Gymnastics Videos

I forgot to include these in last night's post -

Throwback: Eliza's Gymnastics Season

Eliza still LOVES gymnastics!  I was waiting to do a big post about it until after her third and final meet of the season which was to be held at the end of March, but alas, the meet was canceled because of The Virus.

At the first official meet in January, Eliza's best event was bars, where she got a 9.5 and took first place in her group.  She got second place on beam with a 9.0 and placed 2nd overall.

At the second meet in February, Eliza was still recovering from a hyperextended knee about 10 days earlier.  She still did great, though, placing first on beam with a 9.4 and 2nd in vault.  She was 3rd overall.

It was fun to see the girls entertain themselves while they waited for
the scores and ribbons to be prepared.  Here they played "Down
by the Banks of the Hanky Panky" and Eliza actually won.

This is Eliza assisting a younger girl lead a gymnastics-themed game of Simon Says.

And check out these cool pictures from the gymnastics photography folks!

Eliza is really missing gymnastics right now while we're social distancing.  She's been working on her skills the best she can (and reminding me often of how much she needs a trampoline) and doing stretching videos on YouTube often.  I'll have to post some of her recent progress soon.

Throwback: Cat's First Winterim

At Cat's school, the first couple of weeks after winter break are different from the rest of the school year.  For high schoolers, it's called Winterim, and it's a time when students get to choose from a wide variety of topics to study in-depth, during shorter school days.  The culmination of the experience is a final project presented at Winterfest, the Saturday after Winterim classes end.  Here's what Cat had to say about Winterim:

Winterim was such a neat experience. I took World Cultures and Religions and I am proud to say I learned so much and now have a greater respect for the world and the many varieties of people living in it. We studied the 5 main world religions (Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity) and the cultures around them by reading from their sacred texts and attending their worship services. 

My favorite field trips were going to a Hindu temple (YOGA AND LLAMAS), attending Shabat, and visiting a Muslim mosque. Overall, great experience 11/10 recommend :)

The hardest part was all the reading. These ancient texts were a lot to digest and had some very different ideas I had to get past.  It was good practice. And the reading load every day was a ton.  One book I loved though was The Wind Catches You and You Fall Down.  FABULOUS BOOK.  It really gives you a great insight into cross cultures and the struggles of immigration.

One thing I learned was that stereotypes are very real.  No matter how much we deny them, they're just a part of society.  As I was reading all the texts and watching documentaries and movies based on these cultures I've realized just how much we really don't know about people who aren't us.  It's our job here to try to be more informed so that we can help others understand, so that we can recognize our privilege and knowledgeably stand up for those less fortunate or misunderstood.

(one of the several field trips was to a local stained glass
shop where many of the recent LDS temple stained glass was made)

Winterfest!

The kids spent a lot of time in the room with the students
who took the Harry Potter Marketing Winterim.

Throwback: School Pictures

I'd completely forgotten to post this - the morning of the kids' school pictures I had them practice how not to smile for the photographer and they did a great job, and I'm sure that's why the official pictures turned out so well.

Throwback: Piano Performances

I realized that there are several things I neglected to blog about earlier in the year so I'm going to be playing catch-up for a few days.  Here goes!

The piano-playing kids had their solo festivals and recital in February after spending months working on their pieces.  They all did a great job, getting very good scores.  The weekend before the first festival, we had a practice performance at Oma's assisted-living facility and invited another family in the piano studio to join us.  It went well and Oma and her friends really appreciated the music.

Jack played "The Clock" by Theodor Kullak and the first movement of Mozart's Sonata No. 15, which he loved playing over and over again, especially the first couple of pages.  It was a very long piece - 5 pages - and one day we walked to a neighbor's house to practice performing and he realized he'd forgotten his music.  He hadn't played it by memory yet and he started to freak out, but I reminded him that he knew it very well and he recluctantly decided to just give it a try.  He did such a great job.  It was probably the best performance he did of that piece.  I had tears in my eyes, I was so proud of his playing and of his willingness to step outside of his comfort zone.

Eliza played Sonatina No. 1 by Gutlitt - such a fun piece! - and "La Caroline" by CPE Bach, something she'd started the year before but then took a break from and started over again this year.  They both seemed to suit her personality well.

Cat played Debussy's Arabesque No. 1 (it was lovely to hear this over and over again while she practiced) and excerpts from Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, 3rd movement.  She'll keep working on the concerto for a while, but it was fun to hear this little chunk - about 1/3 of the movement - with the accompaniment.

Customary treat after competing.

The recital was sandwiched between the older and younger kids' festival weekends.  Because the piano studio has gotten so large and the recital program was already quite long, the younger kids, who'd already had their festival, had to choose one of their solo pieces to perform in the recital.  (Bummer, since I didn't get recordings of the other pieces they learned.)  The older kids hadn't had their festival yet, though, so Cat performed both of her pieces in preparation.

We were all quite relieved when the recital was over, and celebrated with ice cream sandwich macarons at a new dessert place on the way home.

  

The kids are all so talented and I enjoy hearing them perform, wreaping the fruits of all the hours of practice.  Cat doesn't always practice quite as much as she should, but she really has been enjoying playing piano, for her own pleasure and for others to hear, for a few years now.  Jack and Eliza aren't there yet.  But they don't fight about practicing as much as they used to, which I'm thankful for, and they continue to progress, so hopefully the appreciation and enjoyment will come soon.

In Luke's Words

After struggling for a while to just sit down and do his math, he said,

School motivates me.*

If I had superpowers I would stop the virus.

I hate it.

It took me away from school, it took me away from Scheels,**

and my brithday's inside.***

*The strutcture/environment of attending a traditional school.

**Luke has been asking to go to Scheels to play, look at toys, and ride the indoor ferris wheel.

***His birthday is coming up and he's sad that he won't be able to go out and do anything exciting to celebrate.

Sunday Exploration

Grove Creek, Pleasant Grove

We maybe almost lost Jack at the end of this hike/walk/climb/mini-Polar-Bear-Plunge, but it turned out that he was waiting for us at the van.  So that was good.  I guess that's what I get for telling him he could explore on his own while we were heading back.