Wednesday, January 30, 2019

January 29, 2019 - Playing the saxophone

Riley has been practicing for her solo and ensemble solo since probably October.  Her ensemble has been practicing since December.  Once a week, she goes to a saxophone lesson.  Most nights she plays with her dad whether he's playing his horn or the piano.  Once a week, she plays with the clown band but that's a different kind of music which she needs.  But I think she's getting burnt out.

Anyway, tonight, at school, she played her solo and ensemble music on stage.  The ensemble did well and her assistant director gave them both positive and critical feedback. The last couple of years, this concert has been the night before solo and ensemble but this year gives them a little time to clean up anything they need to fix.  She did her solo just two pieces later.  It was gorgeous.  Her dad played piano along with her and he played beautifully as well.  I think somewhere in his heart, he had dreamed of that day.

Afterwards, her director stepped up on stage and said "good job".  When she left the auditorium, he stepped up to the microphone and said, "well, that was pretty."  And somewhere in the auditorium, someone just randomly started clapping again.  It was impressive.  Hilariously, when it ended, she made this horrible face because the last note was somehow wrong?  Anyway, I was proud of her.



Tuesday, January 29, 2019

January 28, 2019

Ugh, I feel like solo and ensemble will never be over.  To be fair, practicing every night is probably good for her but I think she's ready for a break.  It was 10PM when I took this...after 8 hours of school, 4 hours of gymnastics, a trip to the mechanic for our car...in the ice and a very late (but yummy) dinner.

January 27, 2019

Since Riley's class was confirmed months ago, they are separate from the freshmen who are working towards it.  And when I say freshmen, I mean boys.  Because there are no girls.  We have one enrolled in the class but she rarely shows up.
Anywho...Riley has been begging for months to have our classes do a joint class so they can talk about confirmation.  SO this week we did it.  My class loved it.  So...we'll see how it goes next time.  For now, we are back to the boring class.



January 26, 2019

Took Riley and friend prom dress shopping today. We also stopped by the school for Solo and Ensemble practice.  Mom and dad called and asked if there was still snow on the ground, Riley told them it was gone.  An hour later...we had snow on the ground again.




 
 

January 25, 2019

I was in the NICU today for work.  I happened to pass by the "lullaby of the week" and it was one my mom would sing to Riley when she was in the NICU but it had the wrong words.  So I texted dad and asked if mom remembered the right words.  She did. My grandma used to sing the song to me and my mom's grandma sang it to her.

Sleep baby sleep
The big stars are the sheep
The little stars are the lambs, I guess
The big round moon is the shepherdess
Sleep baby sleep

I remember driving home one night with a fussy toddler in the back seat and I started singing that song.  She yelled back, "NONONON!  No baby sleep!!!"

Anyway, I cried in the NICU when I saw the words.  I also got a little overwhelmed when I walked by a storage room full of isolettes.  It was reminiscent of the way our old modules were instead of the privacy of rooms that they have now.

January 24, 2019

Tough meet tonight.  Still left smiling, that's all that matters.  She placed on vault and that was it.  She got second, missing first by .025.  She missed placing on everything else by one place. 


January 23, 2019

First meet of the week.  One of Riley's good friends was competing and she did really well.  Riley also had a good meet.  She placed 3rd on vault and placed on everything else except floor.  She was also very excited because her chemistry teacher and his daughter came and watched.



Wednesday, January 23, 2019

January 22, 2019




Our hospital walls are covered with photos of baby animals.  I got creative today.


January 21, 2019

As I mentioned a few days ago, Riley is working both high school gymnastics AND Solo and Ensemble practices.  I didn't have to work today and she scheduled her lesson today because she has two meets this week (one of which is during her normal lesson time) so I went with her to get her to the gym and rotate her through all four rotations quickly instead of putting her with her normal team.  Rick was at her Solo and Ensemble lesson because he's accompanying her on piano.  Aaah, chaos.  

Working her release move....she should me more hollow and her arms are bent.  :0    See, I know things.  That's what practice is for.





January 20, 2019


She wants to be able to open the machine all the way to 11.  She's currently at 10.  I think I set mine at 4.  Ouch.




Honey lime and chipotle pork tenderloin.


The super wolf blood moon...well, without the blood.


