Here a pluck, there a pluck, everywhere a pluck pluck...

I'm about to brag shamelessly.  It's my right as a mom.

Sam has been taking violin lessons for a couple months now, and he just had his first recital last Saturday.  And I think that, like his dad, he's got some real talent, or at least love, for music.

because...

If you tell Sam that his shoes are on the floor, right in front of the TV, he will meander around the den in distress, wailing that he can't can't can't find his shoes.  However, the boy can easily identify all the parts of the violin and the fingerings for all the notes he has learned so far.

If Sam comes anywhere near a dog, or cat, or gerbil, he gets unreasonably terrified.  But he'll calmly stand in front of fifty-plus strangers and pluck his way through "Old MacDonald" like a super hero.

Sam will turn off the Wii without whining(!!!) when I tell him it's time to practicce.  In fact, sometimes the hard part is getting him to stop practicing.

(I forgot my camera...mom fail.., but my friend Hope was there and took some great shots.  Thanks!!)

So what if his stance is all wrong.  So what if his G sounds more like an F.  The kid's got music in his heart, and I love him for it.  Rock on, Sam, rock on.

She's a Sewing Machine

Hannah got her first "for real" sewing lessons from her Sweetie and she's a natural.  She loved it!! Sweetie was proud, Hannah was beaming, and Sarah was flabergasted.  How did my little baby girl grow up and learn to sew?  And how come she's better than me already?!!

Candy always brings out the best in us.

Let me 'splain.  No, there is too much.  Let me sum-up:

Growing up in the Nickel hosehold, Easter was an especially exciting holiday.  The night before (Easter Eve) the Easter Tooth Fairy would come and hide eggs and candy for all the good little boys and girls and then leave a basket by our bedroom doors.  When we woke in the morning we would stand at the threshold of the den like olympic sprinters, eyeing the candy in the open and plotting the best routes around the room until our parents would yawn "okay, go!".  And the mad scramble would begin.  Because there was candy everywhere.

Everywhere.

Door frames.  window sills. couch cushions, lampshades, doorhandles, wedged between vinyl records and books and videocassettes...

And the since whole point of Easter candy is, of course, to-end-up-with-more-candy-than-your-siblings the competition was fierce and merciless.

But, sadly, as we grew older we became more generous.  After all, it's just candy, nothing worth fighting over.  Tim and I started letting Brian find most of the candy.  We were playing nicely.  The Easter edge had been lost.

Until one teenage year (dum dum dum...) when the Easter Tooth Fairy hid money in the plastic eggs.  Imagine, if you will, a nineteen, fifteen, and eleven year old who have all just realized that there is money laying around the house.  It's okay to cringe.

For the next several years, Easter was once again a highly anticipated holiday.  And so, in the spirit of family competition togetherness, I present:

Easter 2011: Nickel style

Sam admiring his loot so far.  

Whoa!  There is candy in between the piano keys!!!

Seriously Dad, I don't have time for pictures.  I've got candy to find.

My favorite picture: getting the candy down from the door frame.  *wipes tear* ah, memories.

No, wait, this is my favorite picture.  Josh did not like all the morning crazy-ness (the tear!!) and just needed his momma to cuddle with him.

It is now two weeks after Easter I we are still finding candy hidden around the house.  I suspect we will continue to find candy until, oh, Halloween.