A Senior Piano Recital and a little catching up.....

I am so sorry to be so long in posting! Just a little something to post Mitchell's Senior Piano Recital video.  Also... I have been remiss in posting about making my final weight loss goal but I did meet my goal of 80 lbs. and have actually exceeded it by a few pounds as I reset the goal to 85... more to come on that later!

We are SO thankful for the opportunity to have a fun Senior Recital for Mitchell.  He has worked so hard over the years on piano and the evening was a highlight for him.  We thank the Lord for the talent He has given Mitchell and the blessing it has been to our family. May he always excel still more!

Trans- Siberian Orchestra: Christmas Eve Sarajevo

Christmas Day entertainment from Mitchell! :-) To his credit he isn't thrilled that I would post this as he insists it is not performance ready but Momma trumped on this one. :-) Aunt Susie and Grandma Hixon... this is for you!





 

Summer Birthdays....Better Late than Never

Summer has come and gone and so have a couple of our family birthdays!  Don’t ask why I am so late in posting these, because I really don’t know how they got away from me!  

Mitchell turned 17 and we celebrated with a family dinner of his choice…. Pulled Pork Sandwiches, some sides I honestly can’t remember now, and homemade Moo-wiches! Mitchell is fast becoming a man and my momma’s heart is beginning to feel the reality of the fact that this maturity will inevitably come quicker than we can imagine.  Oh the tension of wanting to see him grow and holding onto that little boy I used to snuggle so often. He is a senior in HS this year and enjoying his second year in the Running Start program at our local Tech College.  He still greatly enjoys being a Police Explorer and we are so proud of him as he won the TOP Selections Cadet at his last Explorer Academy this summer. He continues to LOVE his piano and is working hard in anticipation of his Senior Recital in the spring and he has a great job at a local diesel shop.  Our prayer for Mitchell is that his heart will always remain tender to the ways and workings of the Lord in his life. We are so proud of him and look forward to seeing what God will do in his life and where he will lead him!

 

 



We acquired a second teenager in the house this summer!  The teenage girl aspect is certainly new to us but we have greatly enjoyed it! She is still a sweet little girl in so many ways but it has been a joy to begin to see a true young lady blossom inside of her.  Thirteen is a big deal and of course it called for a party.  She had a blast with a few of her dear friends and made some precious memories. She is in 8^th grade this year and while we anticipated that the middle school years could sometimes be hard, we have been blessed and are so thankful for the young ladies in her life.  We look forward to the years to come and to see how God can strengthen them into lifelong friends. The girls played a game where they were paired off and had to apply makeup to their partner while blindfolded.  They laughed, actually we all laughed so hard… it was the best teenage girl game! Our prayer for Isabelle remains the same as Mitchell’s, that her heart will always remain tender to the ways and workings of the Lord.  We are so proud of her and are looking forward to the remaining teen years with her.

 

Umm.... I am pretty sure Isabelle and Hannah did not place first for proper make up application!  

Actually Danica and Colby didn't do too bad compared to Isabelle and Hannah!

 

 

My guess is that Caroline and Payton won!   They did a great job for being blindfolded!

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Recital

Mitchell's end of the year recital was held on Wednesday night and how enjoyable it was!  What we love is that there are so many young men in our church who love to play the piano and they all encourage and challenge one another to excell still more!   

 

Future Piano Guys??? :-)

 

 

 

 

 

The first song Mitchell played was a duet with his friend Tommy. Tommy is an incredible violin player. He and his sister do a Vivaldi piano/violin duet that is outstanding ...I love to hear him play! He kindly agreed to accompany Mitchell on this first one, River Flows in You by Yiruma. River Flows in You is hands down one of my favorite songs Mitchell plays, it is beautiful! It is the song he played solo (no violin) for the Sunday @ 3 concert series at the Jansen Arts Center last Sunday. 

 





 

The second song is a different story! He changed his song from another piece to this one on Sunday... yes.... 3 days before the recital! He was originally slated to play his Rachmaninoff piece he has worked on for months...literally months! He has worked so hard on that song with much success but even after hundreds of hours working on it there was still this one part in the middle section of the song he has never been able to master. He realized that as much as he wanted to play that song it would not be without a difficult middle section so he decided to change. His teacher, Mrs. VandenBos is such a gem and wants the students to have fun and was all for him changing his song, even last minute! In fact she said if he changed his mind yet again and wanted to improv when he got up there then go for it! Straight away he began memorizing the second song, Racing Against the Sunset by Phillip Wesley. He altered the song a bit and only played 7 of the 10 pages but did pretty well in quick memorization. It is his pet peeve to bring music up to the piano during a recital as he holds himself to pretty high standards on memorization. This time around though since he had so little time for prep. he was open to the suggestion of bringing up one little part of his sheet music up there. He had just a little bit of the music prior to the key change that he had yet to fully memorize so he decided to take a small folded portion of music up with him. Well, poor guy, it would have been good had he not put the sheet music upside down AND backwards!! He still says he should have stopped, held out his finger as if to say "just a minute".... turned over and right side up his paper and started again with a smile! Needless to say you can catch the errors a bit in the playing but otherwise the second song was great and a memorable evening all together! Hope you enjoy!

