Cleaning Up

Nathan's end of the year honors recital was tonight, and he cleaned up on the awards. He came home with three trophies and two medals to add to the ribbons he's received at competitions throughout the year. He played well, too. I have it on video and hope to get it up here soon, but probably not until after I get the graduation stuff up this weekend.

We are so proud of all he has accomplished and he is excited to try out next week for the Praise Band at school. If he makes it, he will play every week at chapel. It still amazes me to watch my child excel at music. 

Piano and Persuasive Speaking

We had two kids competing today. Nathan did one of his piano competitions. We won't know his results for a few days, but he did not feel like he did well at all. (He apparently forgot portions of both of his pieces. I'm not sure how obvious it was, but he was not happy with himself!)

Elizabeth, on the other hand, succeeded in making the cut for the state competition in persuasive speaking. (She didn't make it in original oratory or current events.) In this event, they draw a topic then have some time to prepare with whatever materials they've brought with them. Then they have to speak on the subject for 7 minutes. Since this is a bit like debate--some preparation, much thinking on your feet--she did well. We'll see how it goes in the bigger competition. 

One more baseball game, two more softball games, and then we'll be off on Spring Break. Yeah!

Christmas Recital

For those of you who couldn't be here, this is Nathan's performance at his recital. (I FINALLY figured out how to do this!)

 The first song, a jazzy version of Good King Wenceslas, has a few rough spots, but the duet, Deck the Halls, with his teacher, is not to be missed! (Forgive the tapping. That's me hitting the camera. My video camera is on the blink and so I took this from my regular camera, which wasn't working right, either!)

Merry Christmas!

Piano Competition

Nathan had the first of his several piano competitions scattered throughout this school year. He came away with a Superior +. Can't do much better than that! It's been awhile since he received marks that high. He was very pleased. And, of course, it helps that he has worked very hard on this piece. It's amazing what that child can do when he puts a little effort into it.