Another First

Yesterday Luca lost his very first tooth!  Kind of makes me sad to see my little baby not so little any more.  He eats at least one apple a day, so the past few weeks his apple eating has been done with great caution.  As I was watching him eat his apple at lunch his tooth kept flipping forward indicating it was hanging on my a thread.  I told him I needed to pull it or else he was going to swallow it.  He agreed (probably having no idea what I was about to do).  One little tug and it was out.  He was delighted but a little surprised by the blood.  No worries--he is a tough kid.  Now we have to get used to him speaking with a much greater lisp until he adjusts to the new change in his mouth.

Luca - 5 years and 7 months

After lunch he put his tooth in a bag and said he "had to go lay down in bed now, so I can get money from the tooth fairy."  His two siblings informed him that she only come at night "like around midnight when you are sleeping."  And yea, for the tooth fairy remembering to drop in last night.

Piano Lessons

Cultivating skills in our children that will serve them the rest of their lives is of great importance to us as parents.  Granted we may not necessarily have a plethora of opportunities available to our children in this culture, but there are many things in which are and must be taught from the home.  For example, how to be a hospitable host and serve others within our home.  How to be a gracious guest and engage in meaningful conversation with adults and peers.  Encouraging reading both individually and together as a family.  Providing cultural experiences through travel, museums and interactions with different cultures.  All those things on top of our greatest emphasis and desire for them to know, love, and serve Christ.  The list goes on and will continue to grow as we are contstantly learning as parents, and see the unique talents and interests develop in each of our children.

All that to say, we have enrolled Samuel and Emma in piano lessons to provide them with a basic knowledge and experience in music.  With the musical talent given to their father and the continual prescence of music in our home on a daily basis, we hope this will be a launching point for them to develop musically, whether they stick with piano or specialize in another instrument.

We have been talking about this venture for a while now.  The big problem being we did not have a piano!  We inquired about lessons from the music association here in Leinì and got the kids signed up even before we had the piano.  We are so grateful for the Lord's provision to be able to purchase our first digital piano.  And the kids (so far, after 2 lessons) are very excited about it all.

The music school is on the upper level of the red building located in the main piazza of town.

The first lesson the kids did together.  However, they now are having separate half-hour lessons each. They like their maestro, Mauro.

We had to shuffle around the living room to make room for the piano.  Poor Mac was so discombobulated each time we moved his house, but I think we have found the ideal solution--until we need to make room for the Christmas tree. :)

And as a side note, Jonathan too is taking classical guitar lessons from the same school.  I find it hard to believe that he NEVER has taken a guitar lesson in his life!  What did I say about God given talent?!  The lessons are two-fold in wanting to learn a new technique and style (he loves a challenge) and also so he can get his foot in the door with the music community.  We pray that through special events for the kids and future opportunities we might make a new circle of contacts in our community.

Here is a video I got away with taking only because it was their first lesson and possibly the only one I will get to.  Jonathan takes the kids as I need to have dinner ready to go when they arrive home at 6:15 so Jonathan can be out the door again an hour later for English on Wednesday nights.  Not really ideal to add to his marathon Wednesdays, but it was the only opening available.  I guess beggers can't be choosers! 

The BEST Ever

Just to give you a recap on Emma's birthday celebrations, I think it was best summarized as "the BEST".  It is pretty darn exciting to turn 7 years old and she was tickled about every little thing.  I can't tell you how many times we heard her say "this is the BEST ever!"  It was definitely fun to celebrate with her.

She took candies with her to school to pass out to her friends, which was a huge deal for her.  Last year she didn't want anyone to know it was her birthday as she would rather not attract attention to herself.  Glad her friends could join in with her at school.  After school we headed out to lunch at Old Wild West.

Don't mind the peanuts sticking out of her mouth

Then it was off to the surprise mystery store to pick out a couple of presents.  When she saw it was Decathalon, she let out a squeal of delight--knowing what we were probably there to get.  She has been wanting a pair of rollerblades for a long time.

Thank you Munga and Gramma for the new blades and Dada and Mamma for the protective gear.

Roller Derby anyone?

We came home and started to answer calls from the US.  She was quite giddy and excited to talk to everyone who called.  Thanks so much dear family for making her day extra special!!  She opened a couple more gifts and then awaited her birthday dinner.

Emma's menu request was teriyaki chicken, smashed potatoes and peas.  Her favorite part is to mix all three of those items together, making her own shephard's pie of sorts.  Apparently, that is THE BEST way to eat it.

And finally....cake time!

Guinea Pig Cake

She will tell you that it kind of looks like Mac, except Mac only has one patch around his eye.  But she didn't want a "Mac" cake anyway because she is a girl, thus the pink bow to make it a girly cake.  She was beyond excited to eat the cake and as you might have guessed, it was THE BEST cake ever!

It has been raining here since Thursday with no sign of it letting up for another week.  She really wanted to try her new blades out on the bike path, but that is not going to happen anytime soon.  So this morning I did some garage cleaning to create space for her to practice her skating.  Yeah, for a garage!

More celebrations to come...

Happy Birthday Emma

Our precious, Emma Patryce, today you turn 7 years old.  It was just a short time ago that you arrived as a teeny tiny bundle, bringing us so much joy.

You are growing up far too quickly, but it is such a delight to see you growing and developing into a gifted and talented little girl using your God given gifts.  You have an acute ear, always listening and taking in what you hear around you and holding us to our word because "we said."  Your creativity amazes us!  You are always taking nothing and making it into something.  You have the vision to see beauty and art in the simplest of things.

Your smile lights up a room.

You love animals and especially stories about them.  I cannot escape tucking you into bed each night without you asking me to tell you a "PG story" (PG = piccolo genio [little genius] who is a guinea pig).  You are most gracious as the stories are often lacking creativity from your tired mamma's mind.  You delight in the fact that it is a special story for you and that makes you feel loved.

Our prayer for you is that you will grow in the knowledge and wisdom of God.  That you will love, obey and serve Him with all of your heart.  That your gifts and talents will be used to bring glory to Him and be a blessing to those around you.  We love you so very much Mems...with all our hearts!!

Happy 7th Birthday Sweetheart!