Note: I posted yesterday too, so make sure you check out that post also!

Yesterday was Ashley’s piano recital. She did a great job! There were 9 students playing at the recital- she was number 6 in the show. We listen to Ashley play here at home, working with Mrs. Schiller on Tuesday nights and then practicing on her own. We have no point of reference until we hear her play in the recital. All I can say is that we are very glad we started her in lessons when we did. Ashley has a knack for this instrument and music in general, and she has found a teacher who encourages her to grow!

She started her afternoon with a little Trevor wrangling!

Then she got down to business! She has 4 numbers (the other kids had 3). Originally, she was going to have 5 numbers, but the 5th piece just didn’t come together soon enough.

Up first: Frosty the Snowman.

Her next number was Carol of the Bells.

Then came Up on the Housetop.

And she closed with O Christmas Tree.

It was so cool to see all of the family who came to the recital. Ashley had a huge cheering section!

Kevin and I then went to my staff holiday party. It was hosted by our librarian, whose parents have this gorgeous estate in Lake Forest. Apparently, the home used to be a school, but was turned into this mansion. It has 3 floors, and all kinds of rooms and decorating. The kitchen has a pull out cabinet that houses a huge TV! We only have a few photos of the place. This first photo is the living room area that was the cafeteria of the old school.

The grand piano in the background plays itself when hooked up to an ipod. This next photo is the dining room.

It was a fun evening of food and white elephant gift exchanges.

We hope that Tiffanie and Trevor get better soon so that they can head home to the rest of the family! We are so glad to have seen them, and glad that they could be at the recital. Kayla has her band concert on Tuesday – we hope she makes it because she has picked up a cold too!

Fear of Friday the 13th? Nobody here has that! But it sure has been a long time since I posted, and I don’t have many photos. Here’s what we have been up to.

Kayla has been working hard with school. There have been some challenges this year, as classes are becoming challenging and she is needing to learn skills. Her medication seems to be helping with focus, and so now we are concentrating on helping her learn planning strategies and organization. According to the PE teacher at school, Kayla has reached the 5 foot tall mark!!!! It’s pretty crazy that she is now only 2 inches shorter than me! Kayla has also been taking a class at the park district every Saturday for the last 7 weeks (today is her last class). It’s a Lego engineering class, and even though she is the only girl and oldest student, she has been enjoying it! Each week, the teacher gives them a special kit and asks them to build something, like a music box. Once done, he challenges each partnership to make a modification, like adding more hammers to the music box. They have used pulleys and motors too. Today is a chance to build a working car! With her music, she continues to work on her clarinet, and has a band concert this coming week. On a more somber note, this past Thursday was a difficult day for Kayla, as it marked one year since she lost her friend Alex. The family wanted to help remember him by asking anyone who wanted to help to make an ornament to hang on his tree that was planted this fall. Both girls mades ornaments and hung them up Thursday evening. Ashley made the heart, and Kayla made the dragons. That’s a Deadly Shadow dragon with a tiny Toothless on its back (characters from her and Alex’s favorite book series).

I used packing tape to cover the ornaments, hoping they will withstand the wet and snow.

Ashley has been busy also! She just finished her third session of karate, where she earned 2 stripes on her white belt! She moves to the next level class starting in January. This has been great for her to be active and work on coordination. She has also decided that the flute is not so bad, and is continuing to have lessons once a month. Her piano lessons have continued each week as well, and her recital is today! (video to come later on) Unfortunately for Ashley, she has struggled with a persistent, dry, barky cough for the last 6 weeks. We have been into a doctor/clinic 3 times, with the latest being yesterday morning. The poor kid is now using 2 inhalers twice a day, taking Singulair once per day for the next 2 weeks, and on zithromax for 5 days in case there is a sinus thing involved. She also had to get a chest x-ray yesterday afternoon! We see the doctor again in 2 weeks, and hopefully this does the trick.Otherwise, it will be off to see an allergist…. This has not slowed her much though!

Each year, we make our cookie dough truffles as gifts for the teachers and other people with whom we like to share some holiday cheer. This year, that was 27 people/families! So last weekend was truffle production weekend. The girls gathered information on what flavors people like, and I did my math thing to determine what was needed. The end result: I made 142 chocolate chip truffles, 38 chocolate mint truffles, 38 peanut butter truffles, 73 seven-layer truffles, and 74 snickerdoodle truffles!!! We packaged them in snack bags in varying amounts, based on the data we had. Then Ashley helped me assemble them into baggies (I got the baggies on clearance last year after Christmas!). Here is what the island looked like before assembly began:

Ashley inserted the little card and closed each bag.

All done! We were 3 bags short, so I made some out of gift wrap.

The girls have been steadily giving them to people all week. We only have 3 more to deliver!

The most exciting news has been seeing Aunt Tiffanie and Trevor! I took a personal day yesterday so that I could spend a little time with them. Of course, I did spend several hours of the day shuttling Ashley to doctor appointments, chest x-ray, and school, and getting Kayla to bring the girls back to mom’s house for dinner. But I got to play with Trevor and hang out, and the girls had a great time with cousins! It was also my birthday, so I got to spend time with people that mean more to me than the students who got a substitute teacher yesterday! Thank you to everyone for a great birthday!

I will post again soon. I am hoping to send the camera with Kayla for a picture of today’s last Lego creation, and we will take video of Ashley’s recital. We’ll also try to catch Kayla’s band concert (her part of it). We will be heading to mom’s again in a few hours to spend some more time with cousin T. They are hear a little longer than they planned, courtesy of the latest snowfall.