DELIGHTED!

I am, for the most part, absolutely delighted by my children. I am delighted to know them, delighted to learn from them, delighted to experience them, delighted to raise them. I am also, always, delighted to watch them perform. And I don't just mean perform in the perform on stage sort of way, but that just happens to be what I have pictures of. Here are some recent shots:

Evan came and sang at Joshua's school:

I found this hilarious, and so did the kids:

Joshua, however, about died from an equal measure of pride and embarrassment when Evan pulled him up out of the audience to come and sing "Jingle Bells" with the big kids on stage:

Later Evan had those same feelings-I'm not sure which weighed heavier-when his Madrigal group came and sang at Hale Centre Theatre, and I stood front and center (fake eyelashes and all, since I was about to go on stage) and took lots of pictures (few of which turned out) and clapped loudly (hey, they were good!).

I couldn't have clapped louder for or been more proud of the little choir that I direct with two friends at Joshua's school. The "Owl Chorale" had their Christmas performance last Friday and, beyond just being adorable, they were marvelous!

It never fails to surprise us when the show actually comes together, and comes together well. Rehearsals would invariably indicate otherwise. Right before a performance the kids always seem a little bit like this:

I'm always happy to be a participant/witness of a Christmas miracle! Mostly I'm happy to have this to do with Joshua (and to find out that we might actually look a little bit alike! He's got my nose, poor thing! But considering the options...Anyway, I have to say I've honestly never seen any resemblance other than in this picture, scary as it is! It tickles me).

I was tickled and very proud of Joshua the other night at the Mother-Son dinner because he did something that was very scary for him. First, his cub scout den put on a little Christmas program for us at our special dinner, which put him in front of an audience with nowhere to hide!

Then Joshua volunteered to play a piano solo! Judy, his amazing, wonderful, inspiring den leader, said that Joshua was very concerned that people would actually hear him play, but she assured him that "nobody would even listen" if he didn't want them to. Once we were at her house she showed him how the piano was in a separate room from where the festivities were going on, so nobody would see him, either. With that measure of comfort he agreed to do it, although he purposefully left his music somewhere three different times! And I purposefully won't post the video of him playing his solo, but he really did do it and I really am proud.

As we left that night Judy thanked Joshua for his music with a big hug and some compliments. "Yeah, but I messed up," Joshua responded. "Honey," Judy said, "Do you know how many times I mess up in a day? Messing up is a great thing to do, because that's the way to get better!"

Can you even imagine how much I love this lady?

Almost as much as I love my boys, including this one:

They are all truly, amazingly delightful! I hope you enjoy getting to know them as much as I do!