Piano

I started playing the piano when I was eight years old. I taught myself the basics. My sister had played the piano and I had listened in on the lesson.  I would go home, take my sisters sheet music practice. Then I started taking lessons. Now my teacher comes to my house. We moved the piano out of the living room and into the playroom. The playroom has a door so I can shut the door and play until my hearts content!

I have done two Christmas recitals. The days leading up the the performance I would play and I would play and I would play. When your sitting at the side of the stage, your nervous. Then you walk on the stage. You go to sit down and put up your music on the stand. Then you start playing and don't want to stop! When you finish your music you walk off stage smiling while everyone is clapping. You did a job well done.


My cousin plays the piano. My aunt gave me a cd of him playing the piano. One of my favorite songs is Fur Elise. I play the beginning of Fur Elise and my cousin can play the flu piece. My teacher gave me the full piece so that I can practice it. I listen to it just about every day. I even listen to it when I do math! That is how much I like it.


I am not the only one I know who plays the piano. I inspired my friend to play. Now he comes over before my lesson and he has a lesson! My other friend plays the piano. I love bringing my music books and playing at her house! I like playing at her house because I like sharing my music with other people and I like sharing what we have in common.


I wanted to thank my aunt for giving me the cd of my cousin. I love it. I want to be like him one day.  One of my goals is to play Fur Elise as good as he can. I will listen to that cd for ever!

Basketball

This year is my third year playing basketball. Last year I was on a team with my school friends, but this year I am on a new team. My coach would be couching four teams, and that is one too many, so I joined his other team.


This year my team has more experience than last year. Most of the girls played last year. Most of them are younger than me, But just as good. Last year they were pretty much my age and didn't have as much experience. This is why I think we will do better this year than last year.

There really isn't much that's the same this year. Our first game was last Friday, and we won. Last year we didn't win any games. This is a big difference, since we won the first game.

I think that our team is going to do good this year because of how experienced we are. We also work well together, which is also a key priority. If you don't work well together, then you won't be able to play the game. To play the game you need to pass to each other. If you don't work well, then you won't know what to do, and then you will lose the game.

We are orange.  I am in the middle.

My favorite part of playing basketball is the game. If you make a shot in the game, you can not help but smile! You just feel good not only to yourself, but also that you made your team happy.

My Birthday!

Just a couple days ago, well, exactly 6 days ago, I turned 11.  It was not the day I was expecting, so lets start from the begging.  

           On Friday, the 9th, I sprained my foot badly.  I was over at a friends house.  We were throwing basketballs from the top of the steps.  I wanted to see what happened when I jumped off the 4 steps and through the basketball at the same time.  I did it, and instead of landing on the ground, I landed on the last step.  I landed on the side of my foot and felt immediate pain.  I sat down thinking it would pass.  It didn’t.  I tried to walk back to the steps but couldn’t.  I hopped.  My friend went to get his mom.  She gave me an icepack.  She called my mom.  My mom had to drive me home.

                That same night I went to a walk-in.  They couldn’t find anything on the x-rays. It was a sprain.  They splinted me up and I went home.  

        The next few days I had people sign my splint and decorate my crutches.  They made me a big get well sign.  They helped me down the stairs.  They were such a big help.

             On Monday,  September 12,  I went the the orthopedic.  He said the same thing, it was a bad sprain.  He put me in one of the big black walking boots, which I am still in.  He said to still use the crutches and when it gets better, start walking in the boot.  It  really hurt.  But I got through it okay.

     So now Tuesday, September 13, 2011, my birthday.  I was supposed to go to an all day nature camp that started on my birthday, but I couldn’t go.  I was waiting for this for 6 months.  So instead of that, I invited my best friends over for a movie and popcorn.  

     They brought Lindt chocolates and my mom made brownies.  We watched Marmaduke and Chrissa. It was fun.  Then later that evening, I had my piano lesson.  Then we went to pick up my dad at the train station.  We ordered pizza, and went to pick up a cake.  By the time we got home the friendlies cake was a little melted.  We ate and sang happy birthday.  Then I sliced the cake.  

     We opened some more gifts.  I saved some for when my dad came home.  I got 2 cool mythology books, a scratch magic, 2 Harry Potter lego sets, a beautiful perfume, 2 shirts, 2 pajama bottoms, 3 plain white shirts, a hiking tool, a book, a rain gage, 2 mugs, 6 owl plates and a lego board.  From my aunt I got a shirt, a mood necklace, and 2 UCONN items.  From my cousin I got a book and a bracelet.

     So, as you can see, I had a good birthday.  Thanks for reading!

my splint

my crutches

my foot

me and cake

my nature tool

lego Harry Potter

Perfume 

So Far this Week

I know it is only Tuesday, but I have done some very exciting things this week. Yesterday we had some friends over in the morning. We played this really cool game called Nucen. You play by having at least three people on each side of a volley ball net. Since we didn't have a net we made one with rope. Then you have a soft ball and throw it back and forth. You need to catch it. If you don't catch but you touch it and then the ball touches the ground, you are out. Then the people on you team have to catch the ball with one hand to get you back in. If the ball doesn't touch you, then the closest person to the ball is out. The team that loses is the team that has no people left.  We played hide and seek, swam, ate some snacks and swam.  We also went for a scooter ride.  I got to try a motor scooter!  Now I want one for my birthday! 

That same afternoon, me and Fashionbug had a chess lesson. It was really good. We learned what the pieces are called and how they move. Then we learned some tricks. He loaned us a mini chess set and a chess book. We had a good time.

