Monday, May 19, 2014

Whitney Whitney Whitney!

Whitney's had a lot going on lately around her birthday time!  Birthday post coming next :)  
First, her music recital.  These pictures are horrible, from behind people, but we're kind of over the whole "get there early to get a good seat for your kid's recital" thing.  And we're only on the second child!  haha.
Anyway Whitney did great, she's a natural performer and she has practiced really well this year so she was totally ready for all the songs they played on the piano.  It has been so fun for me this year to watch her develop her piano skills!  She LOVES to play the piano and usually did more than the required 5 practices per week!  She has great rhythm and is continually getting better at matching her voice to the right pitch. :)

This was hilarious, for their classical music puppet show they surprised us with these pirate masks!  Here is Whitney vigorously doing the actions while looking like a pirate!
Next up- Kindergarten Graduation!  I generally think it's kind of a silly tradition, but it is kind of adorable!  Whitney wanted to wear the same dress Katelyn wore for HER kindergarten graduation and curl her hair the same, so here she is!
And here's a flashback- Katie's kindergarten picture!
The graduation was super cute, they did the Pledge of Allegiance, we all sang the Star-Spangled Banner (so cool that they all know it!) and they recited the Preamble to the Constitution with cute actions, it was awesome.  Then they sang a couple of cute songs and got their diplomas.  
It has been an awesome year.  She has learned SO MUCH- this is the first time in our 3 years at this school that I feel like it's motto has been realized.  The school is supposedly all about individualized learning- trying to teach each kid at their own level and challenge them and help them progress.  I don't feel like that's been adequately done with Katelyn- she's still bored a lot of the time.  But Whitney's teacher is amazing and managed to challenge and motivate and captivate my girl.  She is reading SO well and she got to do so many fun things and she was constantly coming home and telling me things she learned in every subject.
The best teacher- Ms. Craner!!  It was her first time teaching kindergarten, but she taught preschool in her home for 14 years so she had endless great ideas, and she was mentored by the other amazing kindergarten teacher Mrs. Nelson, who is a curriculum and individual learning EXPERT, so it was just AWESOME.
Here's Whitney with a few of her friends from her class- Brucklyn, Adreanna, Vivi, Kathryn, and Whit.

And last but not least, the girls have been in a tumbling class once a week for the last few months.  They were excited at first and mostly had fun, but got a little tired of it by the end- I had to make them go a couple of times.  Let's just say my children are not very gymnastically inclined!  Poor Kate has all my uncoordinated genes, and Whitney just didn't like it enough to care I think.  They both improved a lot and can almost do cartwheels and handstands, and I'm really glad they tried it, just for the experience.  I want them to try every sport and physical activity so they can find something they love!
Anyway here's Whitney being helped in a flip off the tramp:

Eric took videos of their "tumbling passes" but I'm not going to post them, so the only still shots we got were of the trampoline stuff.  Here's Katelyn doing a tuck, 
and a front flip.
And here they are with their medals.  Glad to be done, possibly forever! :)

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