The Magic of Childhood

Our third full season of Valley Children's Voices started rehearsals in June. We practiced nearly every Monday all summer, which was tricky because the other director and I both had to travel, so some duty juggling was involved. All that work culminated in our concert Friday night.

A few moms came early on Friday morning and helped us set up. It usually takes us hours to do this, but with two extra sets of hands the work was done in just over an hour.

Call time was 5:30 for the 7:00 show. As soon as everyone was there we gathered for a picture in our brand new, much nicer (thanks to a choir mom who offered to use her Cricut to make our logo look awesome) shirts. One of our newest singers has terrible stage fright and only stayed in front of the audience for the first minute or so of the concert. I'm extra thankful for this picture that shows everyone, whether they sang or not.

Our theme was The Magic of Childhood. We picked the big choir numbers and the kids picked their own solos and small group numbers. This was our set:

“Everything Is Awesome” - full choir

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” - solo, ukulele accompaniment by me

“Good Day” - solo

“Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?” - younger choir

“Do Re Mi” - cello and two violins

“What a Wonderful World” - full choir, ukulele accompaniment by Sophie and me

“The Girl I Mean to Be” - Phoebe's solo!

“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” - small group

“Wake Me Up” - full choir

“For a Moment” - duet

“Naughty” - Sophie's solo!

“Pure Imagination” - older choir

“On the Steps of the Palace” - solo

“A-B-See-Ya Later” - solo

Folk Tunes Medley - full choir

I directed "Everything Is Awesome" and "Oh, What Do You Do In the Summertime?" "Everything Is Awesome" felt like a run-away train during many of our rehearsals. It finally came together and the performance at the concert was the best they'd ever done it. "Summertime" was fun and sweet and the littlest members of our choir (the five to seven year-olds) did a great job.

I had taught "What a Wonderful World" to the kids and planned to direct it for the concert. But the young singer that was going to join Sophie on the ukulele ran out of time to prepare. (She played the violin for two of the songs, so she was busy preparing, there just wasn't enough time for this song too.) A week before the concert I handed directorial duties over to my co-director and switched to the ukulele instead. I think it turned out well.

Phoebe both really wanted to do a solo and really didn't want to do a solo. She stressed and was super anxious and wasn't sure she would actually do it right up until the moment she started singing. She did a great job! This took so much courage and when she sang you couldn't tell that the lead up had been so traumatic.

Sophie took a lot more initiative in preparing for this solo than she has in the past. She rehearsed beforehand and made sure she was ready, which I very much appreciated. She also did a great job!

In addition to directing two numbers and accompanying two numbers, I was in charge of pushing play on the accompaniment tracks for seven other songs. I'm so thankful to Bryan for gathering all those tracks and putting them into a single file. This helped the whole evening run more smoothly. Directing, accompanying, and stage managing all in one concert is maybe too much for one person. I'm glad he helped lift that load. He was also our videographer for the evening.

The kids were wonderful! They've improved since we started last summer and have gained confidence. Two of the kids who were too shy to do more than sing with the group said they were ready for more this time. One of them was part of a small group number and the other sang a solo in one of the choir songs! It makes me so happy to see them grow and improve.

And now we need to figure out what we're doing for Christmas.

Seize the Day

On Friday evening, after three months of early Saturday morning practices, our kids choir had our Spring concert. I directed the first three choir numbers and my co-director conducted the last three choir songs. There were solos and small group numbers sprinkled throughout. 

We spent the morning setting up the room. We thought fifty-six chairs would be enough. We were wrong. After additional chairs were added for all the parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, and neighbors that were there our count was up to ninety. It was a full house.

This was the first concert for several of our youngest singers. The entire first row was made up of our five to seven year-olds. I've been told by those in attendance that that front row of young singers was quite entertaining, lots of waving and dancing and occasional singing. Topher was in that front row group.

This was our set for the concert:

Seize the Day - I directed our opener.

Pirates of the Caribbean Theme - piano solo

Lost Boy - trio of sisters

If You’re Happy and You Know It - This was the song our junior choir did, which consisted of the kids in the front row. I directed this active little group. We added lots of funny verses that got laughs from the audience. These are the posters I made to remind the kids what to do in each verse. Topher was willing to be my model.

Try Everything - vocal solo

I’d Like to Visit the Moon - This was the final song I directed. One of our singers played the violin to accompany us.

Sisters - quartet of sisters

Remember Me - cello solo

Get Back Up Again - The whole choir sang this. One of the dads joined us on guitar.

Journey to the Past - vocal solo

Quartet - vocal quartet, Sophie was the soprano

In My Own Little Corner - Sophie's solo

Glorious - The senior choir sang this. Many of the kids had solos, including Phoebe and Sophie. They were beautiful!

Go the Distance - This was the closing number, the whole choir sang.

I have videos all everything, but not any pictures of me directing. This is the other director starting Go the Distance.

The kids did a great job, even the ones that we were nervous about. Many of the parents asked us when our next season will start. We smiled and said that was a great question and we would let them know as soon as we know.

And, just like the first two seasons, more kids want to join. We're glad we've created something the kids want to be a part of!

