“Music is God's gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven.” Walter Landor

My sweet little Abby loves music and she loves to dance.  Her daily outfit most often includes a leotard and tutu, of which she owns at least 52.  She loves to put the Nutcracker soundtrack on in her room and twirl around to the sounds of "the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy".  Lucky for her she has full size sliding closet doors that are made entirely of mirrors.

Her latest dancing obsession is playing a Wii game called "Michael Jackson:  the Experience".  She happens to be a big MJ fan--she knows all the words to "Man in the Mirror" and can dance every step in "The Girl is Mine".  But there is one song on that game that scares the crap out of her called "Ghost of Jealousy".  The song itself isn't too scary, but there is one part where the animated MJ turns into a skeleton and a picture of a skeleton face flashes on the screen accompanied by a scary scream.  The past two nights we have spent several hours reassuring her and trying to calm her fears as her sweet, little, impressionable 4 year old mind thinks about this frightening image.  Last night, she cried as I tucked her in and told me she was scared.  I tried to tell her that what she was scared of wasn't real, it was just a game and so on.  I tried to sing funny and happy songs for her to get her mind thinking of something else. Finally, after a flash of what I absolutely consider to be a little prompting from the Holy Ghost, I took my iPod, hooked it up to a speaker and started playing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's (better known in my house as Aunt Amy's choir) "Love Is Spoken Here" album in her room.  I cannot describe to you the sight of the immediate change in her countenance as she heard those first few lines of "I Feel My Savior's Love".  It was so cool.  The whole feeling her in bedroom changed as light dispelled darkness with the sound of those voices.  She finally let me leave her alone in her room and when I checked back minutes later, she was asleep.  This morning as she was eating breakfast she started to think and talk about all the scariness again and asked me if we could please listen to Aunt Amy again?

I have re-learned a couple of things from this experience.  First, the power of light is always greater than the power of darkness.  Sometimes we don't even realize how dark it is around us until we turn on the light.

Second, music is quite possibly the greatest power on earth.  Nothing can evoke emotion from us with such force.  Nothing can influence our actions or our thoughts more than music.  And nothing can push away the powers of evil faster than the power of an uplifting song.

Abby loves chocolate!

Abby, age 4, comes into the room last night with chocolate all over her face after eating a big bowl of chocolate ice cream.  "Abby, what's all over your face?" I say.  She goes to look in the mirror and I follow.  "Chocolate," she pronounces.  She looks in the mirror again.  "Mommy?  Chocolate looks the same as poop!" she says.  I laugh.  She looks at me with a sheepish expression and hurries and adds, "Oh...I'm sorry I said that!"

A conversation

Part of a conversation I had with Seth today while making dinner...

Seth:  "You know what I can't believe?  That people actually used to believe the earth was flat."

Me:  (Not missing a beat because I am used to such observations from Seth), "I know, it's crazy isn't it?"

Seth:  "I mean...that is so dumb."

Me:  ".....mmm hmmm...."

Seth:  "But then NASA came along and proved THAT wrong!"

Yes, I laughed.  Out loud.

This is too hilarious!

My kids are quite possibly the funniest human beings on the face of the earth.

I believe I won't need to explain why after you read the following story that I stole from the blog of my niece, Lauren.  It is well-written and most entertaining.

Interrogation

My cousin, Abby (I think she's three. She may be four. I forget.) walks into the room I am currently residing in. She obviously doesn't notice me, and goes to the corner opposite from where I sit awaiting entertainment that is sure to come. When a toddler walks into a room, thinking they're alone, that is the moment when you should be whipping out your camera. Too bad I did not have one.

She stands for a moment, hands on hips (In a pink tutu and leotard, mind you) and then snatches up a stuffed shark lying like a dead animal on the carpet. She holds it up to her face, staring it down. And then yells.
"You tried to choke me, didn't you Mr. Shark?"
Silence. He must have been frightened to death. She gives him a good shaking to loosen his tongue.
"No choking, Mr. Shark. I will put you in a box and leave you alone."
Silence.
"Did you take my bracelet, Mr. Shark?"
More silence. He's in for it now. She pins him against the wall and holds up her pointer finger.
"Where is my bracelet, Mr. Shark?"
Silence. Ohh...he better talk soon.
"That's it."
Oh he's pushed her too far. She puts both hands around his neck and begins to violently throttle him to death. Finally he decides to talk. (She lowers her voice and begins pitifully crying for mercy in his place)
"Noo...okay, I took it! Don't choke me! AHHHHCCCCCKKK!!!!"
"Too late, Mr. Shark."
She then drops him on the floor, kicks him aside, and tosses her hair over her shoulder. As she turns to leave the pathetic mess of the deceased shark, she finally notices me sitting on the bed. There is a moment of shock at realizing she isn't alone, and then her most innocent smile spreads angelically across her face.
"Hi, Lulu."
"Hey, Abby. Did you get the shark?" I ask.
Silence. She ponders.
"...What shark?" She says.
And walks away.
I have trained her well. 

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Sad, but true...

Ha ha ha!  Isn't this so TRUE?

Every time I wander into this section of the library I am bombarded with the sight of more and more "vampire" books.  While it does not disgust me as much as the picture suggests, it does make me laugh quite a bit.

Bye Bye Birdie!

I realized that I don't write about my boys very often on this blog.  But the fact is--they are amazing.  Maybe I tend to not write about them because they are past the innocent age when they say silly things and run around the house in nothing but their underwear and a blanket tied like a cape around their necks.  Sometimes the silly things make a better story.  But I am going to remedy this error starting today.

If you didn't know, my 15 year old son, Alex, plays the trombone.  He not only plays it, but he plays it well.  He plays in the jazz band at school and loves it with a passion.  I know what you're thinking...junior high jazz band = ear plugs.  But it is not so with this band!  The first time I heard them play I was completely blown away.  I am a big fan of jazz music and I was not expecting this little amateur band to impress me too much.  But I was seriously impressed.  They were so confident and I could tell that they could feel that groove, that vibe that is vital to playing jazz music.  I was screaming and clapping so loud I'm sure I looked like a total idiot, but I couldn't help it!

Last week I had another chance to be blown away by this talented kid.  He is in 9th grade now and has had some great opportunities.  He plays on the school basketball team and gets (almost) straight A's.  But his passion is still music.  His band director asked him to play in the pit for the school's musical, "Bye Bye Birdie".  So he practiced with the band every day after school.  I looked at his music when he started and thought, "Wow!  This is pretty hard stuff.  I bet this is the original score".  Then I went to see him play, but again, not expecting to be seriously impressed.  And again, I was seriously wrong!  They did an amazing job on some very difficult music.  Not only that, but there was only ONE instrument on each part.  Piano, drums, trombone, trumpet, clarinet, bass and an alto sax player who also played the flute and piccolo when needed.  Seven musicians who accompanied a cast of probably 80 kids playing a score for a musical with at least a dozen big numbers, plus all of the reprises and interludes between scenes.  Maybe this is a standard for most junior high schools, but I was impressed yet again.  I haven't even mentioned that the musical itself was FAN-freaking-tastic!  What a great job the kids did.  And of course, to Alex, it was all "no big deal".  I really don't think he gets how awesome he is.

But that could just be my extremely prejudiced opinion.  :)