Playing the Piano

My joy is overflowing! The boys piano lessons have been going absolutely swimmingly ever since I instilled the "one hour a day" practice! I am so happy for them. They are enjoying it more - I can tell by the way they sit straight down when their teacher arrives and they begin to show-off how well they can play their pieces. I can tell, by them calling me into the room to "hear what I can do!" Who would have thought that actually putting some concentrated effort into something would make such a difference? duh! I guess I just always had let the kids rule how much they did something, whether it be practice piano, shoot baskets, or work on making a little movie. It seems these days, now that I have begun to push them a little more on these activities, they don't push back quite the way I would have thought that they would. They push through and excel! Yippee! Also I don't want to forget: -Charlie has had some potty accidents here and there. Nothing terrible. But any time he does, he says so sweetly, "I'm sorry mom." and he sticks his little bottom lip out. How am I supposed to be a Tiger-mom when I have to deal with THAT!? -Charlie flooded - and I mean really flooded, like a whole inch of water on the bathroom floor - the basement bathroom today. First he shoved a bunch of toilet paper in the drain of the sink. Then he turned on the water and left it running until it flooded the whole bathroom. I was upstairs changing all the sheets, and my husband was working from home in an upstairs bedroom. All 4 of my other children were in the basement when this happened. No one noticed it. We found it later. Seriously!? -If you ask Charlie (2.5) who was born in the stable he will say, "Jesus." and when you ask him who Jesus' mom is he will say, "Mary." and when you ask him who else was there he will tell you , "The kings. A camel. A cow. Sheep. A horse. Angels." I don't think that is half bad for a 2 yr old. -Lately the kids get a kick out of telling Charlie that no, he can not do something. Because no matter what it is, Charlie will say, "Please I do it!" For instance, the kids could say that no, he can't keep hitting them in the face, and Charlie will say, "PLEASE I keep hitting you!?" Or the kids will say that no, he can not keep breaking all the eggs in the carton, and Charlie will say, "PLEASE I keep breaking them!?" The rest of the kids think this is hilarious. -Had a great time playing basketball tonight with the girls. Scotty was the tenth player, and he played really great. Very proud of him. -Today I am super thankful that I get to go to a mom's conference in Bloomington,IL in March. It is such a wonderful, faith-filled weekend with the perks of getting to hang with my sisters and friends all weekend! I signed up today : )