Fin-Tastic Piano Recital

Okay, so another recital is in the books. I'm not gonna lie. I crushed it, and rightfully so as I practiced probably 15-20 hours per week, in total.

Here's me in my office, just working it.

My first song was a little bit of an awkward song from a timing standpoint, but that didn't really bother me.

If that video didn't play for you, you can go to the video by CLICKING HERE.

The second song was a duet with Miss Victoria. This one is called Tennessee Traveler and although I rushed one note and was a beat ahead of her near the end, she caught up seamlessly and I don't think anyone really noticed. I had so much fun up there playing, it was fantastic.

Back-up video for Tennessee Traveler duet can also be seen by CLICKING HERE.

Oh, and then we did this, which was really fun. We took a picture with Nadia after she and I got done with the recital... and then I had my photo editor go back and pull a few photos from previous years of us so you can see how much we've grown. Kinda fun.

Then...

Now...

Whew! Okay, well, that was a lot of fun. Four more days of school and I'll no longer be a second grader!

Mae Can Actually Play

So you know the drill by now - it's damn near impossible to get Mae to do anything in front of a crowd. Although, 2016 has been the year of progress. Ice skating, soccer, she's been coming along a bit.

But this one we thought was a no brainer, and by that I mean you'd have to have no brains to think she'd actually get up on stage and play the piano.

Maybe the photos tell a different story though... Here's her up on stage with her fellow pianists, but one might say that maybe she didn't even get up there and play, she just landed in a photo of the group.

Then you could look at this photo and say maybe she just got a picture with her piano teacher and me but never played a note.

Oh, but you'd be mistaken!!

Mae took the stage and played "Little Indian Brave" followed by "Gus the Groundhog," which was a duet with Miss Victoria.

Here's the catch: We don't have video of it because Dad was so blown away that she was up there he didn't even hit record or something like that. And then when he realized it he didn't want to fiddle with his phone because he didn't want to miss Mae playing, so here's basically what we got of her... just her walking off the stage. It's good enough for the record books, though, she did it!!

5k A-Okay!

So I ran my first 5k today (3.2 miles), which was amazing. It was a big fundraiser for St. Helen so we showed up in droves.

We run in gym, most of the time 2.5 miles or so, but it's much different running around a gym vs. a cross country trek through Humboldt Park on a windy, 45-degree morning.

Got to the start line with my homegirls, Shea and Olive.

And then we were off and at it. Mom and I ran the whole way together, we lost Shea and Olive along the way somewhere, but we picked up my friend Piper, who is in the third grade. She ran with mom and me the whole way and then she and I picked it up towards the end and crossed the finish line together.

You can see the time on the clock says 34 minutes and four seconds so I ran about 10.5-minute miles, which I thought was pretty good for my first shot at it.

Mae and Pax went in the double stroller with Dad. Pax yelled out along the way, "Dad, this is AWESOME!" and Mae just took it all in... when she wasn't being carried around by Olive.

She decided she'd like to run next time, but just a mile, so we're going to sign up for a couple more runs.

Me? I can't wait to get back at it. Piper's dad asked me to join their runners club and I think I might have found a new home out on the trail!

Oh, and don't forget my wingmen.

The Little Duck Turns 3

So there's a lot going on in this next batch of photos. Let me lay it out for you:
1. Pax actually has something on that is not a t-shirt and sweatpants on, Juliana was able to get him looking nice for his big day.
2. Pax actually has a shirt on, at all.... not very common as I might have told you.
3. Pax actually was posing for pictures, so as you'll see, we just took big advantage of it.

Without further ado.

Oh, and this is Juliana, not sure if I've ever introduced her to you all. Pax started just calling her Julie out of the clear blue about 8-10 months ago and that kind of stuck. These two are truly inseparable, and it's no secret why if you spend ten minutes around them.  She just loves him to death and the feeling couldn't be more mutual from him back to her. Amen for the people who come into our lives and take such great care of me, the middle dog and the little duck.

And we'll wrap this thing with Pax unwrapping a few things.

Happy Birthday to my best little buddy in the whole wide.

First Time for Everything

Like getting communion.

I had my first communion today and I think the thing people said the most to me was actually, "Finley! I've never seen you in a dress before!"

My photo editor needs to get some more photos from his backup photographer but here are a few that we got:

First, let's start with the star of the show, c'est moi.

Then came the ceremony. I had a nice little speaking part but Mabel had a rough night the night before so Dad was sitting down with her on his lap sleeping and missed seeing it.

The whole crew was there (from left to right) - Papa, Nana, Eli and Zaya, Grandma and Grandpa. Loved the support from everyone.

Then afterward it was photo time. Here's the group shot, including the Pope himself!

Besties - Olive and Shea

Double Besties - Mom and dad... looking sideways.

My favorite teacher in the whole wide world, Miss Lozon.

And one more shot of the Big Dog, on my Big Day.

Oh, and that's not the Pope up there. We have a cardboard cutout of him in the back of the church and Dad and his buddy Rod thought it would be great to turn it around and have it look like he was at our first communion... real mature, dad (and Rod).

Before we end this post I'll leave you with this story.

So leading into my first communion we were up in my room - me, Mae, Dad - heading towards bed and I was explaining about my first communion. Mae starts asking questions and starting to get silly and so I stood firm and was detailing it again and finally I had to level set and I said, "Mae, it's SERIOUS! It's a serious thing!"

She got really quiet and started shaking her head and said, "Wait, Fin, are you going to see God on Sunday?" 

Classic Mabel.

The Avett Brothers... Family

So Mom and Dad took me to my first ever concert. We knew which one it should be, so we just went with it. We went to see The Avett Brothers at The Chicago Theater... and boy, it did not disappoint.

First we prepped at home.

Then we hit up the venue and made history.

But it was more than just the show. One of my friends - Lucy - was also in attendance because her Uncle Peter travels around and works the lights for The Avett Brothers shows. So he let us backstage before the show and all kinds of business went down.

First we got onstage for a photo.

Then we got to sign the wall of fame. There is a stairwell from the stage going down to the basement where the bands hang before and after the show. So all kinds of famous people have signed this wall - Madonna, Elton John, basically every musician who has come through.

Hold on a second... RIP

Well, we got a chance to sign it as well.

Then it was down to our seats for the show to kick off, where I partied and danced and sang along with Mom and Dad.

And then after about ten songs I went to sit with Lucy up with her Uncle Peter where they were doing the lights. This was cool for a lot of reasons. First off, it was a totally unobstructed view of the stage. Secondly, I got to ACTUALLY DO THE LIGHTS. So during one of the songs - Road Full of Promise - I told him my favorite color was blue so when he told me to, I pulled the lever and the lights changed from red to blue.

The next day it got even better. Lucy's mom called and invited us all to sound check. So we sat in an empty Chicago Theater and listened to them rehearse for about 45 minutes.

And then things got turned up a notch on Mom and Dad's front. They bought second row tickets with Colin and Steph to go on Friday night and proceeded to snag 10th row tickets in the center for Saturday night. They called it "The 72 Hours of Avett" and it still wasn't enough. I heard talk at breakfast on Sunday morning... something about selling the house and an RV and a reference to "next week's show at the Greek Theatre in LA." Um, yah, we did it.