Mark's Awards

I hesitate to write this post because I hate bragging about my children, but then I reason with myself and say, "this is your personal blog about your family, so it's okay." Needless to say, if you don't want to hear some serious bragging...stop reading right now.

Mark has been busy with school, piano, soccer, basketball, and many other things, but we did squeeze in some time to work on Reflections. We require Mark to enter at least two categories of Reflections. For those of you not familiar with Reflections, it is sponsored by the PTA and it encourages children to explore their artistic side, so the categories are music, art, literature, dance, video, photography, and so on. Every year there is a different theme and their entry must fit the theme. This year the theme was Believe, Dream, Inspire. Mark entered a photo of Seth as a baseball player (see below). And he also wrote a story about how he dreams of becoming a DH (designated hitter) for the Red Sox.

Mark with his entries.

There weren't as many entries as last year because our school didn't push it very hard, but Mark won 1st place for his story and an award of merit for his photograph. He was excited to receive two awards. Both of his entries will move on to region and compete with other schools. Last year Mark won 1st place for a song that he wrote and received an award of merit for his photo of Dax kissing Seth. His song moved onto region, but nothing came of it. We are so proud of Mark and the work he put into Reflections, even though there was a little complaining along the way. I really like Reflections because I think it pushes Mark to do something he isn't very comfortable with. Schoolwork is easy, but being a little creative is sometimes a little more difficult.

Mark also competed in a festival on the piano. He had to learn two songs and play them as a duet with me. He practiced very hard, but was so nervous while we waited for his turn. He didn't play them perfectly. In fact, in both songs we had to stop and reset, but he kept going and he played them very well. I was a little frustrated with him after all that practicing and then to let nerves get the best of himself. But Mark earned the best rating possible...I am interested to see the judges notes because I would have been happy with good or okay, but he earned superior. Maybe they could see that he was the youngest student there and that it was his first time. I am proud of him for trying so hard. He will compete in the solo festival in February where he will play alone and his piece must be memorized. I hope that he learned a lesson about taking a deep breath and not worrying about the judges, but we'll see.

Mark's reflection photo