The Mosh Pit, Or in Other Words Photos 133-139

Clearly I {or at least my blogging} was no match for the end of the school year and transition to summer vacation. I have loved doing the 365 photos project for the year, but it has really made me feel forced into posting things at least somewhat chronologically, and my brain just doesn't work that way most days. More often than not I feel like my thoughts are flailing and jumping around like a mosh pit in my brain fighting their way to get some air at the top {this is not to say that I have actually been close enough to a mosh pit to experience this first hand, but I imagine that's what it's like, and it's definitely how I have felt realizing how long it has been since I last posted any new photos and considering where to begin.}

I am sticking with it though, because I have some crazy need to finish what I started, so the next several posts will be my best attempt to recover. Bring on the pictures!!

Photo 133 of 365, taken May 16th:

Emma's gym teacher selected some 4th and 5th graders to run in a track meet. Here is the 4th grade team, our school was the only one who brought 4th graders, the other schools only brought their 5th graders, so Emma was super excited she even had the chance to compete.
Photo 134 of 365, taken May 16th:

Emma did the 400m race and the long jump. Here she is exhausted after the 400m. She had never done anything like this before so I tried to give her a little advice about the lanes, explaining that because they are staggered it can be deceiving how far ahead of you someone is etc...I wasn't sure she knew what to expect, but little did I know what I was about to see. I also overheard her gym teacher give her some advice about not starting out too fast, and that was it ~ the race began.

As they rounded the first corner, Emma was either in last place or second to last. I knew her strategy was to save some gas in the tank for the end of the race, but I couldn't help wondering what she was doing. I knew she was faster than that. This continued throughout the straightaway and then without warning she just turned it on! One by one she overtook the rest of the runners {people we didn't know in the stands were counting down the runners as she passed them as soon as they realized the move she was making to take everyone down}. By the final straightaway she was by herself. At one point I saw Emma glance at someone who was passing her, and I was way far away in the stands, but I thought I saw an expression of frustration on her face. She stayed true to her plan though and didn't get distracted. I don't know how you teach a kid patience like that. She surely didn't get it from me! In the words of her gym teacher, Herr Arndt, "Smart race, Emma. Smart race."

Emma and her sweet friend Ava who did awesome in the 70m and the softball throw.

Emma won the standing long jump too, jumping 6 foot 3 inches. Long term, track is not going to be a sport she will be competitive in, she's just not tall enough, and for the purposes of her gymnastics endeavors we will not wish away her petite stature. But for today it sure was an awesome day at the track!!

The same evening as the track meet, Alyssa told me she needed an updated photo for the sidebar of the blog...
Photo 135 of 365, taken May 16th:

I still have a hard time believing she's a teenager, mostly because I am pretty sure I was just a teenager myself last week. We recently got the question that was bound to happen at some point: Are you sisters?

Photo 136 of 365, also taken May 16th:

Once again, Rebekah was too busy playing for me to take pictures.

She much preferred to examine the flowers and run around the yard than sit and pose.

That weekend Rebekah danced at Maifest in Germantown.
Photo 137 of 365, taken May 18th:

There's not a whole lot that is more German than necklaces made of pretzels and beer before noon. Eins, Zwei, Drei...Zuppa!


Photo 138 of 365, taken May 18th:

Rebekah had recently asked me why when Alyssa is in a play she gets flowers after her performances, but that she had never gotten flowers after a German Dance outing. We couldn't have her thinking that somehow her dance wasn't as special, so Alyssa picked out some flowers for her on our way to Maifest.

Photo 139 of 365, taken May 18th:

After Maifest we headed over to celebrate a baby shower for our friends, Tanya and Paul. Baby Christa was just born on June 20th and is just precious! Alyssa and Emma are pictured above with Christa's very proud big sister, Alyssa.

A Little Shepherd Girl

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. -Luke 2:15-20

Last Saturday was Rebekah's German Dance Christmas party. At the practice before the party as they were handing out costumes for the nativity scene, they didn't have enough costumes for all the little girls in the dance group to be angels. The group is larger than it has ever been and the teacher makes all the costumes, so they were limited in how they could cast the little ones. Rebekah was handed a shepherd costume and she brought it to me with a tiny smile, only half happy about the situation and said, "Can you find me a staff? I'll be a shepherd if you can get me a staff."

I told her how important the shepherds were, how they were the very first to find out about Jesus' birth. I also reminded her how in the Bible Jesus is referred to as "The Good Shepherd." I wanted her to be excited about her role, and I am not sure that she understood everything I was telling her, but she definitely perked up as we talked about it. And the fact that I found her a candy cane yard ornament to use as a staff helped her not to feel sad as she watched many of the other little girls putting on their cute angel outfits.

Such a precious sight ~ all the kids re-enacting the nativity scene and singing.

Her staff doubled as a crutch nearly all night, more than one person asked Rebekah how she hurt herself. I tell you, the child does nothing half way, she was very convincing.

Our sweet shepherd girl.

Getting ready to sing Christmas Carols.

This is something that I am so, so proud of...Rebekah read a German Christmas poem to the audience during the party. Her voice was as tiny as a mouse and we could hardly hear her, but no matter!! During the song that preceeded her poem, as she realized it was almost time for her to go on, she started to tear up, and I could tell she was suddenly feeling remorseful for having volunteered her poetry services. But she mustered up the courage and did it, I was so happy for her especially beacuse I know she could not have managed a similar feat at this same time last year. She's growing up!

