Jack’s music teacher put together a video of his students performing for a virtual recital. Enjoy the video below (skip to 7:08 if you only want to watch Jack 🙂
Category: Uncategorized (Page 14 of 207)
Sam’s best friend invited us to go skating at the local rink during their open skate hours. We haven’t been ice skating since 2018! Sam was excited to go, but I warned his hockey-obsessed friend to be patient with him.
Sam did so great! He started by hugging the wall with both hands, following my instructions to march with baby steps. Slowly he learned to push like a scooter on one foot. He didn’t like the A-frame assistant, and went back to using the wall. He would do a lap, then get a drink at the fountain, then do another lap, etc.
Eventually he was only using one hand. I stayed close, but stopped to take pictures or video when he could move solo. At one point I was helping him go around a stopped group, and he pushed off me to get to the wall by himself. He didn’t even realize what he had done! I challenged him to go along his favorite part (without the plexiglass) and see how far he could go without touching the wall. He did it! Our families cheered for him. By the end of the hour he had done two laps with only occasional help from the wall. What a champ!
Enjoy some photos and a montage video where you can see his progress.
We had so much fun. Sam has asked a few times when we can go skate again. We better not wait 3 years again!
Jack has been participating in his school’s Robotics club after school. Saturday they held their first meet. With varying COVID restrictions, the coaches decided to limit the meet to their own school. They have 14 teams, so there was plenty of matches and trials to fill out the competition!
Once a week since September Jack has been working after school to build, program, and drive his team’s robot using Vex IQ. At the meet they got to put them into action for real points. If they are allowing to hold competitions at other schools in the spring semester, then the top performing teams can attend those as well as regionals. We don’t know the overall scores from this weekend.
From what I could understand, first the kids work in cooperative matches. Two teams are put in the arena. They have one minute to accomplish as many tasks as possible to earn points. The tasks have different difficulties and point values, so there is strategy in planning your goals and building a robot that excels in different areas. For example, hanging off the low bar for 3 seconds seems to be a common goal that about half of them accomplished. (No one got their bot to hang from the high bar.) Each team must switch drivers after 30 seconds (two drivers per team per match). The team both earn their collective points. They do multiple matches during the morning.
There’s another section of the meet where they demonstrate technicals. I didn’t attend this part, and couldn’t quite get a full explanation from Jack, except that he thinks this part is boring. The judges also interview each team member during the day.
Jack’s team did great! Their first round was a little rough. Nerves played a part, I’m sure. Then their bot collapsed during the hang. But their other matches went very well. Again, I don’t have all the scores so I don’t know how they performed overall.
But most importantly, his team won the Judge’s Choice Award! This was given to the team with best collaboration, positive attitude, and kindness not only to themselves but to everyone. I’m super proud of him! Only 4 teams out of 14 got any kind of reward, so it really was an honor to win any sort of recognition.
The Axolotls 
Waiting on deck 
Their coach is a great MC 
A round I didn’t film 
It was very exciting 
They got a hang! 
It hung for 3 seconds! 
Hooray! 
Victory “Vector” Dance 
Judge’s Choice Award! 
(Third teammate had to leave before awards
Not their best rounds, but the two I happened to film:
We were grateful to my parents and brother for driving over the mountains to celebrate Thanksgiving with us! We had a very traditional holiday with all the usual trimmings: more snacks and appetizers than main dishes, parade and dog show on TV, two puzzles to puzzle over, all while many delicious dishes roasted and baked. We had far too much food, as is expected and appropriate!
Do you ever get super excited for something, and then it doesn’t turn out great? That was me tonight.
If you have talked to me at ALL in the past year, you know that I’ve fallen down the k-pop hole. All day, every day, I listen and watch dance. It’s re-ignited my love of dance and choreography. I’ve gone back to Zumba and I am trying different classes at Alchemy of Movement in Boulder. I’ve been looking for a k-pop dance class for over a year.
Finally, I found one. I was reading a random Colorado k-pop fan blog, who had a calendar with a “k-pop dance class” listed on Thursdays. I followed the link and sure enough, it looked like exactly what I wanted! They seemed to be learning the chorus choreo for all the recent songs that I loved! Deja Vu, Rock With You, Fever, etc.
I wrote to the studio to ask if they announce what they are teaching each week. Since it’s a 40 minute drive to East Colfax during rush hour, I wanted to sure it was a song I liked (I’m still mostly a boy group fan. Blackpink is sometimes ok, but otherwise I only like men’s choreography). The studio owner gave me instragram links for the teachers (which I had already snooped on my own) and said they usually post before class to announce the lesson.
