Review: Piano Pass by LessonFace

We have been so excited to try out the Piano Pass by LessonFace! We began with a short one-on-one lesson for Baby Doll. We accidentally signed up for this lesson without understanding that the teacher we chose taught Piano Pass lessons, but her individual lessons were not included. She graciously agreed to give Baby Doll a 15-minute lesson just so she could get started.

I was amazed at how much she could learn in just 15 minutes!

Our first real Piano Pass lesson was for Curly. We had trouble figuring out how to sign on (remember that I am technically challenged...), and when we finally had it all up and running, he was about 10 minutes late. The classes are basically taught over Zoom and his teacher, Beverly, was helpful and caring. It was a group lesson and there were two other kids in the class besides Curly.

We liked Beverly right from the start. She was so patient with me when I realized that I had not printed all of the packets and she waited while I headed to the office to complete the task. Within minutes, Curly was playing Mary Had a Little Lamb and Jingle Bells. She even gave him an extra 10 minutes when all was over to make sure he got every minute. 

I highly recommend this program and particularly Beverly Cashin as a teacher. Our only problem with this awesome system is that there are not very many classes taught later in the day for beginners although they assure me they are adding new classes all the time and that should be remedied quickly. 

Curly has never been interested in learning the piano since he already plays the tenor sax, but he has been practicing all week and looking forward to his second lesson tomorrow. 

I'm sure that you could find the ideal teacher for you or a family member on LessonFace as well. Just click here and you can easily begin your search. I'm so glad we did! It's a great way to beat those January blues. Check out this fun video made by LessonFace.

Christmas Day

We had an awesome low-key Christmas Day even though that seemed to annoy several of our children. 

But first things first...

We had Puppy Lover and Dog Walker staying with us as well as Drama Queen. Crafty is also home from BYU, but she has been since Thanksgiving. 

As usual, Santa spoiled the kids and so did we. Lots of Legos, clothes, and new headphones for almost everyone.

It was so much fun!!

My sweetie and I headed back upstairs for a nap while the kids just hung out.

We broke with tradition and didn't cook a big meal. That was disappointing to some of the family members, but a much easier day for me since my back was acting up.

We finished up with a fun and rousing game of Apples to Apples. It was a fantastic day. How was your Christmas?

Christmas Eve

We had an awesome Christmas Eve! My sweetie and I drove south to see Princess and The Frog and their cute little ones. I love driving around with Santa Sweetie!!

He gave each of the kids a gift.

They were so excited!!

Afterward, we drove home where Bossy and Gamer were working on a huge feast!

Drama Queen even made a delicious tres leches cake with tons of berries. Dog Walker made a bunch of cookies. It was a great way to prepare for the jolly old elf to visit.

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Christmas Adam

Our December 23rd or Christmas Adam as we call it, was absolutely amazing! My sweetie is always looking for something new and different for us to do and this year he outdid himself. Have you ever been axe throwing??

Crafty was the only one of us with any experience, but the assistant at Heber Hachet Axe Throwing in Provo did an awesome job teaching us what to do.

All 8 of us living at home got to play, even Grandpa! As an 85-year-old guy, he impressed us all. He is still very fit and a natural athlete, so I don't know why I was surprised.

After a couple of hours and two tounaments later (Sport and my sweetie were the winners!), we dropped a gift at my sister’s house and then made our way to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.

My kids love that place!

We had planned to see the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork, but with literally hundreds of cars in line, we opted to just drive around and see what we could see.

Our last stop was for a quick bit of ice cream at Brooker's Founding Flavors in Vineyard. It was our first time there, so Sport put Curly in the stocks...

Silly boys.😉

All in all, my sweetie did a pretty great job with our celebration, don't you think?

Christmas in Color

We had SO much fun at Christmas in Color tonight even though we ended up waiting in line for about 30 minutes to see all the lights since our timeslot had been sold out. 

Bossy's family (except for Gamer) came with us and we were a full van of 12. (Sorry about the bad pic.)

I just realized that I only took 3 actual pics for you since I spent a good part of my time sending Marco Polos to my kids who couldn't be with us. 

I was hoping to brighten things up a little for all of us, but mostly for our sweet Teach who is so far away in New Jersey. Her body has rejected the tiny life they saw on the ultrasound less than 2 weeks ago. We are all grieving with her but we know the Lord has a bigger and better plan for us than we know.

Please send prayers and warm thoughts for her little family.

Hope for the Holidays Tonight on Channel 2 - KUTV (Utah)

Hey, watch this show tonight and keep an eye out for our family! We show up twice; once under the hand-washing challenge and again in the finale with all the tiny zoom cubes. 

Honestly, we haven't seen it yet either, but we have been told that we can be seen in both places. Let me know what you think!

