We've gotten to attend some phenomenal concerts recently. I feel so lucky about the programs our kids are involved in. The teachers and directors have got to be some of the best there are out there.
First off, we attended the Spring Choir Concert. Sariah finished up her year in Cantabile and has already been accepted into the next choir called CMS Singers. She worked hard this year because she knew that CMS Singers sing more challenging music and they sometimes get to go on little trips around the state. Congratulations Sariah. Elijah and May will continue singing in MSU Children's Choir. Their choir has taken huge strides this year and are sounding incredible together. Nathan's Young Men's Chorus got to work with MSU's A-cappella group, the Acafellas, which has been a dream of mine for him. They sounded phenomenal. The three older kids are rewarded with a week of choral camp in Ithaca, New York with other choirs and choir directors, staying with host families.
Next, we attended Nathan's Orchestra concert. Nathan's orchestra teacher and his intern do astounding things with the orchestra and the concerts are always enjoyable. It's no secret that I love the sound of the cello and Nathan and his cello cohorts always provide great sound at the concerts.
Sariah had her first jump rope show this year! Like May, Sariah didn't know much about jumping rope when she started with the Jump Rope Club. By the end of the year, she was jumping like a pro and plans to continue with the club next season.
Brigham and Sariah performed songs and dances tonight at Red Cedar's annual International Festival of Cultures. Mrs. Melissa Sigh is an amazing elementary music teacher (Elijah has her for orchestra this year in fifth grade too!) The kids learned songs in several languages and my favorite dance was performed by the third grade class. It was an Indian Dance with music in the background and a chant by the kids (I should post a video of this, but they take so darn long to upload).
Mrs. Sigh writes grant proposals so that she can pay for amazing Michigan musicians to accompany the kids' singing. We are so lucky. This was Brigham's first year and I'm so proud of both Brigham and Sariah for learning so many songs and performing them. Our school has kids from many nations who speak many languages. They wear clothing from their countries of origin and do this musical event every year!
May also had her final band concert for the year tonight and I was sad to miss it. She continues to enjoy flute and Joseph and Nathan both told me that the seventh grade band was better than the eighth grade band. Go 7th Graders!!
Elijah plays the viola and his first orchestra concert is next week. The night is open so that the whole family can enjoy that.
The four oldest kids have recently started taking art classes from their teacher named Stormi. They all love her and all four of them have begun painting masterpieces. They all want to work on birds almost every time they go to art. Coming up soon, they will get to take part in sidewalk chalk art (you know those really cool 3D sidewalk art pictures?). I can't wait to see what it looks like. May also entered art into a contest at school. I'll have to take some photos of their work and share it here
The final thing that's been going on is not a concert or a show. Nathan is doing a big conservation/community benefit project at our local nature center. So far we've put hours into service for the nature center and also a couple of hours a day doing point counts for birds around the part. Nathan chose seven locations according to their varied ecology. He goes to each location daily if he can and takes a five minute point count. He's come a long way in identifying birds by sight, but also by ear. It's great to see him work as I accompany him as often as I can. We have made some cool discoveries of plants, butterflies, caterpillars, insects and mammals. I thrive in the outdoors and it seems that Nathan does too. Here are some photos of Nathan taking his point counts and a couple of the cool critters we've found lately (Mourning Cloak caterpillar and Painted Turtle).
Nathan is being given the opportunity (by Kalamazoo Nature Center) to come try out bird banding on the weekends. If the guy who runs this is impressed with what Nathan can do, he'll let Nathan help out with Fall Migration bird banding. This is an exceptional thing for Nathan to be a part of. Go Nathan!
