We had a funny story the other day as we were signing at dinner. Jane is 4, and is getting better at keeping secrets. But she's still learning....
At dinner, Jane, Dad and I were talking about what we did that day, which was getting ready for Lillian's birthday. Lillian wasn't paying attention, she was talking to someone else. As Jane told us about wrapping Jane's present, I jokingly tested her secret-keeping skills and signed, "What did you get Lillian for her birthday." Jane looked really confused, thought for a minute, then put down her hands and blurts out loud, "How do you sign granola bars?" Lillian is startled and looks at us. Dad and I try to tell Jane to shut up without acting like there was anything significant about granola bars at all. Lillian wisely puts on an "I didn't hear anything" face....and, we now know, don't tell Jane anything you really need to keep quiet yet. :)
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Last night was a stake youth activity. Brother Lagos was one of the youth leaders, and Marriner was interpreting for him. There was one part when the kids needed to come up to the leader, obtain some information through questioning, and move on in the scavenger hunt. Marriner and Brother Lagos were chatting when Lige's group came up. I've previously mentioned how it's getting tougher to sign behind our kids' backs - Lige apparently saw the answer to the clue before they got within earshot of the leaders, told his group what the answer was, and they moved on. Totally cheating! ;) And, we have to be even more careful about what we say, it seems!
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We're getting ready for our Primary program next week in Sacrament meeting. Our last song, the grand finale, is "I know that my Redeemer Lives" with violin and piano accompaniment (instead of pre-recorded church songs). I'm really excited for this song, even though I didn't manage to get live piano and violin. I'd hoped Lige and Lillian would do the music, but Lige is so swamped by school work this year, he didn't have time to learn it, so I took over. I thought of playing the piano pre-recorded and having the violin live, but you know, that just didn't seem like the right way to do it - a little karaoke-like. So Lill and I will record the accompaniment tonight, and I'll just play it from my phone like all the other songs.
We learned this song during the beginning of our re-opening, when we didn't have all the kids back. I had the two kids in senior primary do a little project of interpreting their own verse and doing it as a solo. So the whole primary sings verses 1 and 4, and Sam and Liliaka each have a solo for verse 2 and 3. It's really cute, but the logistics are complex because we had to find a way for them to stand where everyone in the chapel can see them for their part. During a normal song, we have everyone standing along the front of the rostrum, and everyone in the audience can see *some* or even *most* of the kids. But the pulpit is always gonna block the view of some people. So why, you ask, don't use use the pulpit? Cuz the kids are too short! (cough, ok, just Sam...Liliaka's totally tall enough...) Even Lillian has to stand on the kid stool when she speaks in church. But Sam, you can only see his head, and the microphone sorta obstructs that. So we had to be creative....we got the step stool for the water fountain and stacked that on top of the built-in step stool. Now we can see Sam just fine! Grand musical number saved! Sam just has to make sure to NOT fall off!! :) Anyway, I'm excited, I think it's going to be pretty great.
