Holidays

Emily seems to be having a good holiday season so far. Consistent with what you might expect, she didn't sample much of our Thanksgiving dinner, but she was more than happy to help me make and eat apple pies! :)

As for Christmas, Emily's music teacher, quite unexpectedly, cast Emily as Mrs. Claus in the school's holiday performance. She had lines to learn as part of the performance and she did great with it.

 

It turns out however, that Emily doesn't really need a script. She seems to do great coming up with witty remarks all on her own. She has had a couple of zingers lately. One morning, she wanted me to work on a puzzle with her. I told her that I needed a minute, but that she could get started without me. She said, "But I can't start without you. You're the missing piece." :)

Also, Chad brought home some whole nuts for us to crack and eat. She was struggling with the cracking part, so Chad said that he would do it and then would hand the nut to her so that she could dig it out of the shell. She said, "You do the crackin', I'll do the hackin', then we can do the snackin'." Ha!

Of course, now that our tree is up, Frisbee (our elf) is back and Emily has been doing a very nice job of leaving water for her each day so that Frisbee doesn't get thirsty while we are gone. She has also been working on her Christmas list. She got smart this year and put a grocery order on the list. She figured that if Santa delivers then there is no reason for us to make a trip to the store. Santa can just deliver the food we need when he drops off the presents. Apparently she wants Santa to keep up with Amazon. :)

Last but not least, we received Emily's annual school photo. I think that it turned out pretty well this year.

As you may recall, Emily does not like to smile in photos for fear of getting lines on her face, so it actually took her teacher a fair bit of work, but she made sure that we got a photo in which Emily was smiling. :)

Performance Day

Yesterday was the big performance day for the show that Emily was involved with at school. As you may recall it was a compilation of various songs from various musicals. There have been rehearsals over the past two months and this final week was really intense with rehearsals Sunday through Wednesday. Then, yesterday was devoted entirely to the show.

All told, there were almost 60 kids involved. They performed in the morning for the lower school, in the afternoon for the middle school, and in the evening for family and friends. On the way to school this morning, Emily said that she is really curious to get to school and see what the middle schoolers thought of it because, "little kids and parents are easy to impress." Ha! In fact, she was getting irritated with me last night because she kept asking me what my favorite numbers were and I kept mentioning the ones that she was in. "Mom, you don't have to like it just because I was in it," she said with exasperation. :)

Anyway, there were other great numbers that she was not in, but of the ones that she was in, I think that Hard Knock Life was my favorite. The video quality is terrible (my doing), but here is a sense of it:

As you can probably tell, they just had the kids singing along with a recording. On the one hand, this seems kind of disingenuous, but on the other hand, it was great because it likely saved our ears from an evening of off key singing. :)

Overall, I think that it was a good experience for her. It introduced her to a lot of the older kids at her school, and they all thought that she was the cutest little thing, so now they give her big hugs whenever they see her in the halls, etc. I can tell that she likes the attention.

One of the other big events over the past month was Halloween. It was mid-week and on a very cold, wet day, so it was not nearly as fun as in past years. Emily made her costume this year. She went as a girl from the old days, so she wore a dress with an apron and a kerchief on her head. Somehow, I did not manage to get a photo, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

The only other event that I can think of is our parent-teacher conference that happened a couple of weeks ago. It was a really good opportunity to chat with her teacher, see what she is learning, and how she is doing in her new school. Perhaps not surprisingly, she is doing great, definitely making progress, etc. So, all is good on that front.

Now, on to Thanksgiving . . .

Busted

Emily got busted at school recently in their "Caught Doing Good" program. Each week they recognize students who exhibit outstanding behavior and present them with an award during morning announcements. As for Emily's good deeds, her teacher reported that, "Emily is always ready to listen, shows superstar work, and shares ideas with her classmates! She uses her manners and is kind, patient, and helpful!" As a result, she gets her name added to a bulletin board at school and her picture in the weekly newsletter.

In general, I think that she is adapting well to her new school. It is smaller so she feels like she has fewer friends to choose from, but I get the sense that she is playing with lots of different kids and getting along with them pretty well. Overall, we are happy with her teacher and the things that they are doing in the classroom. With such small class sizes, the teacher seems to be very attuned to each kid's needs, abilities, etc.

