January 31

Sunday Recap - I felt like a giant ball of deer doo-doo. I hate colds. David and I are both coughing up a lung. I got called at the last minute to play for the choir so I had to go pony-tailed to church AGAIN. Then, the fire alarm got pulled in Sacrament meeting by a little guy. Not mine this time, thankfully. Crazy thing is - not a single soul moved. What if it had actually been a fire? Crazy paranoid me. Then I taught Sharing time for the 5th Sunday. I'm the Secretary and technically the stake says the secretary doesn't teach, but the bishop said I could so I did. Junior was a complete flop. I had no voice, and if you can't be animated you lose them in a nanosecond. 19 new screaching sunbeams didn't help. Senior went much smoother, even though I ended up doing double duty at the piano for singing time.....oh and then there was the Sunbeam that was AWOL and nobody found him for 10 minutes! (His mom was freaking out!) We finally found him in the CTR 6 class. Phew, just in time for my friend to pass out in the middle of the combined adult meeting and cause a ruckus. What a Sunday. Now I'm just recovering in bed nibbling on Captain Crunch trying to type as fast as I can so I can get back to my Lost episode...oh,...I mean...um....Ensign.

January 30

Saturday, closing night for Pirates. Once again pretty fun, except for my cold I came down with that day. After a busy morning at Spin class, a temple trip with the Primary Presidency, prepping for sharing time, and a rehearsal for the next February Cabaret show, I was ready for a nap. But, then I had to teach piano, and eating dinner started to sound pretty appealing, so I didn't get my nap. I did get a nice cough and a runny nose, though.

January 29

The latest show I'm playing for is The Pirates of Penzance Interactive Experience 2010. I did the same thing last year and really enjoyed myself. Friday was the 2nd to last night and was dubbed "Apprentice Night." We had a full audience - which is truly remarkable and all the understudies were stepping in and taking the main parts. We were all a little nervous about that, but it worked out great. We had a hysterical performance. Part of the experience is that the audience members get to pick certain songs to be sung double time, or they can pick swapping genders, or swapping charachters. I got to be in on the fun too. Someone had me swap with Frederick. Andy who is normally the cop got to be the pianist (he can't play,) and I am really not a vocalist. I had my nice bass voice going for me though and got a laugh and a half when I leaped on the "leap year" vocal solo. Fun times at the Village Green indeed.

January 28

This is one of Cade's fantastic Preschool Teachers. He goes to preschool at the Bravo Arts Academy twice a week, and once a week at the Sing Out Young Preschool. Does Cade have a future in music? um....no reason to suspect quite yet, and I am not going to push it. So....why does he go to TWO arts preschools? Completely selfish reasons - networking for mom. His one preschool has hooked me up with lots of performance gigs, and the other one is opening a new branch in Layton by my house and they are looking for teachers! Hopefully this summer I will get to teach some group, adult, and advanced piano classes. So, while Cade may not have profitted by these schools (he is a little annoyed and not the biggest fan of singing,) it certainly hasn't hurt him, and it has helped mom a lot. Anyhow I digress. Thursday was their preschool field trip to the downtown library So fun! We got to hear story tellers, and saw snakes and birds, and we got stuck in the elevator, and had a newbie check us out which took twenty eight years, and I lost both the boys coats. It all worked out - we got out of the elevator safely and recovered his coats at his preschool (teacher thought we had left them....when actually we were just taking ten years deciding which book to check out.) We made out like bandits. 7 eyewittness documentaries that both boys are obsessed with and a handful of books. I love the library, but it made me want a nap today.

January 27

Wednesday was haircut day. I hate shelling out over ten bucks for a haircut - but it had been a few months. My boys looked like mops, and I massacred Cade's hair trying to cut it, so I finally broke down and decided I wanted to see their precious faces once more. Wish I had a before and after....we went to Cookie Cutters. DVD's, Star Wars Lego on a Playstation, cars and airplanes, succors, and balloons.....these boys love getting their hair cut. Spoiled? Yup.

January 26

You know when you live in Utah when the playground graffit looks like vinyl lettering from a craft store.....I saw this at a park nearby and it completely cracked me up.

