Monday is a Holiday!

My sweet Izzie girl enjoying a laid back lunch on a holiday. She sure was happy.

So, today was a holiday which meant no school! It also meant that my piano students wanted to get their lessons done in the morning so that they could play during the day! So, my kids and I woke up, had breakfast and tried to clean our house up so it would be presentable for lessons!

My first lesson came at 10:30am. I think this guy is so great. He is a sweet, smart, and funny young man. It has taken awhile for him to get comfortable and feel comfortable around me. But I think we are getting there. I was happy with his progress and we are so close to passing some songs--it truly is exciting! I almost wanted to let him pass anyway, but I know that won't help him be a better pianist in the long run. So, hopefully next week we can pass!

My next and last student for the day came at 11am. I love this girl as well! She is kind of new and she still gets a little nervous around me. I try to make her feel at ease and comfortable because it is hard to perform your best if you are nervous. In my experience it just makes a pianist make mistakes. I also try to be accessible to my students. I try to make them feel like they can talk with me if they are struggling with their songs and also let them feel OK letting me know that they had a crazy week and they couldn't practice the way they should have or wanted. But I also want them to know that I am serious and I won't be taken advantage of. It is such a hard balance to be both, but I try and I hope they understand where I am coming from.

After my lessons it was time for lunch. So we whipped up some grub for these little kiddos and got some food in their stomachs. While we were finishing up, I was able to shoot this little video of Sammy singing and Izzie waving "bye bye." It was really funny because she spent a majority of the day walking around the house, waving and saying "bye bye" just like she does in this video. It made me smile every time I heard her little voice and seeing her wave to anything she came across. I love this girl. She is tough and feisty, but she is so darn cute.

(The video will be posted soon--I am waiting for it to upload to youtube. I will take this moment to let you know that I have uploaded videos to other posts I have written, so if you care, go ahead and look at some of my older posts just to watch videos that may not have been there when you originally read that post! Thank you!)

After lunch I put Izzie to bed and watched movies with Sammy. We spent the day watching shows and just relaxing--and we did the same when Izzie woke up from her nap.

After Arnie came home we hung out and I went shopping for some clothes. One of my favorite stores, Lane Bryant, was having a sale and I had a coupon so I grabbed a few shirts that were on clearance and a few other needed items. I had fun, but clothes shopping takes forever for me. I try on a ton of things just to find out I truly only like 3 or 4 items. Oh well, the work is worth it and I am glad I have a few new things to spice up my wardrobe. Thanks babe, for letting me go spend money and time at the mall!

To cap the night off, I watched some of our favorite TV shows with my hubby. We have watched House for a few years and I LOVE the new show, Alcatraz. I think it is so interesting. And it is also so cool that we took the Alcatraz tour last March when we visited San Francisco.

I wish my husband could have spent Presidents' day with us, but at least we got to take it easy for the holiday!