01/30/13

1.  Brigham is concert master for his orchestra!  I'm so proud of him!  He had chair testing last week, and practiced very diligently for it.  He felt good about the audition, and all last week anxiously asked if I had received an email about the chair test results.  So on Monday night when he came to meet Mosey and me in the cafeteria (where Mosey's orchestra meets), I asked if he found out about the chair tests, and he said, "No, they didn't say anything about it."  I told him I was sure they'd send an email as soon as they were ready.  On the way home he asked me several times when I thought Joseph would be home from archery. Finally once we got home, he couldn't hold it in any longer and blurted out, "I made first-chair, mom!"  He was wanting to wait until Ben and Joseph came home to announce it to the whole family.  Funny boy.  Anyway, he is very happy, and I am very proud of him.  He was seated in the back of the first violin section this last semester,which I still thought was great, especially since he was not happy at all with his chair test.  So for him to make concert master this semester is really exciting, and I think so good for Brigham.  He wants to practice his orchestra music every day so that he will be a good concert master.  :-)

2.  On Monday, a friend from church gave us her old Nook (Barnes and Noble's version of a Kindle), and Mosey has been utterly entranced by it.  He is my technology fanatic anyway, and he also loves to read, so this is the perfect blend for him!  He's been trying to figure the whole thing out, which is good, but also a bit distracting for him...  Yesterday it came to a head when I went to get him to practice piano at 11:45 AM, only to discover he had not done ANY school work at all so far!  And then as we were practicing piano, he was NOT focusing, NOT cooperating, and causing me much frustration.  I gave him several warnings, and then I told him the Nook was gone.  I was going to give it back.  Oh, and then the tears started and then came the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Finally I told him that if he could show me for the rest of the day and all day tomorrow (today), then he could have it back.  And man oh man, did that do the trick!   He was good as gold the rest of the day, did extra math last night, and was extra cooperative and very good all day today.  And now I've got me some Mosey-currency to work with!

3.  Yesterday as I was finishing schoolwork with Mosey, Brigham and Joseph (who had been done with their schoolwork for a while) went into the forest.  After a while they came back and Joseph asked if he could use some yarn to "make something."  After a while they came home sporting a number of home-made stone-age tools, including a hatchet and a mace!  I love living next to the "forest."  It is exactly what I have been wanting for my boys-- a place to explore and create and imagine and get bitten by fireants and infected with poison ivy...  :-)