Practicing

Our ward has an Annual Pig Roast and Talent Show. Alayna has seen Stacy perform a song for the past couple of years. This year when they announced it in Primary, Alayna pronounced that SHE was going to sing a song on the stage. In order for her to take this seriously we have been having her practice. We don't want her to be the one to get up there and then do nothing no matter how much it seems everyone in the ward would still love her for that.

Following is picture and audio of our practice session, part of our activity for Family Home Evening.



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Don't forget to turn up the volume.

When they announced that the dessert competition would be for the children, Alayna also proclaimed that she would be making brownies.

I Know That My Redeemer Liveth

Stacy sang a beautiful rendition of I Know That My Redeemer Liveth from Handel's Messiah at church this morning. This is not Stacy's favorite song from the Messiah. Stacy does not really like to sing about worms, but she did a great job. I apologize for the amateur recording. I was not able to balance the voice and the piano, but you can still hear Stacy pretty well. Turn up your volumes and click on the play button to hear:

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Since Stacy is also the primary chorister and leaves sacrament to make a beeline to the primary room for the remaining two hours, she did not receive as many compliments on her performance as I did. Some of the excerpts:

"Stacy has a beautiful voice, where did she perform opera before she moved here?"

"If I was lying in a hammock with a cool breeze, I could have drifted off to sleep." (really, that was a compliment, I promise)

"Amazing, where does she take lessons?"

"I hope she sings at the ward talent show again this year."

"How much training did Stacy have?"

"I could listen to her all day. Alayna and Cavell are lucky that they get to hear Stacy all the time."

"Does she sing like that at home all the time?"

Needless to say, Stacy did a great job as usual and really made a positive spiritual impact on the meeting. Even if she was singing about worms.

Cavell Walks!!! . . . with a walker

Cavell has been standing, leaning, pulling himself up, and generally getting ready to walk for nearly four months now. He has been cruising around the sofa and coffee table and gaining speed for a while as well. Last Sunday, he started standing for a few seconds without leaning against something. So we put the walker in front of him to see what he could do. He seems to have mastered it today.

Budding Artist

We have really noticed a change in Alayna's ability to draw. For a long time all she did was make little circles that were usually raisins. Then she graduated to hurricane style shape of concentric , eccentric, circles. Then we noticed that when she colored with pencils or crayons, she was actually coloring in the lines more than outside the lines.

The other day she had a notebook and was pretending to write a list. One of her favorite games is to take a small notepad and 'take your order' while she plays waitress. This time, she was working very hard on her scribbles. When she was done she proudly wanted to show us her giant. We thought you would like to see it as well.


Stacy found a great web page detailing the stages of art/drawing at each age of maturity. It looks like Alayna is right on track.

Please Repeat

After church our Bishop lets the children line up for a piece of candy, and if they recite a scripture or Article of Faith they can have a second. He often has to prompt the children, but was rather impressed when Alayna recited hers with no help.

Alayna reciting the 1st Article of Faith
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For the last week of February it was Alayna's turn to lead the scripture and Article of Faith during Primary closing exercises. Again she needed no prompting and impressed the Primary Presidency, teachers and the Bishop.

Alayna reciting the 2nd Article of Faith
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Alayna reciting her scripture, 2 Nephi 4:15
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