blue hair and pizza

M has been doing a good job of keeping up on her class work and she is on kitchen duty this month.  She used to have to unload the dishes last year but I got so tired of her putting them away wet, that we changed things. 

Tonight after everyone had had several computer turns I told M that she had to make the pizza.  She had put on sauce and cheese before.  Tonight she rolled out the dough, cooked the sausage, cut up the pepperoni, sauced, cheesed and loaded them into the oven.  Yay!

We used koolaid to dye the ends of her hair blue.  It didn't really take well.  She had asked previously if she could dye her hair and I said that it was fine but that she had to cut it off before the next temple trip.  Temples are closed right now and just the last 3 inches took some dye.  I think she'll be OK by the time we get to go again.

recognition

I realized we did not do anything to recognize M's big accomplishment and so I made this candy gram for her.  Her face when she realized there was a fun size candy bar under each paper was pretty cute.  Also we're going to go to Taco Queen sometime.  That was part of our original plan of motivation.

M is in the middle of planning the girls camp fundraiser.  Her efforts have been amazing and she has shown a lot of great leadership skills through the process.  She wants to lead the effort again next year with less help from me.  Have at it M.  Lead on.

Personal Progress

M was in the batch of young ladies that advanced into Young Women when the church changed the policy at the end of 2018.  So she went to the temple when she was 11.5  She went to girls camp with many 11 year olds but was 12 by that time.  She also was very diligent and finished the personal progress program in 10 months.  I thought there was going to be recognition at church but that hasn't happened.  Home centered, church supported. 

So we'll figure something out.  Her projects included temple work, teaching piano, making bread, and many good things.  She's capable of more than she imagines and it's wonderful to be her mom.  We had Personal Progress dates and we would pow-wow over our lists and work on goals at the same time.  That is how it came to pass that I also finished the personal progress program in 2019, though it took me longer to finish the Book of Mormon.  We did it!

Student Day

M participated in Student Day today.  Her teacher is part of the professional teaching association.  M prepared 3 pieces in addition to scales, chord progressions and "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" that she played in the January Recital.  We arrived by 8:30 so we could be not stressed when we were lost for 15 minutes.  We found the building, wandered around, found a bathroom, then we found the room for aural testing. 

During Aural Testing the proctor played chords, melodies, scales, intervals and musical techniques.  The students had a multiple choice paper they had to identify what was being played.  The test lasted 30 minutes.  M has never done any high stakes testing so this was sort of her first experience like that.

I was reviewing what to expect for the Audition/Playing Test and realized she was not prepared for the Harmonization and Transposition portion of the exam.  There was 3 excerpts with chord symbols.  She had to add the harmony for the key of A.  And then she transposed it to C.  It was a tense 20 minutes as she worked through that, but then she had it memorized by the time she had to play it. 

She arrived for the playing test 5 minutes early and then waited 10 minutes until she was called in.  A young boy was waiting when we arrived and almost jumped ahead of her when the judge came out.  They had been waiting a long time.  The playing test was scales, chord progressions, Sight Reading, Transposition, Harmonization and her 3 pieces, "Gavotte", "Ivan Sings" and "Puck".  She felt like the scales were the hardest parts since they would call out a scale and she had to play it cold.  M is used to playing the circle of fifths rather than individual scales.

There was a good chunk of time between the playing test and the recital so M went down and did the written theory exam.  It took her half an hour and she seemed unstressed by it.  I used up all the lives on two dots waiting for her.  Sorry M!

She ate her lunch then we used the restroom again and went into the recital room.  She played "Ivan Sings" and there were about 12 students in the recital.  It was fantastically 30 minutes.  Each part of the Student Day was 30 minutes and we had a lot of time in between to transition from event to event.  I'm really impressed by the people who plan and schedule the time slots.  The recital had students from level 1 to 8?  A wide range of students so it was entertaining.

12 and playing with bubbles

 M likes very tactile experiences.  She set up a slip and slide a few weeks ago for the kids.  Last week she had them collecting pollen strands and making buckets of brew.  Then there were bubbles involved, lots of bubbles.  I'm glad she still likes to play in nature and have fun being a kid.  I can't believe she's 12, and I can't believe she's only 12.  Good times.

Last weekend she played "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" in her piano teacher's recital.  A-maz-ing.  I didn't actually attend the recital as I was at Scouting University with G.  But I have heard her play it for months and it just kept getting better and better.  We switched her to a new teacher because she was so much more advanced than any of the students in her previous studio and we wanted her to be challenged.  She's still in a different league but the new studio does have other teenage students working on pieces above the first few years of piano.

This Saturday M will attend Student Day in Jaxtown.  4 hours of theory, ear training, and a recital where she will play 3 pieces that don't even include Wedding Day.  She'll do fine.

Sometimes M gets stressed out and tries to claim that she's not able.  I have to stay calm and remind her that she is capable and she will survive.  She is able, kind, funny, coordinated and beautiful like a ninja.  That's tough.  I know.

 G mowed the back yard this year and it has been fun to be free to roam about the back yard.  M created this habitat for the 3 peas in a pod.

pierced ears

M got her ears pierced last week.  She had asked to get them pierced when she was 12, or that's the earliest we preferred.  When she turned 12 she wanted to wait until the winter so she wouldn't miss out on a single beach or pool event. 

We went to the piercing pagoda and got stars in our ears.  I got them pierced again a little higher than my old holes that didn't hold the earrings up very well.

M was brave and cool throughout the process.  She chose to get the spray for cleaning that makes it possible to switch earrings after 3 weeks.  She's been very good at remembering and reminding me to spray my ears and twist the earrings.

new things

M played in a recital with other studios rather than just her own teacher's studio.  She played Grieg's
"Puck".  In February she'll be doing Student Day for the state music teacher's association.  This involves playing 3 pieces and doing theory tests and sight reading. 

I'm so glad she has an opportunity to perform with other advanced students and be exposed to kids who are weird like her.  Weird awesome.