So far today, I got up, watched the weather, got dressed and went for a scooter ride. I got really cool pictures. I went down were you can see the pond. The fountain was on. There were clouds in the sky.  The clouds and the fountain together looked beautiful. And there was a perfect shot!  I went back home.  I saw a bird on the road.  But he/she went up to a branch and sadly I could not get the picture.  I also saw a squirrel.  It was behind a tree.  Its little head pooped out from behind the tree.  It was to fast a ran up the tree before I could get a picture.  There was another squirrel.  I have seen this one before.  I think he/she has a nest in one of the trees.  It was eating.  This time I got a few pictures. 

      Today is going to be fun. I will blog about it tomorrow.

What have you done so far this week?


My Dogs



Squirrel



Squirrel



Lilly Pads



Pond with the clouds and the fountain



The Statue of Liberty

On Tuesday, June 28, we went to the Statue of Liberty. We took the 7:45 train in with other friends. We got in, took the subway to Battery Park were the Miss Liberty ferry takes you to the island, met other friends and set off on a great adventure.


I went to the top of the boat. It is really cool up there. It feels like you can see forever. The New York skyline is so beautiful as you ride away. The boat has three levels. I have never been on a boat so big. It even had a snack bar! The ride took about 10 minutes, and then we were there............


Okay, we made it safely to the island. Do we head over to the statue? NOPE! We eat! We found a nice grassy area and sat down. We had a big picnic. What do we do with 12 kids? We play TAG! I had allergies, so I didn't play. But mostly everybody did. It seemed liked everyone had fun. We stayed for 2 hours! Then we took bathroom breaks then off too Miss Liberty we went.


We get to the entrance. DUN DUN DUN. First of all, we can't take any backpacks in. We have to store them in a locker. That just stinks. Then we have to go through MORE security. We already went in some before we went onto the ferry. I honestly do NOT like security. But then every thing calms down.....


We go through a little museum. There is knowledge to learn, and cool things to see. There was this really cool origami Liberty. There was also Liberty glass sculptures. Those were also cool. Then we had to climb the 100 something stairs :P


All of the tickets to go up to the crown were sold out until after September. Bummer. But we still got to go out pretty high. My mom doesn't hate heights, but she hate when you will look over the side. I think she is afraid that we might fall. But I understand that. I got some pretty cool pics that I will show you.


When we got back down, we got our bags and went to catch the ferry. Standing in line was tiring. I was very HOT! When we got on the ferry, it felt very good to feel the sea breeze. We did skip Ellis Island because everybody, including me, were just to tired. So we went back to Battery Park.


We said goodbye to our friends who drove, and then saw a street show. It was amazing! One of there acts was pulling 4 or 5 people out of the crowd, ( they did not pick me ) and had them bow down. One of the men jumped over us, we were sitting down, and flipped the people! It was pretty cool. After the street show, we went to catch the train.


Before we went to the train, we took a bathroom break at a hotel. We also got snacks there. I have never ever liked coffee, but now I like a decaf vanilla late. I am on the hunt for the best late EVER!


That was our day. It was a good but tiring day. But we had fun. I just have one suggesting. Go to the Statue of Liberty in October when it is not so hot!

One Month Later

Today is the one month anniversary of the terrible EF-5 Joplin Tornado. One month before today, a EF-5 tornado hit the town of Joplin, MO. The town is now devastated. People lost everything including houses and even pets. Joplin is going to have a adopt a pet day.

Our Girl Scout troop did a Loose Change for Change project.  Everybody in the troop collected loose change and stored it in a jar. At the end of the year, the Juniors, ( the oldest group which I am in ) each picked an organization to give all of the change to. There was: Food for The Poor, Stratford Cat Project, and The American Red Cross. I picked the Red Cross because of all the tornadoes that have happened and that it is the peak of hurricane season. Everybody voted and the votes came in. The Red Cross WON!!!!!!!!!!!! Now all of the money will be given to the Red Cross to help everybody in need because of a natural disaster. I feel really proud to give money to an organization. It feels good to help people.


I know I asked this last week, but if any of you have been in a tornado, would you tell me what is was like? I have been in strong thunderstorms and very close to a tornado, but never in a tornado.

I also just finished a Tornado Lap Book. Next I am doing Lightning. They are very cool. You get the book online. Its called an E-book. You can either read the book online or print it off. I print it off and then get it bound. They are also fun. You can read the book quickly and then do the project!

Stay safe from bad weather and have a good week!

Hurricane Season

June is the start of Hurricane Season. As you probably already know, Hurricane Earl came up the east coast. Me and my dad, ( and maybe my sister, I don't remember ) were out shopping in a food market. We went out side and he said that this a hurricane. He was joking... it was NOT a hurricane, it was just rain because we were on the back side of the system.


Over the years we have had some pretty significant hurricanes. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina. In 1969, Hurricane Camille. In 1989, Hurricane Hugo, and many more. During Hurricane Camille, people in an apartment were having a Hurricane party. I know this because I watched a show, Storm Stories on The Weather Channel.  I read a weather book and it mentioned this same Hurricane party!

I have never been in a hurricane. But I have seen devastating pictures. I have also read fiction and non-fiction books about hurricanes. One of them was Ninth Ward. ( Fiction ) It is a very well written book about a girl named Lanesha whose mother died giving birth to her. There was a women who took her because her family wouldn't. She grows up in New Orleans and then goes through Hurricane Katrina. I will not tell you what happens.

If any one of you have been in a hurricane, could you tell me what happened? I would really like that.

Be careful this hurricane season. Oh, and enjoy the heat. :)