Cade, Our Renaissance Boy

Being the firstborn and the eldest grandchild, I think sometimes Cade gets unintentional special treatment. Translation: he's the only grandchild old enough to participate in a piano recital, therefore my siblings and my parents are supportive and come. They are not yet burnt out of recitals, blessings, baptisms, soccer and t-ball games (not saying one can get burnt out of blessings and baptisms-- but suffice it to say, those things all require time and energy to support.)  I just hope a few years down the road he's happy with just me the girls and myself attending.

For his first recital, it was pretty cute. He played the Indian Dance -- which of course I loved the first dozen times he played it. Then it kind of became a bit...um, repetive. But it was still cute because I was blown away by how far he had come in the last 4.5 months of lessons. I told myself that each time I heard myself subconsciously humming the song while cleaning the house.

The Woodbury/Sheppard/Mann family took up two rows in the Summerhays Music hall in Orem. Cade was first on the program and his teacher told me at least 3 times to make sure not to be late because he was first.  I wondered if she was privy to any other areas of my life that would help her determine my struggle with punctuality (for inquiring minds, I'm currently in my 22nd year of trying to be a more timely person)...or if she had just had experience with the first performer being late before. Because, you see, while I struggle with punctuality in many areas of my life, piano lessons is not one of them. His teacher lives so close, we walk to lessons and Cade is very aware of time so he is on time.  I had him run through his song a few more times before we left-- just to be sure, you know?

Here is Cade practicing "just one more time" at our awesome "piano."

Meanwhile Ruby and Savvy are working on some very important art creations (and wearing matching shirts that say My Mom is Awesome-- shirts I had gotten for myself them for Mother's Day and perhaps I was feeling a little insecure).

We arrived early and were able to snag the front row-- nice for video-taping, but bad for taking an energetic and squawky 19-month old out of the room in the middle of someone else's performance.  

Also good for getting a pre-recital shot of Cade in front of the Grand Piano.

It was so sweet to glance down the row at my family who came to support him. PS Bailey was amazing and sat still and quiet the ENTIRE hour. Amazing. I can not say the same for Ruby.

Some of my favorite moments:

• Cade's look of confusion when striking the first keys and then his sweet teacher scooting him up the scale.  Oh the woes of practicing on a keyboard!
• His legs swinging a the bench. I know before long his feet will hit the floor, but for now I will treasure his "little-ness" and love that they swing.
• Cade standing and looking at the audience after playing his piece-- totally refusing to bow and trying so very hard not smile. 
• Leaving his music at the piano. I know he was embarrassed about it, but I found it so adorable.

As promised, Kyle-- here is the video. Enjoy!

We ended the evening at Panda Express for a celebratory dinner. My mom chuckled and thought my sister Rebecca had bribed him into eating there. Turns out it's one of her favorite places to eat. One more reason for Cade to be convinced that Auntie Rebecca is perfect.

Around the same time Cade's soccer season wrapped up. His final game was uncharacteristically cold. As in FREEZING. Cade was sweet enough to share his jacket with Ruby:

She kept wanting to run onto the field, though. I definitely got an awesome bicep/abs workout that day.

Despite the chilly, windy weather it was an awesome game for Cade. He scored somewhere between 7 and 11 times (the joys of no-goalie soccer and playing on a field the size of a ping-pong table. Next season it will be much, much different!) and was pretty pleased with his performance.

 Cade and his awesome buddy Caleb proudly sporting their medals {yes, that every single child got--whatever though, because he thought it was awesome.} They are great friends. Caleb is moving to Sandy this summer and we are sad as can be about it. 

Caleb's little sister was sweet to snuggle Savvy and keep her warm....

...as well as Ruby, whenever she decided she was going to sit still for a second.  This happened about 8 or 9 times. Kelsey was so patient and let Ruby snuggle in every time without a complaint.

 Lest your hearts be troubled that soccer and piano have taken a break for the summer, Cade is still waxing strong in talent. Today he VOLUNTARILY changed Ruby's dirty diaper. He did a great job, too. And after he told me about it he said, "Mom, all I need to do to be a babysitter is grow up, huh?"


What a cutie. Yes, Cade, that's all you need to do. But please don't do it too fast.