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Category: Baby Blog

School Winter: Solos, Duets, Concerts

Emma’s orchestra winter concert. This was their ensemble group. She started off the song with a small solo. She’s really worked hard to be heard in her orchestra, esp. after being the new kid last year. Super proud of her. Zi’s biggest fan was Emma. It may be because Emma was so proud and could relate that Zi can finally experience her 1st school concert. So Emma and Elle insisted that we get flowers and a small reminder of her hard work. Zi named it Pengi Wenceslas, after the song where she had her duet. Zi has great cheerleaders!  Last school winter concert of the year. This time, it was Emma’s choir and TL Singers. These were just clips of my favorite songs from the night. 1st song: Light One Candle (Emma sang a short solo)2nd song: River in Judea (my favorite from the night…made me tear up during the whole song)3. Morokeni 4. The Climb (Yes…a Miley Cyrus song)My parents were able to attend; my mom said my dad cried because he remembered his younger days when he’d perform. ?Super proud of Emma for her commitment, getting up earlier to attend practices for TL Singers. It’s her last year in Middle […]

8 + 4 + 1 : Back To School

Weekly prayer meeting fell right on the day before the girls are going back to school so we were able to have a devotion about trusting and waiting on God, and not be fearful. And we each prayed for specific things that might take us away from giving each of our best this year + that they may be extensions of God’s love to their schools. We also prayed for their cousins, their friends, and school peers who will be entering into another year. Be mighty, little ones; take courage in the One who leads your paths. One-two-one-two! Get ’em, Ababas.        SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW: This year, I decided not to buy any new school clothes for them or backpacks. Thankfully, their sneakers still fit and was still in good condition.  Only Elle had to get new sneakers because her feet are growing so quickly and I could never keep her sisters’ old sneakers because they were so beat up from each year.  Also, after school ended, we kept all their old crayons, colored pencils, markers, erasers, pencils, highlighters, unused post it notes, tore out the old pages from their composition notebooks, binders, colored folders, calculators, paper, […]

Emmanuelle Turns 13: Attention, Folks, We Have a Teenager.

Happy birthday, Emmanuelle Grace. Today has come too fast. What I once thought was eons away has quickly eluded me and stands closely in front of me requiring acknowledgement. You’re 13. You’re beautiful and deep, and you constantly try to figure out how to grow up and understand more of your observations. Know that you are surrounded by people who are fast to love. You will be met with people to cheer you on. We love you, Monkey and pray your birthday verses with you. We are so proud of who you are. ? asdf?Some Favorites: Clothes:  Maxi Dresses, TShirt + Leggings, Poofy Tulle Skirts Food:  Bacon, Fried Pork Belly, Shrimp, Salmon, Pizza @ the mall, taro bubble tea slush, Nutella Instrument:  Violin, Uke, Voice TV Shows:  Fuller House, Star Vs. Forces of Darkness, Nick Shows Movies:  Mamma Mia “HWGA”, “Greatest Showman”, Pitch Perfect 3 Songs:  Mamma Mia Soundtrack, Greatest Showman Soundtrack, Kina Grannis, Songwriter Vibes, Imagine Dragons, Pitch Perfect 3 Soundtrack Color:  Tiffany Blue Hobbies:  Listen to music, Singing, texting friends, Indoor rock climbing, rollerblading, writing songs, playing her uke, Playing Pokemon,  Loves:  Musicals, Swimming, Washi Tape, Sleepovers,  Places:  Beach, B+N, Target Notables: She continues to write songs.  On my […]

Emma’s Spring Orch. Concert + Duet: BRAVO!

We’re so proud of Emma for being one of the featured duets in her spring concert. Even more so, we’re proud of the courage she overcame, bringing her talents to a new School, where the pool of musicians really challenged her to become better as well. She mustered up the strength to become friends with her musical peers, be noticed by her teachers, show everyone her passion for music, and tackle challenging music to perform. The concert was also a personal treat for me since her chamber orchestra played Dvorak’s heartbreaking Cavatina, and the 7/8th graders played Mozart’s heart racing Amadeus- first introduced to me back in high school when the movie came out + I became obsessed with the soundtrack.

HONK!

So proud of Emma for committing her time + adding to her tight schedule to join in her middle school musical. I don’t remember being so brave when I was her age, but she got out of her comfort zone to join her first musical. We’re super proud of her resolve to conquer fears, try something new, + pave the way for her sisters. Staying late in school every day for practices, finishing her homework so she can get to sleep on time, maintaining her grades in her core subjects, + practicing her violin everyday for lessons and groups, have not been easy. Great job, Em. I hope this experience continues to build your confidence, and extend your tribe within the things you love.  PS. Emma’s only part of the ensemble in her musical. I asked Perze to buy simple flowers to give her after opening night, and he came home with 2 dozen white roses.

Brave at Twelve

Did I mention that Emma tried out for Orchestra Regionals?  This was her first year. Emma said she made tons of mistakes. However, we as her parents, made mistakes as well, as it was OUR first time having our daughter try out.  We’ll get to that. Since fall started, Emma’s been learning her piece, Nardini’s 1st movement of Concerto in E Minor. Initially, she wasn’t so keen on the music.  I couldn’t really blame her since I also didn’t like it all that much.  Musically, it was tough on the ears at first- the sporadic timing and changing of eighth, sixteenth notes, triplets, trills…etc. and an aggressive melody in a minor key. She hated practicing it because the timing just didn’t make sense to her. But things changed in December-January when she really started finishing the song, when she became more confident in playing the song. She still had some timing issues, but there were actually places in the music where she soared. The day of the auditions, Perze and I made mistakes helping her find the scales and parts of the solo that she had to play for the judges. I think if she had that bit of information, […]

Try Try Again: Milestones

Encountered some milestone while in the Philippines.   On this trip, Zi learned how to swim using her forward strokes above and in the water. She also learned to combine back strokes into forward strokes as well as jump into the deep end and swim into the shallow part. Now all she needs to learn is to tread water. ?? This is about the same age when Emma learned how to swim. The day of Isabel’s birthday, we went to a bicycle park for Isabel’s birthday. They all chose bikes ? to ride around this surprisingly breezy day. Emma was frustrated, but persisted to learn to ride a bicycle. So after a few scratches, some tears, falls, she learned how to ride one!

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