All about Matthew

Warning, it's mom brag time! I realized that with all the stuff we've had going on with Josh lately, I have failed to mention all the cool things that Matthew has going on and I wanted to make sure I write it all down, because he's really been working hard lately and I want to document all the cool things he's been doing!

First all, he had his spring piano recital a couple of weeks ago! Last fall we found the coolest Legend Of Zelda theme song medley on YouTube and Matthew was immediately determined to learn to play it. Matthew is pretty obsessed with the Legend Of Zelda games, so to find sheet music for the theme songs was pretty awesome for him. But the song we found was over seven minutes long and insanely difficult for his skill level, and I didn't think he was realistically going to be able to learn it any time soon.

But I should know better than to underestimate Matthew, lol. When he puts his mind to something, he figures out how to get it done. He has spent months practicing it. He took it to his piano teacher and she helped him cut a few parts out of it to make it a little more manageable. It's still over 5 minutes long, but with the changes they made, it was doable. This is by far the hardest song he has ever played and it has really required him to push himself, but he was up for the challenge.

After months of hard work he was ready to perform it for the spring recital. We always get so excited for the recitals because they do them at recital venue that has a super fancy grand piano and his songs always sound so so great on a grand piano. He loves playing that piano. They also record it for us and send us an MP3, which is fun.

I always take a video his recitals, but this time my camera died halfway through his song, so I don't have video of this one. But we have the audio, so I made a YouTube video anyway. You just get to stare at his cute face for five minutes. :)




He had the chance to perform the song again today at his school's end of the year talent show. He tried out for the talent show a few weeks ago and got in, so he got to perform for the whole school today. He did an awesome job! I never get tired of watching him perform.

So that is what Matthew has been doing with his piano talent lately.

In the meantime he also applied to be on the yearbook staff for next year and got accepted, which he's really excited about!

He also applied for acceptance into the National Junior Honor Society and was accepted. He had his induction ceremony last month.

And today after the school talent show they had an end of the year awards ceremony and he received the Excellence in Writing award from the English department. Matthew really loves to write, so he was especially excited to receive that award.

So Matthew has been excelling all over the place lately! I'm really proud of how hard he's working and all that he is accomplishing. This summer he's looking forward to going to scout camp in July and he gets to go to yearbook camp in August.

Matthew also turns 13 this summer and the rule in our house is that when you turn 13 you get to redo your bedroom. You might remember that we did that with Josh a few years ago. The photos of that project are on my blog somewhere. So he's really looking forward to that. When I get back from DC, that's my next project to focus on. Matthews room is in desperate need of a teenage upgrade, so we have some work to do. He's going to be getting new bedroom furniture, new paint and new decor. His hobbies are piano and reading, so we're going to somehow incorporate both of those things into his room. We're excited to get started on that project!

I'm really proud of Matthew. he's an amazing kid!