excellent

M is taking 7 classes!  She takes Jazz Band, Band and Science through the Jr. High via distance learning.  She is also taking Algebra, Language Arts and History through FLVS.  She resumed piano lessons and practices so well.  She was running some this summer and is also training with P for the bike ride to Gtowne. 

At 13 she is a fantastic and talented young women.   She's also a delightful and imaginative little girl.  She spends hours working with the ninja slack line she bought and doing crafty things at her desk.  I think she's an awesome person.

Run M! Bike M!

 M decided a few weeks ago to take up running.  She started with a 14 minute mile run around the block.  She had read a book describing the running progress of a teenager and so she had some ideas like rest days, and pacing.  She's worked her way down to a faster mile time and then she did 2 miles.

M is 13 this year and so she gets to ride to Gtowne with P.  They've started training rides and today they got to do a 10 mile ride.  M hasn't died yet.  She's never had to use the gears so much and hasn't learned to just use them to keep her pedaling the same speed.  But she's learning and building strength.

Lawn mower

M mowed the front lawn today.  She's like a machine!  Over the years P has gotten different mowers and the current one is better than the one G started on.  Still I was impressed that she mowed the whole front in one go.  Way to go M!

swiss cake roll

M made a swiss cake roll on Sunday.  She used half of a strawberry cake box mix with 3 eggs and half of the oil and no water.  The cake was baked in a 9x13 pan with parchment paper and wet towels wrapped around the pan, on a cookie sheet.  The cake cooked up beautifully, really flat because of the wet towels.

We rolled the cake up with a towel and let it cool for hours.  M made a batch of pudding frosting (2 c. cream whipped to soft peaks, 1/3 powdered sugar and 1 box of chocolate pudding mixed with a wisk).  This was too much frosting, we only put half into the cake roll. 

Overall it was a resounding success.  The children gobbled it up and there was minimal mess compared to a cake with icing on top.  M was patient with my over-involvement, telling her to hurry up and wait throughout the process.  It was my first time and I really wanted it to work out even though I wasn't going to eat it.  I think she could do the whole thing herself next time.

M is so good at wanting to try new things and persistent about asking her mom who doesn't really like doing new things as much.  Good Job M!

Super Mario

M needed a piece for the spring recital that was not from the Romantic era.  We agreed on Super Mario Brothers music and she learned this surprisingly hard piece of music.  The coordination of hands and rhythms were tricky.  The piece jumps around the keyboard a lot.  It has been really fun to hear her master this piece.

We couldn't find music that sounded like the actual video game.  Fortunately many fans have created websites with the Midi files and sheet music for individual levels.  We used Finale to piece together the various themes so it sounds like someone playing through the first 3 levels of the game.  She could still add themes for coin, mushroom, star and 1up themes, but what she's got is awesome.

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.