Guy Fawkes with Cousins

On November 5th we visited our cousins' place for dessert and fireworks:

Inside or outside?!

Since my flute exam was the following day and I had come straight from my second lesson
of the day (together they totalled two hours!!), a mini-concert was in order! ;)

And the others have a turn!

Heels run in the family . . . haha

My First Ever Flute Exam!

Written 27th December

After nearly four years of flute lessons, my teacher decided I was ready to sit a grade 3 exam. So I began doing a lot of serious practice, actually I did more practice preparing for the exam than I’ve ever done before! And yes, that could have something to do with the fact that I played for nearly four years before I was ready to sit an exam! Soon it was settled. I could certainly be able to attain a suitable level of playing on the required things by exam time. So the exam was booked; we found out the time and place it was; and I continued practicing long and hard! I think I drove everyone mad playing the scales and pieces so many times! It was getting close to exam time; we took my flute to KBB Music in Epsom, and scheduled many extra lessons with my teacher {Ruth}.

Finally that was it. The practice I had done was all I could do; the day had come. I had a quick lesson with my teacher in the morning to touch u on a couple of things, before going to an orthodontist appointment, going home for lunch, and Mum taking the others to their swimming lesson. She still had a couple of things to do, and the children would be late for their lesson if she waited any longer, so she dropped them off, leaving me home to relax on my own for a few minutes (music and a drink work wonders, don’t they?!). Then she came back home, I got ready to go, and she finished what she needed to do. We picked up the others from their swimming lesson, and drove out to Remuera.

We arrived in plenty of time to see where we needed to be and stuff. I grabbed my flute and warmed up. Unfortunately the nerves hit me then! =( Anyway Ruth soon called me for my exam, so we went in, returned the greeting of the examiner, and tuned before playing my first piece. (Ruth was accompanying me on the piano, so we had to make sure my flute was in tune with it). I got through my three pieces (Andante alla Siciliana, Hurdy Gurdy, and Melodie Polonaise) with only a few mistakes (mostly due to nerves), and my teacher left as soon as she had played all the accompaniments – so after Hurdy Gurdy. Then I played a few scales, arpeggios and the sight-reading piece. Then the aural test, unarguably my worst part of the exam!

Before I knew it, it was all over! The exam Mum and I had calculated to take about an hour was over in about 10 or 15 minutes! I was relieved that it was over, but at the same time I knew I could do it again.

I think Mum had been a bit unsure about whether or not I would pass, but when we got the results sheet it looked pretty good!
Minimum pass mark = 100
Maximum possible mark = 150
My mark = 120, or pass with merit! =)

30 January to 4 February

Hi again!

Sunday we had the main communion service, so it started at 11am, and didn't finish until about 1:30/2pm.
When we got home (I think) we had roast chicken (made by Chef Uncle Pete!).
And church again at 7.

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Monday was a public holiday, so after church we went to Omana Regional Park with our cousins, and Anne Roos and her brothers - Auke and Dieuwe whom we picked up, for a bbq. After the EVENTUALLY eating, the others played soccer (while I sat in the car txting!), then we all played cricket.
Then it was home time.

That night (after the others had been put to bed), we got all Bethany's stuff together and packed it; while watching Ever After.
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And Tuesday morning we got up just before 5am (or I did, I think the others got up earlier!)  and took Bethany to the airport, to check in by 5:30! Since we got there later than we had planned, we missed out on breakfast at McDonald's =( ah well.
Yes, when we got home I did go back to bed, and woke up to Mum saying "oh no, you've got a flute lesson in five minutes..what shall I do?...*thinking*..I better ring your teacher.." That would've been at 10:55, but I went back to sleep, and when I got up later, found out that my flute lesson had been changed to 4pm...which was good cos I was wide awake by then, and was able to play much better than I otherwise would have.
Then that night at 5:30 we had athletics YYYYYAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!! lol
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Wednesday was spent at home, and that night we went to church cos we had a minister over from Aussie.
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Thursday was the Auckland Home Educators' Not-Back-To-School picnic at Cornwall Park.
One of my friends, along with some of her siblings and two of their friends brought their instruments and played some music for us. Thanks Wilsons and Campbells =)
And I saw a couple of other people who I hadn't seen for AGES, which was really nice.
The Scavenger Hunt was pretty cool too.
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Friday...ummm... another day at home I 'spose, most likely preparing for school and tidying up.

Okay I'm gonna leave it at that for this post.
Cya
Bee

Hi Again...

Hi again everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted in ages =(

Last Saturday we had a BBQ with our church at Cornwall Park/One Tree Hill.

I have been making skirts (straight elasticated ones) for the girls, and today we bought fabric so I can make purple net curtains, and some of the fabric for purple drapes...I'll be busy...lol

This morning I had my first flute lesson for the year. It was supposed to be 10am, but me being me turned my alarm clock off, and didn't wake again until about 9:25, and of course, Mum being Mum, she had entirely forgotten about it.. so completely freaked when I asked if she had looked at the time recently...lol
So anyway she rung my teacher, and changed the time to 10:30am.. which thankfully we were on time for... =)
Next week's lesson is set for 11am, and hopefully we will be up in time!
We played a few duets - me playing flute (obviously!) and my teacher accompanying me on the piano..oh man, I didn't really need the reminder about how much I want to play piano.....
Yes, my teacher plays more than just flute - piano, oboe, recorder, ...and a few that I can't remember..!

Tonight was also supposed to be the first night (for the second half of the season) for athletics...but it has been raining and windy all day...so that got post-poned to tomorrow night...
Anyway it was fun having our friends the Sonnevelds' come over for an hour and a half to talk instead =)

WOW!!! I can't believe it's already tomorrow night that my friend Bethany arrives from Australia for ten days!!!! =)

Well I'm gonna leave it at that for now,
Luv,
Bee