Documenting the Everyday

I was going through my pictures tonight and discovered this one from Sophie. Her caption is quite correct, he does love that show. Also, I need to do a better job keeping track of who has my phone.

What Else Can She Draw?

After seeing Phoebe's picture of Dolores from Encanto, Sophie decided she wanted to draw one of her own. She informed me it would make a good blog post and even supplied the title, which is a nod to Isabela's song in the movie. I agreed.

She drew sisters Isabela and Mirabel. This is what they look like in the movie:

Photo credit

And this is her rendition:

I think she did a great job.

The Biblio Files: 2021

2021 was an interesting year for reading. I read a total of 125 books, an increase of 25 from last year. Two of the months I only read 5 books each, though one of those was a 57 hour audiobook. During August I knocked out 20 books, 3 of those I listened to during our last night in our old townhouse when I stayed up packing until the sun came up. Of the 125, I read 8 from my Kindle, I listened to the other 117. Technically I read two more to Sophie during bedtime, but she read a few chapters on her own, so I'm going to go back and read what I missed and add it to my 2022 list, which I've already started working on.

The best books I read this year are underlined (I've recommended many of these to friends and family), book club picks are italicized. One of my book clubs fizzled out at about the same time a new Facebook book club was starting. And my favorite two-person book club is still going strong.

Do you have any book recommendations for me? I'm always looking for new titles to add to my holds list at the library.

January:

1. Across That Bridge by John Lewis
2. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman*
3. The Day the World Came to Town by Jim Defede
4. Channel of Peace by Kevin Tuerff
5. Persuasion by Jane Austen
6. The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman*
7. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
8. The Unexpected Deliverer by David Butler and Emily Belle Freeman

February:

1. A Walk in My Shoes by Ben Schilaty
2. The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman*
3. The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman*
4. The Priesthood Power of Women by Barbara Morgan Gardner
5. Women and the Priesthood by Sheri Dew
6. The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
7. Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist
8. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
9. Sarah by Orson Scott Card
10. Rebekah by Orson Scott Card
11. Rachel and Leah by Orson Scott Card

March:

1. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
2. Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown
3. A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
4. She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel
5. The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates
6. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
7. A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich
8. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
9. Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
10. Reaching for the Savior by Reyna I. Aburto
11. ADHD and Me by Blake E. S. Taylor

April:

1. October 2020 General Conference
2. The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen
3. You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar
4. The Mortal World by Genevieve Cogman*
5. Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
6. Your Defiant Child by Christine M. Benton and Russell Barkley
7. The Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters
8. Be Not Troubled by Ronald A. Rasband
9. The Story Girl by L. M. Montgomery

May:

1. The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters
2. I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
3. The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen
4. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo*
5. 1776 by David McCullough
6. The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell
7. Royal Target by Traci Hunter Abramson
8. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
9. The War That Saved My Life by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
10. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

June:

1. Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (This one is 57 hours long, it took half the month to get through it, but it was excellent.)
2. What Happened to You? by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey
3. The War I Finally Won by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
4. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (This was a reread, it's still wonderful!)
5. Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas

July:

1. A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich
2. The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman*
3. Take Back the House by Karen Latimer
4. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
5. The Giver by Lois Lowry
6. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
7. The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd
8. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
9. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
10. The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
11. The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
12. In the Heights: Finding Home by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Quiara Alergria Hudes, and Jeremy McCarter
13. Embark! by John Bytheway
14. A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley

August:

1. As You Wish by Cary Elwes and Joe Layden
2. The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
3. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley
4. Speaking From Among the Bones by Alan Bradley
5. The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
6. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley
7. The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
8. The Bronze Key by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
9. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley
10. Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley
11. The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley
12. The Silver Mask by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
13. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
14. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
15. Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce
16. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
17. The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley
18. Your Patriarchal Blessing Booklet by Brad Wilcox
19. Focused by Noelle Pikus Pace
20. Give Them Pie by Ed J. Pinegar

September:

1. Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
2. The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
3. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
4. Atomic Habits by James Clear
5. Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism by Fumio Sasaki
6. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
7. The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall
8. The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall
9. The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
10. Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
11. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
12. The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall
13. The Penderwicks at Last by Jeanne Birdsall
14. April 2021 General Conference

October:

1. The Crooked Sixpence by Jennifer Bell
2. The Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby
3. All's Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
4. Raising Good Humans by Hunter Clarke Fields
5. Putting It Together by James Lapine
6. Restoration: God's Call to the 21st-Century by Patrick Q. Mason
7. The Matriarch by Susan Page
8. The Woman Who Smashed the Codes by Jason Fagone

November:

1. Legion by Brandon Sanderson
2. Don't Miss This in the Doctrine and Covenants by David Butler and Emily Belle Freeman
3. The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman*
4. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
5. Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas by Emily Belle Freeman

December:

1. The Magician by Michael Scott
2. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
3. The Doctrine and Covenants
4. The Sorceress by Michael Scott
5. The Necromancer by Michael Scott
6. When It Doesn't Make Sense by John Bytheway
7. The Warlock by Michael Scott
8. The Enchantress by Michael Scott
9. The Book of Mormon
10. Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff

Our Favorite Things

We unpacked the books this weekend, and that made us all very happy.