In other news, we just had Emily's 7-year check up, and she continues to be right on track with her past growth rates. She is 47 inches tall (22nd percentile) and 43.3 pounds (10th percentile). Vision, hearing, etc. are all good!

First Day of School

Emily has been back at school for three weeks now. As I may have mentioned, she is at a very small private school this year (rather than at the Montessori school). The school covers K-12, but the class sizes are what makes it small. In fact, Emily is one of only four students in her classroom.

So far, I think that Emily is very happy with her new environment. Her teacher is very nice and Emily seems to come home happy at the end of the day. Like Abbie, she is tired at night and is still getting used to having homework, but she is pretty good about getting it done right away.

The tricky thing about Emily these days is that she refuses to smile in any photo. If she feels a smile coming on then she tries to hide it, as you can see in the photo above, which was from her first day of class. So, I am working on being very sneaky about how I photograph her. Otherwise, she puts on a very serious face, which makes her look like she is miserable in every picture.

During the first full week of school, Emily auditioned for the fall musical. They are doing a revue this year in which they sing and perform to songs from a variety of musicals, including The Little Mermaid, Annie, and Little Shop of Horrors. She will be in a handful of the pieces and her rehearsals start next week. I think she is excited because this morning I heard her belting out "Under the Sea" as she got ready for school.

Emily's other new extracurricular activity is ballet on Saturday mornings. She has been begging me to sign her up for a ballet class for a very long time and I finally found a studio that offers the perfect class day/time for our schedule and it is even very close to our house, so getting her there has been really easy. Again, she would never pose for a photo, but here is one that I was able to get as she was leaving class. Just after I snapped it, she realized what I was doing and ran towards me to see if she could quickly delete it from my phone. Ha! No such luck! :)

Adventures

It has been a long time between posts, but that is because we have been busy with our cross-country adventure. We are home now, but it was a great trip. There is really no way to capture all of the things that we saw and did. When we left Minnesota we headed through Denver to Arches. After a night there, we went through Monument Valley on our way to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. After a couple of nights there, we doubled back into Utah to Zion. We spent three nights there (way too short) before heading to Las Vegas and finally to San Diego for a week. From San Diego, we finally made our way home. Here is just a taste of Emily's adventures:

At Arches

We only had about four hours to explore Arches. That was definite not enough time, but we made the most of it. Frankly, it is an awesome park, but it was also only a warm up in terms of what was to come on our trip.

Grand Canyon

I don't think that Emily was a huge fan of the Grand Canyon. The fact that we were on the South Rim may have played a role - the views are incredible, but what are views to a seven year old?

A rest in the Narrows

Now, hiking the Narrows in Zion, which is mostly a hike through the water, was right up Emily's alley. It turns out that she loves anything that involves water. This was a really big day for all of us. We started out early in the morning, before the crowds, and ended up with a really great hike. All told, we went almost eight miles round trip and Emily was a trooper through all of it. She finally hit a wall at one point, though, and as I looked at her, her lips were turning blue and she was shivering. Despite the summer temperatures, hypothermia is still a risk, so we turned around and got her into a sunny spot. After warming up a bit, she was good to go. The next day, we hiked Emerald Pools, which is a more strenuous hike, and has waterfalls and pools of water, but no water to walk in. She was OK with this, but nothing beats the Narrows.

A San Diego beach

Finally, on to the place of her birth, which she was really excited to get back to. We drove past our old house, and went to many of our favorite places. I am not quite sure what she is so excited about in this photo, but maybe it is just general love of the ocean. At one point, however, she was on a boogy board and ended up with a big mouth full of sea water. She was so offended! :) Other than that, though, the sea treated her well. We brought home some shells and some sand (from a few of the places that we visited).

As we all were, Emily was happy to be home. She had almost a week back in her own place before her new school started (today). I'll have to fill you in on the new school year, but that will be for another post . . .

4th of July

Emily was busy with a variety of camps during the month of June - art, soccer, karate, hip hop yoga, and Chinese culture. Among all of these, she says that karate was her favorite, followed by Chinese culture.

