Piano Recital/Miss Amy Farewell

Our beloved piano teacher of the last 8 years is moving, and we had our final recital with her yesterday. Tears were shed and hugs given. She has been a great blessing to us and will surely be missed!

Gloria played her 2 songs from the solo festival




This was Mariana's finale in piano, as she will be moving on to voice lessons


And Allia played 2 of her pieces from the scholarship competition as well as the solo festival

Watermelon girl

Pawpaw likes to buy watermelon and share some with us. Cecilia has joined the ranks of the watermelon lovers (which also includes Stephen, Sebastian and Mariana).

Fine Arts Showcase

The school that Allia attends one day a week had their fine arts showcase last night. Her dance/etiquette class performed a few dances. It was fun to see all they learned, and as a bonus we saw one of her swim friends sing a couple of solos too!
Foxtrot

Confirmation!!! (and a swim meet)

We celebrated Allia's confirmation Saturday evening after a rehearsal and prayer vigil Friday night. Lito and Lita came into town for the occasion so we were able to celebrate with Grandparents and Godparents. She chose her Godmother as her sponsor. It was a beautiful mass, and we all went out to dinner together afterward.

All dressed and ready to go

Mass begins

Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit

It was a big group!

She opened gifts while we waited for the food. She received the privilege to get her ears pierced!

She was very happy! Lito and Lita gave her some beautiful OLG earrings for the occasion!

With her wonderful, faithful Godfather and Godmother/Sponsor!

As if that wasn't enough for a weekend, she also had her first swim meet of the season and really wanted to swim in it. So Austin and Lito went to watch her Saturday morning, and myself, Lito and Gloria went Sunday morning. She swam well and made some good times!

Park Days

The weather has been so nice. We are enjoying our park days, especially these little climbers!

 And just for fun a picture of Manah and Gloria after mass Saturday...they were dressed like twins (and Gloria does look a lot like Manah's family!).

4H officer

Allia was elected Treasurer of their 4H club tonight. Yay! There was also a talent show that we didn't know about...hopefully the girls can participate next year.

Piano Competition

Allia played in a higher level piano competition today for a chance to win a scholarship to a summer music camp. It is reknown in this area as being a tough competition, judged by music professors from Texas Colleges with music departments. She played well, received a lot of great feedback, and earned 3rd place, which gives her a partial scholarship. They played on a beautiful Yamaha concert piano at a local church. I really enjoyed listening! (but I can't share because I was not allowed to record).

 

Our beloved piano teacher of the last 7 years is moving next month. We will really miss Miss Amy!

And more Easter

Anastasia and Sebastian received some fun gifts from their Godparents...

 

 

 And Anastasia joins the ranks of reading to her siblings! So proud of her!

More Easter

Everyone was off school Monday, so we had some fun with friends Easter Monday. Austin had the day off as well because of a breakout of phytophotodermatitis on his hands. :/ It was nice to have him home too despite the painful circumstances!
Water balloon fun

 

Happy Easter!

We began the triduum with the Mass of the Lord's Supper. Cecilia behaved so well that it was a beautiful experience. The liturgy was amazing, and I really felt like I was able to pray well in the mass..such a blessing! Then we did some cooking on Friday morning, and I had a rare experience of being able to go shopping with Manah on my own for some last minute Easter outfit items. Then we headed to Veneration of the Cross in the afternoon. Pawpaw stayed with Cecilia and Sebastian napping. So it was another nice, prayerful experience!

Austin made Saltenas, a tradition from his grandmother and a lot of work!

 Saturday, the kids colored eggs with Manah, we did more cooking, cleaned up and then went out to dinner so as to preserve the house for Easter!

 

 The 3 girls cleaned and set up/decorated the dining room Saturday afternoon. They did such a lovely job!

 Easter morning mass was beautiful, and so were all the kids!

 Home to open Easter baskets

 

 Several of the kids were super sweet and made surprise baskets for Austin and I. They are so thoughtful and generous!!!

Then we had some Ecuadorian friends over for lunch and Easter Egg hunting.
Sebastian looked like Spiderman climbing the fence to get an egg!
Ceviche, an Ecuadorian dish Austin likes to make

 Fanesca, an Ecuadorian dish our friends brought

Saltena, pulled pork that Austin smoked, and Molo (Ecuadorian dish from our friends)

 

 We had a nice quite dinner with Pawpaw and Manah to finish off the weekend. Now, for 7 more days of celebrating! :)