Dance

 

Anna completed her 8th year of Pointe, Lyrical, Tap and Jazz dance. This year she danced in the oldest teen class. During the last class they gave superlative awards that the class had voted on earlier. Anna received "Most Likely to Work at Disney World" and was gifted a tiara and wand. She loved it!

 

Laura, Sean, Brian, Meghan and Gideon came to dress rehearsal. Anna was happy that so many aunts, uncle and cousins could come. Her friend, Tabitha, also came to dress rehearsal. 

This year the recital was organized around genres of music. Lyrical was "So Will I" in the Christian genre.

Pointe was "Royal Quest" in the Classical genre.

Tap was "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" in the Country genre.

And this jazz dance closed out the recital. It was of Everybody Dance Now/Rhythm Nation/Bye Bye Bye. Such a fun dance!

Grandma, Grandma Karen and Grandpa, Joel, Amanda and Ronan were all at the recital. As fun as it to watch the dances, it's a commitment to sit through 2 1/4 hours of dance...especially with a napless 2 year old!

Ronan was happy to get to run around outside. He was a champ this weekend. 

After all these years, 12 to be exact, I'm still thankful that we are part this studio that teaches dance and promotes an positive and uplifting atmosphere all year.

A Moment for the Boys

This time of year Aliza and Anna have lots of events that end up getting written about here. Here is what the boys are up to!

 Josiah: The most recent picture I have of Josiah is him playing with his cousin Ronan. Josiah plays with Ronan tirelessly and understands a lot of what Ronan says. Josiah's attentiveness to Ronan impresses his sisters. Josiah is kind, respectful and smart. He's the best friend to Isaiah and Aliza and Anna declare they would date him if he wasn't their brother. If I crack his bedroom door in the morning to make sure he is awake, I find him sitting in bed, reading his Bible. He uses words sparingly, chooses to go with the flow rather than expressing a strong opinion and can make us all laugh. Josiah does sound at church almost every Sunday. He plays soccer or pickleball with friends almost every week. I'm excited to see what the future holds for Josiah!

 Isaiah can convince Josiah to do most anything. Isaiah makes sure they go outside every afternoon and regularly distracts Josiah from school. Isaiah started taking piano lessons. He takes his lessons very seriously!

In January, Isaiah started a homeschool gym class with a friend and has decided to continue this spring even though his friend isn't able to attend this session. He enjoyed trying different sports and playing games. It's fun to have some driving time just me and Isaiah. He is usually chatty and chooses the rap music playlist to listen to. (Anna makes all the playlists on my phone.) Isaiah skips all the NF songs and mostly lands on KB songs.

Isaiah and I still have a bedtime routine. He loves listening to these--
https://teddekker.com/collections/youth -- books by Ted Dekker. I've even been buying these books because they have so captured his attention. It is fun to watch Isaiah grow up and develop his own interests.

Choir Day in Annapolis

Anna and I spent the day with Aliza and friends in Annapolis. It started with an early morning and a breakfast stop at RiseUp with our travel friends--Ashely and Audrey.

The Salisbury Children's Choir sang at the State Senate Office Building. The choir is 7-19 year olds. Aliza is friends with all the little girls. Audrey is a special mini bff of Aliza's and she was never far from Aliza and usually holding her hand.

I had no idea where they were performing and it turned out it was the middle of an office building. The choir sang in the 3 story Rotunda. The acoustics were amazing. I enjoyed watching from the second floor.  It felt a little like Christmas caroling. People listened as they walked by or came out of their offices for a few minutes.

After singing, the whole group took a tour of the old State Building. Annapolis has the oldest continually working state building in the nation. I clearly did not know MD history because it was in Annapolis that George Washington handed over control of the army to the American people making the nation a democracy when he could have declared himself King and created a monarchy.

New House and Senate chambers have been added on to the old building. 

It was a beautiful day and the cherry trees were blooming.

  

The next stop was the Annapolis Mall for lunch and an impromptu concert there. Truth be told, by that point Ashley and I were done and ready to head home. It was a beautiful day though. Cold in the morning, hot by afternoon on the way home. Of course my car did not have air conditioning and we all sweated all the way home! I'm pretty sure just putting up with that experience makes Ashley a good friend! 

