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Buried and Kate's Violin "recital"

Wednesday, January 4, 2012
I am fighting a sinus infection or cold that I cannot kick and mountains of paperwork.  See last year I had it easy.  I only had 2 schools amongst the 3 peanuts and only Kate had a new school.  Now, I am buried under applications.  Harry is in his last year at his school so we are applying to various middle schools.  And Will is about to start high school so we are applying to those schools too. We are VERY lucky to live in a city with some AMAZING public schools.  The beauty of it is that we have these great magnet schools and schools for gifted and talented kiddos that are all application only.  The bad news is that there is a unique and complicated application process for each school.  We are also applying to some all boy Catholic high schools. So, between 2 applicants and lots of options I am going crazy with forms, test dates, teacher recommendations, releases and transcripts.  I am copying papers, filling out applications, writing essays (yes parents have to write an essay on why we think the school is a good fit!).  Finally, I am hand delivering them to each school to be assured they are processed on time with all the documents.  After all this work, I would hate for an application to be missing something and considered void.  So, I might be missing around here for a few days.  Luckily,  I am seeing the light at the end of tunnel and hopefully the boys will have some good options to choose from.

{Note to self--- in 3 short years, Harry will be applying to high school and Will will be getting ready to apply to college...be more organized then!}

In September, Kate joined the strings program at her school.  It is not ideal as they have a very large group lesson for about 45 minutes two times per week.  I think they spend 20 minutes just getting the group in the right places and holding their equipment but nonetheless, it is good exposure. Also, the lessons take place during the school day so I don't have to drive her anywhere!!!  And honestly, we totally drop the ball on practicing.  I am so distracted by homework, daily swim team practice, judo, soccer and ballet that I never remember to tell Kate to practice.  So, in sum, we are kind of shocked that Kate learned any violin this past semester.  

In December, there was a little concert.  It was very cute.  There were two kind of hyper boys in front of Kate so it was nearly impossible to get a decent shot of her playing....

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We videod Kate the day before her concert which was a good thing as we would never have been able to video at the recital...


VERY funny little story.  At the end of the group performance, the teacher asked Kate to stand up for her "solo." Dave and I looked at each other in complete panic.  We were not aware Kate would play alone.  We would have made her practice more (see above!).  Anyway, after a few scary moments (for us, not Kate), the teacher realized it was the other Chinese girl (who is NOT named Kate) that was supposed to have the solo.  I do think it was funny that she confused the two Chinese girls.  There is a lot more I can say about this but I won't.

And in case you were wondering where she gets all this musical talent (he he) from....


P.S. Dave has never played the violin but he plays the guitar and piano. He does help Kate though on the rare occasion she does practice. He might kill me for posting this.

16 comments:

  1. Your family is so talented!! And Kate is so adorable playing the violin!

    On the confusion of the 2 Chinese girls...I was one of 2 Asian girls in my (very) small school growing up. I think I spent most of my elementary school years answering to a different name. Besides dark brown hair and eyes, we looked nothing alike. (I am about 5 inches shorter than the other girl!)

    I know it seems frustrating and incredibly ignorant of the teachers to do this, but my mom tried to have a positive attitude. Now, almost 20 years later, we just laugh about the time that I couldn't borrow a library book because the other girl had an overdue and my mom flipped out on the librarian.

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  2. Wow -- Kate and Dave -- so talented! Really -- good job you two!!

    Good luck with all the applications! That's about a full-time job on it's own. Fingers crossed that it all works out for all of you.

    Feel better!


    janet

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  3. I am sure my mother can empathize with you and the applications, as you know the competitiveness in the Philadelphia area private schools.
    The one thing though, looking back now as an adult, there was a TREMENDOUS amount of pressure to get into these schools as a child. I know boys are different, but I just remember stressing out big time...especially on the testing mornings and when you knew the acceptance letters were mailed out.

    I will most likely send my kiddos to private school, but I don't know how to do it without the pressure.

    (I fortunately chose the RIGHT school for me!)

    Blessings and prayers to your family during this time!

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  4. Your whole application process is oh so similar to ALL the adoption paper work:)
    I love that Kate is taking violin, she is precious!

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  5. Paige --that is funny you mentioned that about the adoption paperwork. i thought that to myself this morning that the last time I felt so overwhelmed by forms/paperwork was our dossier. They are are a ton of work but so worth it.

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  6. Hahaha- This post had me giggling like crazy for some reason! Your little Kate is growing up to be such an elegant little lady! Good luck with all the paperwork... I found out last Sunday that the school my husband and I went to (and where we want Perry to attend) now has an application process that takes a few years in advance to secure your place- and it's a public school! (We would be out of district due to where we live now.) It really freaked me out! :/ Hope you get all that paperwork behind you quickly! xoxo Brooke

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  7. I am so glad you seem patient and understanding about that. Poor Kate was probably nervous, too. But it's not ok. I am sure you even do it at home, "Kate, Will, Scout, Dave, I mean Harry." but you notice it instantly. That's a HUGE mistake in my (teacher currently) book. HUGE.

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  8. So cute:) I bet Kate was just as surprised when her name was called for the solo:).
    Good luck with the applications:)

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  9. That wasn't even fair. When we lived in VA (home to the Dave Matthews Band), I used to fill in for Boyd T in the DMB if he had a solo gig elsewhere on a concert night. Assuming of course I wasn't touring with Clapton that day. Twinkle, Twinkle.... geesh.

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  10. way to go dave!!
    a true Renaissance man!!

    kate is so precious and serious as she plays. i love it!!

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  11. The music was lovely. It's always wonderful to see people trying new instruments.
    I feel your pain with the paperwork and applications. We are going through college choices now and I think we/my daughter has chosen to go with Ole Miss (I hope).

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  12. I don't usually comment, but oh how I love your posts! Your family is absolutely gorgeous and you always have the loveliest things to say and pictures to share.

    Happy New Year to you and yours!

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  13. I almost peed my pants watching the video of Dave! Thanks for sharing . Hope you feel better, not fun.

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  14. Love it.....so Dave is the maestro in the family, huh! Kate looks so precious.....and I can imagine the panic you felt thinking she had to go solo...shame on the teacher, she should know better! I so hope you feel better a sinus infection is not fun, have been there, wishing you well!

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  15. Precious!! .. Kate playing the violin, and Dave too ;)

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  16. Cute! Question- how do you get your videos from vimeo to your blog? Thank you!

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