playing with here):

There was also this "wishing tree," in which kids could write their wish on a bookmark, then hang it on the tree.

These are just a scant few of the many, many activities that were available. Authors were present for interviews, panels, and autographs (I saw a huge line for R.L. Stine snaking around several buildings, for example). There was even a small local circus performing a show as we made our way home! Overall, it was a great festival that was cheap, fun, and busy, and did a great job promoting a love of learning, reading, and writing. I'm hoping to take the rest of the family with us next time.

April

-General Conference/lemonade stand/book club/game night weekend. The first weekend in April is one of two weekends each year that feature the LDS Church's General Conference, a two-day televised series of gospel-related subjects (the other weekend is at the beginning of October). As luck would have it, the April conference also coincides with our community's neighborhood-wide yard sale. Last year, our family participated in the yard sale by selling a bunch of our stuff. This year, we had nothing to sell, but I decided to let the girls vent their entrepreneurial spirit. Nathan and I helped them set up a lemonade stand to sell treats to shoppers traveling through our neighborhood. After going to a book club with Lorelai on Friday night, I made a bunch of goodies for the girls to sell...

...and during most of Saturday morning and early afternoon, one or more of the girls managed to sell off most of the goodies. We weren't able to watch all of the Saturday session of General Conference due to helping the girls out, but we didn't mind, because I think they learned a few things while peddling their wares. All things considered, they had a pretty tidy haul. We took some of the money and splurged at McDonald's to celebrate, and put the rest into the girls' piggy banks. That evening, while Nathan was attending the Priesthood (men's) session of Conference, I took the girls over to a friend's house and we pawned off the rest of our treats there.

All that running around on Friday & Saturday, and we still managed to head over to our friend's house on Sunday night and have a game night. Busy weekend! Plus, I managed to snag this:

My girls have been bugging me for an outdoor play house for YEARS, and they finally got their wish. It's old & dirty, but darned if they don't love it anyway. I hope it will keep them happy for a while.

-Celeste's many field trips.  During standardized-testing week at our charter school, the younger grades are often taken on field trips, so as to lower the noise on campus and help the older students concentrate better on their testing. In past years, kindergarten and first grade have gone on one (sometimes two) field trips during testing week. This year, Celeste's kindergarten class took three field trips in three days! Crazy. On the first day she went to the Reid Park Zoo...

I showed up with Aurora in tow...not as an "official" parent chaperone, but as an extra set of hands, should one be needed. It was fun to follow in the kindergartner's noisy, joyous wake, even if I'd been to the zoo many times before.

The next day the class went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum; I was unable to attend this time since I couldn't bring Aurora along. As it turned out, it was a very hot day (mid-nineties), and the Desert Museum is not terribly shady and comfortable (my advice: visit the Desert Museum in the winter months whenever possible!). Celeste had fun, but she was visibly exhausted after school that day, to the point where she begged off her dance class that afternoon. The following day her class was kicked outdoors yet again, this time to nearby Anamax Park, which thankfully had plenty of shade for everyone to share. The kids blew bubbles, played on the playground, wrote on the sidewalk with chalk, and generally had a good time while the adults visited. What a tiring week for Celeste! Hopefully all the older kids did well on their testing, as payment for inconveniencing my daughter.

-I hoted my first baby shower. Although I have attended plenty of baby showers in the past, I had never actually hosted one before. Two days after Celeste's last field trip, that changed. My visiting teaching companion and friend Kristin was having her fourth baby...but it was her first boy, after three cute girls. Many of the other ladies in our LDS congregation agreed with me that Kristin needed a shower, to stock up on the baby-boy gear. Luckily, Kristin is a very laid-back type, and had no expectations about how the shower needed to be. The planning didn't end up being too difficult. I sent Nathan and the girls away for the morning to a school carnival; I had a couple of friends volunteer some food; I cooked some cookies; and I came up with some very easy party games (well, just one...my friend Elizabeth planned the other one, but I ran the game since she couldn't attend that day).  Everything went fine! Turns out I was stressed out over nothing. Maybe I have been to too many "immaculate" baby showers that belonged on Pinterest, so my low-maintenance one didn't look too impressive by comparison. But everyone who attended seemed happy at the end of the day, so I'll call it a victory.

I also hosted Aurora's playgroup in the middle of April, and we made these personalized pillowcases, which were stamped with bug pictures. It was a lot of fun. And that's all I have to say about that.

-Cinderella, my parents, and an egg hunt on an emotional Easter weekend. I say "emotional" because a dear friend of mine had a tragic death in her family on this weekend. Although I wasn't directly affected by it, her sadness definitely put a shadow over the holiday. I spent much of the time worrying about my friend, and feeling unable to aid her in her grief. I was grateful that the Easter season was upon us; it helped me remember that our Savior was resurrected so all mankind can live again someday, and so families can ultimately be together forever. I don't know if that thought comforted her at the time, but I sincerely hope it will give her peace in the months and years to come.

The days leading up to the play were also the time to prepare for the arrival of my parents, who decided to visit us for Easter weekend. This would also coincide with our school's presentation of Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, the play Lorelai had been cast in and had been practicing for over the last several months. I'll write a separate blog post about the play shortly; suffice it here to say it was a very time-consuming experience, especially the week of the performance!

My father flew in on Friday morning. The play's first performance was Friday night. On Saturday morning, we remembered it was also Easter weekend and hurried over to the park, where our LDS ward's Primary was holding its Easter egg hunt. The girls did pretty well for themselves!

We spent Saturday afternoon doing something that, shockingly, our family has never done before: dyed Easter eggs!

 

Usually, we just buy candy for the kids' Easter baskets, but this was a lot of fun for everyone. We even had to boil up an additional batch of eggs to color because the girls were enjoying themselves so much. Plus, we got to make a lot of deviled eggs, so it was doubly enjoyable.

That Saturday night, there was one more performance of Cinderella before the play was finished at last. My mom flew in from Utah later that night (she wasn't able to make it in time for the play, but none of the kids seemed to mind!). The next morning, Grandma & Grandpa made sure to hide a bunch of Easter eggs around the house while the rest of us were in church.

And that night, we managed to eat a lot of delicious food to celebrate our Easter...

My parents stayed in town for a few more days (I'll write an additional blog post about this later as well), and after their departure, I didn't know what to do with myself. I decided to deal with this feeling by climbing up on our roof and hacking off a bunch of branches from the huge mesquite tree in our front yard:

It will probably take us months to throw out all the branches, but at least this monster tree has been pushed back from our house for a time (we'll see how long that lasts...mesquite trees grow like weeds!). I felt a great sense of accomplishment for doing such an intensive task. Later on that day, I began to feel other things...physical things, like intense soreness in my back and shoulders, and weak wobbly knees. Maybe I overdid things a little bit, but at least the task is done for now.

Due to the sore muscles and my parents leaving, I hobbled my way to the end of April. Our family actually managed a second trip to the zoo on the very last day of the month...we went with some friends who will be moving out of town at the end of the school year. They had a lot of extra coupons to burn at the zoo, so we got to feed the giraffes and even ride the train this time! It was the most exciting zoo visit we've had for quite a while.

I can't remember the last time a month went by faster for me than this April has done. Something was going on every single weekend, and my weekdays were ridiculously busy as well (I haven't even mentioned my visiting teaching, and my piano lessons, and all the usual stuff). There are a few big events coming up for us in May; I wonder if this month will breeze by at the same speed?

Yay! My plants are growing...and there are even some tomatoes developing! Keeping my fingers crossed. Stay tuned!