One of the saddest songs on this earth must be Leaving On a Jet Plane. It has to be. I mean, “I’d hate to wake you up to say goodbye…” must be one of the loneliest images because it must be an incredibly early flight because everyone but him is asleep. The knowledge of inevitability, and being the first to feel that is a huge burden, to feel alone in that misery during that minute moment because the other part of your heart is still dreaming. This has really no relation to what I’m about to blog about- the girls’ first day of school. But as I looked out Emma’s window and saw all the leaves blowing and falling onto the ground, it reminded me that it is soon fall. It is a whisper of fall. It is a sign that we must start getting ready to bear near coldness and chill, that seasons are passing the baton again, and it will soon be time for pensive moments over coffee.  I guess it’s because Elleonai’s birthday quickly passed and hit me unexpectedly and I’m once again catching up on writing about her milestones. And because the girls are now in […]

The girls had their winter solo day last Friday, despite being sick that week due to the snow piles and extreme cold weather. They’ve been having snow days that deterred them from attending school, so it gave them ample time to practice. Emma is now in Book 2, playing “Long Long Ago”. Zienne is in Book 1, playing “Allegro” with Emma supporting her with the duet part. I’m really proud of the two girls, esp. Emma who is starting to realize the importance of refining the tone of her sound, but fixing the meticulous way she plays her bow and getting the slurs perfectly as instructed. I know it’s not easy to memorize multiple pieces while also remembering every correct slur, so I’m excited to many years down the road when it almost becomes second nature to her. Zienne is doing quite well too, although still not completely familiar with her technique, but it also could be that she has a really bad violin. How do I know? Because the teacher told us Zi has a really bad violin. Sheesh…not like it cost us almost $300 or anything… *sigh*  We’re waiting her to go up a size.

School pictures were earlier than expected. The girls are getting so big.  For some reason, whoever takes their pictures makes them put their hand on their hip.  To get those big smiles, we share a little secret that I’ll let my readers know, just for being awesome. We have a secret password that we share so they can think about it when getting their pictures taken.  It makes them super happy and usually gets them to smile big. This year, I believe the secret word was “chicken booty”.   

2014 Operation Back to School was successful last Thursday. We are officially in the 4th grade and figuratively hitting the halls of Kindergarten. The night before their first day, we all gathered together as a family and prayed over Emma and Zienne. They also got to wear their necklace charms that I ordered this summer, with the verse they learned from DVBS- 1 Peter 3:15, being ready to give a defense to give a reason for the hope in Jesus. 🙂 What a great verse to start their new scholastic year!   They’re wearing homemade headbands…I upcycled Zienne’s old leggings that had a huge hole in it. Made a good first day of school statement. With so much excitement, they were off…