Monster Concert

Bianca's viola was possessed. I swear, some days it's hard enough to get Bianca to practice but when her viola seems to be making noises of its own accord, it drives her ears mad and, consequently, she huffs and puffs and whines instead of practicing. This, consequently, drives me mad. This happened the day before the big monster concert, for which her elementary school's orchestra has been preparing for the last four months. So yesterday, I picked Bianca up early from school, drove downtown where (fortunately) the new larger 13-inch viola had arrived at her viola teacher Roberta's house and then drove back to Copper Hills High, where the orchestras from the entire school district (about 12-14 schools total) were meeting together to practice and then perform later that night in the Monster Concert.

To make matters worse, as I was leaving to pick Bianca up from school, Portia told me her tummy hurt. What are you supposed to do when you know staying home would let your other child down? So, I grabbed a tupperware bowl and tucked it next to Portia's booster seat, just in case. Well, good thing I did, because minutes after I left, Portia filled it halfway up with vomit. Lovely, I know. Sometimes my life is just lovely like that. Portia proceeded to throw up the entire car-ride. But we made it to the school on time, grabbed Subway for Bianca's sack lunch, and I was able to get Portia home and safely tucked in bed for a good hour nap before heading back later that night.

The concert went well. Bianca was able to conduct a new song she wrote (called "Flying"), and she sure loved to be up there in front of everyone.

The rest of the concert featured popular music from movies, such as Harry Potter, Phantom of the Opera, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Bianca is quite enamored with her new viola. The sound is night-and-day from her last viola (not even considering the low rumbling sound it was making recently). Portia just lay in my lap with her "silky" the entire time. She was sick, but at least not throwing up anymore.

We stopped at Sub-Zero for ice cream after the concert with our friends, Liz and Tyson and their kids. I swear to make ice cream as a chemical reaction before your very eyes seems like a science project and dessert all rolled into one. The kids had a blast, Portia actually kept her ice cream down, and we headed home for the night. Not bad for keeping little monsters at bay, right?