A great music resource

Our sweet piano teacher gave us a big stack of Clavier's Piano Explorer to take home- some dating all the way back to 2003. What a goldmine! These short music magazines for kids are filled with interesting articles on composers, fun puzzles and quizzes, and great practice tips and ideas for improving piano technique. Every issue also includes amazing student composed piano pieces. The composer bio's would be a helpful addition to any music appreciation unit. I am thoroughly enjoying going through these and plan to incorporate them into our homeschool studies this year.

Busy

Life has been crazy wonderful lately.

The last 7 days included:
6 week up check up for baby and me. (Leif's 10lb.s 9 oz.! I won't tell you my weight.)
Sonatina festival.
Sonatina recital. (Taylor won 1st place for his division and Torsten received honorable mention- good job boys!!)
Piano lessons.
Organ and Theory.
Constitution class with oral reports for both kids.
Drama club.
Leif's first smile. :-)
Achievement days.
Scouting for Food.
Lunch and dinner at Grandma's house.
BYU-Idaho concert.
Clogging, clogging, always clogging.
Homeschool swimming.
Cooking and freezing pumpkins.
Baking and eating way too many pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
Buying fabric and sewing a duet costume for Hailey.
Chimes and Handbell choir.
Visiting Teachers.
Magic Valley Symphony Concert.
2 Dentist appointments.
Cub scouts.
And of course homeschool days full of math, latin, read-a-louds, geography and nursing Leif!

I've always enjoyed reading while nursing my babies, but right now I am low on reading material because I haven't made it to the library in over a month. Well, I made an exciting discovery yesterday! It is possible to sew and nurse at the same time! Seeing as Leif's favorite hobby right now is nursing and mine is sewing (my favorite hobbies change with the seasons) this is a great combination. For any nursing mothers out there who may be curious how to do this- the Boppy pillow makes it all possible! I bought my handy dandy pillow at a used children's clothing store for an affordable price. '

Where have all the duck eggs gone?

Our duck, who we had always assumed was a boy, laid her first egg the morning Leif was born. She produced an egg every day for a week or so and then she ceased to produce. Was it the cold weather? Was a wild animal or the free ranging rooster eating them? It was a mystery.

This morning Taylor solved the mystery!
Aflac had found a soft warm nesting place by the pump shed and had accumulated 17 eggs! It was a jackpot morning for Taylor! :-)