May Flowers

It has been a hard few days. My pelvic pain is already beginning and I'm starting to get nervous, as it's flaring a month or two earlier than I had hoped. To take my mind off of my worries, I wanted to post a few fun things that have happened recently.

Rob and I took Erica to see The Piano Guys. Rob and I are longtime fans of Jon Schmidt from back in our college days. We have loved watching The Piano Guys videos and listening to their music with our kids. We had great seats in the front of a side balcony. I wondered how they would perform live as a huge part of their appeal is their videos and the overlayed tracks. Well, they did NOT disappoint! If anything, they were even better live. There were some songs that were so beautiful I got goosebumps. Other times I laughed until I cried. They knew how to pull in an audience and they are incredibly talented at what they do. Plus, they are extremely funny and entertaining. The demographics were interesting -- no large population of one demographic. Instead, a huge variety in ages. Erica loved it as much as we did. I love having children old enough to appreciate concerts!

 The chandeliers were enormous!

 Erica got new glasses. These are NOT them.

 Jacob got his cast and we started to sign it. He still wears his sling with it because it goes so far up on his arm.

 Zoe got groomed for the first time. She went from this:

To this:

 We honestly didn't recognize her without her 2+ inches of fur. In fact, when we got home, we were relieved when she ran right to her water dish. It was indeed her. :)

 Thus continues the end-of-year May performances:

In other happenings, the older kids started piano with a new teacher: a good friend of mine, Raya Leavitt (who lives up the street so they can walk...bonus!) Hearing them practice the piano again (it's been about 9 months) fills a gap in my life I didn't realize was there. I LOVE hearing the piano!!

I'm stopping piano teaching for now. We'll have to see how things go. I'm so sad because I LOVE my students!! But I'm hopeful that they will each continue piano and come show me their skills sometime.

I'm looking forward to my 13-week check-up on Monday as well as lots of talent shows, parties, and even a class opera this week! Jacob finishes kindergarten on Wednesday. Time really goes fast.

I also wanted to write something I posted on Facebook today so I can remember: "I was having a rough day when my friend showed up and spent two hours weeding my yard. Then another friend (who has a 4 week old baby, nonetheless) brought us cookies and wanted to know how I was feeling. Constant reminders that God knows me and puts people in my path for a reason, even when (or especially when) the going gets tough."