Second Presbyterian Concert: "A Joyful Song!" 2014

 This was Belle's first concert since being selected as Honor Chorister by her peers, and she was so happy to put the medal around her neck before leaving for Second Presbyterian's NCC concert this past Sunday.

Second Presbyterian in Nashville is a beautiful venue, with simple lines and lovely acoustics.

Both girls were in two separate ensembles.  Pictured above, their ensemble performance of Handel's Angels, Ever Fair and Bright with fellow Honor Choristers Laura C., Laura G., Aly & Caroline.  Not pictured is their solos in Homeward Bound, a family favorite.

Zachary, William, Caleb, James, Caroline and Braden add zesty percussion elements to Cantar!

Mr. Wells takes the director's position for a couple songs.

Our guest accompianist filled Mr. Kyle's place without skipping a beat.

Mr. Josh directs Petit Enfant.

William solos on My Lord, What a Morning!

Aly & Ramone did beautifully in their solo parts during Draw the Circle Wide.

If you want to see the girls' solos, click HERE & HERE.

If you want to see the two parts of the entire concert, click  

Pt. 1 HERE & Pt. 2 HERE.

TWISTER 2014

Something interesting has been discovered about my daughters over the last several months.  They both really...REALLY...enjoy the sciences.  In fact, in this era of it being popular to push girls towards STEM courses and careers, my girls have no need of a "push". They are naturally geared in that direction.  Who knew?  I really thought that their artistic and musical tendencies precluded pursuing STEM (by the way, that is the popular acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics).  Apparently, I've had a blindspot.  Anyway, the beauty of homeschooling is that we can quickly readjust and pursue interests as they become apparent.  In that spirit, we have signed our high schooler up for a number of STEM-for-Women events in Nashville.

Today was her first all-day event--TWISTER--at The Adventure Science Center.  TWISTER stands for Tennessee Women in Science, Technology, Engineering & Research.  Based on survey results from each participant, they broke up into individualized classes.  Moo had hands-on sessions in Aerospace Technology, Social Media, Bioengineering & Veterinary Medicine.  She had an absolute blast.  Also, she made a few friends.  She's pretty good at that. :)

Shooting with Dad

I've noticed that each year closer to dating age that our girls get, there is a direct correlation to the number of firearms owned.  This, to be clear, is initiated by my husband.  But being the egalitarian thinker, he figured he'd get the girls some shooting range experience...so that the hackneyed expressions like: "dad's cleaning his gun again...a young suitor must be on his way", can be altered to include "dad and the girls are cleaning their guns again...".  Very forward thinking, I'd say.

First, there were some basics covered at home:

Then, off to the range.  Both girls did really well, judging from the targets: