Sprriiiiiiiinnnnnngggggggggg!!!!!!!!!

Hi everybody!

Just a few updates and thoughts since it's been a while. 

We had a really nice Easter with the family and have been busy with church things.  I LOVED the nice warm days we had this past week!  We put up our swing and got out our colorful lounge chairs and I used them several times already : )

I put a few seeds in a little pot and now we'll see if they grow.

Phil re-vamped some music to the hymn "Hail the day" and then it ushered in a bunch of hail this week. We had lots of lovely rain yesterday and today, and the rain poked a hole through our roof and plinked down on top of the YAMAHA. Yeah! Phil heard it start dripping so we ran and moved the piano out of the way and stuck a bucket there. Yayyy. It's still dripping actually. I can water the seeds with it. Well then this morning when I went out to the laundry room I found lovely yellow "goo" on the ground and really just everywhere that had dripped from our ceiling back there. So got frazzled about that, and then went to dump the dehumidifier water out and GAHHH!!!! The basement was all puddled. I slopped around in it trying to figure out what to do and just freaked out and overreacted.  Found our extra table leaf and pad and it was all moldy and gross looking. So then I...screamed! Yes I screamed. Then I called Phil and was yelling/bemoaning about the mess and then pushed water into the hole with the broom. When Phil got home (and I apologized for overreacting) we started moving everything up from the basement because we decided that it would just not do to keep anything down there any more. We started with the good china to make sure that was all fine and then brought up our suitcases and luggage next. Phil started working on those with bleach water while I taught a lesson. We got the table leaf and pad cleaned up. More work to do and we'll have to find somewhere to store some of the stuff but that's no biggie I guess.  Throughout all this at first I was like.....WOE IS ME the house is falling apart, the roof is leaking and basement seeping, the mice are creeping, oh mee oh my. (we had a mouse a couple weeks ago!) But then I just said over and over a few times, "thekidsinafricawouldbereallyhappytohaveanyhousewithanyroofevenifitleaked!"

A few student highlights lately, we had 5 students participapte in Music Evaluation Day and they did great and I was really happy that we did that. We are up to 148 students. It was during Stephen's lesson when the mouse made his appearance. Bella looked up at me really shy-ly and said really quietly, "You're Beautiful!"  Katie got over playing Bach. I think I might do a research project on the families who I feel practice well.  Phil and I registered for the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy which is in Chicago this summer! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited for that!!!!!  I enjoyed it soooo much last time. I think it was even better than the Music Teacher's national conference because this one is even more specific to piano teachers. One of my students' families is adopting! A couple of my students' mom's are pregnant! Terron's family is renovating the kitchen! Cara's having a birthday party! A couple students tried out for the talent show. (they find out wednesday if they made it).  Several students are in the musical this weekend. One student who has experienced the death of a sibling has shown tremendous growth in lessons and I feel that she is gaining confidence and is being less hard on herself and is gradually becoming more positive in general. She also told me "I wouldn't be going into music if it weren't for you. You inspired me!" One student got accepted into her music therapy program for college next year and got an Ohio Music Teacher's scholarship I had her apply for.  At least 3 students are going to piano camp at BGSU for a week this summer. Several juniors have decided they want to go into music .  We have a guest speaker coming in a couple weeks to talk about the music audition process for going into music. One very accomplished student is graduating and going into nursing and will have her last lesson with me next month.
I think about Rosie often while I'm teaching.

Right now Phil is recording a bunch of praise and worship songs onto our ipad for me to take with me to sing to at a nursing home that I'm singing at.  They have a nice piano there...but for some reason they want/need it to be in this back room with no piano. They pay nicely so I just go along with it! Oh well!

Tomorrow a.m. is a chamber meeting so we'll be getting up bright and early to get the keyboard set up for that!  Then we're heading to see the HS musical tomorrow night after lessons, and then tomorrow is a 5 Myles wedding reception gig, then sunday fun.

The cats are fighting, time to break it up and head to bed. Nighty night!