Our winter of wild weather continues, with extremes in highs and lows. Sunday morning we had temperatures well below 0, with windchills of 20-30 below!
Monday, February 15, 2016
Happy Birthday Adelina Iris!!
Once again, Adeline's birthday was pretty close to the 100th day of school. With the two snow days, the Hoover celebrated the 100th day of school on Thursday February 11th. Lina dressed up like she was 100 years old for the occasion. Lina used a dress of mine from childhood, a pair of old glasses, and I put her hair up in a braided bun like Mana wore.
And then, Adelina's birthday was the very next day! We had a big day celebrating her birthday on Friday. The kids had a half day in preparation for February vacation this week. Adeline's best friend Audrey came home with us after school and we all went out to eat lunch at La Qchara (Grammy and Grandpa were visiting and Randy took the day off). After lunch, I took the girls to the library and then to pick up the birthday cake.
Caleb accompanied our singing of Happy Birthday on the piano. After cake, we tried to get people settled for bed, but the girls were too wound up to sleep. I heard giggling well-past 10 pm and everyone was up just after 6 am on Saturday. It was a super fun way to celebrate our sweet Adelina's 7th birthday!
Sledding at Mt. Hood
Levi and I took advantage of the snow and the kids being back to school and spent Tuesday (February 9th) morning sledding at Mt. Hood. The big sledding hill is usually packed with kids, but Levi and I had the whole slope to ourselves. We sledded for about 45 minutes and then warmed up with some hot chocolate at Coffee Tea and Me....it was a great morning with my buddy!
February Snow and Super Bowl
We got our first real snow storm of the year on Friday February 5th. The kids had their first snow day and we had a nice time playing in the heavy, wet snow. Unfortunately, we were hit with another snow storm on February 8th and ended up with a 4-day weekend right before February vacation. I drove to the Cape on Friday evening to spend the weekend with some of my friends and Randy had a fun weekend with the kids.
I got home on Sunday morning in time to begin Super Bowl watching preparations. Per usual, we had lots of great snacks and food. I thought Levi did a great job illustrating the game!
Boston University Track Meet
On January 30th I took the kids to BU to watch an indoor track meet. We were hoping to be able to watch Levi's basketball coach (Coach Steve) race, but arrived a little too late. Nevertheless, we had a great time watching the sprinting events and the pole-vaulting. Levi was particularly interested in the pole vaulters and I think we were all blown away by the speed of the runners.
Levi's Basketball Dancing
Levi continues to love playing basketball every week at the YMCA. His group has recently started adding scrimmages at the end of the class, which are very entertaining. Levi definitely gets into celebrating scores by his team!
Adelina in the kitchen
I can always count on Adelina to join me in the kitchen when I want a little company. She requested biscuits and stewed apples for breakfast a couple of weeks ago, so I told her she could make them herself (with a little help).
Adelina behind the lens
I guess Lina was playing with the camera recently as evidenced by this shot. It's totally blurry, but I love the moment of craziness that it captures.
Caleb's Ensemble Recital
For the past 14 weeks or so, Caleb has been meeting once a week with two other musicians and learning to be a part of an ensemble. Caleb has really enjoyed playing with Dante on cello and Gabriel on violin. He has learned a lot about the skills needed to effectively play with other people. The recital was very impressive and we got to hear lots of great young musicians playing pieces together. Here are the videos on the 3 pieces that Caleb's group performed.
Jeanie's Blue E'en - Scottish traditional
End of the Day (Shelia Nelson)
Gathering Peascods (Traditional)
The Los Classicos Trio
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Melrose Inauguration
In November, Caleb was scheduled to speak in front of the Melrose School Committee as part of his role as Hoover Student Site Council Secretary. The Mayor of Melrose was at the meeting and he spoke with Randy about Caleb for a bit. Mayor Dolan knows Caleb as a runner, but had heard somehow that Caleb plays the piano. The Mayor asked Randy if Caleb would be interested in playing at his inauguration and that he would confirm within a week. I told Caleb's teacher Tanya the next day about the opportunity and she began thinking about an appropriate piece. The following week Caleb was introduced to Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum by Claude Debussy. I remember that afternoon we watched a bunch of videos on YouTube and Caleb and I were both amazed. He said, "I can't believe I'm actually going to play that piece"! Over the next 8 weeks, he lived and breathed Doctor Gradus....or "The Doc" as it became known in our house. Every lesson was devoted to it and he spent most of his practice time each day on The Doc. He couldn't bear to let Chopin and Bach go, but they definitely took a back seat. As the weeks went by, it was clear to us that Caleb had a special love for this piece. It was my greatest hope that when it came time to perform, the audience would feel his love.
Caleb practicing in December
This video of Caleb practicing was taken January 8th, just a few days before the inauguration
There were plenty of speeches and oaths of office and then it was time for Caleb to "Rock the Doc"! I don't know if my heart has ever beat so fast and I'm amazed that my video wasn't completely shakey. I did relax a little when Caleb walked across the stage because he seemed so confident and so comfortable. As soon as he started playing I felt like his countless hours of practice and his love for the piece would carry him through any nerves that he had. I had dreamed for weeks about the audience response to Caleb's performance....it was more than I could have hoped for for him. People were on their feet immediately and the applause went on for a long time. Caleb doesn't like to talk about it, but the smile on his face says it all. We were fortunate that the Mayor's office had hired a photographer so we got some great shots from the evening. MMTV also provided us with a video of his performance as well.
My video
MMTV video
The response that Caleb got for his performance was overwhelming. After the inauguration, he was swarmed by people wanting to congratulate him and ask him questions. A man from the Governor's office came up to me and asked me for our contact information as their may be future opportunities for Caleb to play for the Governor. It took us at least 20 minutes to leave Memorial Hall, which was a little hard for Adelina and Levi to endure. Caleb was in the two local newspapers and the Mayor put a video of his performance on his blog. Since that night, we've had a handful of people come up to us and say that they watched his performance on YouTube....a little local celebrity!
True to form, Caleb was thinking forward the next morning and up early practicing once again. He still plays "The Doc" but it's lost it's polish, for now. Chopin and Bach are back in his sights and we are falling in love with new waltzes, preludes, and fugues. I'll leave you with one final image, which I think might be the best of all. Every morning when I'm returning home from an early run, this is the image that greets me. In the darkness, there is one light on in my house and I know that inside there is a little boy sitting at his piano that he named Dumbledore. I know that our family sacrificed our dining room and our bank account to make space for music. I know that he, on his own, set his alarm for 5:55 am the night before so that he can wake early and have time to practice before school. I know that he is diligently working through the lesson notes that his teacher so carefully and thoughtfully prepared. I know that Adelina and Levi are upstairs sleeping and will be waking soon. They will begin their day with music and after they get out of school, they will endure countless trips to Caleb's music studio without too much complaint. I know that they have sacrificed vacation time to help us find pianos for Caleb to practice on. So many people want to talk about Caleb's talent, which is undeniable. We love to talk about his dedication and heart for music because without it, his talent would mean nothing...and that's why I think this image is so powerful. Bravo Caleb!
Batman Plays the Guitar
I really have no business teaching Levi to play the guitar since I can barely play myself, but when he dresses up like Batman and asks for a lesson it's hard to say no!
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