Finishing With Honors

Last week all three kids played in an adjudicated ensemble recital. They all did really well with their parters. Our oldest was informed a few days after his recital that he and his partner had received honors and so this weekend they will be performing in Albany (Oregon) at the state level. Pretty exciting. Here is the piece.

Worming Sheep and Tetanus Shots

Two weeks ago out on the Oliphant's farm we had three major tasks. First, we had to fill up the feed containers. The bag in the back of the Oliphant's truck is the feed, a combination of rye, pea, and alfalfa pellets. With all the kids hauling it from the truck it only takes maybe 15 minutes. This is their second time doing that job and they are getting pretty good at it.

The other things we had to do were not so easy. We had to worm the sheep and give them their tetanus shots. For the worming Bro. Oliphant put a metal tube in their mouths and squirted a worming solution in. The kids would mark the sheep with a pink chalk when he had done them. Then, he let each of the kids take turns with the syringe giving the sheep their shots. They did really well. Vets in training.

Double Digits

Look who just turned 10!! He was very excited about the bakugans he got, some money from his Grandma Vance, a neat letter from his Grandma Baughman and a cool microscope from his Grandpa Vance and his wife Brenda. For his birthday breakfast he ordered sausage fingers covered in blood (ketsup), pumpkin shaped pancakes, bloodshot eyeball fried eggs and blood to drink (cranberry juice.) His cake has a 6 and a 4 because you know, 6+4=10.

Halloween

Halloween was very drawn out this year. On Thursday we went to the ward Trunk-or-Treat. On Friday a friend and I did a little party at her house complete with an amazing haunted house done by the kids and some very creative food (the toilet paper pict. is a mummy game we played where the object was to be the first to be totally wrapped up in TP!) Saturday, of course was the Trick-or-Treating which we had to hire a sitter to do with the kids because it was Stake Conference adult session that night. It was a whirlwind three days. The candy is gone now and I am glad we have a whole year until that holiday comes around again.

Fall Piano Recital

This fall's piano recital was really fun. The kids' teacher let them choose fun settings on her keyboard to make their songs sound cool. Little L got to play hers with background percussion. The kids have improved so much this year. It was exciting to see them performing at a whole new level. It made me cry to see them playing so well. Enjoy the videos.

Bunnie Babies

Ever since we moved here Richard and the kids have been working on me, trying to get me to agree to a pet. Finally I agreed to get some bunnies because the girls can learn how to take care of them from 4-H leaders and eventually present them to judges at the fair.

We got two cages from a kind lady who just gave them to us along with a lot of advice about how to take care of them. We bought two mini rex bunnies from a breeder in our ward when they were only 10 weeks old. They are so cute. The black and white spotted one is Joy and the little brown one is Daisy. They are sisters and so adorable. I am surprisingly attached to them, it is like they are my babies. I hold them at least once every day while the girls are at school to make sure they feel loved.

The girls love them and so far have been very conscientious in taking care of them. Another bonus, their waste makes good compost for the garden.

Czech Nonet

A couple of weeks ago the three oldest and I were fortunate enough to get tickets to go hear the Czech Nonet play. Apparently the nonet (which is a group of nine musicians) formed in Prague before WWI. They were a string quartet and a wind quintet which combined to create the nonet. The group has lasted through all the world wars and is still going strong today (obviously with different musicians than the originals.) They only visited one state on their world tour and it happened to be Oregon and somehow the Umpqua Symphony Association got them to visit us after playing in Portland and Eugene. How lucky are we!!

The concert was inspiring to say in the least. The musicians were amazing. The kids would lean over and comment on how "impressive" the musicians were or how "amazing" it was to hear the music live. We sat right up front so the kids could see every movement. The first two pieces were by Mozart and Prokofiev and very beautiful. My favorite was the third piece by a composer I hadn't heard of, Steven Sacco. It was a piece called Divertimento. I loved the dynamics of this piece and its playful melody.

It was so great to hear a live concert again. I love love love going to classical concerts. It fills and enriches my soul and I could tell it did the same for my kids. It was wonderful to share that with them.