Viewers Like You

Peter has been slowly growing his YouTube channel over the last year. He hasn't posted as often or as regularly as he had originally planned, but he has enjoyed the process of planning and editing videos.

Yesterday he had the idea to start a shorts channel. It's connected to his original channel, but the videos are much shorter and are presented in portrait rather than landscape format. He posted his first video yesterday and the second one this morning. Both videos are of Peter playing Fortnight.

At the moment I'm writing this, the first video has 27 views. That's pretty good for a small channel and only having been up for one day. Peter's attention is slightly more focused on the second video. It currently has 843 views. That's more views than all his other videos, combined.

Peter's kind of in shock over it. He says it doesn't feel real to have so many views on one video. But he also thinks it's pretty cool.

Twisty

Phoebe learned a new skill last night. Bryan thinks it'll pair nicely with her budding ventriloquist act. Now she just needs to learn to juggle and she can go on the road.

Strings

Piano Man

When he started piano lessons five years ago, Cooper was not a fan. I mean, he liked the actual lessons because his teacher was nice and he got to play with Lego while Peter had his lesson, but Cooper hated practicing and did not see any reason why he should spend his time learning to play the piano.

Fast forward to today and he has very different feelings. Our piano teacher retired last summer and we switched to online piano lessons, which we LOVE! Peter and Phoebe still grumble about practicing, but Cooper willingly spends large portions of his day at the piano. I ask that they work on their lesson material for twenty minutes and then can spend the last ten minutes of their practice learning any song they want. Cooper searches YouTube for piano tutorials, then gets to work. He usually goes far beyond the expected thirty minutes.

It makes my heart happy to hear him play. And playing the piano makes his heart happy too.

Animals Assemble

Cooper did some drawing last night and this morning. I asked if I could put it on the blog and he said yes, but made sure I knew he had followed instructions from a drawing book. I asked if he'd traced it, he said he traced the initial circles, but that was it. I'm very impressed.

He said these are warrior animals, so it felt like an appropriate picture for Veteran's Day.

Airy Goodness

A few days ago Cooper decided he was going to make an orange chocolate souffle. No, I don't know why. He spent most of the afternoon working on it. He grated chocolate and orange peels. He whipped egg whites into stiff peaks. He learned the difference between stirring and folding. And he really enjoyed the result of his labors.

Say Hello to My Little Friend

Phoebe's birthday is several months away, but that hasn't stopped her from making a gift request. Are you curious to know what Phoebe is pining for?

A ventriloquist dummy.

Yup.

She's said that she's saving her money to buy one, just in case we don't come through on her birthday. For now she practices enunciating with her teeth clenched tight and her mouth in a large smile while carrying and giving voice to a tiger puppet she has.

Of all the hobbies out there, I did not anticipate this one...

The Little Seamstress

Apparently last week's baking adventure sparked within Phoebe an interest in domesticity. A few days ago she asked for a sewing machine. Bryan and I told her that if she could learn to use my sewing machine and still wanted her own, then we would seriously think about it.

Guess what she's been doing since then?

Twinkle Toes

The girls started dance classes last week. Phoebe hasn't danced for a few years and is happy to be taking ballet. This is Sophie's very first dance class, a tap/ ballet combo. They both loved it!

He Stands

Topher loves to stand, it's one of his favorite activities. Usually we hold him up, this once Bryan leaned him against the back of the couch. Sometimes when he fusses we'll stand him up and he calms down. I wonder if this means he'll walk earlier than his siblings.

Put a Bird On It

We're nearly at the end of the school year, which means the kids backpacks are ready to be cleaned out. We took a pass at Cooper's this week and I discovered this picture. One day (no idea when, it had been some time since his bag was emptied) during their library period, Cooper's class had a tutorial on drawing a bird. Apparently he was awarded first place. When I asked him about it he seemed a little embarrassed since he'd followed instructions to create the bird rather than come up with an original design. I say well done regardless.

Bonus Pictures

Bryan shared some pictures with me and I discovered these gems. He snapped one of Peter bowing with the stage crew for the play last week. Peter is the tall one in black. He also got a picture of Spencer and the other kids while we were at the play. I had mistakenly thought we hadn't gotten any pictures of Spencer during his visit, so I'm quite pleased to find these.

Thanks Bryan!

Part of the Crew

Peter has been working all year as a member of the stage crew for the Intermediate School play. Tonight we went and saw the fruit of his hard work. The set looked great and Peter did a good job inconspicuously moving set pieces on and off stage. Bonus, Bryan's brother Spencer is in town for a quick visit so he was able to see the play with us.

Afterward Peter pointed out his picture on a big poster that highlighted each kid that participated.

Here's the entire stage crew. Just to give you an idea of how tall Peter is compared to his peers, he's slouching in the group picture.

Knit Together

Grandma taught Phoebe how to knit hats using this loom. Phoebe has happily been telling anyone who will listen that she loves to knit. When we talked about Grandma going home soon Phoebe said, "No! I don't want Grandma to leave! She taught me how to knit!"