On Tuesday Emily and Makayla had their piano recital at our house. Somehow, we managed to pack 15 piano students, along with their families (nearly 50 people) into our house. It was quite a day! Up until a few hours before the program, we weren't sure if we were going to actually do it. First of all, many of the children, including the teacher had the stomach flu up to the night before. They had a rehearsal the previous Saturday and, I don't know who was the culprit who brought the sickness to the group, but nearly all of the students and their families had thrown up between last Saturday and Monday night. Makayla and Ricky had diahrrea and stomach aches. Andrew started throwing up at midnight and he wasn't quite stable until lunch time the day of the recital.
The other factor was a snow storm. School in Solon (about 20 minutes away) was released early because of the winter storm warning. We only got about 5 inches at our house, but we weren't sure how bad it was going to be.
So, we went back and forth about whether or not to have the recital and whether or not it should be at our house. There were few options for other locations. The church building had not been scheduled and the piano there is out of tune. Another person had volunteered to host the recital, but her piano was also out of tune and we already had a ton of chairs ready at our house. We talked to the families and discovered that nearly everybody had been exposed to the sickness, so they weren't too worried about being at our house. The snow settled down and everybody was able to travel safely.
I spent the day cleaning and disinfecting and taking care of sick kids. I also made two batches of cookies and decorated the Christmas tree (I have never been so late in the year at getting that done!)
Oh, here's the other thing . . . we had purchased a mattress set to go in our basement for when we have guests (my parents are coming next week). It was to be delivered that day between 3-6 p.m. Unfortunately, the snow storm caused quite a backup on the freeway and the delivery was late. The recital started at 7:00 p.m. and the mattresses arrived at 7:30 p.m.--what else could go wrong!!! We just had the delivery guys put the mattresses in the garage, but they had some trouble with all the cars in our driveway and along the street. How fun!!! So, Rick missed Makayla's performance because he was trying to figure out the mattress situation. Luckily, I caught it on video.
In the end, it was a great event. We were able to fit everybody with a nice view of the piano. The performances went well and nobody threw up (at least not right then). We were glad to be able to provide a place for families to gather and watch their children perform.
Even with all the work and, yes, some grumbling on my part, I felt so blessed to have the home we do. Rick and I decided that even with the mess and chaos, what is a house like this for? One of the reasons we chose this house was so that we could provide a place for people to gather for fun activities, etc. We were glad to be able to do that.
Below are short video clips of the girls' performances. Makayla played "Up on the Housetop" and "What Goes Up Must Come Down." Emily played "The Radesky March," "Little Drummer Boy," and "Joy to the World." Both of them have done great with their lessons. I have especially been impressed with Emily's progress. She has had only 4 months of lessons and she is already the most advanced player in the group (aside from one 14-year old girl). Emily really loves to play. I don't even have to remind her to practice--in fact, more often I am saying, "Can you take a break from that for a little bit?" I don't want to squelch her enthusiasm, but sometimes enough is enough!
To view the videos with the blog music off, go to the bottom of the screen and pause the playlist.
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