Spring 2014 Violin Recital

Sweet friends, Tori and Reagan, before their last violin recital together. We sure miss Miss Tori and wish she still lived in Kentucky! :) 

 Ms. Susie had the idea for the girls to play a duet featuring "Rocky Top" and "My Old Kentucky Home" as a farewell since this was Tori's last recital in Mrs. Watt's studio. They did such a good job playing together! So proud of both of these girls! :)

http://youtu.be/I6jRG0nnpXc

For their solos Reagan played Lully's Gavotte and Kennedy played Suzuki's Andantino. Thank you to Grammy for accompanying all three girls!

 Jackson enjoying the recital with Aunt Jen...

Grand-Dad captured this sweet picture of McKinley during the recital

 Love both of these pictures of Aunt Jen with Jackson and McKinley

After the recital and before Aunt Jen, Grammy and Grand-Dad headed back to Tennessee we caught this picture of Reagan trying out her new goggles and snorkel which Aunt Jen and Uncle Andrew gave Reagan for her birthday. This is a pretty nifty snorkel  as it has a mechanism which closes the top of the snorkel if you go under water. It has an additional mechanism which drains any water at the bottom if some does leak in. Pretty cool! Thank you Aunt Jen And Uncle Andrew for such fun gift! As a side note, we also had the opportunity to take Aunt Jen to her first trip to Culver's for dinner. We couldn't believe she'd never been before! Those butter burgers and fried cheese curds are just too yummy!!!

Thank you to Aunt Jen for spending a whole weekend with us! We had a fabulous time and just wish we were able to spend more time with both her and Uncle Andrew! We can't wait until our next visit! :)

2014 State Violin Festival

After Reagan's Gymnastics State Meet Saturday morning we headed downtown to the State Violin Festival Saturday afternoon. This was Reagan's 3rd year and Kennedy's 1st year participating in the festival. A big thank you to Grammy who accompanyied both girls on their pieces.

 I LOVE this picture of Kennedy that Grand-Dad took. I really need to hang this beautiful picture of this sweet 5 year old up in our house.

 Both girls received a superior, which was the highest rating

 Kennedy was just a little excited about her superior rating - she couldn't stop hugging her certificate and comments.

Congratulations girls and thank you so much to our violin instructor, Ms. Bethany Watt! :)

Fall 2013 Visit from Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott

The primary reason Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott came to visit us last fall was for the girl's violin recital. Reagan and Kennedy did a great job and I think this is such a nice picture of them with their violin teacher, Ms. Bethany Watt. Thank you to Grammy for accompanying both girls on their recital pieces.

 Reagan (6 1/2 yrs old), Fall Violin Recital, "The Two Grenadiers" by R. Schumann

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmgCFcCmz6g

   Kennedy (almost 5 years old), 2013 Fall Violin Recital, "Allegro" by Suzuki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tiUf0dMi9E

 Reagan and Aunt Arla before the violin recital

 Grammy, Kennedy, Reagan and Uncle Scott hard at work making bird seed ornaments for Great Grandma's seasonal Christmas tree.

 Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott gave Kennedy a very special Pandora bracelet with turtle charm for her 5th birthday. Thank you so much! :)

 Everyone LOVEs Luci! :)

We also enjoy and appreciate all the Packer gear Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott gave us for pre-Christmas celebration with them.

 One day we visited the Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) Planetarium with Aunt Arla and one of our homeschool co-ops. It was so much fun and we will definitely be headed back there again! 

 We also enjoyed a little leaf jumping with Aunt Arla :)

Thank you for coming to visit! We had a fabulous time and appreciate your coming to see us so much! We can't wait until your next visit! :)

Waveland Park - Group Violin Lesson

For our first group violin lesson of the semester Miss Bethany had us meet at Waveland State Park. The kids enjoyed playing their violins outdoors and then having the opportunity to play with each other afterwards.

 Jackson brought his new kite from Uncle Van and Aunt Marta to try out.

 Looks like it was a hit! :) 

 Tim pretending to fall asleep mid swing. The kids loved this! lol :)

 Miss McKinley enjoyed her swing time too. :) 

 Every time we come here I think this little log house (complete with fireplace inside) is absolutely adorable! All the kids think its pretty cool too! :)

 Tim was such a good sport playing the part of the ogre for the kids.

 Sweet girls :)

Reagan said she would like all our practices to be at Waveland from now on! :)

Spring 2013 Violin Recital

This weekend the girls participated in their Spring violin recital. They both did an awesome job and I've posted their performaces to YouTube. We are so proud of both our girls!

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Here is Reagan playing "Hunter's Chorus."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk32x3slIE4&feature=youtu.be

"Go Tell Aunt Rhody" has always been one of the girls favorite pieces in the first Suzuki book. They have always loved to sing the words with the CD. When Kennedy was little and just learning to talk the only word she sang was an extremely enthusiastic "DEAD!" each time the song ended. For that reason it seems appropriate that Missy K selected "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" as her recital piece. lol :)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjiBmlsIEZM&feature=youtu.be

 This is a picture of the majority of the studio playing "Boil Them Cabages Down" to begin the spring recital.

 In a rare moment shortly before the recital Jackson decided he wanted to hold McKinley. The reason for the big smile is because we told him he should not hold McKinley, he should not take his bebe out of his mouth, and he should most definitely not smile... Yes, Jackson loves to be naughty!

2012 Spring Violin Recital

The girls had their spring violin recital the Sunday Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott were visiting (it was a busy weekend!). Kennedy played "Flower Song" while Grammy accompanied her.

 Reagan played Bach's Minuet No. 2, also accompanied by Grammy

 Nathan and Sarah are a couple of homeschool friends who began taking violin this spring. They both did a wonderful job on their first recital.

 Evie is the daughter of our violin instructor, Ms. Bethany, and she always does a beautiful job.

 Grand-Dad was apparently feeling artistic during the recital. I thought this was a sweet picture he took of Reagan and me.

We took a few pictures of the girls with Uncle Scott and Aunt Arla before the recital

Thank you Grammy for accompanying both girls on the recital. You all three did a wonderful job!

Unfortunately I don't have video I can share this time. The camera we brought didn't work for some reason. I did purchase a DVD from Ms. Bethany but I'm not technically savvy enough to pull Kennedy's and Reagan's performances off of it to share on here. No fear though, we have already purchased a new little video camera so we will have plenty of violin recitals to share (or torture you with - depending on your view) in the future.

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Thank you again to Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott for making the trip to share all these special events with us! We really do appreciate you and all your efforts!