Tiger Mom

I know you're all dying to hear more about the bathroom remodel that is consuming my life, right? Oh, wait. You're probably not all that interested. But it's still consuming me so I had to dig deep into my brain to come up with something other than bathroom drama to post about. But it starts with a little bit of the remodel process so bear with me. James, aka handyman/newest member of the family, has been here every day for three weeks. Naturally we have gotten to know each other pretty well after eating lunch together almost daily and he may not know each of my boys by name, but he recognizes their voices and who does what as he can't help but overhear the noise of our household.
It got me to thinking about what his impression of our family is. Think about it. He's like a fly on the wall, hearing and sometimes seeing everything that goes on. And since a lot of my friends have hired him I bet he's got a lot to say about what he observes from house to house. Believe me when I say I do not have the courage to hear what he has to say about his impressions of the inner workings of the Ball household. I am very certain I can't handle that truth!  But I did ask him if he thought our house was loud and without hesitation he said, "Oh yeah!" One afternoon he commented on how my boys sound really good on the piano. {He overhears Marcus and Ethan practicing in the afternoons and a little bit of Landon when he arrives in the morning.} I laughed and explained that if our boys want to play sports they have to play the piano as well and they aren't allowed to quit until they can play the hymns in the hymn book. "It's a battle," I said.
James laughed and imitated me, "Do you know how much I pay for your lessons? You're going to practice and you're going to practice right!"
I cringed. I had no idea I say that so much to my boys that I'm quotable. It makes me wonder what other little gems he's overheard through his time here. Ugh. So to make me feel slightly better about my inner tiger mom, here are a couple videos from the boys piano recital a few months ago. Now that Marcus and Ethan finally have a teacher other than me, they had their very first official piano recital. Ethan was cute and adorable, and Marcus flew through his song with the same speed and agility he shows on the soccer field. I am proud of both of them and anxiously counting down the days until I don't have to pay for Marcus's lessons anymore. He's got a handful of hymns under his belt so he's well on his way to the finish line. Hooray!

OK, watching kids perform at a piano recital is super boring so here's an old youtube clip from the archives that will make up for it. It's Randy and I performing kareoke in Japan. Man, we've got skills!
A link to the original post is here.