Kids' Market

Each year our elementary school (Meriwether Lewis Elementary) holds a Kids' Market where the children come to sell things that they have made. The first year we did this, Caleb was in the 1st grade and the only Harris boy in school.  He was totally into paper airplanes at the time, so he made a few for an example and then took blank unfolded paper to offer up his folding skills for $.25/plane.  The next year both Caleb and Liam were at Meriwether - in 2nd and kindergarten - and we decided to give cinnamon rolls a try.  In order to make it a legitimate kids' market item, I make the dough before they get home from school and they help roll out the dough, make the filling, and frost them. The two trays of cinnamon rolls we brought that year were sold for $1.50 each and were gone within the first hour.  After that we decided two things:  1) we were not charging enough, and 2) we needed to make more.

So in the ensuing six years the Harris boys have sold homemade cinnamon rolls (most people from the South call them cinnamon buns) and started charging $2.50 each.  Yet, despite increasing the number of pans from two to four we are still selling out before the night is over.  We have many repeat visitors, mostly teachers and staff, who are giddy when we arrive and request them to be wrapped up for the next morning. Then there are the kids who pull money out of their own little wallets to enjoy them right then and there.  One little boy this year was pulling money out of his velcro camouflaged wallet and picked one that was nearly as big as his face.

I'm embarrassed to say how much they made this year, but being that they only had to split the earnings two ways for the first time (since Liam has moved on to middle school), it was quite the haul.

Here is the boy with his velcro wallet.  His sister was the first to buy one, then his mom, and then he made his way over!

Fall 2013 Soccer

The first half of soccer season #7 has finally taken its winter break and being that we are opting out of basketball again this season, we are free from weekly sports practices and games until March!  This has been a busy fall season, with the four boys on four different teams.  But it's also the first year in many that Jared isn't coaching one of the boys' teams, which has helped with the logistics.  Each week there are a sum total of 8 practices - teammate carpooling has saved us - and each Saturday we try to figure out how to get to 4 games, which was no small feat now that Caleb is playing travel soccer.  Remarkably, so far we have managed to handle the games on our own with the exception of one weekend when Jared was traveling to Illinois and I had to farm Liam out to another teammate.  During this fall season I have also made 4 double batches of Rice Krispie Treats per request when we are assigned to bring snacks for that week's game. Who would have thought at 41 I would have mastered such a delicacy!  This was the first season I remember where we only had one week of rain which cancelled practices and games.  Usually I can count on a handful of cancelations...something the parents secretly enjoy.

We'll start with Jonah who is playing in a U10 (10 and under) Recreation league and his favorite position is goalkeeper. The first time he played that position he let in two goals, but blocked a couple as well.  I thought for sure he would come undone after missing the first goal, but he didn't seem phased in the least.  Nor did he seemed bothered when he let the second goal in and after the game he came up to me so proud wondering how I thought he did.  Of course I thought he did great, but I was even more impressed that he was able to brush off the goals he let in and keep working to block any he could.  Jonah is quite an aggressive player and never fears the bigger kids due to all the play time he gets in the back yard with the big brothers, and also from "playing up" into U10 Rec last spring with Gavin.

Jonah's two twin buddies are usually at Liam's game as they have a big brother who plays on the team with Liam.  Here they are sitting on top of the twins car chatting about who knows what and eating snacks.  Life doesn't get much better than this for a 7yr old!

Gavin is playing on a U10 Challenge team - his first time playing "select" soccer requiring a tryout (one level up from Jonah).  The difference is, he now has two practices per week (like Liam) and they get a more professional shirt, shorts and socks to boot.  He's fast on the field and good with his foot work.  The tongue is the key!  It's never inside the cage.... always as active participant in any of Gavin's activities.  He's had a bit of a rough go with a coach that has been our least favorite coach in all of our years of soccer, but Gavin has kept a positive attitude and tried his best with this team.

Liam has had a terrific season with his U12 challenge team.  He's playing with a few kids from his team last year and they are all amazing athletes and good friends too.  They happen to be the oldest ones on the team and at first Liam was unsure if the younger kids were going to be an asset or hold them back.  But they have turned out to be a really strong team with mostly ties and wins, which compared to last year - when the only games they won the entire season were in the tournaments when they took the trophy (classic underdog story) - is a huge improvement. Liam is a tenacious fighter on the field, always trying to anticipate where he needs to be and unwilling to give up when it's a one on one fight for possession of the ball.  He and his teammates have great passing skills, a sign of a more advanced team, making me wonder if they are not actually a secret travel team.

Caleb is playing travel for the first time on SOCA's U14 Classic team which means most of his games are within 30-45 minutes of Charlottesville and there was only one regular season Sunday game to miss (as well as a few Sunday tournament days).  It has been a fantastic experience.  This team started out with boys who for the most part had never met, but before mid-season they had bonded so well they were setting up times to hang out (or whatever middle schoolers call "play-dates") when they weren't playing soccer together.  Caleb loves playing striker and is fantastic at making beautiful cross passes and he's also the designated corner kick guy. Caleb is not as aggressive on the field compared to his brothers, but his strength is in his calculated moves that shift the ball to where it needs to go, and he does a great job communicating with his teammates on the field. 

