musical aspirations and close ups

With some Christmas money, I bought us a keyboard. It's a nice one, and one that I hope will bring loads of joy to our family for years to come. I played in college for several years, although I never passed my fourth year's proficiency exam. Grr. I think I took Piano 4 at least three different times, failing the last, and most important, test each time. Soooo frustrating! I'm dyslexic, so I want to switch up my hands in the middle of the song, and it can get so confusing. I will have an almost overwhelming urge to cross my arms and switch my hand positions, knowing all the while that I'm not supposed to. Regardless, I was able to figure out (by ear) how to play one of Ben's favorite little songs in a few minutes, and I amazed him. So fun to feel like I have something impressive to show off to Ben with. He knows that I'm classically trained and all that, but he hasn't really 'seen' what that means. By learning Penelope's theme from the movie, The Brother's Bloom, I showed him that all that training means I can play just about any song just by hearing it a few times. Anyway, he was impressed, and I was proud. The end.

Gillian has been mentioning for a few months now that she wants to learn to play piano. And Josh has said that he's interested in getting violin lessons! (yes yes yes yes yes!) So I'm thinking of seeing if there are some college students who want to come over and teach some private lessons to my kids twice a month or so. I'm thinking I can afford that. (well, if college students nowadays charge what I did when I was in college...) Oh yeah, and if Josh does decide to choose violin, I am going to join him. I have wanted to learn violin for years! So exciting!

Jack is showing us his rock star tendencies. I had no idea! Now that he's walking around like a pro and climbing everything in sight, he will climb the chairs to our craft table/music stand downstairs and turn on the keyboard. He has figured out how to change the 'instrument' and likes to dance when he gets the rhythm section going. Hilarious! He even sticks out his little tongue like a mini-Gene Simmons and sings. I have laughed more watching him these past few weeks than I have in the past several months. It's truly awesome. I hope to figure out how to include video footage of him doing it on here so that you can share in the awesomeness. But for now, you'll have to settle with a few photos. :)

He thinks the headphones are a part of it and won't turn on the keyboard until he's got them securely around his neck. Just like a good little rock star.

My older kids didn't want to be left out when I finally got my camera out again. (It has been hibernating for a few weeks. Remember the whole me feeling blah thing...)

anyway, here are some extreme close ups of G, J and J.

Aren't they adorable? Maybe it's just me, but I think these little ones are scrumptious!

(speaking of me feeling blah, I have contacted someone at my church about seeing a counselor. I heard back yesterday, and I now have a paper waiting for me up there with a list of counselors who specialize in this type of counseling. I'll get it on Wednesday when we're up there for Awanas. Also, a lady came to our door the other night at around 9pm. She was going door to door as a fundraiser for a Rape Crisis Center here in town. Normally, Ben opens the door to solicitors, discovers that they are soliciting, and shuts the door in their face without another thought about them. *oy* But something told him to answer the door and listen to her. When he heard what she was soliciting for, he called down to me to see if we had any cash in the house. We gave her some money and invited her in to warm up for a bit while she explained what her organization did. I had such a strange feeling - I mean, I realize that some things are a coincidence in this world, and some things just have really good/God timing. This seemed like a message sent to me straight from heaven. So I feel good about seeking counseling, and may give this organization a call. I NEED someone with a Christian faith because I am truly seeking God's plan for me regarding this, and other counselors that I've been to in the past look at me sideways when I talk about acting in faith. I don't want to make this harder than it's already going to be, so I need to talk to a sister in Christ. Maybe this organization is the place to go. I'm going to look into it.)

:)