Stuff Around Here..

It has been a very full week. Lots going on, and in the midst of it all, the Mommy has been dealing with a debilitating head cold and cough that she’s been fighting since mid-January. Off and on, but mostly on, including during the time she had the flu. The cold has become so commonplace that she is calling it “My Cold of 2008” even though it is probably comprised of at least three colds, maybe even a sinus infection thrown in just for a little fun.

But enough about ailments; back to our week. In addition to all our regular school and other activities, both older kids had semester projects due this week: Abigail was given the task of constructing a working volcano and reporting about it. Jonathan created a model of the Amazon River Dolphin (did you know they are pink?) and presented several facts as well as wrote an original tale about aforementioned dolphin. There was a glorious, school-wide field trip to a local church to hear their very talented and charismatic organist introduce us to the beauty and intricacy of the instrument and its variety of musical styles, and it was amazing. Let’s see, what else? Teacher birthday (yes Auntie Jamison, we do these up big at Covenant!), Sonatina Festival for the little budding pianist, touch of a tummy virus for two of the kids, and much, much more.

But….the most exciting event this week by far took place on Tuesday night. Our own little Abigail was given the honor of singing the National Anthem to kick off our Covenant Boys’ Varsity Basketball playoff game, and the whole family went to cheer her (and the Covenant Knights!) on, and enjoy the evening.

Please indulge my parental pride for a moment, and allow me to share with you the itsy-bitsy detail that as of the Friday afternoon before the game, my daughter did not even know the Star Spangled Banner, let alone have the ability to perform it solo for a crowd sans musical accompaniment. After we got the boys in bed last Friday evening I sat down with her and taught her the song, using only my voice and a printout of the lyrics as teaching aids. The girl is a quick study; within less than an hour’s time she was singing it from memory, and hitting all the right notes. We spent our free time over the next three days alternately practicing like mad, and listening to various renditions of the anthem (mostly on YouTube – everything from Jordin Sparks’ SuperBowl rendition to this little 3 year old kid who really is a hoot and you should watch him sing it, he is SO FUNNY – and really, really good despite the fact that he cannot pronounce most of the words in this very challenging song – listen for ” the rampers we wash and the gallery screaming”!).

Despite some serious nerves on Tuesday evening (hey – I’m talking about me here, and it was torturous!), oh and yes, Abigail was pretty nervous too – after all, EVERYONE was LOOKING at her!! (as she later told me when it was all over) – she sang beautifully. Really, really beautifully. I know I’m her mommy, so I’m necessarily biased, but I was so proud of my girl, and thought she did an amazing job. We were all thrilled she got such a wonderful opportunity to support her school by doing something she loves so much!

I would love to show you the video of her singing, but my Tech Guy is having quite a bit of trouble streaming the tape from the camera onto a medium we can actually watch. Argh. Something about old technology, new interfaces, blah, blah, blah. Clearly it’s time for a more modern camera, one which will actually allow us to watch the videos it takes! But I have faith in my Tech Guy, and as soon as he solves this little dilemma, we will post a clip of her song.

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