4+4+4+4

Ellis has been taking piano lessons for 9 months or so now (including the time off in summer). He seems to be enjoying it, despite the fights over practicing. Happily, his teacher doesn't seem to favor having the kids participate in recitals and it also very indulgent of Ellis's many many questions during lessons. Sometimes I really don't understand how he manages not to tell him to be quiet and get back to playing. For instance...

(while discussing ties vs. slurs)
Ellis: So is there a 16 note?
Teacher: You mean a 1/16th note? Yes, it's half an 1/8th note and looks like this.
E: No, no,  a note that is 16 beats long.
T: Mmm. No, not really.
E: Yes, yes, all you need is one whole note tied to another whole note, then you would make another whole note tied to another whole note then you would tie the first two to the second two. Then, the first two would be 8 and then the second two would be 8 and then you would have 16. That would be a good song.
T: I think it would be kind of boring. It would sound like this "EEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH"
E: Bwah ha ha ha.

(upon noticing something weird on one of the keys)
T: Ooops, I have to use some special cleaner on that. These keys are ivory and so they can never be replaced.
E: (shocked) What never?
T: No, it's not legal to sell or buy ivory anymore.
E: Really? Can't they have just one big ivory sale every year?
T: No, because they have to kill elephants to get it and that's not legal anymore.
E: (exasperated) Why don't they just use walruses?

snowmen

The kids have been very sweet this fall and advent season. And I'm failing miserably to document it. And I can't count on my memory, lord knows. The last week was full of Christmas fun, icy weather, family visiting, and a few days where I didn't even a mental to do list. Weird.

Anyway, Ellis went on a pomegranate juice binge sometime around mid-November and I remembered seeing a craft that utilized tissue paper to decorate pomegranate juice bottles as snowmen. Here's Maddox making one and Ellis showing off the finished product.