January 25

This picture was taken at the end of Monday. We went to the Treehouse Museum for storytime, and Cade painted the picture he is holding of the boy William in the story we heard. At the Treehouse, we went and sat in the Oval Office, and talked about the Presidents of the United States. (This made me completely nostalgic for Washington D.C. I'd really love to go back sometime.) Grandma Reed gave Cade an early birthday present - posable Thomas Jefferson, Ben Fraklin, and George Washington action figures. Cade LOVES them. So - he wants to know all about them - hence the Treehouse Trip. We also did the Road of Discovery Map where you follow Lewis and Clark's expedition and solve problems like bison running amok and decide to eat hardtack. We did enjoy ourselves. Later for FHE we reinacted the Tree of Life. This is my little boys munching on the yummiest happiest fruit ever!!!! (apples) and showing Dad their art work from earlier in the day.

January 24

NurtureShock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

-a quick review of a book I recently finished

I heard one of the authors of this book interviewed on an NPR station several months ago and was intrigued. Here's a link to part of that discussion:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112292248

I was really excited to get the book and read it out. After waiting for 36 people ahead of me in the library, I finally got the coveted dribble. As to what I think of the book? It was easy to read and accesible. It had very intriguing subject matter, and half of it was somewhat interesting, but I think it was terribly mis-titled. Frankly, there is not much shocking about what they say. The point the authors are getting at is that a lot of trendy parent strategies are not working, and it is time to go back to common sense. It uses the usual load of intellectual studies and statistics to prove/disprove their point/the opposing point of view. It was a very readable book, but I felt like my time was better spent listening to the interview. I felt that I got most of the benefit out of listening to the author speak for a few minutes, then I did spending a few hours reading his book. So a re-cap of what I learned? A few of the "uh...no duh" revelations:

1. Be careful how you praise your children, too much empty praise doesn't work. Too much praise period doesn't work.

i.e. "You're smart." vs. "You do well when you work on your homework and study hard."

2. Kids need to sleep. More. Okay, I sooooo do not follow this advice, but I know it is really true. I think we all do, doesn't make me do it, though.

3. White parents should talk about race. Openly.

4. Getting your kids to be honest can be tricky. Really? NOOO way! A lot of things that you do just make your kids become better liars.

5. The smart kids can't always be found in Kindergarten or before. Wait a few years.

(As a side note: I am SOOO glad that my state was one of the ones that doesn't screen for "gifted" programs until the 3rd grade, and that they took a chance on a borderline score=me. The gifted program really impacted me, but I doubt I would have qualified any earlier. I needed to learn to focus my abilities. I went from singing on the tabletops in Kindergarten to a focused student. It took some time.)

So the first five chapters somewhat bored me, honestly. The second five chapters were much more compelling. If you are interested, read up on why siblings fight, why teens rebel, how to teach self-control (or can you?) why children fight, and how to get your baby to read (or should you wait?) I was fascinated by the chapter on kindergarten education that speaks of a system called the Tools of the Mind. I wish that there were a school around me that utilized this method. It is a preschool and kindergarten system that gives children tools of learning and cooperation. Children basically "play" all day. They have to put together scenarios and act them out and problem solve. It is guided play, but it is still imaginative play. I'm a big fan of play and not pushing your kids too much too early. It also has peers guiding reading/listening skills. Kids read/listen to each other every day. Reading/writing is presented without worries of spelling errors at first - sounds are reinforced. I'm really not doing the tools justice here, but it sounds like an amazing system. It piqued my interest probably because I have an up and coming kindergartner in the next year, and I am very interested in how he receives his education. For more info. on Tools of the Mind here is a link: http://www.mscd.edu/extendedcampus/toolsofthemind/

Overall, it was well-researched and well-presented, but I always get the feeling in these books like the author is just another guy trying to sell me on his research findings. I really get annoyed by all the statistics and studies out there that prove/disprove whatever you want. Really if you want you can pick a side and find some kind of study to back you up. Even if it is a crazy side. So a few possibly "shocking" things presented were: I

1. P.B.S. can make your kids more aggresive than Star Wars

2. Spanking doesn't make violent kids, if spanking is the norm.

3. Arguing, lying, and agression may be positive traits in your children and mean they are "advanced."

The conclusion was the best part of the book. If I could go back in time, I would listen to the interview and read the conclusion. The authors do throw the question out there - here are the studies - but does it really matter? Your child is more agressive than others? So? Your child lies? So? It matters, but ony to a point. I often ponder the same thing - especially when it comes to my kids. Yes, I want them to be as smart as they can be, as hard-working and honest as they can be etc. etc. etc. Yes, I believe certain things will guide them down that path, but I also am leary of pushing too hard and too much. I don't need a baby Einstein, and even if I wanted one, I don't think you can creat one.....so.... now I am rambling. Decent book - I'd give it 7 toes out of 10.

