September

September weather is probably the best of the entire year. The days aren't too hot, but the nights aren't too cool. Perfect. Despite the fact that school had already started, we soaked up all we could of what was left of the nice weather. We started with the Blackfoot Fair.

The kids pretty much enjoyed every aspect of the fair. The animals, the machinery, the food, the interesting things for sale, the one ride they got to go on, etc. (Hey, anymore than one ride and we would have had to forfeit Christmas!)

Richard and I on the Ferris Wheel and James and I on Tilt-a-Whirl. And, by the looks of the bottom picture, everyone was all funned-out by the end of the day. Ha! 

I snagged a couple cute shots of the kids with Richard on his 37th birthday. 

I must be a really good wife to buy my husband exploding targets for his birthday. Never in a million years did I think I would drive to IF solely to enter a GUN shop and buy something that explodes when you shoot it. How did we get to this point? Must be love. Oh, and the look on Thomas' face. . . should I be concerned?

A school project of Sarah's dreams. She spent a good amount of time on this, and I think it paid off! She's always been our little artist.

Getting the box of Tannerite for his birthday was just the beginning. The "fun" part was going to Badger Creek to blow it up with Brian and Natalie Ashton. Well, it was really just Richard and Brian that did the actual blowing up. We all took turns shooting, however.

Thomas was in heaven.

Here is Richard exploding the target on his very first shot of the night. Nice.

Back at the beginning of September, the IF Symphony announced that they would like to have ten children under ten play with the Symphony on one piece that they would be performing in their Family Concert scheduled for the end of the month. I am not sure what I was thinking, but I quickly responded and volunteered James. He had one month to learn and memorize the first violin part to the first movement of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. James was seven and progressing on the violin quite good, but this was a piece that was much more difficult than what he was currently working on. We had a LOT of work to do. Every day after school, he and I spent around 45 minutes (give or take) practicing. I didn't want to push him so hard that he hated it, so 45 minutes was just right. He was usually very willing to do it, and by the end of each practice session, we were both mentally exhausted, but not to the point that we wanted to throw the violin out the window. Well, most days. ;) Numerous times, I remember thinking to myself, "I don't know if James will actually be able to pull this off, but we've committed and we can't back out." We set goals. I numbered a line or two of music that we had to learn each day in order to have the entire piece learned in time. We did pretty good at keeping on schedule, and luckily, he memorized it as he learned it. It was close, but he had it all learned JUST IN TIME! It was nothing short of a miracle. 

Here he is at the dress rehearsal before the concert. I think he was the youngest participant, and there were a few kids who were older than ten. 

The conductor of the Symphony, Thomas Heuser. He was so kind and patient with the kids - a great conductor to work with.

Already proving to be a goof-off during rehearsals. 

With Maestro Heuser after the concert.

I gave Marianne the assignment to record this number. She got part of it. It was her first time, and she had to deal with her annoying siblings sitting near her, so we will forgive the bumpiness of the video. Haha.

I really think we were in over our heads, but there you have it. He DID it! And, he did so well. I know, because I also had it memorized, and I watched the back of him as I played from the first violin section through the entire piece. We were so proud. :) With hard work and dedication (and some help from above) we can do hard things! Great experience all around! Nice work, James!