In the beginning of the season, I knew we'd need to have the conversation with his coach about missing Sunday games and I was a little nervous about it.  The week before, one of Caleb's friends from our ward who was also playing Classic had a tough experience with breaking the news to his coach.  Imagine my relief when I walked over to Coach Paul to talk with him about missing Sunday games to have him tell me it wouldn't be a problem at all, after all there was only one scheduled Sunday game and two tournaments.  He then went on to tell me what a great leader and positive teammate Caleb was on the team.  I was relieved to not have been berated over missing Sunday games like my friend was, and to learn that Caleb was already shining.  

1924 Steinway Grand

At long last, our rebuilt 1924 Steinway & Sons model "M" grand piano arrived, and wow has practicing turned into a more fun and festive activity.  The afternoon it arrived (last Thursday, November 14), Gavin and Jonah watched in awe as the movers brought the instrument into the house and set it up.  But more priceless was watching the older boys an hour later, breathless from the bus stop and driveway, burst in to the house, drop their school backpacks at the door, and rush to the new instrument.  Everyone wants to play the Steinway!  This is quite a turnabout from the boys' previous preference for the privacy of practicing downstairs on the Roland electronic - - where both their fascination with the synthesizer sounds and the opportunity to be away from Mom's listening ears trumped the Kawai.  But no more!  Everything has changed in an instant with this beautiful rebuilt instrument in our house.  No one can seem to get enough.  And the sound.....how to I describe it: clear and precise and FULL and wow, when the lid comes up the volume alone is astounding!!

Here's Jared's description: "There's something incredible about the clarity and feel and range and responsiveness and tone of this piano. Months ago, last summer when we initially started to look around for a grand, we made the drive down to the Richmond home/workshop of Alexander Brusilovsky, a Russian piano restorer extraordinaire recommended by our piano tuner/technician David Weiss. We spent over an hour looking at a beautiful restored 1920 Baldwin in his basement. Although we thought it was lovely, I confided that - unlike how qualified I feel in assessing an acoustic guitar - I'm probably not a good enough pianist to really know how to judge them, or even how to distinguish their sound and playability. (I told Jodi 'The Baldwin sounds great... but so does our Kawai...') We were unsure what to do, and told Alex that we would think it over. But as we were making our way out, I spied the Steinway in his front room, and sat down to play it on a whim... and something happened. In David Weiss's words, the instrument 'spoke to me'. It was like magic, like electricity coursing through me. It was different. I had never felt anything like this, playing a piano, before. And although we spent several weeks afterward deliberating and 'deciding' - analyzing our budget, taking the boys down to Richmond to play it, weighing out the pros and cons - the truth is, the decision was essentially made in those first moments of playing the piano. It was like that scene in the first Harry Potter movie, when Harry gets matched up with his wand. I couldn't even sleep that night, thinking about the piano and how it sounded and felt! So in the end the decision was easy, and a fitting expression of our values - music is a high priority at our house!"

I'm so often moved by what they are playing on piano or their strings, and I can't imagine our lives without the beautiful music these boys make. Others are moved too; Gavin had a belated birthday party last Friday, the day after the Steinway arrived, so when parents were coming to get their kids we pulled a couple of the lingering parents into the music room to hear Gavin play. He played an original piece that no one knew was his composition until he was finished, and there were tears in the eyes of our friends. Tears! Music stirs the soul like nothing else and it fills our home and it fills my soul.

As a practical matter, having the Steinway has changed a few things.  For instance, I can no longer have a conversation on the phone if someone is playing unless I leave the main floor....I've been opting for the garage!  It has also influenced who practices what, and when. In the past, a normal scene in the early evening might find one of the boys on piano in the music room with the French doors closed to muffle some of the sound, and someone else practicing cello in the adjoining room.  (But not violin...violin has always needed it own room, upstairs or downstairs, with the door shut tight!)  This overlapping routine came to a sudden halt as we realized the number of decibels the new piano was putting out. So the eight daily music practices now pose a bit more of a logistical challenge, and take longer to get through.  But the upside is clear: they love their time on the piano more now than ever before, and since the Steinway arrived they have even asked during a few of their practices if they can play a little longer!  (Whereas in the past, the boys were asking me every 5-10 minutes what time it is on the clock, and I tried, not always successfully, to patiently remind them that they have ears to hear the buzzer when the timer goes off...)  Although practicing can be difficult and tedious at times, I am so proud of how they continue to work hard at developing their musical talents and gifts... and it doesn't hurt to have a nice instrument to practice on. 

Here are some descriptive details from Alexander, that I want to record and remember:

- The piano is a 5'9" Hamburg Steinway M, originally built in 1924.  In its rebuilt form it is truly a world class instrument. 