-as a side note, I also heard some stupid local radio hosts on the "Night Side" project call spanking "nurture shocking." They obviously had not read the book and missed the boat and mis-quoted the studies on spanking. Go Utah talk radio!

January 23

This is the doorbell soundbox. This is my doorbell soundbox. It is the top white box in the picture. I walk past this box every day billions of times. Below the doorbell is the thermostat. I've seen it before, I've touched it before....I've noticed every nick my boys have put in my walls. I've noticed every discolored inch of grout on the floor below, and every piece of dirt on the entry rug....but NEVER NEVER in all the time I've lived in this house (about 9 months) did I notice the doorbell soundbox until Saturday. How is that possible? I wonder what else I walk by every day and don't notice........

January 22

Friday morning. 7:15 A.M. I was still sleeping. I am usually awake much before this time, but I had been emotionally drained. The phone rang - the only person who ever calls me that early is my mother, and she was snoring in the room next to mine....so I dragged my way out of bed.

"Hey Debby - its been so long since we talked. How are ya?"
"Um....who ARE you? Do I know you?"
"Well, we are Fischer and Peggy and YOU are going to San Diego!!!!"
"Are you serious? No way! This is a joke."
"You did enter our contest, and it is in the middle of the morning show isn't it?"
"oh yeah! Yeah!!!! Shrieks me! I used to live in San Diego for 6 years and it is like my favorite place on the planet!" (Ooooo- I sounded like a retartded teen.....I was so taken by surprise.)


So - I really won a trip for 4 to San Diego. 3 nights in the Manchester Hyatt, tickets to the zoo (my VERY least favorite thing in San Diego, I know.....I shouldn't complain) and tickets to all the museums in Balboa Park. I'm pretty happy about this. I have actually entered this contest for two years prior. The first year I did it we had only moved from there a few months before. You have to click on Fischer and Peggy to enter. It said you could enter multiple times....so one day I was sick. I clicked on them ALL day long and ALL night. (Not an exxageration.) This year? I clicked once and went on my merry way......and I won! I'm pretty happy about this one. I LOVE San Diego and would love to vacation there all the time. Eric on the other hand is bored to tears of the place. You pretty much could only pay him to go. This will work! Free vacation and a chance to see my dearly missed friends? Happy day indeed!

January 21

These are my cousins. They are truly an amazing family. Thursday was my Aunt's funeral. It was tough, but it was also beautiful. It was great to see and meet several of my cousin's spouses and children. They were all so gracious and kind and "together," unbelievably together for such a shock. All of the children stood and told a teaching moment, a humorous moment, and a memorable moment about their mother at the service. I laughed, I cried, and I was touched. I don't have words adequate enough to express all that I felt that day, so I am not even going to try. I will really miss my Aunt, though.

January 20

Cade told me to take this picture because "it would be great." And, it is.

January 19

"Blowing Kisses with Grandma Reed."
Monday night and Tuesday morning we spent with Grandma and Grandpa Reed. We were verrrry happy to see them and spend some time with them. My mom has really had a rough week. On Wednesday her sister, my Aunt Diana, passed away suddenly in Jerusalem. On Monday, she came down to visit me for a night before she headed down to the viewing/funeral. On the drive down to Utah, my parents were the first people to arrive at an awful wreck. A car from the opposite side of the freeway landed in front of them. My mom ran out of the car to find a horrific scene with two young girls. One was pronounced dead at the scene and another was lifeflighted and is in very serious condition. Needless to say, Grandma arrived at our house a little shaken. Yet another reminder of mortality for us. I was very happy to give my mom a big hug, and the boys loved giving Grandma some much needed love and kisses.

January 18

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day??? It was supposed to be a happy outing for mom and Cade.....being a holiday we left Dad and David at home and went to a Preschool Program at the Ogden Nature Center. It was supposed to be a discovery program about snowflakes and ice complete with stories, hot chocolate, and a craft. After driving 30 minutes and running in the snow to try to get there on time, we found out that you were supposed to preregister (not mentioned in the paper) and since we were the only people to show up....they weren't going to have it. Grr. So - Cade was very sad as you can see in the pictures. We did get to see Wild Turkeys (in the top picture) and unique birdhouses (like the Rubix Cube Birdhouse pictured below.) It worked for me, but I think Cade was a little disappointed.

