Music Lessons

So now I remember another reason why I haven't been blogging since I got pregnant. Because by the time I sit down to do it I'm so very tired that it seems like a chore and I decide to put it off till later. Sigh.
I started taking piano lessons about a month ago. I took piano lessons when I was in elementary school but in 8th grade I quit my lessons because I didn't like practicing. So now my mother gets to gloat because not only do I have to pay for lessons that she would have paid for herself, but I have regressed dramatically from years of not playing. I am currently playing level 3 songs... You know, the ones with extra big notes and unicorns and rainbows decorating each page. So mom... I'm going to say it... you were right. I shouldn't have quit my lessons. I officially regret my choice. :) And my children will equally suffer through years of music lessons because I now recognize how important they are. Are you smiling?
I enjoy my lessons, and I enjoy practicing too, but I really have very little time to practice. I can only practice when Emery is sleeping, and during her nap I'm either busy doing other things I can't do when she's awake (load the dishwasher, fold the laundry) or taking that time to sit down for the first time in the day. Then when she goes to bed at night I find myself ready to read, watch TV, or check my facebook. It's quite hard for me to motivate myself to sit there and play. But since I'm paying for these lessons myself, it helps to motivate me. :)
Jimmy is likewise starting guitar lessons next week. He is very excited. He is a self-taught guitar player (he started learning just after we got married) and has gone through the initial painful part of learning how to play all by himself. I'm so very proud of him! But he's still not confident enough to play in front of very many people and his song leading is pretty rough still. I think these guitar lessons will really help him smooth out some of the rough edges of his playing and help him get past the plateau he seems to have reached in his self-education. His practicing is the opposite of mine. He is encouraged to play when Emery is awake, not only because his loud twanging wakes her up, but because she dances and shrieks and claps her hands, or sometimes she just sits in rapt attention listening to him play.
I'm glad he's taking lessons too, because I want our children to see models of both their parents enjoying music in an effort to encourage them to take pleasure in it too.
Ok now I'm really going to bed. Gotta get up and give my 7-10th graders their final quarter exam tomorrow. Mwahahahaha!!!!