After Burger Ranch, we drove straight to the first piano lesson with our new teacher, Sarah Wise. She lives a mere 3 miles from our house--such a decadently short drive compared to the 50 minute round trip drive we endured to reach our previous teacher. Even better, Jay and Rose were engaged and interested in piano, and came away from their first lesson excited about the new teacher, her methods, the music, and even about [gasp] practicing! They were easily the happiest and most enthusiastic I have ever seen them after piano lessons. YES! There is something to be said for changing it up. Amber wanted to have a piano lesson too, but I told her she had to learn how to read first. To mollify her disappointment, I conceded to sit and watch Jay and Rose's piano lessons. Amber was pleased to find a bucket of toys underneath the chair, and she didn't want to leave when it was time to go.
Jay and Rose practiced piano with our new teacher's cool app for the first time on Friday morning before school. The app starts a timer for each song, and the timer only ticks down when piano playing is detected. It's so cool, and the kids were much more motivated to practice than they ever have been before! Jay even practiced a little extra so he could get on the practice leaderboard and try to earn more points toward a gift card reward. That simple but effective motivation is genius. My piano hopes for my children are blossoming once more!
On Friday night, Jay had is second-ever taekwondo class. It was my first time driving him there, and the place is in an unmarked warehouse...kind of sketchy until we got inside and I met the very nice instructor. When I came to pick Jay up, I sat in on the last ten minutes of the class and got to watch Jay spar for the first time. They paired an experienced kid up with a less-experienced kid and had them practice moves at each other. It was an oddly quiet exercise--perfect for Jay! He said he had a good time and is excited to keep learning more and eventually advance out of his beginner's white belt.
Meanwhile, Jeff was still GONE. He sent a picture of himself running on the fabled Nike track that's in the middle of a forest. He said the trees were so thick on the infield that he couldn't see across the track while running, so it felt short. I read a LOT while Jeff was gone. I have already read six books this month, and we aren't even halfway through January yet. It was SO GOOD to hug Jeff when he got home on Saturday night! I felt that relief that comes from giving back his 50% of the parenting burden. It's a strain to carry 100% of the parenting burden, even for just 3 days!
Jeff was exhausted from the conference--there was lots of socializing for his introvert and not much quiet time, so his anxiety reared its head the next morning and he stayed home from church. I had to take his 50% again and fly solo for another day. Maybe all of this practice means I'm going to be the best grandma ever and babysit my grandbabies solo like a pro.
I made Amber a classy shopping bag-and-string kite because it's been windy this week.
We taped pink ribbon streamers to the bottom of the kite, and Amber played with it while I ran laps around the driveway and field.
Amber being Amber: climbing.
Amber got into the bandaids after bedtime on Wednesday night and her hands were well bandaged when she woke up the next morning.
Somehow the kids dug up three pairs of sunglasses. They were goofing off posing in the bathroom mirror on Thursday morning.
Amber insists on wearing summer clothes as much as possible, and refuses to go outside because "it's too cold!" I wrapped her hair up in a towel turban after her bath one day this week and she felt regal.
Burger Ranch dinner, with the wild child frolicking in the background outside!
Piano lessons.
Rose enjoyed wearing braided ponytails this week. She said "I like wearing hairdos from my childhood because it was happy." I told her, "I'm glad you had a happy childhood." Hee hee, I love it when kids feel so grown up that by age 8 they can talk fondly of childhood as if it were a distant memory.
Amber built the ABC train puzzle on her own and then stepped on each letter while chanting the alphabet to herself.
Our kitchen is just barely big enough to fit this long skinny puzzle!
Again with the random appearance of the sunglasses! Jay loves to snuggle into his well-pilow'd bed and read, read, read.
Heading out to the bus stop: a dusting of snow greeted us on Friday morning. It was gone by lunch.
The well-lit but not labeled entrance to the taekwondo studio.
Jay explaining some of his playroom creations.
Jeff fan-boy-ing at the Nike track. If Jeff takes an actual picture voluntarily--selfie or other style--I know he's having a good time.
Jeff ran a 5:30 mile on the Nike track, just for fun.
Sunnyside High School track coaches!
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