Soloist

Last Friday (May 13), we got to see Nate's class perform at his school's Spring Concert. This year's theme was "Going to the Movies."

Nate had a "solo" during the concert, and luckily, one of our friends sat closer to the front than we did and got a few great shots of him singing!  I was so proud of him I felt like my chest was going to burst. He's such an awesome kid.

a welcome diversion

This afternoon I leave for a (relatively short) trip to Germany. Even though it's only four days, the fact that I'm going alone and overseas is making me nervous and anxious. If any one of those two factors were removed (someone going with me or just traveling domestically), I'd be fine. Add that my last trip to Italy was awful, and combine with the fact that I will miss my boys incredibly, and I just am not looking forward to it.

So today instead of our regular trip to the gym, I decided to take the boys to do something fun.

We went to the Bettendorf Family Museum.

The boys loved playing in all the various exhibits...

But the highlight had to be a free (well, after paying admission) concert by Jim Gill - the boys love his music. There was a lot of singing, dancing, and clapping. Mostly by the parents, though. Nate did join in on several of the songs. I do admit some of the songs are catchy but my ears were done after 25 minutes...or maybe it was my stomach. It was lunch time.

Afterwards we went to Arby's for lunch. It was at lunch I realized I'd forgotten completely about my upcoming trip. And as I realized I needed to get home and finish packing, the butterflies set in again. Oh, well. At least I had three hours that I didn't think about it.

a grand finale

I was sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee when the boys started making a huge amount of noise. It turns out they were playing "rock and roll." They had pulled out all the musical instruments in the house and were switching around, each time playing a different instrument (and occasionally "singing" with the microphone, which is what was making the most noise!).

I took a few videos of them (the first before they knew I was doing so), but this grand finale has to be the best one. I hope you enjoy it.



You'd think that all we listen to in this house is heavy metal. (not true!)

2009 Preschool Christmas Program

The annual preschool Christmas program at First Lutheran was a lot of fun, as usual. Due to a nasty bout of stomach flu, neither Tom or Nile was able to go. But luckily, Nate had already had the bug (see here) and I had yet to get it.

The program was full of the usual elements: singing, dancing, and crying. I think I've managed to have them all on this video - it's rather long but I think it was the one that best captured Nate's fine dancing skills. The crying is someone's younger brother who apparently didn't enjoy the preschooler's rendition of "Jingle Bells" as much as we parents did. (and no, it wasn't Nile - he was at home, sick, remember?)



After the program the kids all got a special gift from their teachers. Nate was beside himself with excitement over the small stuffed penguin. He promptly named it "Pen" and said it could be the "aunt" to Pete, his larger penguin at home. Later he decided that it really was Pete's son.



And then, after patiently waiting (in the photo above you see that he is sitting by Santa's chair. He didn't move from that spot until Santa asked him to come up), it was his turn to talk to the man.

He told "Santa" that he wants a Transformer for Christmas. Apparently Santa didn't know what a Transformer is (come on Santa, this is 2009!) so Nate had to explain that a Transformer is a robot.

I am still amazed that the kid who has to have me explain the details of everything (note) accepts Santa. Flying reindeer, presents for every child in the whole world, magic elves: this is all accepted without question. Oh, well.

Introducing...Brown Bear

Let me introduce Brown Bear. Brown Bear is Nathan's preschool "Indian" name.
(I cringe even to type it, I'd rather say "Native American," but I feel I should stick with what Nate and his teachers were calling it).

Oh, and by the way - that's not red paint on his nose. He hit his nose with the lid of his laptop last week...

Today we attended Nate's preschool Thanksgiving Feast and program. Again this year I continue to be amazed at the improvement Nate is making. At last year's program he stood with the group and, well, just stood there. This year, he participated! Yippee!

Here are a few photos I thought I'd share.

The class singing one of the songs. (Nate is on the right side of the photo)


The boys go to do a little drumming while the girls dance.


The boys then got to dance while the girls played the drums.


After the program the families got to eat a special Thanksgiving meal that the class helped prepare. Vegetable soup, cornbread, applesauce, chocolate chip bars, and apple juice. Nate proudly informed me that he "dumped the corn into the soup!"

It was a good morning.

School days...

So...last year I didn't even think to bring the camera to Nate's first day of preschool. As the only mom who didn't bring a camera, I was not going to make the same mistake again. Here it is, the standard "first-day-of-school" picture: Nate outside church, right before school.



After spending an hour with their teacher while we parents signed a bunch of legal forms...they performed a song for us. ("If You're Happy and you Know It"). Nate is wearing a dark blue shirt on the right side of the class. For those of you who aren't familiar with the stories from last year, this short video marks a HUGE improvement over last year. Last year Nate refused to sing, do any actions, or pretty much anything during their few "performances." So seeing him participate made me so happy!




After the performance each child got a t-shirt. This, to Nate, was the best part of the day: "I won a prize!"


So far we're off to a great school year. Let's hope it continues!

a duet

I caught them in a particularly agreeable mood today, they were singing together at lunch. So I asked for an encore, and they were happy to oblige. I think they were more excited about being able to watch it on the computer later.

Nile really does know all the words, but the TV was on (I had it muted) and he kept getting distracted...