January 17

Earlier this week on our library trip Cade picked out a video about natural disasters, and books on volcanoes, tornados....etc. So he has been watching this video nonstop all week. Here is a recap of what he has learned. He is sitting next to me and he wants me to say all of this to you.... and I quote: "Hurritans, Floods, Tornadoes, Blizzards, does that start with B? Epstunami, -also known as a tiger wave, meteors that hit the earth. These are all the natural disasters that I know of. The cold air gets trapped in the hot air and the hot air wants it to not get out and says no I don't want you to get out. This is how tornadoes get made. A volcano can trigger evil landslides. I have a movie all about tornadoes and you must like it. It's from the library. This is me Cade. Eptsunami is a biggest wave, and eptsunamis can break through the door in the house and get in the house, eptsunamis are so big they can almost reach the top of the Statue of Liberty. All the statue of liberty has when an eptsunami reaches it is the head. It almost reaches all the way up to the top. You could only see a part of the neck, and an eyes, and a nose, and a mouth, and ears. Eptsunamis would cover the toes and the whole of the tummy. Okay? This is me Cade. This is some things about natural disasters. I am tired. I have to go to bed." I tried to tell him about the recent earthquake in Haiti. He didn't understand. "How can an earthquake be in just one place? An earthquake is when the whole earth shakes, so how can just one place shake?" Are all 4 year old this literal? Yikes! Also....he is very concerned that a tornado is going to hit the barn down the street from us, because tornadoes go to farms. Maybe I'll go back to Curious George books next week!

January 16

This is the a sign from yesterday's YIP pic as seen going the opposite direction. If you couldn't tell, I haven't been taking very many pics as of late.....so this slew of sign pictures were ones that I took on a Sunday drive I took trying to keep David from dismantling the Wii any farther.

January 15

Ha! Ha! This sign cracked me up. Could these be Eric's sentiments?

January 14

........A Sign from across the street from the Jose's Burritos that are "comming soon." Spelling is contagious.

January 13

I've not been posting for a few days. I've felt a little scattered. This is a picture of a Temple Quilt. It is not mine, but I have one almost identical. The only difference is that mine has the Idaho Falls Temple on it, and our names, and our marriage date on it. I tried to get a picture of mine, and it just turned out fuzzy, and I've been too lazy to post another one. My Aunt Diana made this quilt for me when I got married. She must have put hours and hours - probably over 150 hours into this quilt. She made one for all of her nieces. On Wednesday, my Aunt Diana passed away unexpectedly in the Holy Land, in Jerusalem. Once again, only a week after my friend's baby burial, I was reminded of mortality and how quickly it can all be taken away. Aunt Diana was 63 and was the mother to 8 still living amazing children. She had been teaching English in China for the last few years. She walked for a little bit that morning on a tour in Jerusalem, and essentially didn't feel well, and then died. She was preparing to serve a mission with her husband. 24 years ago on the same day - January 13th (my little sister's. 1st Birthday) we buried my Grandpa Balderdash. He was 63 years old, preparing to go on a mission, when he dropped dead suddenly. His mother also died quite young the same way.....needless to say, not only do I miss my aunt, I pretty much freaked when I realized my mom is 60, and has all these same genes. You never really know....she could live for years, and I would be so delighted.....No matter what, it just reinforces how much I need to appreciate everyone around me every day while I have their association here on this earth. Just before Christmas I got to talk to my Aunt Diana on the phone. She wanted to come by and drop off a temple quilt she had made for Liz, my little sis that got married this summer. I ended up being too busy to see her, even though I felt at the time that I should make time to do so. I ignored that prompting, and I sorely regret it now. I guess it is all of that weighing in on me that has made me a little numbed. I am grateful that I have another day to try harder to listen and obey the directions I receive from above.

January 12

I AM the coolest preschool mom. Ever. Hands down. Today Cade had to bring the snack to his preschool class. So what did I deliver? This Gone Fishin' Snack. Cream cheese with blue food coloring served as the water, and celery sticks were the fishing poles, and Goldfish were the uh....duh....fish! Take the celery, dip it in the cream cheese, and catch your fish. So.....eat that mommy's everywhere! This no cooking.....laid back mom.....is so talented at stealing really great ideas off the internet and....I actually made a "cool" snack that everyone was talking about. (Okay....maybe I need to make some humble pie next.)