 

 

Mitchell's New Ride

Well... Mitchell finally purchased his first vehicle and what an unexpected purchase it was!  Really ?!? ... a 1969 Custom VW Baja Bug that he has aptly named The Green Hornet! While he desired very much to have a lifted truck be his first purchase, at this point gas prices dictated he go for a more gas economical set of wheels.  NEVER in a million years could we have guessed this would be his aquisition! Thanks to a little coaxing from his sister Isabelle to look up VW Bug's on Craigslist...wala..... much fun is had by all! Needless to say he absolutely LOVES it and daddy and momma are happy with the decent fuel economy. Actually I think what I love best is the lack of annonimity he has in this car! Everyone will know where Mitchell is when he drives this beauty..... hahaha. The funniest part has been all the guys in the lifted trucks yelling out their windows as he goes down the road "sic ride man!" or "love the ride dude!" and the plethora of peace/thumbs up/hang loose signs he has gotten in just the few days he has owned the vehicle!  It is a keeper for sure!

 

 

 

 



A Visit and a Concert

This last weekend we got to have Grandma Honey up for a visit! She was here for two-fold reasons.  First, she got to see Mitchell perform a piano piece at a local concert series and the second is that we got to have her here to celebrate her birthday! We always love having her here and this time we also enjoyed seeing photos from her recent trip to Ireland.  It was a grand weekend for sure!

 

Hell, Fire and Brimstone

In February, Chad and Mitchell attended our church men's retreat and it is a tradition with this retreat to hold a food contest. All the work on the recipe and presentation HAS to be completed by the MEN only. The boys were proud of thier accomplishment... Mitchell created the food and Chad created the presentation! Being that both the boys love hot stuff and Chad's an electrician, the combination of the food and presentation was just perfect for them!

 



Jalapeno Chicken Wraps

1 lb. bnls sknls chicken breasts

1T garlic powder

1T onion powder

1T pepper

2 tsp season salt

1 tsp paprika

1 small onion, cut in strips

15 jalapeno peppers halved and seeded

1 lb bacon, halved widthwise

Cut chicken into 2" x 1.5" strips. In large Ziploc bag combine garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, seasoned salt and paprika. Add chicken to bag and coat chicken. Place a strip of chicken and a strip of onion in each jalapeno half and wrap the jalapeno in 1 strip of the halved lengthwise bacon. Secure with toothpick. Grill uncovered, over indirect medium heat for 18-20 minutes or until chicken juices runs clear and bacon is crisp, turning once. Serve with ranch or blue chees dressing.

Sixteen ...

.... really?!?  Hard to believe for us, but we have a sweet 16 in the house! We had a simple celebration with dear friends , haircuts and a delicious choice of birthday meal.... Roast Beef Sandwiches topped with pepper jack cheese and peppers -n- onions sauteed in olive oil and garlic, thick baked beans, pasta salad, and Chocolate Town Pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Our first tiny treasure is quickly becoming a man, and boy do we love him!  Every season of parenting is so different and precious, and this time of Mitchell’s life is no exception.   We so enjoy our time with him right now; observing him mature, walking with him through life’s disappointments, difficulties and joy’s, and simply being a part of his life.  We are immensely thankful for the young man he is and who God is fashioning him to be. We so appreciate his love for his Savior, his interaction with church family and his choice of friends.  What a blessing each of those young men are to our family.   We appreciate with full hearts his initiative, dedication, perseverance, tenderness, his willingness to take instruction and his constant forgiveness to parents who are “learning the ropes” with him!  We treasure the fact that he doesn’t find himself too big to say “I love you” and hug his Daddy and Momma each night before bed.   He is learning much from his Daddy, and he reigns supreme as the “go to guy” for so many things around here.  We know these years are fleeting and we pray we will be diligent to take full advantage of our time with him. 

Thank you Lord for such a sweet time as this. 

 

 

 

 

 

A Recital....Kinda

Last Thursday was Mitchell’s Spring piano recital. The piece he played was Pirates of the Caribbean by Klaus Bedelt, arr. by Jarrod Radnich.   He LOVES piano and has worked diligently all year long.  He originally took lessons for 5 years, starting when he was 8 years old.  Hannah Geneser was his first teacher, and he, her first student.  She instilled in him a love for the piano and now that love is growing!  After his 5^th year he took a couple year break.  He stopped for a couple reasons… the first being that he simply needed a rest!  The second was that during Gigi’s difficult times as her Alzheimer’s disease progressed it was very hard for her to have the piano playing long hours for practice; it was simply too much stimulation and noise for her.  I remember being so sad because over the early years of Mitchell’s lessons she absolutely loved listening to him play.  I can only imagine the beautiful music she is experiencing now with her Savior!

