Christmas Concerts

Christmas time means lots of concerts and recitals :)

Josh had his first ever cello recital.  He's been taking for over four years now and is on his fourth teacher and he finally got to do a recital :)

He first participated in a trio...

...and then he did a number accompanied by another student.

I love hearing him play and it was such a joy hearing him perform in a setting other than a large orchestra concert.

These are awful pictures and so I'm keeping them small and only posting one of each...but the three oldest had their piano recital.  Their teacher always has them do duets for Christmas so it makes for quite a fun recital.

They all did an incredible job and were happy with their performances.

Ben had been a handful at the cello recital a few nights earlier so we made sure he had his full dose of meds before this recital and I came well prepared with things to try and keep him happy.

He sat on Bapa's lap the whole time and was so quiet.  He almost fell asleep and we had absolutely no problems that night.

Josh had his orchestra concert last night.  Their group sounded amazing!

They performed, among others, the Hallelujah chorus from The Messiah.  It gave me chills!

Today was the last day of school before the break.

Abby received a reading award...

(again, terrible pictures but she's the one towering over all the other kids :)

...and then there was a sing a long.  Abby's class performed on the xylophones which was fun.

Then some select sixth graders sang Angels we Have Heard on High.

We're so proud of all of our kids and their efforts toward their music.

I totally get that it's not always fun but I'm just as strict about practicing as my mom was since I know well the benefit that comes from dedicated practicing.

Thanks Mom :)!