January 11

Jose's Burritos are "COMMING" Soon at the shopping center by my home! Yahoo! (...delivered in a tone dripping with sarcasm.) I can't wait for yet ANOTHER fast food Mexicana place in my neighborhood. The perks....this new one really knows how to spell check before making two large banners to hang on their restauraunt. (Okay, I'm absoutely the wurst at spell-checkin, and I mess up and forget all the time before I post junk on my blog, not to mention my complete lack of educated!!!! use, of, punctuation, and........overabundance........ of.......... ellipses, and to brazenly use split infinitives, and run on sentences.....but I can still poke fun of businesses, because heck, they are trying to make money off of their endeavors, and I am most certainly not going to make money off this babbling blog......)
So, apparently Syracususians loooove fast food - cheap yucky tacos - oh and pizza. It cracked me up until my sides hurt when I first discovered that on one corner (of only two main shopping centers in my little burb) there are 5 pizza places! 5 on one corner? 4 of them in the same center! Insanity if you ask me. Yet, they remain open. Granted, 1 is a drive through, 1 is a regular delivery, 1 is a take and bake, and 1 is a sit down, and 1 is at the bowling alley....but who really needs 5 pizza joints in one shopping center? Apparently my neighbors do. I'm all for choices and I don't mind business and expansion....but really, this is ridiculous. (Oh and a half mile away...guess what? 3 MORE pizza places!) One thing is for sure, Syracuse is prepared. We certainly have over a 2 year supply of pizza, tacos, and scrap booking supplies here in Utah. No doubt there will be plenty to share. :)

- disclaimer - I actually really like Mexican food, and I've been known to frequent the little taco trailers with yummy homemade tortillas - my "beef" is with the cookie cutter franchises that are making hot sauce drip from my extremeties.....Del Taco, Taco Time, Taco Johns, Taco Smell, and now Jose's? Yet to see if it is any better than the others. It might actually be really good food since it isn't a chain, and then, I'll just have to eat my words.....oh and the tacos.

January 10

Cade is now in the CTR 4 class at church. He was ecstatic to get his first CTR ring. He decided that one CTR ring just wasn't enough....so he made one for each finger. (Not all of them are pictured here.) So - he wants to keep them all on the elephant ring holder Eric got for Christmas. (Who knew something like that existed? I didn't until I bought it for free, and actually....it has come in quite handy. The usable junk out there just boggles the mind sometimes.)

January 9

Today I spent the bulk of the day at a Super Saturday rehearsal for my next show at the Village Green. We are doing a repeat of last year's Pirate of Penzance Sing Along, but it is different on three counts this year. First, we renamed it the Pirates of Penzance Interactive Experience in hopes of getting more of an audience. Second, there is an almost entirely new cast so I am meeting lots of new crazy musicians which is fun. Third, no pay this year.....not that it was much last year, but at least this year I don't have to practice a wink for it. Hooray for finger memory!

January 8

We had such a fun night last night. My college roomate and great friend Brittany came over with her husband Dan. We talked the piano talk for a loooong time while our husbands sat probably bored to tears, and then we played Raving Rabids on the Wii. I really like that game. David fell asleep watching us play. Score! I was rocking out to Born to Be Wild, and laughing while striking myself with the nunchuck cord. Good times indeed! The pic above is from my college days. We played name that roommate one night. We all swapped clothes and tried to imitate each other.

January 7

For lack of anything interesting on Thursday....here is a status update from Eric on Facebook:
"My two year old went to the bookshelf to select his reading material for the evening. He passed up the more age-appropriate"Where's Spot?' in favor of Robert's Rules of Order, which in case anyone doesn't know, is the standard guide to parlimentary procedure."

-comment from Zech Judy
"Senator Cannon does have a nice ring to it."

-comment from Ben Reed
"Now the question is, will he follow the counsel to maintain his own proper decorum in the coming weeks?"

-comment from Eric Cannon
"He carried the book around everywhere he went for over an hour. As far as decorum goes, well I think I'm going to have to try to keep control of the floor because his favorite tactic is the filibuster."

January 6

I am emotionally drained. So bear with me! Today's images are of my boys as newborns. Cade is the 1st pic and David is the 2nd. I am SOOOO blessed that I have my little miracles with me today.

