Nathan on the radio!

May and I just got back from South Dakota.  I hope to post about that more later.  What a phenomenal experience.

I want to announce that Nathan has been interviewed with Katie Woodhams on our local public radio station, WKAR, by Mark Bashore, this past week.

You can listen to it here:

Nathan on the radio!

Hooray for Sariah!

Last night I got an email in my inbox and then I called Sariah out to read it (even though it was after 10 pm).  She read part-way down the email and suddenly her face lit up in a huge smile.

Why was Sariah so happy?

Sariah has been in the MSU choir program since just before she turned 7.  She has spent exactly one year in each choir before moving up to the next (which means she's got something going on musically!)  The email I got last night let her know that it was time for her to move up again.  She'll be in MSU Children's Choir (the premier choir) along with Elijah and May.  Woohoo Sariah!  She'll stay in MSUCC until she reaches 9th or 10th grade.  That's a lot of music and some possible cool trips too!

Brigham will be moving up to Cantabile since Prep Choir will no longer exist.  I haven't told him yet, but I'm guessing he'll be pretty happy too.

On Being Pulled Along

There were several big things going on for the last few months.  Nathan and I were taking a class and gathering ideas for a project.  The ABA Young Birder of the Year contest started up and Elijah decided to do a project.  There were two birthdays and EcoWeekend to attend.  There was the regular end-of-the-year concert season, field trips and busyness.

After this period of time I can understand when people say they are going to hold on and try to enjoy the ride.  I literally felt like my schedule was pulling me along.  If I sat down for a few hours, it was very hard to get back up again and get going.

This week is a transition period between that busy time and a different kind of busy time that is our summer schedule.  We have lots of camping planned.  Some trips are being taken so that kids can attend camp along with our regularly scheduled time in the U.P. with Joseph's sister and her partner Pam coming to vacation with us.

I'm definitely feeling the call of the hiking trail and the beach and the ability to "stay put" for a full day and just soak in nature.  My sister and I talked yesterday and she was glowing about how much she loves to hike.  I haven't hiked all Spring.  This isn't necessarily bad as I've put in 100+ hours of service at the nature center and I have been outside.  But, there is something different about being out on the trail exploring and absorbing nature.

I'm hoping to get off the busyness train and feel some calm and peace.  I'm going to have to remind myself to do that.  I might feel a little clumsy at first since I'm out of practice, but my goal is that by summer's end I've felt some zen.

Retirement gift

Elijah's second grade teacher, Mrs. Berry, is retiring this year.  She also happened to be May's second grade teacher and Sariah's second grade teacher (argh! she's leaving before she can teach Brigham!).

We met up with Mrs. Berry recently at Elijah's orchestra concert.  It just so happens that Elijah's orchestra teacher this past year has been Mr. Berry.  Mr. Berry is Mrs. Berry's very talented son.  She came to the concert to see her son conduct.

After the concert, we spent some time chatting about what the kids are doing, the fact that she's retiring and going to be a Grandma etc.  During that conversation we talked about art.  I can't remember the details, but she complimented Elijah on his art, saying he had always been a great artist.  She remembers details about the kids and asks them about those things whenever she sees them (she asked May if she is still writing, for instance).  I may have written about her before on this blog since I'm so impressed with her positive way of being with people and encouraging them.

Anyway, Elijah came home and immediately made a special colored pencil drawing and bought a frame to give to Mrs. Berry for her retirement.  Really sweet of him.  Positive people like Mrs. Berry just make going to school so worth it!

Article about May's art award

Here

Hometown Heroes

On Monday night our whole family attended the Lansing City Council meeting.  Nathan had been requested to be there to receive an award from the mayor.

In December last year, Nathan was honored at Fenner's volunteer lunch.  Lansing City Parks and Rec. Manager, Brett Kaschinske attended that lunch and was so impressed with what Nathan had done that he nominated Nathan for the mayoral Hometown Hero award.  Hometown Hero awards are given to recognize outstanding volunteer service in Lansing, MI.

Nathan didn't go in prepared to speak, during the portion of the schedule when other groups were being honored, it was looking like he'd need to say something.  He quietly sat and figured out what he'd say if asked.  Katie Woodhams, the programs Manager at Fenner and the person who oversaw Nathan's project was there as well.

Nathan was called up front and given the award.  He said a few words.  He was poised and didn't hesitate at all.  Katie also spoke about Nathan's contribution and the importance of volunteering in general.

Nathan receiving his award

Nathan says a few words

Katie finishes up her talk

What's impressive to me about Nathan is that even though his project is over, he's still committed to Fenner.  He's started another project that is a benefit to the park and he's happy to go over and support Elijah's project as well.  He also loves to go over and collect bird data and record it for the park.

Of note also this week was Sariah's jumprope show.  I had a really poor seat and so I couldn't get photos or video.  Good thing someone is burning DVD's!

Sariah is near the center (their team is the Red Cedar Rockets).  Jump rope club has been such a positive activity for May, Elijah and Sariah.  I'm hoping that Brigham will join the Red Cedar Sparklers next year which is a team for the first graders.

Elijah's project

Hi!

I wanted to update here about Elijah's project, but I spent a lot of time updating and uploading at the Indiegogo site.  It's easiest to do it only once.  We've got a lot of nice photos uploaded which show what we've been up to.  You can head on over to the site to look at them.  At this point, the fundraising portion of the project is over, but we will still post our updates to Indiegogo.