On Sunday June 10th, we were invited to attend Gillian's piano recital. I had stopped her piano lessons for over a year because I hadn't been very happy with the results of the method the previous teacher was using. I didn't feel Gillian was enjoying it, and knowing my own daughter I knew that she wasn't enjoying it because she wasn't being challenged enough. After prayers and much research I finally felt good about one particular teacher. Gillian has been taking lessons from her for two months now, and although she has just been reviewing the things she used to know, her piano skills has exceeded my expectations. What is more rewarding is the fact that she LOVES practicing and playing the piano all day. I rarely have to remind her to sit and practice. I'm so happy. And what a blessing to have her play the piano so well. I can only imagine how she is going to sound when she advances to higher levels. The recital was a great way for Gillian to see what she could become. Her teacher has probably thirty kids that she teaches on regular basis and on different levels. Gillian was mesmerized seeing her peers and older kids play the piano so professionally and beautifully. It gave her courage to improve and want to be better. For her own piece, Gillian chose a very fast and strong one. The teacher and I both laughed when she told us what she wanted to play; it fit Gillian's impatient personality perfectly. And it has plenty of staccatos, something that gives Gillian the chance to play with strong emotion. She did a great job, and we look forward to hear her continue progressing.
On Monday, we went to the water park with mom, and on Tuesday we helped her pack, and then took her out. I kind of shared most of that on the previous post, so I'll move on with the rest of the week.
On Wednesday, after taking my mother to the airport early in the morning, I drove back from the airport thinking and making plans for the rest of the month. Mostly however I was thinking over the time I had had with my mother. For the most part, I had really enjoyed having had her here with me. My kids got to have a stronger relationship with their grandmother, and the relationship between my mother and husband seemed to get better each time. Actually, my mother's opinion of my husband has been soaring higher and higher each time she comes here as she witnesses first hand how well my husband respects me and how much he adores me. And as we mothers know, having a happy child is priceless. At the moment, my husband is considered the greatest man on earth by my mother, and boy, let me tell you that feels just awesome after many years of complaints on having married a red-headed American (in Albania red heads were not well received, maybe because there weren't many of them, and as for the fact that I married an American, my mother wanted me to marry a British aristocrat.) Now she says that Elijah must have blue blood running in his veins since he is treating me like a queen. This whole thing makes me pray that I will be a more understanding mother-in-law, and not such a demanding mother. I don't have much hope however, because I see that I'm as much of a tigress for my kids as my mother was for us, especially when it comes to my daughter.
When I got back from the airport, I got the kids ready for school and then sent them on their way. As for me and Charlton, we went to our most favorite spot in town - the library. After attending the story time, Charlton and I sat down and read for over an hour before we headed back to pick up James. I love going to the library, and because Charlton loves it more than the playground we go there at least twice a week. This is generally good, but it has had a bad effect on me as well. You see, the library has a particular corner with books for sale. Every time we leave the library, along with several bags of books we have just checked out, we also have one, and at times two bags, full of books that I buy in that corner. It has become a bad habit; I've become a hoarder of books. We already have six book shelves just for kids' books, and we still find books everywhere. I don't know how to fight this, and I don't seem to have the will to stop myself. Books have cast a spell on me!!! At least it's a spell that we can benefit from. I love seeing my children, and especially Charlton wanting to be read to for hours.
Thursday was my children's last day of school. I hadn't singed up to participate in any of the activities since I had been trying to clean their bedrooms and get them ready for the summer, especially Gillian's room which my mom used while she was here. Nevertheless, I decided otherwise. I went to See's Candies and bought each teacher a good box of goodies, and then went to Trader Joe's and bought them each a bouquet of flowers. I wrote a card thanking them for teaching my children, and then headed to their school accompanied by my pirate/cowboy Charlton. He had decided he wanted to wear a pirate hat and a cowboy holster with its accompanying gun. And I said why not. After delivering my gifts, I stayed and participated in my kids'parties taking turns visiting them one at a time. Everywhere we went Charlton became a sensation with his gun outfit, his electrifying dance (I have to record that one sometime for you to see), and his charming personality. Even Gillian's 4th and 5th grade friends thought he was the coolest dude in town. I wish I had taken more pictures of him with each class, but I was too busy talking to the teachers and parents. Here he is sitting with James and listening to James's teacher read a story to the class. This was his favorite part; he loves feeling he is at school. He still remembers the story they read that day.