Christmas Concerts 2020

You are probably wondering why I even brought up the idea of concerts during this Covid Christmas season. The elementary school filmed each kid separately playing their own little holiday song including Baby Doll, but we were forbidden from sharing. 

The middle school bands filmed their concerts at school and we are still waiting to see them. The only concert that actually felt like the real thing was at the high school.

You probably remember that Sport is a senior this year and he plays the trumpet in Bingham's top band, the Wind Symphony.

They did a fantastic job playing all of their Christmas songs as well as the ones planned for the fall concert that was cancelled. 

That blond head in the middle is Sport. I'm so glad we had the chance to enjoy one live concert this year anyway. Here's to more success, good health, and music in 2021.

Christmas Letter 2020

Dear Friends & Family, 

It has been a rough year for our world and no different here at home although many good things have happened. Not all of Curly’s baseball tournaments were cancelled. We had a fun trip to Idaho and another to St. George so he could play. Baby Doll got to dance in her Spring Recital, but only because our director erected a temporary stage in her parking lot so people could stay distanced. Scout played in a couple of volleyball tournaments before they shut everything down. Dog Walker managed to graduate from UVU with his BS in University Studies and they had a drive-through graduation and a big party afterward. Honestly? Best.graduation.ever!

In July, Teach and Twiz and their little family moved to New Jersey. The transition was difficult for all of us. They are now expecting a little one in July. Bossy and Gamer are also having another boy in February! We added one new grandbaby this year. Princess and The Frog’s daughter, Duchess, was born in October. We didn’t get to see her until the first part of December since our family contracted COVID-19 about that same time. Everyone came through with flying colors, even my 85-year-old dad who lives with us.

After 5 months, Crafty came home with the rest of the missionaries from the Philippines. She is taking a year of classes at BYU and then plans to return to her mission next summer when we hope COVID will finally be under control. Prima Donna continues to be a free spirit.

My sweetie works at home as does Crafty, Bossy, The Beast, Beauty, and Drama Queen. Sport struggles a bit with the changes during his senior year at Bingham. He had hoped to go to a dance or two and run his clubs, but he was chosen to be the Sterling Scholar in FACS, so that was pretty huge. He also received his Eagle Scout Award in an outdoor ceremony 6 months from the date we originally had planned the end of March. Scout is the only one on a hybrid schedule; all the others go to school 4 days a week.

Curly got a whole season of football and The Beast’s oldest son, Little Warrior, wanted to come with us to every game. We have had lots of time with their family this year and I have loved getting to know their boys better. Drama Queen has been amazing at helping the kids with homework. We don’t love wearing masks, but having church at home was a learning experience for all of us. We discovered that the size of the congregation didn’t matter as long as we were serving God.

We have had lots of time together! We learned to play spikeball and pickle ball. We took a trip to New Mexico with the kids and my sweetie and I went by ourselves to Oregon in November and last January on a work trip to San Diego. We also spent a week in Park City while my sweetie refinished our floors.

We will all be so grateful when things finally return to a little more normal. We miss seeing family and friends. We hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year.

 

Love from Twelve Makes A Dozen

Christmas Performance 2020

So many things have been canceled because of COVID-19, that we held our breath right up until it was time to drive to the school for the performance. There were so many restrictions! The kids had to wear masks until the moment they stepped onto the stage. Audience members had to have 3 seats between family groups and masks, of course.

But once the kids were on stage, they all just looked so excited to be there, you would never have known we had a pandemic raging. Baby Doll danced with three groups this year. This is her jazz class class and she is 2nd from the left.

For her ballet class, the girls wore their own Christmas dresses. She is on the front row with the cornflower blue skirt and white top.

She did an amazing job as usual. Only 4 of us were allowed to watch her from the school, but because they streamed the video, even Teach watched her from New Jersey!

Baby Doll's last dance was her tap class. We were especially excited for this one because Curly is also in that class! He didn't dance last year, so he had some catching up to do, but after a few weeks, it was like he never stopped.

So proud of these two!!

Gingerbread Houses

A few years ago, Bossy wanted to start a new tradition. She wanted to get everyone together the evening of the Christmas Devotional and make gingerbread houses.

Now obviously, with the pandemic, we weren't able to get everyone here, but she arranged for people to bring soup, my sweetie made bread, and everyone brought their own house kits and some extra candy.

We had so much fun!

Look how cute they turned out.

My sweetie and I made a lighthouse in honor of our trip to Oregon last month.

It looks like my photographer missed a couple of people. But Bossy, Drama Queen, and Scout all made amazing houses as well.

This one is probably Scout's.

We all hope you have a Merry Christmas and a sweet new year!