Let's Play Music Recital...

Today was our year end recital for "Let's Play Music" class. It was held at one of the Church of Latter Day Saints in Chandler, of which there are several. The teacher, Janalee Fish, chose 11 songs that summed up what the first year group had learned over the year. Great Big Red Balloon- From this song, they learned that the staff determines ascending and descending pitches... visualizing balloons going up and down the major scale. Do, Re, Mi... is not from The Sound of Music, but is a 100 year old method, used with hand signs (solfeggio) to teach how the notes move around on the staff. I Am Learning How to Skip- the staff on a large rug was used to teach skips, steps, and leaps. Dinosaur Song- Jasmine loves this song. It was a way of learning skips, steps and leaps on the bells. Primary Chords Song--learning all of the pieces of the primary chords.. I still don't have that one down. On Top of Spaghetti- using the primary chords. I've Been to Harlem- teaches the difference between major and minor chords. Are You Sleeping?-- that one teaches harmony... of course. Can't Bug Me- feeling and reading rhythm using jungle animals to subdivide the beat. BINGO- Clapping a rhythmic pattern by just hearing it in our head. The Magical Lamp Georges Bizet- Aragonnaise from Carmen- Classical music and distinguishing various instruments. I personally learned alot in the class, but still feel very deficient when it comes to music. Jasmine remembers more than I do:)

Jasmine and her Tuesday night classmates: Toby and Liam Wiscombe, Kennedy Lords, and Sierra Leone.

Jasmine and her teacher, Janalee Fish.. (very pregnant:)

Playing the scale on the bells.

Leading the puppet show. Jasmine's jobs, besides singing the songs, were to play the major scale with her Tuesday night class, as well as be the person to hold each puppet at the appropriate time for The Magical Lamp song. Jenny, Gadiel, and Abby watched the recital with us. After the show, each child received a graduation certificate, gave flowers to their moms for Mother's Day, and got a little "goody bag" with candy!, stickers, little games, etc. Then we had cupcakes and a little party.

Yet another birthday party!!:)

Jasmine's classmate, Briannah's birthday party was today at Xtreme Air Trampoline Park. Huge place.... probably 20,000 square feet of trampolines and an indoor skateboard park... which we did not partake in. I think I would be exhausted if I had just jumped on a trampoline for over an hour.... but not Jasmine! All of the photos of her jumping did not turn out.....

Singing Happy Birthday to Briannah! Eating cupcakes ... AGAIN! Pink ones this time, since it was a Barbie party. Each of the little cupcakes had a pair of Barbie shoes on it. Giving Briannah her present.... a purse with a necklace and lip gloss in it. Time to take a nap!

Basic 3 Graduation....

Tonight Jazzy graduated from Basic 3 ice skating classes. After each "semester", the class puts on a little show at the end of class. Then.... cupcakes:) and blue ones at that!

Jasmine's sayings for today.....

"Judy, do you know you look alot like your mom". !!!! While I was standing at the sink doing dishes. "Why doesn't Grandpa go fishing anymore---- because he is trying to lose weight?" :)))

Lacey's birthday party....

Yesterday, we attended Jasmine's classmate Lacey's birthday party at the Jambo Park Indoor Amusement Park. It was a wild time! Jasmine on the merry go round. With her friends, Lacey and Briannah. Riding with Emma, Jasmine, Briannah, Tira.

Earth Day....

Today is Earth Day.... well, every day is Earth Day:) Jasmine's class studied recycling and talked about littering. She made a sign that says "The Earth is in your hands":) Then they all made "litter bugs" from trash.

Long day...

Yeah, we're finished! I definitely could not do this type of thing every day. Just the highlights: The fire that my partner and I had to extinguish was a barbeque that was burning out of control. There is a regimented way you are supposed to approach the fire (for the training anyway)... so, Laura (my TSA agent partner) and I approached the fire in the proper way, and started using the fire extinguisher. The firefighters pulled a fast one on me, and only gave me a canister that was about 1/3 full, so I extinguished the fire part way, and had to call my "back up":) They went in, did their job, then the fire miraculously came back on again, so I had to go in *again* and put it out:) It was a good experience, but I don't think anyone is going to have a "back up" if their at -home backyard barbeque gets out of control.:)) We did lots of other drills. Our scenario was that a heavy monsoon hit Phoenix, and there were flash floods, heat waves, plus the utilities were off to the whole city. Trees were down everywhere, houses were destroyed, people were dead or dying or just needed help. We had to search the houses for dead bodies, mark the "people" (mannequins) with "I" (needs immediate care), "D" (delayed care) or "D" for dead. Then we had to search houses for survivors, etc. There is a correct way to search a house that is perfectly dark.... (because it is night time and the electricity and gas has already been checked by us before we enter). We have to mark the door that we have entered into in a certain way, then only go to the right or left for the entire way around that particular floor until we come back to the door we had marked. We found babies with missing appendages:( and people we had to carry out in a certain proper way. We did lots of other drills today too like getting someone out from under a wall or car by "cribbing", and prior to doing all of this setting up a "chain of command" kind of like in the Army, which we spent four hours on yesterday! They (the Federal Government of course) developed this chain of command *after* 9/11 so that any rescue groups/fire/police etc. all use the same chain of command in a natural disaster or even if they are monitoring the Super Bowl, for example. It was 98 degrees today and I got fried. Jasmine just said "Mommy, why is your face so red".:) I am so glad I don't have to do this regularly... plus I forgot my Alleve!! I would have to take two more *levels* to be "deployable", but I don't know how I would ever be deployable with Jasmine.... So ready to go to bed right now:)