As soon as I got home, Jeremy and I drove to Newark, DE. Jeremy worked with me at a small homeschool convention that Saturday. We drove straight to the church to set up and then we had the rest of the night and the next morning to ourselves. It was so good to have some time together. Our kids stayed home alone for the night alone for the first time which opens up a whole new world of possibilities for Jeremy and I!

Intrusive Thoughts During School

 One day in the middle of working on schoolwork, Anna stops and says, "Can I paint my jean shorts?" My response was something to the effect of "Get back to work." A minute later she was like, "I changed my mind. I want to paint my jean jacket." Then my response was, "I'll discuss this after your schoolwork is finished." 

There really wasn't anything to discuss. Anna's mind was set and I really didn't mind. And so she promptly set up her project on Aliza's floor. They spent the afternoon that way--Anna painting and Aliza studying.

Honestly the finished project exceeded my expectations! I really like it!
 

Joy Dare::March

 I have lots of things to write about, but first, gratitude.

12,079. Staying up late, just all being together
12,080. A grandma to alter dance costumes
12,081. Josiah had a day of activities with friends
12,082. Aliza's sweet group of friends to celebrate with her
12,083. Isaiah singing in church

12,084. Other adults to encourage my kids
12,085. Pokemon walk with Jeremy
12,086. Celebrating Aliza
12,087. Concert tickets received (after I had deleted the ticket email)
12,088. 19 candles on the cake
12,089. Josiah really excited to play Minecraft on his own server
12,090. Good car talk with Anna
12,091. Playing piano
12,092. Listening to stories told by a two year old (Maggie)
12,093. Thought provoking discussion about prayer
12,094. Elizabeth
12,095. Family time
12,096. An evening of simple, profound worship
12,097. "I could really feel the presence of Jesus." -Isaiah
12,098. To do list crossed off
12,099. Dance pictures successful
12,100. Jeremy's parents with us for the weekend
12,101. Celebrating Jeremy
12,102. Pot roast dinner
12,103. Visiting with Karen
12,104. Teaching the children at church
12,105. Birthday lunch
12,106. The first daffodil
12,107. Lent readings
12,108. Laundry finished
12,109. Routines
12,110. Trimming bushes and picking up branches
12,111. Anna's painting project
12,112. Non partisan news source
12,113. Wednesday night talk with Aliza
12,114. Not having to cook supper
12,115. Yard cleaned up
12,116. Isaiah hitting balls in PE

12,117. Everyone home for supper
12,118. An afternoon tea with Christie
12,119. Laughing way too loud
12,120. The quiet drive alone
12,121. Sleeping in
12,122. Working on flowerbeds
12,123. Read the reminder today, "Giving thanks always precedes the miracle of more than enough joy."
12,124. Aliza singing in church this morning
12,125. Kids home safely on a stormy night
12,126. The first bit of yellow on the forsythias
12,127. Janell's entertaining stories
12,128. A little extra time with Anna
12,129. Coming home to a tidy living room
12,130. Aliza's determination
12,131. Some many layers of growing up happening in our house
12,132. Memories of Africa
12,133. Productive afternoon
12,134. Josiah's out-of-pocket humor
12,135. Library

12,136. Isaiah's PE class
12,137. Teaching English
12,138. Maggie with us for the morning
12,139. A day with fewer commitments
12,140. Watching the kids carry on together
12,141. Packaging that say my motto

12,142. Fun that they were not expecting
12,143. When I can be for Aliza what actually helps her
12,144. Hosting Bible study
12,145. Anna had a really happy day
12,146. Intricacies of creation
12,147. Indoor s'mores with Isaiah
12,148. Early supper so we could eat together
12,149. Working ahead of the schedule
12,150. New computer
12,151. Finding all the new plant growth
12,152. Anna excited about watching my blood draw
12,153. Finished another exciting book with Isaiah
12,154. Wednesday evenings beside Jeremy
12,155. Thyroid levels back to normal
12,156. Teaching Aliza's ESL table
12,157. Morning sunrise
12,158. Cherry blossoms
12,159. Rotunda acoustics
12,160. 24 hours with Jeremy
12,161. Successful night alone for the children
12,162. Seeing Mom at church
12,163. Tech week driving
12,164. Visiting with Mom and Janell
12,165. Getting to preview the show
12,166. Being present
12,167. Guitar lesson outside