New Fiddles

Darn kids keep growing. :) Both Colin and Robyn have out grown their fiddles. Robyn got her new one this week and Colin's new one is at Duree's getting all fixed up with new strings and a new bridge and such. When you buy cheap fiddles off Ebay, you have to figure on needing some work. We got the last two the same way and they have been AWESOME little fiddles. Straight from Great Tunes they stink! But for another $60, Duree at Shiverick's violin fixes them up just great. With new strings and remodeled bridges, they hold their tune and everything.
When Robyn got her new one back from Duree, she played it for the first time and said, "Wow, It's really loud!" It is amazing how much more sound comes out of a little bigger violin.
Raylene asked them to play their violins in the Primary program this fall. We will start learning "Families can be Together Forever" next week. It would be fun for them (and much better for me) if they got to play in the program this year. I did it last time and it is scary! We will see how it goes.
They have a little group that they play with and they are supposed to be performing at a Nursing home next month. Colin struggles with playing with the group because he likes to be "first fiddle" and it bugs him to have to follow another lead fiddle. His teacher was trying to get him to do his songs like the group is supposed to do them and he didn't want to. She explained that his way the songs are too short and that people will want to hear longer songs. He said, "what if they are in a hurry and only want to listen for three minutes?" That boy has an answer for everything! We need find some classics on humility to study. She just told him that if he wants to play with the group, then he has to play like the group plays. I told her that was just what I said to him. Our goal is love of fiddling and he has his agency to choose how and what he plays. If he chooses to be lazy, he chooses to not play with the group. I think that he will choose to play with the group in the long run because it is so fun to jam and perform. He may have to sit out a few performances before he gets his act together though. They are planning on playing in a few parades on a float and doing some shows during the various community days in the parks this summer. It should be lots of fun. I hope I can keep up with a new baby and all.
Keri, if you are interested in interning this summer as a homeschooling mother, I just may have an opening. The pay stinks, but the experience will be priceless. Hint, Hint.

Lost addresses - please email

Randy and Colin have been busy with the computer. Randy switched our operating system from WIndow Vista to a Linux based one. I don't mind the switch except that I lost all my email addresses in my address book so I need everyone to email me again so I can rebuild the book.
Colin has spent some time on the computer teaching himself all about the features of the new system. He figured out how to burn his CDs to the hard drive first thing, then he showed Randy and I. He still hasn't figured out how to upload pictures though. Hopefully he will soon so I can post some new ones here on the blog.

Summer fun in February

On February 6 we had our Cub Scout Blue and Gold banquet. We had a Hawaiian luau and we as leaders had a lot of fun with it.
Kalyn and Jamie were in charge of decorations and they did well. What creative women. They turned the volleyball standards into palm trees with a little brown paper for a trunk and some green paper leaves.
I was in charge of entertainment. That was very easy as I called Raylene who happens to take her girls to Hula lessons every Saturday and she took over the program. It was awesome! She recruited a few more girls from the Hula School and they hula danced for us during dinner. Robyn said, "Mom, I can't even eat because I can't stop watching the beautiful dancing."
Dinner was easy - each of us leaders cooked a pork roast in the crock pot and brought a big pot of rice. We let the families of the cubs bring the salads and for dessert we had the cakes from the annual father-son cake decorating contest.
The dress was Hawaiian. Some dressed up more than others, but most had on at least a lei. Mom took care of me by mailing me her muumuu. Can't tell you how beautiful I looked with my round belly in a muumuu. :) Goodness! My girls wore bright pink and purple dresses and Colin wore a hot pink shirt with shorts. We went to Zurchers earlier that day and bought flower leis to wear. Randy didn't have time to dress Hawaiian but he did put on the very colorful lei that Robyn picked for him.
I think everyone should have a luau in February. Fun stuff.

Ground Hogs and Raccoons

Last week Colin and Robyn went over to the Garcia's to play with their friend Maddie. Raylene (Maddie's mother) is the Primary Chorister and she was working on songs for Sunday. Colin was helping her while Maddie and Robyn played quietly upstairs. Raylene wanted to sing a Spring song. Colin told her she would have to wait until the next day to know if it would be okay to sing a Spring song because the next day was Ground Hog day. He searched the internet and found a website to tell them about Ground Hog day and then took her to reederhome.net where Randy has a program he wrote using weather.com to tell the weather.
While they were busy learning about Ground Hog day and such, the little girls were VERY busy. The girls got into Raylene's make up and used her water proof mascara to make themselves very beautiful and liberally applied her body spray. Oh my! When it was time for Raylene to go get her big girls for school, she noticed the little girls. She didn't know what they'd gotten into and tried to scrub it off with water and a paper towel. She had to give up and just send Robyn home looking like a raccoon and smelling VERY powerful so she wouldn't be late. I couldn't help laughing when I saw her - my goodness. Unfortunately we were also in a hurry so I didn't get a picture. I had to hurry and get her in the tub to get rid of the powerful smell so I could stand to take her in the car to the library for Colin's robot creations class. We had to work pretty hard to get the mascara off - I hope she learned a lesson. We did have a quick discussion about our asking law. Hopefully she will remember the asking law next time.
Reminds me of the only time I ever saw Nancy get mad - when two little girls played in her make up many years ago. I believe I went home so fast that I forgot my shoes that day. :)