Budding Virtuoso. Again.

Drumroll......we bought Jeffrey a cheap violin on Ebay! He is now adding to his pianist prowess with another instrument.

He has taken to it like a fish to water. His piano teacher has been teaching him a little with her violin at the end of his piano lessons, and he's been expressing interest in taking violin lessons. He's now already had his first violin lesson and he's taking off!

(Bryce and Nathan are quite offended that I didn't buy them one, too, as if a violin were a $5 toy at StuffMart)

Prisoners at the pool (Really!)

Aaah! There are few stress-relieving moments better than finding something you've lost. Like your keys. Or your cellphone. Ever notice that they're always in the last place that you look? Heh heh. : ) Because once you find them, you stop looking! (Yes, I know, I'm easily amused)

But I'm SO happy that I found my cellphone, an extra addiction, uh, I mean, appendage, of mine.

Last week when we were swimming, I gave Jeffrey the keys to unlock the pool gate so he and Bryce could head home a few moments before me. I was getting sandals on Nathan when I looked up and realized they had taken off--with the keys. The gate had swung shut and locked, and Nathan and I were prisoners, with no one else at the pool, and no one walking by. We waited about 15 minutes, then I remembered I brought my cell phone, so I kept calling the house. Neither boy answered. Finally, when I called Rob, amused with my situation, told me to call some neighbors. Tami (mom of the cute baby Nathan featured on this blog) went over to our house and told Jeff to come unlock us, which he did. It was pretty funny.

The not-funny part is that apparently I put my phone back into our bottomless swimming bag and promptly forgot it. After more than a week and lots of hunting, I have started to get worried that it slipped out of my purse in some store, lost forever. This morning I actually said a sincere prayer to be able to find it.

While visiting teaching my friend Kim Rapier just an hour later, I gasped out loud & interrupted the conversation when the thought randomly entered my head that my keys could be in the swimming bag! Thank you for those quiet little temporal prayers that Heavenly Father answers.

Convenience Enthusiast

Ha! This is a great comic.

Night-a-holic

Why is it that I know I need sleep, I know the consequences of not going to sleep, yet I love the night? Especially the quiet it brings, the freedom to do things uninterrupted by phone, door, children, or schedules. I usually am not even productive. I just cling to some *me* time (not that I don't steal some during the day, too).
I always pay for not sleeping when I should. Well, rather, I should say, Rob always pays for it.... He, the kind morning-a-holic that HE is (which is a very good thing), takes care of kids and things. But I am also sluggishly sleep-deprived, and sometimes slough off the next day, waiting for the night to come when I'm not distracted and tired and busy, and can have some *me* time again. Do you see why I need to break the cycle? And yet here it is at 2 am and I just don't want to go to bed (normally I don't push it this late, especially on a Sat. night, but here I am).

On a different note, the kids had fun at a stake primary pioneer activity today, we had great fun as a family at the pool tonight, and, my favorite, I loved reading to the boys around the kitchen table while Rob fed them an evening snack after the pool. I haven't read so much to them recently, and just got a new pile of library books. I love their faces being completely drawn in to the story, them waiting anxiously for me to turn the page.

So much for my post sticking to one subject. It must be late; I should go to bed...

True Story

My favorite father in law in the whole world calls me yesterday.

I'm excited to hear from him. "How are you doing?" I ask.
He answers, then says, "Well, I called to say Happy Birthday..."
"Oh," confused, I reply, "Well, thank you," knowing my birthday is three days away.
He continues, "...to ME!!"
Lightbulbs turn on, fire bells go off, now I remember. It's HIS birthday.

How embarassing! I am the world's WORST birthday rememberer. Even my sister Kristy has pulled me aside and explained that she was born ON tax day, so I should be able to remember her birthday. Aaagh! Luckily, my FIL is my favorite in the whole world for a reason. He called to give me a hard time, but it was all in good fun. Love you, dad Wilson!

Fairy Tears

At swim lessons Jeffrey & Bryce take turns for semi-private before all three boys' regular lesson time, so Nathan runs around a lot the first half hour. Yesterday I was quite amused to find them playing their own form of tag once they grew bored of their simple "123 Go!" races. Someone was the "holder." If the holder reached someone and started bear-hugging/holding them, they lost energy. But, as I started to play, and Nathan was hugging my legs, Jeff exclaimed, "Don't worry mom, you've got three lives before you die!" I held my children off from gaming as long as possible, but this certainly proves they love to game now.

A similar experience happened at dinner two nights ago. I got some free pink tampico punch from one of my Scoutorama coupon books, a rare a yummy dinner delight. I only half-noticed the kids saying it was fairy tears, or fairy juice, and made them eat bites of food before refills. Only when I heard Nathan pipe up did I really smile at my imaginative boys. Nathan took a drink and said, "I drank my fairy tears, now I'm all hearted up," meaning that if he was playing a video game, his heart meter (health) would have filled up. Can we say, too much time watching/playing Zelda??? Still, I love watching their creative play.

As for all the pictures above, I love the rare, non-fighting moments between Bryce and Nathan. They look like best buds. I also love Nathan's face at Golden Spoon afterwards, while he puts his whole energy into eating his frozen yogurt. That's how ice cream/yogurt *should* be eaten! Yum!

Talented, hilarious musicians

I know I've posted this for my extended Cropper family at myfamily.com, but I am posting again for those of you who haven't seen these. They are so talented and hilarious, in my opinion. They make it look SO easy, but if you watch their hands on the piano or violin, it's clear they're extremely accomplished.

Mozart Bond http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvlCu1_noTc
Riverdancing Violinist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKZITB_r8t0&feature=related
Piano Lesson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOQaK7NHY-4&feature=related

I Will Survive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xui7x_KF7bY&feature=related
Ticket to Ride http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW8gwg6pWoY&feature=related
Rachmoninov had big hands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBVe0qe83V0&feature=related