Running and Playing

We are so proud of our boys! Marcus and Ethan ran in the middle school's 5K.  Neither prepared for the race as much as they should have but both did great!  Marcus finished in 3rd place for his age group with a 7:30 minute pace.  I was impressed until he threw up after he crossed the finish line.  He made himself sick trying to beat the other kids, a competitive streak inherited by his father.
Ethan finished the 5K with me and he did it in style.  He dressed up as Batman and was the cutest kid running the race.  People were cheering him on throughout the course and their applause gave him the adrenaline rush he needed to sprint to the finish line.  He ended up winning 1st place for best costume and will be treating the family to a dinner of pizza and ice cream with his gift certificates.

Marcus (far right) bowing after the performance. 

Marcus tried out for the school jazz band and was one of the few 5th graders who made it and was assigned the hardest piano piece to play. I have to give myself a little pat on the back for this one since he's my piano student after all.  By the way, I strongly recommend not teaching your own children music lessons.  It is a battle of wills almost every day.  I've tried so many different approaches and the bottom line is that it's really hard.  I've only stuck it out because I'm not willing to pay someone else to do what I can do.  Now that Marcus and Ethan are past the beginner stage I'm ready to let go.  I've already got them on a waiting list for a piano teacher in Sammamish and can't wait to see how things go.
Anyway, Marcus had a jazz band concert a couple weeks ago and it was so much fun.  The band teacher just gets it.  She knows if she wants the kids to love music they have to play music they love.  They played "Sweet Caroline" by Neal Diamond, a Journey song {I refrained from singing my guts out but it was tough}, Imagine Dragons, and some other stuff, along with their jazz numbers.  Marcus was in his element performing on stage and wasn't nervous at all.  I took a ton of video but I've lost patience trying to get it to upload.  I'll have to try again later.  Grrrrr.