Bob took lots of time off over Christmas and New Year, with the intention that we could see family and friends, have a relaxed couple of weeks and also get lots of house and workshop sorting done. Oh and some planning for this year. Instead the girls and I all ended up with very unpleasant flu which laid us out for a couple of weeks and meant that we missed out on seeing some (but fortunately not all) of the friends and family we had hoped to spend time with, spent lots of time resting but without really feeling rested at the end of it, got hardly any house/workshop sorting done and failed pretty much completely on the planning front. Ah well, c’est la vie!
J had a good time at Holiday Orchestra, however, and is now enthused about recorder. We’ve promised him (erm, actually, I may not yet have discussed this fully with Bob 
) that when he has the triple whammy of Grade One in theory (tick) recorder (working on it) and piano (lots more practice needed, hence the discussion) then we will buy him the instrument of his choice to move on to, with the proviso that we can afford it, of course 
He’s extremely eager to learn trombone or trumpet so hopefully this will give him the shove he needs to get back into regular practice habits 
In the meantime one of my not yet done jobs is to set him up to try out a few brass instruments, hire one for a few months and find a teacher we can afford to get him started – no point buying an instrument we’re not sure he’ll stick at
K is asking for the same offer to apply to him, which is good because he was not so keen on the idea of theory, as it involves more reading and writing than he currently feels comfortable about (confidence in literacy is one of our things to work on with K for this term, I think). He’s really enjoying recorder and desperate to go to Holiday Orchestra when he’s finally old enough (next time!) so he can have a go at Gamelan like J
L has just started pootling on the piano and veers between enjoying it and bursting into tears at the very thought 
so I think that’s one we need to take gently. She certainly doesn’t have the bouncy enthusiasm both boys had when they started but I haven’t yet worked out why 
She is doing recorder too, despite Gina’s qualms about teaching children under year 2, and seems to be managing okay there. Pairing up with BB is fun for her
A is doing Baby Music and has just started to really get into it, which is just as well given that the classes are a) expensive and b) badly timed so that we have to cut our Latin etc sessions short on Wednesdays. The smile on her face when we’re singing or playing instruments in the sessions makes it worth it (she’s singing “goodbye Kate” behind me as I type 
) for now though – and L loves to sit in (the others sit in the next room and play quiet games or do book work) which means we’re getting better value for money as she’s picking lots up too
Now we just need to find a choir for the older ones (or I need to find one for me so I can get my confidence back and organise one for the children myself) and make some use of the cello we have sitting on top of the piano. L wants to start cello but it’s the right size for K or J… K and L still want to do violin too, but J is now sold on the idea of brass. I think we need a music grant!
yeah, if you find out where to get one let me know!