- Alex gave it a "full scale" rebuilding, including a new pinblock (from Delignit, Germany), strings (Roslau, Germany), tuning pins, damper felt (Laurex, France), state-of-the-art composite action including shanks and wippens specifically designed to retrofit vintage Steinways (Wessel, Nickel and Gross, USA) and new hammer head (Abel, Germany).

- The action was meticulously analyzed for optimization of geometry, and as a result, the keys have minimal lead weights in them (no more than 1.5 to 2 lead weights in the base of the keys, remarkably light).  This makes the action very light and fast.  According to Alex, it will "overplay any piano virtuoso on the planet."

- Alex made an entirely new soundboard, crafted in the manner traditional for that period - a compression-type soundboard with ribs from Sitka spruce, sugar pine, and red cedar, with new bridges.

- The plate was refinished and precisely elevated on new acoustic dowels.

- The key frame and original ivory and ebony keys were rebuilt with new felt. 

- The cabinet was refinished in a tradition-for-the-period hand-rubbed ebony laquer.

- Originally the piano had two pedals, but Alex added sostenuto mechanism and a third pedal ("now you can play the French impressionists!"

In other words, it's an amazing instrument, a one of a kind.  I know there will come a time when this piano will get passed on in our family, and all I can hope for is that you boys remember one thing: it's just a piano and you are brothers.  In the meantime, it's thrilling to hear you play and develop your talents on this amazing new instrument in our home.

Youth Orchestra of Central Virginia

A few nights ago, Caleb and Liam played in their Fall orchestra concert.  This is the first time Liam has played in the Evans group (mostly middle schoolers) after playing for two years in Junior Strings (mostly elementary school kids).  Several weeks before the concert they have seating auditions and Liam was placed as the 2nd chair in 2nd violin and Caleb was 3rd chair in cellos. This was great because it meant that they were sitting at the end of their rows and we had a clear view of them from our seats.  It's always amazing to me to watch them perform so flawlessly after only 6-7 rehearsals.  Mr. Brubaker is a fantastic and fun conductor and the kids all have a great time.

The boys get a little embarrassed (especially Caleb) when Jared is walking around on  stage shooting photos of them.....but I told them the kids just think he's the orchestra photographer, which in a sense he is because they love his pictures!  The color is so crisp and clean, I love it.

In January Gavin will start back up with Junior strings, so more concerts to come!

Farewell to a Trusted Friend

This week we said good-bye to a part of our family that has been with us for nearly 7 years.  We bought this beautiful ebony Kawai at a piano dealer in town when we left our old freebie back in Minnesota.  I was sold on the sound of the Kawai pianos when Caleb was taking his first Suzuki lessons at the McPhail School of Music in Saint Paul when he was 5 years old.  Their sound is rich and deep and ours was no exception.  The boys have spent hours on this instrument getting frustrated when their little fingers wouldn't move the way their head was telling them to,  making up tunes about food I made they didn't like, playing all sorts of pop songs from Adele to Van Halen,  mastering pieces for festival and recital performances, but of all their time on the piano my favorite had been to listen as they create their own pieces.  There have been so many times when I hear them working on a song and I go in to watch them play only to find out there is no music in front of them and that the piece is their own creation.  I always laugh out loud in surprise and wonder and grab the video to capture what was happening despite their protest to being filmed.

The piano is moving to Northern Virginia to a family with two small girls who are just starting out on their own musical adventure.  But I suppose I need to explain why on earth we would sell this piano, but coming this week is a rebuilt 1924 Steinway Grand that we bought 6 months ago.  We needed some extra time to save up for this pricey addition and the Russian man who rebuilt it was good enough to keep it in his home with the other 6-8 Steinways he's working on.  It will be a tight squeeze next to the cellos, guitars, violins, and djembe but everyone is excited to finally bring it home.

Halloween 2013

Somehow we managed to get very few photos of the kids this year from Halloween, but for the record 3 of the 4 dressed up and went trick or treating.  Caleb retired this year and opted to stay home to get homework done when plans with his friends fell apart at the last minute.  Jonah's twin friends and their mom joined us (me, Jared, Gavin and Jonah) in our neighborhood and Liam ventured out with his friends and he managed to pack in a whopping 10.9 # of straight sugar and fat!  When Gavin compared his measly 4# to Liam's load, he announced that he  definitely wanted to go to the neighborhood Liam blitzed next year.  I've offered to buy back the candy at a buck a cup, but so far I've had no takers.........

They did all dress up at the ward Trunk or Treat the night before.

Liam as Napoleon Dynamite.  He does a spot-on impression of classic movie lines that never fail to make me laugh.

Jonah: Calvin and Hobbes.  Caleb: last minute Zorro from several year ago.  Liam: Napoleon Dynamite.  Gavin: Aragorn from Lord of the Rings (or maybe Legolas noting the bow made by G'pa Harris in his hands).