Oh, I forgot one big event in my update post below. The Holiday Concert! We have a new music teacher at school this year and she organized a great holiday concert! Here are a few from-the-back-row, low-quality videos for your viewing pleasure. Eve was SUPER excited about it and has been singing the songs for weeks now. Lex, on the other hand, was less so. They have been practicing in music class for awhile now, maybe since the beginning of school, and Lex has not been excited. In the beginning he was putting up quite a fuss in music class, telling me he was embarrassed and did not want to go to music class. His poor teacher, a girl fresh out of school, came to me in the lunch room to see if I could help. Apparently he was being a pain in the butt. He and I had a chat that night and we made a deal that if he had top-notch behavior in music class between then and the concert, if he participated and I heard nothing but good reports from the music teacher, then I would let him stay home from the concert. He agreed eagerly and was a model student for the rest of the time. His teacher told me that whatever I said to him had worked because he was a joy to have in class now. I didn’t bother to tell her about our arrangement. He even did well at the stage rehearsal the morning of the concert. That night he was really torn. He wanted to go, wanted to be there, but was nervous. So we made another deal. His teacher was one of the people who were standing behind the risers “just in case” and I told him if he got too nervous he could step off the back of the risers and stand with his teacher. I knew she would be fine with it. She was well aware of his stage fright and had been encouraging him to come and give it a try. He agreed to the deal, got changed into his nice(ish) clothes, and came to the concert. Once there, Eve happily ran to her place on the risers but I had to walk with Lex to his. Inconveniently his class was center stage. Right in the middle, front and center. As we got closer to his spot he got more and more nervous. We ended up stopping a bit away. He was crying and buried his face in me. His teacher saw him and waved him over. A friend came running over to help him along. A sweet friend who’s helped him through nervous times in the past. But no luck, he wanted nothing to do with it. He ended up coming back with me and sitting, very fidgety, on my lap for the whole concert. The place was packed! I would have preferred him on the risers, but you can’t force it.

Here are a few videos of Eve singing, and the rest of the school too! :)

The opening number… (Eve is the kid with the Santa hat towards the middle)

Kindergarten and first started with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Eve is the one in the Santa hat in the middle. She kept pulling the hat further and further down over her eyes. :)

Next up, “I want to be an elf” by kindergarten and first. Eve loves this one and has been singing it for weeks!

Lex’s class sang Frosty and played a song on the “barred instruments.” He’s the kid not in this video. :)

The whole school sang a funny song called “Someone’s in the chimney.” A 4th grader was hiding in a fake chimney and voicing Santa for the song.

And lastly, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, from the whole school.

There was a professional photographer there who I’m sure took much better videos than I did. In fact, he was right in front of us! :) But you can watch these if you’d like. Or not. Merry Christmas from DBS!