Friday was a very fun day. My best friend Amy is leaving the area; she just bought a house in Sacramento. I'll miss her tremendously, and so will my kids miss her kids. My friend Laura and I thought we would get together and talk for a few hours and let the kids play in the pool. We knew we were going to throw a party for her and spend time with her during other activities before she left, but we just wanted to be on our own for one last time. And that's what we did. The kids had a fantastic time swimming, showing off their diving skills, and talking about books.
After the swimming pool and time with friends, the children attended another fun party, in a smaller scale. Our friends the Paul's, who are members of our ward and our awesome neighbors, wanted to launch the summer with a fun ice-cream party, just for our kids. Charlton fell asleep on the way home from the swimming pool, so I stayed home with him, but the kids had fun with their neighbors. Brother Paul is so funny and tells a lot of great stories, and sister Paul makes delicious cookies, so what's not to like.
As soon as they were done with all their parties, I had the boys start packing for their camp out. Elijah was going to take them to their annual father and sons camp out, and the boys were way excited. However, Gillian was the most excited of them all. She had planned our next 24 hours alone with all sorts of activities. After packing the car, we send the boys on their way. This was Charlton's first camp out alone with the boys, and my older boys were really enthusiastic about having him with them.
As soon as the boys left, we started cleaning the house, so we could enjoy ourselves later. Gillian vacuumed and watered the garden. Then, we prepared a couple of gifts for a couple of my friends' birthdays, then drove Elijah's truck to get our errands done. After dropping off the gifts, we went shopping for Father's Day, ate some ice-cream, visited with friends, and then came home and settled to watch
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Gillian has read all of the Harry Potter books since she turned 9 last year. Since then, she has read and reread them multiple times, but had seen only the first two movies. She was estatic to watch the third movie with me. (She was very disappointed that the rest of them are PG-13 and she won't get to watch them for another three years.) After watching the movie, we went to bed and settled to read, but talked most of the time, and after a while Gillian tells me I fell asleep without realizing. I guess I must have been tired. I wonder why.
We were woken up too early for our taste; the boys returned a bit earlier than we had wanted them to, but to no fault of theirs. A stormy wind had woken them up at three in the morning and it had been quite impossible for them to go back to sleep. James, who is a very light sleeper, had not slept much, so he spent his Saturday taking a long nap.
Sunday, June 17th, was Father's Day. I woke up early to make breakfast for the family as it is our tradition. The kids woke their dad up with their hugs, kisses and gifts. We had breakfast, and we each shared how grateful we were for Elijah. For breakfast, we had one of Elijah's favorite recipes Bacon-Tomato Bagel Melts. Here is the recipe:
Bacon-Tomato Bagel Melts4 bagels, split and lightly toasted8 tomato slices8 onion slices8 provolone cheese slicesplenty of cooked bacon to cover each half bagelDirectionsPlace each bagel half cut side up on a baking sheet. Top each half with one slice of onion, tomato,bacon, and then cover with the one slice of cheese in that order. You can omit the onion if your children don't care for it, but I personally think the onion is a great combination with the tomato and bacon. Cook it in 400 for about 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the bagels have a brown look. Enjoy for breakfast, lunch or snack.After church, we had a delicious dinner, and ended our day with root beer floats.
I'm truly grateful for Elijah and the amazing father he is. He teaches his children through his example to love and serve the Lord. He helps them see the world through the Savior's eyes and love everyone without judging. He is calm and patient, loving and faithful. Elijah is a great example to all of us of hard work, sacrifice, and unrelenting integrity. I hope my children can become half as good as their dad.
