Reflections: Music

 In the fall I was aware of the deadline for Reflections so I badgered the kids to enter something for those competitions.  B wrote a little piano piece.  We just found out that he won 2nd place (of 2 entries....) for music.  Knowing that it was a field with prohibitive entry for most children, I thought his odds were pretty good.  Yay B!  He did actually write a nice little piece with counter melody and typed it up on Finale.  Totally good work for his age and skill level.

Rainbow mtn. Treats

 

One of my goals for this year is to go have a treat at rainbow mountain 12 times.

Today we searched for ice and had chocolate covered strawberries.

Deacons

 B advanced to the Deacons Quorum this past month.  This ward has about 10 deacons!  They can't all serve the sacrament each week.  B got to serve the sacrament today.  So sweet.  After church the deacons swarmed into the primary room and stacked the chairs.  I'm so grateful for their good leaders teaching them stewardship, organization and leadership.  I'm so grateful that the kids get to be in a strong ward with such a high level of expectation for the youth.

Trombone

 B agreed to play trombone after P got a newer one in a good case from Atlanta.  After school started E found a better case for the old trombone at a local music store.  The old trombone stays at school and the newer trombone stays home.  lP and B both use them both.  Perhaps for concerts the nice one can go to school.

B loves going to school with lP and being the little brother.  They walk down to a further bus stop so they can hang out with friends.  

B scored very high on the iReady diagnostic and wanted to skip a grade to be with lP in high school for 2 years.  I told him that childhood is too fun and not to rush it.

trombone trumpet

 B wants to play trumpet.  We want him to play trombone.  We're trying to have him do both.  If he plays trombone he and lP will be in the same section for high school.  That would be cool.  He's also blessed with long arms and a good ear so trombone would be easier for him than other kids. 

He's had a good summer playing on the computer, hiking rainbow mountain and keeping tabs on L.  He's a lovely kid.  I love him.

5th grade camp

 A few months ago B asked me about camp M.  He had heard kids talking about it.  He just got back from going.  Grandma C helped pay the fee.

On Monday I dropped off B with his luggage at the beginning of school. He went to the cafeteria.  Parker's dad took my luggage to his car and then we all rode the bus to camp. 

"I sat by someone who was a bit annoying."

"Then we got to camp M and the instructors told us where our bunks were.  And they mispronounced some of the names they read.  Then we got settled into our cabins and had lunch.  I'm thinking if we did anything before that but I don't think so.  Then we learned about animal tracks.  We had pizza for lunch. 
One of the activities was canoeing.  One of the kids threw up on the first night.  We had to be in the cabins at 9pm.  Every cabin had 2 showers.  

We woke up and had breakfast (eggs, bacon and oj)  Tuesday night we did crafts and played games.  In one game we had playdough and people had a word to sculpt out of playdough.  Whomever guessed the word got to sculpt next.  In another game we drew on a persons back and then they drew on the next persons back until the final person draws what they felt on the board."

He came home to our full wall of books.  He was speechless and delighted.  He immediately found the bird sounds book and sat down with his old friend.

Trombone dreams

 We planned for B to play trombone ever since his growth chart predicted above average height.  It has been about 7 years that we had his life all planned out for him.

Last night he went to a band petting zoo and decided he likes trumpet and flute better.