Spring Sing ain't for Whimps! :)

Every year we are supposed to sign up for 2 things to help with at the school. It's hot when we are registering and I'm not thinking straight....for the last 3 years, I have signed up to play the piano for one of the concert, (winter or spring) but they have never called me! I thought maybe it was because I go into all of the kids classrooms once a week and they were giving me a break. Right? WRONG!!!! I got a call from the music teacher saying that she wanted me to play the piano for the winter concert. I was secretly happy when I noticed I'd be in San Jose for that week and wouldn't be able to do it. She was a step ahead of me though, and asked if she could reserve me for Spring! Ahhh!!! What do I do now? To make a long story short, I said "yes."
The good thing is, it made me buy a piano. I found it on Craig's list and David went to go and pick it up. We got a great deal on it. The bad news is, she picked TOTALLY hard songs! I thought they'd be simple like "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" or something like that. But, no, it was like 6 Sharps or 5 flats and some songs had the craziest timing ever! I was practicing up until the day OF the concert!
I wasn't sure if I could take pictures, so at the end of the day, I decided to take out my camera and get one of Abbie at the rehearsal. Of course I forgot to bring it out when the boys were in there practicing! I had to be there all day Friday and All day Monday for rehearsals! NOte to self: Pick the track and field or book sale or something much more SIMPLE!

 

Here we are ready to leave for the concert. This is my moment of truth! Would all that practicing pay off? Here is the lovely piano from Craig's List that I found. IT's nice enough looking.....I just gotta find a tuner! I didn't realize how badly it was out of tune until I played the cd to learn to play the right rythm...and then could hear how badly the notes on the piano really were! I've been wanting a piano forever, and finally have one! Now the next question is if we should have the kids take piano. There's always somewhere for the money to go, isn't there?

 

Here I am with my boys. I just love them so much. Aren't they just so handsome? They are great kids. I really couldn't ask for any better. A mom has to say those kinds of things sometimes. Is there room for improvement? Always, but when you see them all spiffed up and ready to go sing their hearts out, you can't help but feel grateful for such wonderful kids!

 

I tried going outside to take a few pictures, but as usual, we were running out of time! I always think I have more time to do things than I actually do! So, apparently I didn't get a picture with all 3 kids, just Abbie and Eli. My mind wasn't totally there, I was thinking about how glad I would be when I would be done playing the piano! IT's a lot of pressure!

 

David got home just in time to go with us to the concert! I'm glad he is such a good, fun, supportive dad!

 

Here's Abbie after singing her 3 songs.

 

Here's Eli after his songs. Apparently I looked out into the audience and David snapped a quick picture of me looking at him. I look thrilled to be up there, don't I?

 

Last but not least, Mason's performance. You know, there were some REALLY hard songs to play at the concert! One song had 6 sharps and some had 5 flats. Flats are WAY easier for me than sharps....but I practiced so much that I ended up doing better on the hard ones and messed up on the easy ones. Lesson learned, you can't relax when you think it's going to be "easy"....always gotta be on your "A" game, right?

All in all, I'm glad I did it. I love to be involved with the kids at school. For right now, I'm still "cool" and the kids like me coming. I'll enjoy it while I can, who knows, pretty soon I will be an embarrassment to the kids and they won't want me coming to their school!