After I got home from work, Chris mowed the lawn for the first time this season, while I gave the rose bushes a very much needed pruning. I loved wearing my floppy straw hat and smelling the grass and thinking in that philosophical way I always do when I'm working outside. At 75° with clear blue skies and our still snow-capped mountains in the background, I remembered why I actually do like living here.
Last week was busy and eventful, as our weeks tend to be around here. I was trying to decide whether to break up the photographical moments into different posts, or just give you one long run down. I know, if I had been keeping up the way I used to, this wouldn't be a problem. And, who knows, maybe the weather will improve my blogging frequency? If not, which do you prefer: long, or broken up?
Anyway, Tuesday was Tom's first soccer game of this season. It's amazing to see how much he has improved since last year-- he'll actually get in the crowd and kick the ball! The coach's kid is really good (he scored 7 goals in the last game, just to give you an idea), and there are a couple of other pretty aggressive players on Tom's team, so they've "won" (we're not supposed to keep score) every game so far. This is a nice change from last year, when we were excited the few games we weren't shut out! Gordon can't wait to play and we have a feeling he'll be pretty good. In the meantime, we get to try to keep him off the field-- treats work pretty well.
The most exciting event of last week was on Wednesday, when Thomas and his first grade class performed "The Secret of Friendship", the opera they wrote and produced together and have been working on all year. The Utah Festival Opera Company has a really fantastic children's opera program, where they work with the students and teachers to not only produce the opera, but also work the story and characters into the normal curriculum. The opera is written entirely by the students-- they come up with the storyline and characters and even sing lines into a tape recorder that is then put into the same key and formed into a continuous song by one of the opera people. It's really an impressive program and Thomas has just loved being a part of it.
The performance was only 9 minutes long, but oh! Possibly the most adorable thing I've ever seen. Thomas was fantastic, of course-- the best magician out there!
The story is about some dragons who don't know how to be friendly, so they steal a prince and princess away while they're playing. The magicians track them down, but are unsuccessful in their attempts to free the prisoners, and all are finally saved by some very clever animals. The king and queen then teach the dragons the secret of friendship: "It's not friendly to kidnap/ First you smile/ Then you clap/ (Clapping)/ Say your name/ Play the game" Makes sense, right?
My mom and Chris's parents were all able to attend, and it turned out to be a wonderful evening.
I am not the kind of person who enjoys listening to kid's music. Although I have grown accustomed to The Wiggles, I refuse to buy one of those CDs that has kids singing nursery rhymes or whatever. You know what I mean, and no offense if you've given into that whole thing. I am not ready to let my kids listen to mainstream pop music (and may never be), so I get really excited when I can find adult-friendly kids music. They Might Be Giants put together a group of songs about the ABCs a little while ago ("Here Come the ABCs"-- check it out!), which we love, so we were thrilled to get their latest "Here Come the 123s". My boys LOVE the CD and I definitely recommend it to cool people, mom and not mom alike.
Here are Tom and G-Man, getting their jam on to "Infinity", from this CD...
Other kid music that won't cause insanity: "In Harmony" (a Sesame Street CD-- Doobie Brothers!), "Dave Digs Disney" (Dave Brubeck), and "Primary Colors" (Inside Out).