The week of karate culminated in a demonstration for the parents in which she broke a board with her hand and did a pattern. She loved the feeling of power, I think. As you can see, she is sporting a cute little bob, which is a big change from her long hair. She loves the new style and we can't believe how well it fits her face and personality.

The first leg of our giant road trip is complete and we are camping out (not literally) in Minnesota for a few weeks. Emily has already been to the lake and the waterpark for swimming, to the Mall of America for rides, and to her first ever fireworks and parade to celebrate the 4th of July.

Late night selfie, waiting for the show to start

One of our stops was at a local ice cream shop where she got ice cream with sprinkles. When a little girl next to her got upset that Emily had sprinkles and she didn't, Emily went over to her and said, "If you are upset, maybe you should meditate. I can teach you how." The parents laughed at how cute the suggestion was, but the girl wanted nothing to do with it. Can't blame her for trying, I suppose.

All zen at the ice cream shop

Next week, however, things will slow down a bit as she and Abbie spend two weeks in camp. The topic for next week? Examining where science ends and art begins. Could be a total flop, but also could be really great. I'll keep you posted.

She's Seven!

  

Emily's birthday went off without a hitch on Saturday. She had a very busy day. First thing in the morning, we opened presents from the family. Then, she and I went to swap her 1/16th violin for a 1/8th violin. On the way home, we snagged her cake - Star Wars again this year with blue frosting and a Dearth Vader Mask on it. From there we went home for a quick lunch before heading out to meet her friends at Pump It Up.

She had a great time bouncing and running around with everybody. It had been a pretty wet, rainy day, so an inside party was exactly what we needed. As a result, we had a pretty good turn out in terms of kids.

After the party, we went home to relax a little bit, and to let Emily open the presents from her friends (yes, between family and friends, she ended up with way too much stuff!). The last tradition on birthdays in our house is that the birthday person picks what we have for dinner. Emily wanted sopapillas (basically fried dough) for dessert, but didn't much care what we had for a meal. As a result, we got to choose the dinner location and then just followed up with a stop at a local Tex Mex place for dessert. All in all, it was a successful birthday, and I think she had fun.

Of course, the next day, she remarked that she didn't feel any different as a seven year old than she had as a six year old. Go figure!

Imagination Abounds

Emily has never been short on imagination and that continues to be the case. She is often dressing up and concocting elaborate stories or games in her head. What I find funny is how these games often result in a perfect combination of warrior meets princess. These are just two of her recent outfits. The first has that not so classic "ninja-ballerina" feel to it. She looks miserable, but she asked me to take this photo, and she is really just trying to look tough, I think.

The second photo was a candid one that I captured. Here there is a slight variation, but the theme is the same. To me, this one sort of screams, "Mom by day, superhero by night."

Emily also likes to internalize and act out stories that she hears around her (as I suppose all kids do). Most recently, we were recounting the story of a woman who owned a pet boa constrictor. She thought that her snake was sick - it hadn't been eating and just seemed to want to cozy up alongside her in bed all the time. When she took it to the vet, the vet said, "Ma'am, your snake is not sick, it has been fasting and sizing you up because it is preparing to eat you."

Of course this is the sort of semi-scary story that Emily just loves. Within a few days of hearing it, Emily began getting really snuggly with Grandma P., really cozying up next to her on the couch one evening, lined up right alongside her. Then she says, "I'm really hungry; I haven't been eating much lately." Still unaware of what was in store for her, Grandma P. says, "Yes, I noticed that. What's going on?" At which point, Emily turned to Grandma with her mouth wide open. This is the point at which it all became clear - Emily was the boa constrictor and Grandma was her meal. So much for innocent snuggles! :)

The other big excitement for Emily right now is her upcoming birthday. She wants the standard Pump It Up party - essentially a big place that specializes in bounce houses for kids' birthday parties. So, the location is set and the invitations are out. Two weeks away and Emily can hardly wait!

Disney and Easter

Emily was incredibly excited about the trip to Disney World. She literally had no idea what to expect, but I think that her imagination built it up to be as amazing as a trip to a new planet.

 

In actuality, I think that she ultimately loved it, but was also incredibly overwhelmed by it. There was lots of walking, and that tended to tire her out. Surprisingly, I think that of Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Typhoon Lagoon, her favorite was probably either Epcot or Hollywood Studios.

