The school had an assembly yesterday to introduce all of the Fall sports teams. Emily danced with the Pacesetters. She’s in the back row, starting out 3 in from the right and ends up 5 in from the right. The video is a bit grainy, but she does an awesome job!
The band also played before and after the assembly. Anna has joined the band this year as a percussionist, playing the marimba and the cymbals. Here’s a quick clip of her playing with mallets on the cymbal.
The spring piano recital was back on May 3, but I’ve been a bit lax in entering information here on the blog. I was good about getting the videos up to YouTube and on Facebook, but a bit slow here.
However, here are the piano performances from Anna and Emily.
Unfortunately, Anna’s video cut short about 45 seconds from the end of the piece.
Anna: Beethoven – Sonata Op 27, No 2 I. Adagio sostenuto (“Moonlight”)
Emily: Haydn: Allegro scherzando Hob. III 75/4
Anna and Emily danced in their dance recital this evening. They’ve been taking dance lessons from Miss Nina for the past 12 years. It was a real pleasure to see them up there dancing with their friends.
There is rumor that this may be the last year Miss Nina will be teaching (her 65th year teaching). It was great that both sets of grandparents were there to see them dance.
This past weekend, Anna and Emily spent the day at Regional Solo Festival for high school students. Anna played violin and sang vocal solos; Emily played flute.
Linda stayed very busy accompanying both of them and a couple other students. We’re very lucky to have an accompanist on retainer.
Anna plays Sonata in G by Eccles
Emily plays Legende by Joachim Andersen
Anna sings Sebben Crudele & Blow Thou Winter Wind
This is actually audio only; a friend recorded it for us
Emily had a group of friends over and celebrated her birthday. Being the First Friday in Lent, we didn’t grill burgers or get a bunch of supreme pizzas. Instead, she chose pesto pasta with an array of different cheeses. The girls all loved the food. They toasted the birthday girl with sparkling grape juice and laughed the night away.
It’s amazing how loud 16 freshman girls can get when they’re all talking at once…
Emily has been plagued by recurrent sore throats over the past 5 or 6 years.
On three separate occasions over the years, she had a swollen right tonsil that appeared to me to be a peritonsilar abscess. This is an infection around the tonsil that can become very serious, very quickly. If the infection continues to grow, it needs to be drained before it closes off the throat. Often, if caught early, it can be treated with antibiotics. Fortunately, whenever it seems like she needs treatment, I was able to prescribe some antibiotic and she always got better.
This past episode, the pain got better but the swelling of the right tonsil never went away. In hindsight, I’m not sure if it ever got better because I never really looked in her throat after she got better – because she got better! This time, I decided she needed to be seen by her pediatrician so that another doctor can help make the decisions as to what to do. It was determined that we should try a stronger antibiotic and watch. If it didn’t go away, we’d consult an ENT.
Well, it didn’t go away and an ENT was visited. He took one look in the mouth and clearly stated “That’s not a PTA – it’s a unilateral hypertrophied tonsil!”. That means, the tonsil is big on just the one side. However, this is an indication for removal of the tonsil (concerns about possible malignancy being of the highest concern). You can see in the picture that her right tonsil is significantly larger than the left.
The surgery was yesterday and she did awesome. I promised not to post the pictures of her that were taken in the pre-op area. She did remarkably well both before and after the procedure. She was very calm as we were waiting in pre-op and was absolutely amazing in post-op. It’s always funny how people react when they are coming out of anesthesia. Emily kept talking about Ellen Degeneres and Channing Tatum (I’m guessing the nurse was asking her about things she liked prior to arrival to the bedside). Emily asked us if Ellen was there and, when we told her that she wasn’t, she asked us if we could tell Ellen that she loves her. She was very chatty, but an absolute delight. The recovery nurse fell in love with her.
She recovered very nicely throughout the day and didn’t seem to have too much pain. However, by the end of the evening, it was catching up to her and the inflammation was really starting to kick in. Fortunately, hydrocodone elixir does wonders and she is hanging in there. Here’s to a very speedy recovery!
Emily played in her first flute recital a few days ago. She played “Suite in A minor – I: Overture” by G. Telemann. She has been playing for 5 years and has done a tremendous job in advancing. Linda accompanied on piano.
Emily danced with the SMS Southlanders today at. Dance competition. They did a great job. The smile on her face I truly genuine – she loves doing it so much.
There is true joy in watching your children react to the surprise of a gift they didn’t expect.
Many of the piano students from Linda’s studio played a recital t a local retirement home on December 8. Here are videos of Anna and Emily (from Linda’s phone):
Anna: What Child Is This?
Emily: I’ll Be Home For Christmas