So two weeks later (because of Thanksgiving) I was so hyped up to go to this class. Finally! I could meet people who like k-pop! And dance to music I love! They never updated their social media with the song, but I wanted to try to class anyway. I was giddy all day and nervous to be going somewhere new.
It was . . . fine. It was not what I wanted. Yes, we learned choreo to a new song. But it felt like I was at a university club, not a dance class. I was at least 15-20 years older than everyone and, for some reason, about a head taller too. The others talked about assignments and finals, one wearing a Metro State shirt. The teachers were friendly, welcoming me and introducing themselves. But they were not great teachers. It’s hard to be a good dance teacher, and they just didn’t have the skills. Poor demonstrations, not knowing the details clearly, over/under explaining, etc. (Another odd thing was one of the teachers hitting her vape like it was her water bottle throughout class).
I asked if they do a warm-up and they said they do Random Play Dance for five minutes, and you can just do jumping jacks if you don’t know the choreo. For real? RPD is a dance memory game played by fans and idols themselves. Yup, that’s what they did. They played youtube for 5 minutes and mostly did jumping jacks.
They had a laptop on a stool in the front of the class where they literally played a video off youtube. With ads. I considered offering to sign-in to my premium account. Couldn’t they at least rip the files before class? They also had to tether the internet from a student’s phone.
With no introduction they switched to the choreo video. It was Hwa Sa’s new solo “I’m a ëą›” (the Korean word is “light,” but it’s pronounced like our b-word). I recognized the video they showed as the 1 Million Studio channel and Lia Kim, the choreographer. As I said, I don’t like girl group choreo, but Lia is usually good.
The teaching was very imbalanced – they spent 35 minutes on the beginning floor section, then rushed through the second half on our feet in less than 10 minutes. I’m sore on my neck and tailbone from spending so long covering the floor work in excruciating detail. I felt like I could have taught myself from the same video just as easily.
After we did the whole piece together we split in two groups. I surreptitiously filmed my group to share here. I thought we were done. Nope. The teachers each performed solo, while a friend filmed them. Then others got filmed for their social media too. They spent the last 20 minutes just filming each other. Again, for real?
Here’s my video. One of the two teachers is in shorts on the floor in front of me. (I think I did pretty good, aside from the side swivel because my feet don’t bend that low anymore.)
Man, I feel bad. Like, I don’t want to rag on these guys. They had a fun time with their friends and I DID learn the dance. I got what I signed up for.
But it was so unprofessional and immature. I wanted better, you know? I already knew that I’m old for a k-pop fan. And I know that I stand out as an experienced dancer in Zumba classes, and even at Alchemy. They were friendly to me and I to them, but clearly this is not my crowd. It’s just disappointing, you know?
At least I tried. At least I’m comfortable with my life and happy with the experiences I’ve gained. Now I know that this class is here if it sounds good one day. Ben suggested I try teaching a k-pop class at the Boulder studio. I’m gonna tuck that idea away and think on it for a while.
Last night they had a large concert for orchestra students of local schools grades 5 – 12. Jack got to play three pieces on his violin. He did a great job! His favorite piece was Impulse. Please enjoy the video of his performances:
As soon as I put our garden pumpkins on the mantle, she joined them. 
Tis the season for knitting and GBBO! 
Freddy loves a good box. 
We spotted a monarch as we left for school. 
It’s electric blanket season and the cats love it. 
I volunteered at the school book fair and browsed their kpop section. 
I made a pumpkin swirl cake, so good! 
Sam’s school had a field day. I forgot to put on sunscreen . . . 
Now they have matching mask-strap stripes on their necks (Jack eats lunch outdoors every day) 
I love every time I get to dress up and go to the dance studio! These new pants are super fun. 
The trees have been so glorious on our evening walks, I had to take a picture. 
I rarely take the kids shopping these days. I sent a photo to Ben and it reminded me of the olden days when I sent him baby-at-the-store pics. 
Picking out pumpkins. 
Trying to sew Halloween costumes. Freddy can’t resist. 
Letting Ben know his sweet sword arrived with a selfie. 
He wanted to cut down on the time it takes to get ready in the morning. I rejected his plan. 
I tried making some thai food at home. My pumpkin curry and these spring rolls turned out great! 
