A friend recently told me a story that happened a while back when she was taking Jared somewhere in the car. They had on the local christian radio station, when Jared pipes up "We don't listen to this type of music, we only listen to the classical station." I must admit that aside from select Christmas music I don't really listen to anything else. Chris has made them acquainted with a few other artists but in the home or car classical is really all.
Therefore, it should be no surprise that we got season tickets to the symphony this year. We got them with some friends, so it was a huge savings, which always improves the experience for me.
The first show in January, was rescheduled for the "Celtic Celebration" in March, specifically March 17th Lance's birthday. As it worked out our friends were in the St. Patrick's Day parade downtown so they just hung out and met us at the symphony when it was done. The music and dancing were superb. This was the impetus for Amber starting Irish Dance classes a few months later when a six week trial became available.
The last show of the season was Igor Stravinsky's "Firebird" one of our favorite symphony's with the bonus of the incorporation of an amazing theatrical human size puppet dance with a narrator explaining the story.
Finally, the most anticipated music event of the year, the children's piano recital.
Amber started things out playing: Yankee Doodle & Eternally Music by Nancy Faber. She started out with her hand in the wrong position but still played it well, then her teacher kindly moved her hands and she played it in the traditional key well again. Impressive recovery for one so young.
Titus then performed: Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree By Brown and Tobias (Titus loves Jazz), followed by Beethoven's Ode to Joy
Jared played Sonatina in G by Beethoven beautifully, then moved over on the bench and Lance joined him in a duet of John Williams Cantina Band, a very peppy and quick moving tune.
Lance finished up the night with, according to the program "Theme by John Williams". Miss Kathy wanted everyone to be surprised in the first few notes of.....Jaws! You could hear the intake of breath around the room as everyone recognized the tune. Chris joked about renting a shark costume and wandering through the crowd. To watch the whole thing (15 min) click this link.
The final act of the night was a young man singing "Sweet Caroline", a catchy tune we all sang on the way home. What a wonderful night! It is such a joy to see each of our children grow in their musical talents each year.
Lance
refused to swim on swim team (as usual) but he did find a way to
utilize his swim talent; he became a swim instructor. At the end of
May he was given the opportunity to work at Goldfish Swim School and he
took it. He works 6-8 hours during the school year. 
With his new independent income, he has pursued well.....all things fish. Fishing Poles, fishing gear and tanks for fish.
On Independence Day he "saved" his first 8 fish form the store and brought them home to a long awaited fish tank he bought with his new found independence.
Fish TV is great!
Back in January, Titus started swimming at new indoor swim school called Goldfish. It was located conveniently next to Amber's Ballet School so he was able to do swim lessons while she did ballet (very efficient use of our time).
He quickly moved from just lessons to lessons and swim team. At their quarterly time trials he did exceptionally well. Not to be left out Amber started lessons as well to prepare her for summer swim.
They both started summer swim team at our community pool in May. The summer swim season goes from late may to late July. It is a compact time with 6 Tuesday night tournaments (or more if you include rain reschedules). Titus' time at Goldfish gave him a strong base to begin the season. He was frequently the youngest competitor in his heats yet he managed quite a few wins. Amber very much enjoyed swimming on the team and socializing with her young friends. Jared was a big help this year shouldering some of the volunteer responsibilities running the concession stand.