January 19, 2019

Let's talk gymnastics...it's been awhile since we've had a heart to heart.  As my one, maybe two readers might know, Riley has some mental blocks when it comes to gymnastics.  And the more stressful life is for her, the worse the mental blocks get.  She currently has multiple mental blocks on 3 of the 4 rotations.  I don't know who is more frustrated...her parents (ie me), her high school coach (ie me), her regular coaches or her.  We have tried ignoring it, bargaining, begging, offering money and goods ;), getting mad, getting frustrated...but that girl is stubborn.  And them more we push, the more she digs her heels in.   

Some of her blocks are on vault....vault...the event she excels in.  A couple of months ago, she stopped vaulting at the height she would normally put the table.  That makes it really hard to land your vault correctly.  We have worked our way back up almost to where we were and she's winning but she can't push through that last bit.  She has a new vault that will make it possible to get through sectionals to regionals.  She can't practice it though because she can't make herself go over the vault table with it and I can't push because I don't want to set back all the way to where we were a few months ago.  SO whaddya do?

Bars are going well.  She's working her way up but has a lot of work to do.  Currently she's working a release move on bars and she just added a switch kip.

Beam is a hot mess.  She has two key moves that she needs but refuses to do.  I'm hoping some day that ends but for now, it is what it is.

And floor...she just found out that the full that she's been working on for a year is being turned in the wrong direction.  I have nothing.

She had open gym today so I was there trying to help.  I can offer some advice and I can video tape and I can encourage.  But I can also get frustrated.

She sent me a note the other day outlining the things that are stressing her out.  She has solo and ensemble in a couple of weeks.  She is doing both a solo AND an ensemble and they are both Group 1 songs.  That means that if she gets a 1 rating, she'll go on to state.  Rick is in charge of music, I'm in charge of gymnastics.  So she is getting pulled in both directions right now.  He wants her to skip practices in order to practice with her group or do her lesson.  I need her at practice and as I explain as nicely as possible...if she had a real high school coach, she wouldn't be able to skip out.  And then there is school.  She is currently taking two college level courses (AP Psych and AP English).  We meet with her counselor on Monday to schedule her senior year.  And then there is Senior year and college applications and ACT and SAT and senior pictures and jobs and oh yeah, weight training and prom.  She's the kind of kid who worries about C and D before A and B happen.

I'll keep the two of you updated. :)


January 18, 2019


He's cute but the body is a little weird. 



Homemade pizza night.  That's pizza choices for 3 different people there.  Two kinds of pepperoni, italian sausage which I hate because of the stupid gross seeds and Rick's also has vegetables.  Oh, and ham.  My side has ham.


Friday, January 18, 2019

January 17, 2019

Kitty is still cute.


Our snowman is dead.


Riley and I are cute.


Thursday, January 17, 2019

January 16, 2019

There is something so sweet about those little white paws.
 

January 15, 2019

.


.

 
Also, it's Taco Tuesday so we had fish tacos.  I made a horrible mess but they tasted good.
 


 

January 14, 2019

The hospital in the snow.

January 13, 2019

She was asked to become an "official" grownup lector at church so she did today's readings and did a great job.

January 12, 2019

Close to 8" of snow today so no meet.  Instead, we got challenged to a snowman contest (we lost) and we caught up on our tv shows.




January 11, 2019.


Still practicing for solo and ensemble.  She had practice for gymnastics Mon, Wed and tonight, meets on Tues and Thursday and saxophone lessons on Wednesday.  She has a meet tomorrow but snow in the forecast.  We did enjoy meeting my parents for pizza tonight.  It was a nice respite.

January 10, 2019

2nd Meet, she placed on all but floor and got second on vault.  More importantly, her bestie decided to compete for her school this year.  So they are both solo-ing it with mom coaches.
 



January 9, 2019


January 8, 2019

First high school meet of the season.  It wasn't great and it wasn't terrible but she did win first on vault out of four high schools.


I love that the Catholic school that we were up against invited her to pray with them.


The face you make when the National Anthem is somehow played at twice the speed and no one stops it to fix it.

January 7, 2019

A friend and fellow preemie mom showing her support for Riley's first meet tomorrow.
 
 
 

January 6, 2019

A dessert experiment.  It was a roll of crescent rolls that was rolled out and pinched where it was torn.  You add melted butter and a can of apples.   The darker end had cinnamon and sugar on top of the crescent rolls.  It was AMAZING.  I want to try it with peaches or cherries too.


We made fajitas!! :)


Rick and Riley worked on solo and ensemble.


I played with filters.