First Music Performance

My first music performance at my new job was today. It went AMAZING! The Kindergarten students and I had so much fun. We showed the parents a typical day in music class. The children came in the same way they do in music. I interacted with them the same way I do in music class, etc. It was really neat.

The parents said tons of nice things like "The children were so full of joy and loving every minute of it!" "It's amazing how you are able to get them to sing and dance and then stop and be so well-behaved." "Ever since you came here, my child has been singing all of those songs at home" "This program was so full of energy. I am so glad you are our new music teacher!"

It's neat to know that I have been making a difference. These children are absolutely worth it!!

Here are some pictures to illustrate how much fun we had! Singing games that were featured include Hickety Tickety Bumble Bee, High Stepping Horses, Engine Number Nine, Talking Piano, Fanga Alafia and dancing to Vivaldi's Winter.

This (above) is my favorite picture! The little girl has just frozen in the game "Talking Piano." She knows that she can't make any noise in order to hear the piano. But you can tell she is having so much fun, she can hardly contain her excitement!!

The school is having a fundraiser next week to help pay for these drums that I requested!!

I'm playing a Nursery rhyme game and saying in a low voice "which finger did he bite?"

I'm an author on eHow!

In case you still don't know, eHow.com is a website where you can learn how to do pretty much anything. You can also write how to do stuff, too. So that's what we've done. When viewers click on the ads, we make money, so it's a nice source of extra income.

Thanks for taking a minute to view and rate my newest articles! Just click on the links that interest you!

How to Avoid Being a Wife That Nags

How to Use Music to Improve Reading Fluency

How to Feel the Inside of Your Stomach

How to Use Music to Teach Multiplication

How to Protect Your Family From Internet Pornography Addiction

How to Enjoy Marriage

Spring Break Visits

Now that we live in Orange County, everyone comes to visit us, especially during their Spring Breaks. Last week, we enjoyed family home evening with uncle Sean, aunt Jill and their kids, Josh, Natalie, Allie and Kira. We had a bonfire at the beach and roasted hot dogs, pineapple and marsh mallows. We also played with our turtle, Sergio, in the sand, chased seagulls and got wet in the ocean. I wish we brought our camera to show how much fun we had!

Yesterday we enjoyed playing with uncle Doran, aunt Dianne and their kids, Danielle, Spencer, and Trevor (Andrew is on a mission). We played at the beach and got red in the sun, buried Trevor, ate at TK burger, walked the peer, saw dolphins and starfish, shopped, played ping pong at our complex and then played "3 flys up" in our pool.

I had SO much fun getting individual time with each cousin family. Thanks Jill and thanks Dianne for including us in your vacation!!


Jeremy and I also made it to Sea World during my Spring Break this past week. I really, really like that place! I'm so glad we can go anytime we want now!

Scenes from School

It's hard to believe that I've been teaching music at my new job for 3 months now! Hopefully these pictures can give you a glimpse of this wonderful part of my life!

Board in Hallway

Rhythm and Melody Board
Instruments below

Parents visiting during Open House
It was packed!!

World Music Board
Each time we learn a new folk song, we put a pin on the map, showing what country or what part of American it is from. We are especially filling the map up during an after-school class that I invented called Global Voices. It's been really fun, and I get extra pay for it!

4th grade playing All Around the Racetrack

First Grade

Third Grade

First Grade

Easter Miracles

I love Easter!! It's my favorite holiday. And what a beautiful Easter Day it is here in HB to help remind us of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Easter is a holiday of miracles, and we have not been spared from receiving them.

Miracle 1- Jeremy and I headed down to Sea World yesterday to see if we could get in with the Fun passes that Desha and I bought last time. It was going to be a long shot since we should have gotten the cards in a certain line before.

While we were in line at customer service, I realized that I didn't bring my ID to show her that I was me. This made our chances of getting the cards even more slim. Miraculously, the ticket lady didn't ask us for our ID and gave BOTH of us a Fun Card that worked at the ticket master!! We got in to Sea World for free and we can use the cards all year!

Miracle 2- Last night I was really sad that we didn't have anything planned for Easter. It just creeped up on us, and we didn't invite anyone over for dinner or even get food. So last night, I prayed that I would be able to forgive the situation and not be bitter about it. I also asked Heavenly Father that if He saw fit, that He would inspire someone in the ward to invite us over for dinner so we wouldn't feel left out from celebrating Easter. Well, without any solicitation, we got asked to eat over at the Evans' home tonight!! I was so excited!

Miracle 3- One of the ladies in the young women program was stressed last night because she was preparing her talk for today's Easter service. Suddenly she realized that she was also supposed to teach a lesson in young women. She prayed that something would happen that would allow the lesson to be taught the way it should.

Well, she came into class and saw that I was preparing something on the chalkboard. I had prepared a lesson and didn't know that Jan was supposed to. She was so excited and said that I was an answer to prayer!

Miracle 4- On Thursday and Friday, there were a couple of high speed chases and accidents near both of our workplaces. The one where the police had to kill the mother happened around the corner from my school and one hour before I got there. It is amazing to think that Jeremy and I have been protected on the freeways. We pray for this safety every day and do not take for granted that we return from each commute safely.

Truly "there are miracles all around us just now." All we have to do is recognize them as true tender mercies from the Lord. So since it's the season of Easter miracles, please add a miracle that you have witnessed this past week to our post!!

Big Sis Comes to Town

Desha, my older sister, came to visit us during her spring break a couple of weeks ago. We had a LOT of fun together.

Highlights included yummy food at a fun beach restaurant, walking and talking on the pier, saying goodnight to Desha every morning on my way out to work (yes, she is our night owl), listening to balluga whales sing to us through their glass tank, gorgious sunset in Hollywood, huddling together with Jeremy to keep warm and stay protected from flying trash cans, seeing Saturn's rings, test tasting at the night market and realizing that I'm not the only one that wears scarves, sweathshirts and extra coats to keep warm. I knew it was a genetic thing!

We listened to the balluga whales sing to us for 45 minutes.

Sea World

Griffith Observatory, LA