A Week of Stretching and Growing!

Children grow and stretch their abilities every single day, but some weeks the stretching and growing come in really big chunks. This was one of those weeks for both of my youngest.

Cecchetti Exam ~  Anne spent the entire school year preparing to take the level 4 exam in Cecchetti (Italian form of ballet). South Carolina was the closest exam location and the big day was on Monday. Anne feels that she did a good job and is pretty sure she passed. We will know for sure in about six weeks when the results and reports come back. The whole experience was wonderful and she gained tons of experience.

A sweet pose with her friend who was also taking the level 4 exam.

Warming up in the lobby

The only difficulty in the entire experience was getting home. Our area has been under extreme rain for the past two weeks. In fact, we usually get 3 inches of rain in the month of May and we have gotten 20 inches of rain in the last two and a half weeks. To say the least, our area is under a state of emergency. There is a lot of flooding in our city and surrounding communities, so I had to take a few detours to get us home.

Dean Left for a Watercolor Artist Retreat ~ I decided a few months ago that Dean needed to do something big every three months or so that would stretch his comfort level. Some things will be bigger than others, but he needs to be pushed to try new things and build his confidence and skills. This quarter we agreed (he less than enthusiastically) that he would go on a three day weekend with his homeschool class to an artist retreat on a farm about four hours away. Thankfully, he warmed up to the idea by the time he had to leave today. So far, his art teacher is posting happy reports on Facebook, and his one text to me said all was going well. They will be visiting a museum, painting in watercolor on the farm, and taking a watercolor class with another teacher and her class in the area. It should be a wonderful learning and stretching experience.

The Rest of the Week ~ This was a short week and with Anne's big event on Monday and Dean's huge adventure beginning on Friday, the rest of the week was mostly unpacking from one event and preparing for the next. However, we did manage to wrap up Anne's sign language, performing arts and physical education courses. I will be posting them here soon for her high school transcript. We also enjoyed our latest Universal Yum box which was from the Philippines this time. The snacks were the oddest yet, but fun to try.

Lastly, a picture of Rosie. She is a real sweetie, but I forgot how much kitten proofing is needed for a kitten. She is into EVERYTHING when she isn't asleep.

Blessings, Dawn