Resting their eyes while they hover nearby, waiting for treat time. 
The Masons sent a box of apples home. I made hand pies and applesauce. 
They love to use my apple peeler. 
Sam is efficient. 
Cutie in a castle. 
Sam’s “derpy” hair for school spirit week. 
Amanda’s classroom door was impressively decorated by her students! 
So. Many. Leaves. 
Halloween afternoon snuggles. 
A dinner pic I sent Ben while he was visiting GJ.
Did you know the kids sing a parody version of Smash Mouth’s All Star? It makes me happy to hear this. And old. I feel old.
(I think Sam hasn’t learned the chorus yet. I wonder how it goes.)
A cake I made to celebrate their vaccination Cookie dough ice cream and chocolate cake.
Both Jack and Sam had a chance to perform for us this fall.
Jack had his first real orchestra concert. It was hard to get a good picture, but he’s in the center of these with a black mask and glasses.
Ben took some video of the songs, since he had a slightly better angle than me.
We think he did a fantastic job! He was upset about a few mistakes, but we assured him that we didn’t notice at all.
Sam’s third grade classes have been working on a musical for the last couple months. They performed a “dress rehearsal” for the first and second graders, then a real show for their parents. He is wearing the green shirt & mask, red bandana, and brown hat.
The teacher had me record the whole show for her to save and distribute to everyone. So there aren’t any close-up shots of my adorable son. It’s a 30 minute show with 7 songs.
If you want to skip to Sam’s part, it’s at 17 minutes into the video. He forgot to come down with group 4 narrators, but he launches down the risers just in time to deliver his line.
I’m so proud of both my boys!
Personally, Ben and I were pretty stressed about being in the audience with a group of people, even though masks were required. It’s going to a long time before we are comfortable in public again. We are working on it slowly, and these performances were a joyful excuse to go out.
What a fun Halloween weekend! On Friday we all dressed up for school and work.
Link from the Legend of Zelda, and a medieval soldier. 
A vampire and the spirit of Halloween.
Jack’s costume turned out very well! We went to the thrift store and bought a green graduation robe, the boots, a silver scarf that became chainmail, the turtleneck, and the belts. I spent a few afternoons sewing the robe into the tunic and hat, and got some faux suede to make arm gauntlets. Most people knew he want Link (only one parent called him Robin Hood). Here’s a throwback to his first time dressing as Link, when he was one year old.
Sam wanted to be “The Spirit of Halloween,” which he described as a pumpkin head with black robes. I found an old Harry Potter cloak I had made for Jack many years ago. I added a hood and extended the sleeves. Sam picked out the mask at the Spirit Halloween store. We had the skeleton gloves from Jack’s Jack Skellington costume, and Sam picked out dark clothes to wear underneath. Easy peasy.
Ben found all his cool stuff online. We were all enamored with the prop sword, which looks really good considering how cheap it was!
I loved my costume this year. My vampire look was inspired by the many, many, many kpop vampire performances. (Those links are from the last year alone, and I left some out. Kpop clearly has a love of vampires.) I wore a ruffled shirt, cummerbund, and a costume coat that I tailored to fit. The dangly chain earrings, velvet choker, and combat boots are what bring this 18th century look to modern Korea.
Amanda’s musical auditions were this month. I posted a dance video for the kids to practice with. Of course, I had to post a Halloween version, like all the kpop groups do too.
I’m the room parent for Sam’s class, so I organized and hosted their Halloween party. After setting up, I got to watch the school costume parade. Then back inside for games and a craft project.
Sam and his BFF. 
During the parade Sam helped his other friend, who kept deflating, by holding hands to guide him. 
We were so excited to share Halloween with Andy this year! He drove over the mountains to join in our merriment.
Amanda took these great pictures of pumpkin carving. I’m proud of the kids – they did the most independent work ever this year. I only helped them a little on final clean-out. They scooped and sawed all by themselves!
Our new friends from trivia invited us to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood on the other side of Denver. The houses are close together and the homeowners decorate a lot! Kids from all over come to trick-or-treat there.
We came home for a quick dinner and to warm up. Then Andy and Ben took the kids out for another round in our home-neighborhood. I can’t believe how long they trick-or-treated! We have so. much. candy now.
Happy Halloween!
The boys got their first dose of the Pfizer covid vaccine this morning! Our pediatrician’s office was extremely well organized and celebratory. We are so happy!
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