Clare

I love Clare.  She is an angel.  I cannot take credit for this but I certianly can enjoy it!

We have had a busy couple of weeks with her as we have come to the end of the school year.



We had a fun field trip to Birch Aquarium with her class. I was glad to be able to go and see her and her friends enjoy a great day!

Two of her best friends - Grace and Scarlett. Grace moved in a couple of months ago and she is very sweet! Clare and her became immediate friends. Scarlett has been our friend all year! She lives close by so it is easy to do play dates. We also have been in the same dance class which has been nice for us moms for carpooling purposes. Scarlett is a firecracker and I get a kick out or her!

Clare's class was boy heavy. In a class of 28 students there were only 9 girls. This is all the girls in Clare's class.

 Clare and Scarlett!

 The entire K class with wonderful Mrs. Kimura who isn't that much bigger than a kindergartener herself!

 My cute student.

 Beautiful clare at the beautiful beach!

Clare also had a chorus concert at school. There were a lot of rehearsals in the last two weeks and then two performances at school for the assembly and then in the evening for family and friends.  Clare was a LADYBUG! The darling chorus teacher who took over let everyone have whatever part they wanted (she is a touch crazy!).

 Clare insisted on doing her own hair.  That is not the reason for the picture though. She wanted me to take a picture of the full costume from the back.

 Clare with cousin Parker.

 Clare's other BFF this year was Amanda.

cousins

 Water day at school for the last day of PE! I fun-filled activity and great that the weather was nice for this day!

 Photo shoot with clare after her piano recital.

The same week was her first piano recital. Clare started taking piano lessons in March and has done really well.    Even though she isn't always super excited to go to the piano and start practicing she almost always enjoys it once she gets started. Her favorite part of piano right now is singing the lyrics of the songs she learns. She has a sweet singing voice right on tune and I love to hear it! One day she said to me, "Mom, my passion is singing!"

Clare did a great job at her recital.  She was nervous I'm sure but performed well.  For the recital she was supposed to prepare a few words to say about each of her songs. I asked her one day if she wanted me to help her write something down and she said no. Instead she sat down by herself and thought about it for a few minutes and then stood up and said something about each of her songs.  Each day she practiced it for Lexey and I during the week before the recital. I was worried she would be nervous and forget her words but she didn't. She said everything exactly as she had practiced at home.  At the piano recital when introducing Clare, her teacher said Clare is her most obedient student! It's kind of ironic considering I also have the most disobedient child in my home as well.

I took a few pictures of her practicing for that day as I know that someday she and  I will both enjoy looking back at how young she was when she started. I pulled out some pictures of myself playing the piano as a young student (8 years old) and we got a kick out of looking at those together.

Clare is a good piano student and we (dave and I) really enjoy hearing her practice!

Clare's piano teacher is taking a month break from lessons and gave the kids the assignment to compose a song in that month along with practicing their music.  The were instructed to pick an animal and write a song. Clare picked butterfly and already has her song all written! She spent about an hour on it yesterday, not all in one sitting, making up the song and then playing it over and over again for various audiences at home!  It has lots of glisandos and she gets to use the pedal and full range of the piano which is pretty fun! When she starts up lessons again her teacher will have the fun task of actually writing it out!



Clare also had the dress rehearsal for her dance recital. She has had a great year of dance. She takes a tap/ballet combo class which has been enjoyable for her.  There aren't many things cuter than little girls doing dance!!  I think next year Lexey would also like to do dance (though I think her future will hold sports as she gets a bit older!)  I will save the pics of dance for next time when I have pics from the recital.