I just got back from a very close friend's funeral for her full term baby that died at birth. Marianne was my roomate in college and was a piano major with me at USU. We laughed, we cried, we exercised, we studied, we prayed together and saw each other sometimes for 24 hours straight since we had most all the same classes. (I also can't forget burning school papers, dressing up like Adam Eve and a cow, and putting on nightly musicals together.) Marianne and all my other roomates at USU were like sisters to me. We were very close, and so to watch her go through this kind of painful experience was really hard for me today. This was her 4th child and she knew several months ago that she would have to deliver this baby and it wouldn't live. I stood there in the snow unable to feel my toes, but completely covered in warmth and peace about the resiliency of the human spirit and the beauty of eternal families. Marianne smiled and cried and sang all the words by heart to hymns played by the solo violin. As she sang and hugged her other children it warmed all of us on this cold January day. I was standing next to two other of my roommates. On my left was Jenny, another dear friend and roommate who lost a daughter in a tragic drowning a few years ago. Her daughter's funeral also profoundly influenced me. It is not just the fact that I have seen these women subjected to such great loss that makes me stop and think - it is the way they have handled their loss - with such hope, strength, courage, faith, class, and grace that makes me marvel. A few years ago I never would have guessed that the giddy girls I spent time with, laughing and crying with, and thinking that jury scores were the end of the world with, would be called upon to go through such great trials and struggles. I have to stop and marvel at how we all got here to this point - we are adults with children and sooner or later we all face tragedies and pain, coupled with great joy. Even though I haven't kept in the closest contact with my college roommates - every single one of them has greatly influenced me. They are all amazing women who have been such great examples to me. I remember when we were studying the Book of Mormon together as roommates - and our favorite verse was the one where you, "Arise! Sit down ......put on thy beautiful garments."......or something to that effect. Being the clowns we were would all stand up and all sit down ad nauseum laughing hysterically....but all kidding aside it only illustrates what type of obedient and outstanding women I had the privilege of associating with. They arise to the challenges placed before them and sit down and face their trials with courage and faith.

January 5

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's.....a .........not a whisk. This is a pic of me with my favorite Christmas present, and a pic of me taking it away from David. What is it? Okay, I guess I'll tell you, it is a head massager. Eric's little sister gave us this head massager for Christmas, and as funny as it looks, it feels great. We have been inseperable since our introduction. I wish it were electronic, but then again, I might look a little funny going to church with a pink whisky head contraption superglued to my staticky hair.......

January 4

No more David's jumping off the bed....hopefully. I didn't even know David could climb the bunkbeds in his room, let alone fling himself off. I found out yesterday. I was teaching piano, the babysitter was getting the phone, and Cade was trying to convince David not to do it.....when.....thud....silence......waaa.....bloody nose......freaked out mom. Cade had this great idea to make a sign that "will stop David next time, with uppercase letters because David only knows those ones. " I'm so used to Cade who got my scaredy-bug gene that I forget I must be vigilant with Davy the Daredevil. No goose egg, no concussion, not too much blood, but certainly not enough sleep. I was up most the night trying to wake David to make sure no injury developed as advised by the fount of all knowledge the net, (and his pediatrician via phone call.) I need a nap!

Ketch-up

So, I might interject a few boring posts in between my boring YIP pics. So....yuck yuck yuck just call me Martha. I had to have a piano recital for my students. I chose December. I thought I had the library grand reserved. Apparently, someone beat me to the punch, and since I had only reserved on the phone and didn't deliver my money until that afternoon, someone else got my recital slot....so I decided to use my own little recital hall. Sometimes a very empty living room comes in very handy. Maybe we won't furnish it for a while. It has served me well for two piano recitals now. Since it was storming I really didn't want to go outside and get holiday cups and plates, so I made my own festive cups and plates from the styrofoam ones I had in the basement. (Unused cups....or so they thought.....ha ha ha! Of course, they were clean.) Cade stamped some white napkins for me, and we tied ribbons to the glasses. Hot chocolate in the crock pot and store bought cookies/doughnuts rounded out the menu. This is the craftiest I get folks. It completely drained me. I couldn't do much else...so Eric pitched in and put my programs together for me and also helped make homemade CD's of classics for my students (which I forgot to give to them after I spent half the afternoon wrapping them. Grr.) All in all, it turned out great. It is so nice to be building a studio of great students again. My 10 current students are really dedicated and I am so blessed to have found some people who really want to learn how to play music. I did have one student that didn't show. I called his house and got the...."uh.....he had a recital? response." I later told Eric about it and gleaned a funny Ericdote from this. Eric asked me if I had told the parents. I hadn't, but I had written it in his notebook for weeks! Eric pointed out that when he was 10 he knew two dates, Christmas and his birthday and beyond that.....good luck. Eric even missed a violin recital when he was 10 because he didn't tell his mom! So apparently even really cool kids forget to tell moms about important events. It all ended well for me, though. The AWOL student brought me a great apology letter and homemade cookies...mmmmm. Should I tell his mom about the next one? Tempting.