o's piano recital...

was soooo much better than i was expecting, if i am being completely honest.  i knew olivia would be AWESOME and totally worth every moment, but i was fully expecting hours upon hours of piano playing. that was not the case at all!!!  ms. ware's students each played one piece and most of them were very short.  total recital time LESS THAN ONE HOUR!!!  if you have ever been to a piano recital you know what a big deal that is.  just another reason why we LOVE our fabulous teacher.  :) it was really fun to watch olivia play for a big audience and do such a wonderful job.  she was TERRIFIC!!

here is the horrible quality video that i took of her BIG performance, but at least you can hear her play...

she was the youngest student, as well as the student who had been taking lessons for the least amount of time (4 months), so she was first up AND got to play a duet with her teacher.

our beautiful, talented, outstanding pianist.  

o and her teacher, ms. ware.

truly, mark and i were so proud of her.  she doesn't LOVE to practice (what child really does), but she does LOVE piano and learning how to play.  she LOVES sitting down at the piano and playing with her daddy.  she LOVES her sweet and encouraging teacher, ms. ware.  she LOVES the feeling of accomplishment when she has to work hard to learn something new and something that does not come easily to her.  it has been such a joy to witness all of these LOVES over the last four months.  can't wait to see what she will accomplish and perform at the next recital.  way to go o!!!

olivia's art gallery...

the second semester of this year olivia had the opportunity to participate in kindergarten REACH.  it is a pull out program once a week for 1.5 hours.  she worked on higher level thinking, problem solving, and also did an in depth study of the brain.  she loved this class and really looked forward to it each week.  the last several weeks the students studied the "creative side of the brain" and several famous artist.   after learning about each artist and the inspiration behind their works of art, the students created their own masterpieces.  on the very last day of her REACH class the parents were invited to view the artwork and take a "gallery walk."

olivia was very proud of her work.  she was able to explain the inspiration of each piece and how it was similar to the famous artists that she was mimicking.  of course, mark and i thought her work was the best!! :)

now these pieces of art are filling the walls of our playroom.  olivia is so proud that her art is on display in our house and they make me smile each time i see them.  i know they will be pieces of art we will treasure forever.