On to the dancing portion of the program...this picture is so blurry but I thought it showed how happy and active all the kids are once the music plays.

Having a very serious conversation with her friend Brittany in between dances. I love how kids have absolutely no filter about when it is appropriate to break from a performance and do your own thing.

Such a happy little German dancer.

1001 GermanFest Photos

Rebekah is our little "wildcard" ~ unpredicatable and sweet, and did I mention ~ unpredictable? Day to day that means I'm not sure if I am going to have my quiet little duckie who is content to follow me around, shadowing every move I make in stealth mode as if she's trying not to be noticed by anyone, or if she'll take the role of charming and boisterous chief negotiator of the house. She's very good at both.

At German Dance, this unpredicatable nature usually translates to never being quite sure if she is going to dance at any given practice or performance. Anything from a change in dance partners to the slightest change of direction that the wind is blowing can convince Rebekah that conditions aren't quite right ~ and there is usually no moving her once she has taken that position. I think what it comes down to is that she is a little s-h-y. At GermanFest last weekend, she was all smiles for the entire two days of performances and I would have never guessed her hesitation to be in front of an audience...


The big dance stage.

Check out the happy smile as they march in for their first dance. This is about when I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing she was going to be just fine up there.

I'm not sure exactly what she is doing here, but I thought it looked like she was checking her outfit to make sure everything was in place. So silly.

She and Claire (her most frequent dance partner) are getting pretty good. Their teacher frequently jokes that the little ones have the "cute factor" going for them so not every step has to be perfect. I see so many improvements from their posture on up, it's neat.

Uber concentration during the clap dance.




Kind of an unusual sight to see a floating sea foam green convertible. The kids were all amazed. We were trying to take the group photos from above as the car began to pass by, so you can imagine how well that went.

GermanFest, Day 2:

Emma's friend, Willow joined us on Sunday as Rebekah geared up for a second straight day of parades and dancing.

Sweet friends.



In the children's parade.

Our proud little German girl. She and I ran in the 5K race opening night of GermanFest. Our time was painfully slow, but I'm just happy she'll run it with me!!

No festival is complete without sampling some of the fried food.

And here's our attempt to burn the kid's tongues off with fried mini donuts. Despite multiple warnings of how hot they were, no one was willing to wait.

I love Willow's face in this photo. I'm sure her mom will be sending her over for many more playdates :-)

Rebekah played a game where she spun a wheel to win a prize. She won this awesome foaming beer mug trophy. Very GermanFest and definitely an appropriate raffle prize for a child :-) She sure was proud of it though!

To me this smile says "GermanFest Dancing? Officially conquered!"

Germany Under Glass

The first weekend in March the Mitchell Domes hosted Germany Under Glass. There was a lot of German music, dancing, crafts and food and the Kindergruppe that Rebekah dances with was invited to perform.

Some of the girls before they got lined up to perform.

Rebekah enjoying the dance. This was such a change from the Christmas party when she refused to dance. She is seeming like such a grown up little girl lately.

Here is a video of their dance. It's a little bit of a hodge podge of a few dances put together, but I wanted to share a clip of a few different dances without making this video too long.

I like her tiny side eye smile to the camera every so often and how she and Claire look lost at the two minute mark when the music starts and they clearly have no idea which dance to do. At least they caught on pretty quickly.

Most of the children from Kinder Gruppe.

Face painting fun.

Decorating traditional German Lebkuchen Heart cookies.

Without glancing at the photo above which kinda gives it away, can you guess which of our girls each of these cookies belongs to?

The girls went on a scavenger hunt to find all the ladybugs hidden in the three domes. Looking through the pictures I took, I realized that I should have taken a picture of the outside of the domes for anyone who isn't local and can't picture what they might look like. There are 3 pretty big greenhouse-like domes, two of them always stay the same, the Tropical dome, and the Arid dome. The third dome is a "show dome" and the theme changes about 4 times a year...it's a very neat place to visit. Especially on a gloomy winter day {even though we didn't have too many of those this year} when pretty flowers like orchids and Queen Emma Lilies and funny things like baby toes, sausage trees and chocolate pudding trees brighten our day.

In the tropical dome.

The real Hawaiian Princess Ka'iulani loved banyan trees, her father planted many of them in her yard at I'olani Palace so she could play in their shade. So each time we visit the domes, I always take a photo of our Princess Ka'iulani by the only banyan tree I know of in our area.

My sweet and happy little German dancer. I seriously cannot get enough of that dress, I would let her wear it everyday if she asked to.

The current theme in the show dome is Fantasy Garden Train Show, although I think it changes either this weekend or next week. As always, it was so pretty.

The miniature floral trees that the tracks went through.

One of the crafts that the girls were able to try were the folded paper ornaments on this tree. It was hard!

Alyssa showing my mom her intricate paper folding.

Thank you G&G for coming to see Rebekah dance!! It was a lot of fun. I wanted to use a German word here that I see used a lot to describe our day: Gemütlichkeit, but I wasn't sure that I was using it correctly. I think it means happy or fun times, but I don't know for sure. I wish I would have ever gotten around to taking the German classes offered to the parents at our school :-)