Have you ever noticed?!

I loved this, you might want to watch it too, especially if you like playing the piano :)!

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing.

Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders of His love.

~Isaac Watts (1674–1748)

Promised piano post

On the nineteenth of last month, Daddy called some men and asked if they would be able to help us move a piano. One of Daddy's employees was selling hers, and Daddy had bought it :)!
We've been keeping a space open for the piano since we moved here. At least, during the summer months. During winter we move stuff around in the living room due to the Christmas tree, which we still don't know what we'll do with next November ;).
But, we are just thankful to the three men who gave up their time to help us move this HEAVY piano :)!!!
As soon as it is tuned, hopefully we'll get more into piano lessons. I really would love to play, but I have a hard time getting far before I let lessons slide again. Hopefully having more than a keyboard will help me stay motivated ;).
This piano is  95-years-old, which is really neat :). And, in this picture, you will also see Mommy's 75-year-old secretary desk. Mommy and I like old things- we went antique shopping on my birthday :). 

Emmi likes the piano too :).

A visit to Grandpa and Grandma's

Daddy had a business trip this week, from Tuesday to Friday. We've missed Daddy these last few days, and can't wait to see him tonight! We decided that we would go have a sleepover at our Grandparent's house. The plan was to get there on Tuesday morning, the day that Daddy was going to leave, and then leave Wednesday afternoon.
We woke up early on Tuesday morning, and got the car packed and everyone fed and dressed. Then we all got in the car and settled down to enjoy the two hour trip. Tori and I only went about halfway there before our Aunt Amber picked us to take us to go volunteer at a garden that she enjoys working at. She said that she volunteers about once a week. We had so much fun!!! After we were done with the weeding that we were put to work at, she took us to Baskin' Robins and then to the Music and Art store to find out how much it would be to replace a violin string. They told us it would be about three dollars to get the string, then a little bit more for them to replace it.
We headed to Grandpa and Grandma's to join the rest of the family. The little ones had had so much fun with Aunt Tessa. They had done a few crafts, played outside for a little bit, and read lots of stories! We visited for awhile, then Aunt Amber took Bethi, Tori, and I to get the violin re-strung. We had meant to do it earlier in the day, but we forgot to get the violin out of the van before we went to the gardens. It was so neat, because I learned so much just in those fifteen minutes! We were lucky. The lady who was working was really sweet. She informed us that our violin was full sized (I didn't even know that there was more then one size!) and showed us how to use the tuner and peg compound. After the violin was tuned, Aunt Amber took us to Baskin' Robins again, because Bethi hadn't went earlier. Aunt Amber loves Baskin Robins ;).
That night, we put the little ones to bed, and then Aunt Amber, Aunt Tessa, Mommy, Tori, and I (and, before we were done, Emmi and Abbi, who woke up in the middle of the night.) played games. First we played Deal, but since Mommy and I are the only ones who enjoyed that, we decided to play Scrabble instead of another game of Deal. It was 3:15 before we were in bed! We were laughing so much that night!!!

We own a violin!

On Sunday we went to visit my Grandparents, and my Aunts. We had a wonderful time visiting with them (Mommy, Aunt Amber, Aunt Tessa, Tori and I spent a bit of the time we were there playing ONE game of "Uno" that lasted over TWO hours!!! )
While we were there, my Aunt surprised us by giving us her violin! She got it a while back, and we had so much fun laughing at how none of us could play it at first! But since the last time we were over there, Aunt Tessa had had it tuned. That makes a big difference in the sound of a violin, let me tell you!!!

I've wanted to learn how to play the violin/ fiddle for quite a while (the only difference between the two is their interchangeable bridges). I was really excited when she told us it was she was giving it to us! We need a new "E" string (heehee... someone popped that string while we were still at my Grandparents!) and then it will need re-tuned (due to the missing string) and then we'll be able to start learning how to play it!

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!