Molly had her spring orchestra concert, and did a great job. The evening included the beginning orchestra (Molly’s group), advanced orchestra (older kids), beginning band, and advanced band. This video is just the beginning orchestra, made up entirely of 3rd graders. It’s amazing how much these kids learned this year.
Great job, Molly and classmates.
Molly performed a viola solo at the county Solo and Ensemble Festival. She did a fantastic job, and received high marks from the judge.
I wanted to record video of it, but didn’t want to distract her. So, I just set my camera on my lap pointed at her without calling attention to it. Molly was so focused, though, she probably wouldn’t have noticed if I was doing jumping jacks.
Great job, Molly!
While I was away, Molly had her first orchestra concert. She’s been learning to play viola since October, and has really improved. I was sad to miss the concert, but it was on the same day as the funeral.
Below is a video of the Beginning Orchestra from her school. That’s the third graders. The school also had the Advanced Orchestra, Beginning Band, and Advanced Band play as well as the Chorus sing, but you don’t get to see them here (Molly’s not in those). Molly is in the video, but sadly you can't see her for most of it. She's front and center with her viola, right behind one of the music stands.
She did great. We’re so proud of how well she’s done and how committed to learning the instrument she’s been. We can’t wait to see how far she comes.
After her concert, Molly posed for a picture with her viola. Note that she was required to wear black and white, so Jen made a white tunic for her to wear (using the same pattern as the one she wore on Christmas Eve.
It’s test time at karate again, and Molly is going for her blue belt. This is a big step, as it will mean she moves out of the beginner class and into the advanced one. It also means she gets a bō to train with.
Here she is having her core strength tested.
There was no surprise who Molly would choose to spar when she had a choice.
Nice punch!
Sensei sat on Molly in push up position to test her strength.
Molly got her blue belt!
Congratulations Molly on your blue belt!
Molly participated in an after school Lego robotics program, and I volunteered as the parent helper. The program was run by Bricks for Kidz (which we love), and was awesome. We used the Lego Mindstorms EV3 kits and software. Here’s Molly building a jumping spider.
Molly’s program this week used a proximity sensor to detect when something came close to the spider, then activated the robotic arm to make it jump at that thing. The first time it jumped, she was a bit shocked. Sorry for the heavy vignette, but I did not get permission to post a picture of her partner.
Last week, the girls attended a Frozen-themed Lego camp at Snapology. When I went to pick them up on the last day, they wanted to show me what they had built that day. They were celebrating Anna’s birthday and had built lots of birthday stuff for it. Oh, and please don’t try to infer Batgirl’s secret identity from this picture. She might get mad at me if I gave it away.
