Saturday, February 25, 2012

Marina and Falcom at the McNeil Canyon Talent Show

The McNeil Canyon Elementary School Talent Show and Pie Auction marks the beginning of our families 'Performance Season'.  This year Marina didn't want to do much participating,( except in the ROYGBIV skit) until Falcom's co-singer told him she could not drive from Diamond Ridge Road to perform with him on a school night.  In Falcom's mind who was the next best candidate for this job ?  His sister Marina.

This might come as a surprise to many readers, but like every pair of siblings, these two argue a lot.  They argue and argue and it is usually within my earshot and drives me crazy.  When they came to me and to Cherish and explained their plan I said, 'Sure, Whatever...'  and Cherish said, "I will not be doing anything half way and unprofessional so you will both have to commit to coming and practicing with me."

Guess what happened?  They practiced.  When I watched them practice it was amazing.  There was no drama like Falcom has with other friends at school.  Marina is not intimidated by his talent.  He would correct her or point out her error and she would say, "Of course Fal!  I have to learn it, stop it!"  There was none of this, 'Falcom is good and I am not', self talk.

Instead, Falcom told her how good she was.  And he meant it.  Trust me, he does not hold back when someone's singing is not up to snuff.  You can ask Mema and she will tell you.

When I watched them sing together it was like a mother's dream come true:  Sweet, beautiful voices working together to make something lovely.  After the show I was approached by many friends who all said the same thing, "We expect that from Falcom, but we had no idea that Marina had such a wonderful voice!"

Thank you Falcom, Marina, and Cherish for making my heart sing!

Friday, February 17, 2012

More Great News

 Willie won first place in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Skills USA welding competition!  He will now be heading up to Anchorage to go for the 10,000 dollar grand prize scholarship!  We are so, so proud!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Andy

Sunday evening we received a call, today I received the following email

To all cast members,
Congratulations to all of you who auditioned last week for "Annie".
The directors have decided to change the main character to "Andy".
And everyone 8 years and older, who auditioned last week, has a part.
So welcome to the cast of "Little Orphan Andy".


Thank you all.
This will be a wonderful adventure!
Gail

Yes, Falcom is Andy.

Monday, February 13, 2012

One Month

 One Month...I can not help but wonder how I let this happen!  Oh, right...15 graduate level units.  Practicum teaching and a full on family.  One month...  Here we go...
 Willie turned 19.  The older the kids get the less dramatic the birthdays are.  Willie is now a 19 year old man.  His friend was here celebrating with us.  We love you Willie!

I let the kids get library cards...I let them...They let me drive them to the library and sign my name under theirs.  Good thing because now I can't find mine!

Just in case you have forgotten, I am a force to be reckoned with, especially when I am teaching electricity at school!
Check out the reproduction of Humphrey Davey's first light bulb!
 The Tustumena 200 sled dog race had a check point at the kids school.  For those of you unaware, this is like, well, if the Tour De France came through your neighborhood.  Anyway, it was about -20 that day and blue beautiful skies.  DT became a race official and had a great weekend hanging out with the mushers and the dogs and the neighbors all working together to make this race the success that it was.

I made it about 20 minutes and then decided I preferred warmth. 
I came home and watched the beautiful night sky from my squishy round couch!
 This month it continued snowing.  This is Beezer's house covered and surrounded up to halfway up the window.

The kids had a dance recital.  Falcom learned some swing.  Totally great!


It snowed some more...

 The Girl Scout Troop 584 went to Seward for an overnight science trip to the Sealife Center.  It was great!

 If I do say so myself!
 Marina got to dissect a squid and learn about it's important features...
And there is a very brief update of the month...very brief... Stay tuned for the big news tomorrow!