In Epcot, she discovered French butter and she absolutely loved it. She still talks about it and now wants to go to the real France just for more butter.

In Hollywood Studios, she went wild for all of the Star Wars stuff. She loves Star Wars, and was actually able to see Darth Vader, Darth Maul, storm troopers, R2-D2, C-3PO, etc. That was very exciting.

The trip also highlighted what a homebody Emily is, though. She asked us if, for our next vacation, we could just lay in bed all day. Goof.

Emily, like Abigail, also has some news on the school front. After two years at Montessori, she is moving in the fall to a private school that has very small class sizes. Our hope is that this will keep her from getting lost in the crowd. At Montessori, being in class with 2nd and 3rd graders has diminished her willingness to contribute and ask questions. Her new school will offer more structure and fewer opportunities to "hide."

Emily had a good Easter yesterday. She loves sugar, but I think that she may love money more. :) She was definitely more excited to find eggs with quarters inside than eggs with candy inside. By the time last night came, she was pretty tired, though. She asked to go to bed early, and she just relaxed with a book for awhile. Before I turned out her light, I asked her if she wanted me to re-start her CD for her (she listens to violin at night). She asked me if it was a recording, and I told her that it was. She said, "Oh, good. If they had to play all night . . ." I cracked up. Maybe all this time she has been envisioning little people inside her CD player, giving her a private concert every night. No wonder Disney was overwhelming!!

Beans!

Emily officially finished all of her Twinkle Beans last night. That represents 600 repetitions of variations on Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. She was very excited. I told her that I wanted to capture the moment, and she promptly turned off the living room lights and turned on the single light over the fireplace to create a spotlight effect. :)

Here is the video that we took. When it was done, though, she wouldn't even watch it. She declared that she was unhappy with it and told me that we were going to try it again, but this time she would tell me what to say so that I would get it right. So, here is the revised video:

Slightly different, but not much. For whatever reason, though, she was much happier with the scripted version. Regardless of the version, I am sure that you can sense her satisfaction with this milestone. Next, we will have to schedule her Twinkle Recital as a way to celebrate all of her hard work. She is very anxious to make that happen, but I suspect that it will be a few weeks before we can get it lined up for her. In the meantime, she has already learned the next Book 1 piece, and begun learning some new technique that is necessary for the subsequent piece.

Aside from violin, Emily is very excited for Spring Break next week. We have had a busy few weeks, so I think that she (and the entire family) is looking forward to doing a whole bunch of nothing for a little while. Two weeks after Spring Break, we are taking the girls to Disney World for a week. I'm sure that I'll have lots to report when we get back from that!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Emily was so excited to celebrate Valentine's Day this year (although she was disappointed to discover that it didn't come with a day home from school!). She worked very hard making individualized cards for each of us. My card even came with a three dimensional heart that she made out of clay and painted red (and it was actually shaped like a real heart!). My card said, "Mom, I love you so much that no other love can make it up. Your brown eyes twinkle in the moonlight. No star is bigger and prettier than you. Love, Emily"

Chad's card said, "I love you dad (more than) any other love. You are as handsome as a star. You have beautiful (hair) blonde as the moon. Love Dad." As you can see, I had to fill in some words for her, but you get the gist.

Abigail's card said, "Abbie, I love you so much that there is no way to describe it. I love your brains(?). I love your personality. Love Abbie." So, all cards had the same sort of sweet theme, and she was very excited to have us read them.

Aside from the excitement of the holiday, Emily has taken to meditating in her room and listening to Enya lately. When she is in "the zone" she does not want to be disturbed! Also, she has started requesting privacy when writing in her diary. It has a lock, so she is using it to write secrets about the kids at school. :)

Life is not without its struggles, however. Emily has a few problems that continue to plague her. First, she has not yet started losing her teeth, and none of them are even thinking about starting to wiggle. This has bummed her out as many of the kids are loosing teeth regularly now. Also on Emily's mind are career concerns. She is really struggling with choosing a profession. Singer and baker are still on the table, but this morning she was also talking about wanting to be a scientist or a historian. She probably has a bit more time for the final decision, but I'll keep you posted as she resolves these dilemmas. :)