 This last year he picked back up again and began lessons under Sherry VandenBos.  What a treat this year has been!  She is an outstanding teacher and has encouraged him to challenge himself and push ahead of his presumed abilities.  She has brought out the best in him and we are so thankful for her instruction!  He does not intend to stop lessons when he goes to Running Start next year, he will keep going and push himself to more intense playing … we can’t wait to see the results! 

Sadly, the video of the actual recital was on Chad’s iPhone and for some reason we cannot get it to upload or email!  I wanted record of the song so we decided to re-record it on Mrs. VandenBos’ piano at his last practice this week.  While it is not the same atmosphere as the recital, it is still fun nonetheless. Even though this performance is not flawless, it is pretty darn fantastic! Needless to say …..  Mitchell has one PROUD Mama!

PS....Yes, Mitchell did do the final note at the recital...it is his favorite part of course!

A note on the video..... if you keep it small the HD is better.  Unfortunately if you take it to full screen you will get a grainy video, and I am not sure why!

Lake Day

Mitchell and his “partner in crime”... Joel... had a little gathering to celebrate their two birthdays… which fall a month apart!  Labeled a “birthday party”, it was really just an excuse for a fun day at the lake with a bunch of friends.  Even with Mr. E’s “rough” work schedule he was able to eek out a “rare” few hours off and take the boys tubing. After the lake we headed back to the E’s for cake and fun games the boys made up…. "trampoline dodge ball” and “baby baseball”.  A very fun, albeit VERY chilly day!  Many, Many thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Langley and Dr. Dan for making this day very special for our boys!!



June 20

Monday found us celebrating Mitchell’s 15th birthday! The week brought some firsts….drivers ed, his drivers permit and his first time driving! On his first time out we were laughing so hard he almost needed to stop driving but we gathered ourselves together and he did great!!! I love each stage with the children but this one is soooo crazy different I still can’t wrap my mind around it!

Mitchell….how we love thee…..let us count the ways! For your kindness, tenderness, sense of humor, your great laugh, your teachable heart, your “sticktuitiveness”, your smarts, your sense of adventure, wisdom beyond your years, your goodnight hugs, your good morning greetings, your faithfulness, your love for your Savior, your loyalty, your willingness to forgive and for the sweet and simple “I love you’s” you freely give. Thank you for helping with Papa each day and night, thank you for loving so immensely and unconditionally.



Football Fans and a New Room....

I love traditions! Every Sunday in the fall/winter, with the rare exception, we have a favorite afternoon tradition....FOOTBALL! Over the years we have enjoyed having this special time together become an exciting weekly event. We don our Seahawks gear, eat really nummy football football food (in the living room, of course) and enjoy watching the Seahawks....win or lose, we are loyal fans!!! Our menu varies from all hors' d' oeuvres like... hot wings, sweet wings, cheese sticks, poppers, nachos, 'lil smokies...to steak sandwiches with sautéed peppers and onions... grilled kielbasa with potatoes and onions...or maybe a homemade sub sandwich on a delicious kalamata olive bread with various nummy cheeses, pastrami, ham, turkey and roast beef with a garlic ceaser salad! The kids love the fact that we eat in the living room, and I love the fact that we are making memories!

Mitchell enjoyed the opportunity to play on the freshman football team for our local high school. It is neat that even though we home school, the children can be involved in the sports programs of our local schools. He had a great time, learned and played a lot, and looks forward to playing again next year.

So....last year we decided it was time to build an extra room for Mitchell in the garage. Our home has a total of 2500 sq. feet. We have about 1800 sq. ft. and 3 bedrooms that the 7 of us share, and Papa & Gigi have a portion of our home that is 750 sq. ft., their "studio apartment"... you could say. It is really what would probably be our family room but works excellent for them as it has a large bathroom and its own heat source. One of our bedrooms is very small, about 125 sq. ft, and Mitchell and Will have shared that room since we moved here 4 years ago. The girls have another room and then of course Chad and I and JD (and his crib) shared the largest bedroom. Well, last winter we knew it was soon to be time for JD to be in a big boy bed...he was 3 you know… so we started considering our options for Mitchell. My dear friend Michele had the great idea of building Mitchell a room in our large garage. The garage is roughly 1000 sq ft. and since we have a barn and another out building, we could use some of the garage space for a room! What a great idea.....how come we didn't think of that!! Anyway....last winter the construction began! Unfortunately I did not take enough photos during construction but Chad did a fantastic job from the ground up; and this June, Mitchell moved into his new room! Since we are devoted Seahawks fans, it was only logical to go all out and make his room a Seahawks man cave! We took his jersey to Sherwin-Williams and they were able to match the paint colors...they did an awesome job! Unfortunately the foosball table didn't fit in there as he had hoped, but the dart board lends to lots of fun. He still hopes for a mini-fridge in there someday soon.....we will see!!! Mitchell and JD are both loving the transition to their rooms and Chad is happy to have another project done and completed!