The Living Museum: Sally Ride

At my school we do this thing called The Living Museum. You pick a person in history's name out of a jar. I picked Sally Ride, the youngest American and first American woman ever in space. 

I had to write a speech about Sally Ride and her accomplishments in life.  The speech had to be memorized!  Then me and my partner painted a background that represented our person.  We also had to find or build an artifact that also had to do with your person. We built a rocket for my artifact. We took a poster tube and covered it in duct tape then added U.S.A in big letters with an American flag and the NASA symbol. We painted a view of a rocket and earth and the moon in outer space.

We had to pick a pose and hold it until it was our turn.  I stood on the podium frozen in my pose until it was my turn.  My pose was with the helmet on and then when the tour guide pushed my button, I "came to life" and removed the helmet and said my speech.

I also had to dress like an astronaut.  The school had one NASA suit available, but it was an adult size.  Me and my teacher were trying to figure out how to use ponytail holders to make it fit, but then one day I came home and my mom surprised me with a NASA suit that fit me perfectly!

I had a lot of fun posing and saying my speech. It was a really cool project and I didn't mess up on my speech at all. It was awesome!

Piano and Voice Recital

   

This week I had my recital for piano and voice. My piano song was pretty good. I played "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables. This year had a super cool twist. We picked a video that represents our song -- the video played up on a screen while we played our song.  I had some Les Mis trailers playing. It was pretty cool! I played pretty great if I do say so myself. 

Along with the piano recital, we also had my voice recital. I was with the older girls choir. We sang two songs together and then we had a solo song. Together we sang "Crazy Dreams" and "Rise Above". I had a solo in "Crazy Dreams" and people told me that it went great. I was pretty proud of that solo. 

Next I had my solo song -- "Safe and Sound" by Taylor Swift. This song didn't really go as I planned. I started singing and I was really nervous. I made it through a little bit of the song until I burst into tears on stage. I couldn't go on but thankfully Beth jumped up and started to sing with me.  Then she got everyone else to sing with us too.  At first I was completely upset. I felt ashamed that I just collapsed under the pressure. But later on I realized that I was just proud that I had the courage to get up there in the first place. That it may not have been easy the first time but every time I do perform it will get easier. 

People were really nice and comforted me. I just need to keep trying and not give up and I did. I got right back onstage and sang "Rise Above". So sure, I didn't sing a perfect solo but maybe next time or the time after I will build up that courage. This recital didn't go as planned but I still learned to keep trying and eventually you'll achieve your goal.

Choir Concert

To end the school year, we had my choir concert at school. It was movie themed so we sang a bunch of different songs from movies or TV shows. 

We sang ...

 Lights, Camera, Action

The Sponge Bob Square Pants theme song

Beyond the Sea from Nemo

Hot Chocolate from the Polar Express

The Candy Man from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 

The Best Years of Our Life from Shrek

After the performances Lex, Dad and Rach all gave me hugs and flowers to congratulate me. I also got a little special dinner at Chili's. It was a great night.

My Birthday Dinner

   

We went to Olive Garden for my birthday dinner. Everyone was there, Brooke and the cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Rawe. They gave me money and birthday cards and the Smith's gave me a chocolate bar.   

We got to eat dinner and get chocolate cake and brownies for dessert. I got to talk to all my relatives and have a lot of fun. It was great!

It's My Birthday

   

My birthday started with a super cute birthday outfit and a special birthday donut cake for breakfast. Talk about awesome! 

I got to give my class cupcakes from Suzy's Sweet Boutique. The best cupcake place ever. It was awesome because my Aunt Natalie was there to celebrate my birthday. 

I got to put up tons of stuff in my new room.  Later that weekend my family took me out for a birthday shopping trip. I got some cute clothes from Justice ... pink sparkly Sperry's ... different colored shoelaces in every color possible ... and some new headphones. My birthday was awesome!!

Disney on Ice

One day we were telling stories about when my sisters were younger ... and we figured out that I have never been to Disney on Ice!  Lucky for me, the show was scheduled to be in Dallas in about a month, so we got tickets!!

It was super fun. It was a mashup of all my favorite princesses. They had Rapunzel (one of my two favorites), Merida (my other favorite), Ariel and Belle. They would show all different scenes from the movies. The skaters did all these really cool tricks and it was super fun to watch. We got ice cream and spectacular seats. We were extremely close to the ice and had a perfect view. I had a great time.

Happy Easter

   

For Easter we went over to the Sands house and had an Easter party. We had lunch and then had an Easter egg hunt. I got tons of eggs and helped the younger kids like Everly and Ashton find eggs. We got a whole bunch of candy. It was fun watching the little kids get so excited every time you help them open an egg. 

I love having Easter with the little Sands kids!