The Exciting Life and Times of Brady!

Oh what an exciting life Brady has. I decided I had better blog about his busy week.

Last week was EOC (End Of Course) finals for his first year in High School. They had two EOC finals per day and only attended 1/2 day all week. Brady is extremely smart, but studied hard and contacted his teachers by email with extra questions he needed verified. He is very responsible and wants to succeed in school. Brady currently has 2 AP / Honor classes this year. He is in advanced math and advanced science. He is very SMART!! I am really proud of him and the effort his puts in to his school work. He ended the term with one "B" and the rest "A's".

The "B" was an 88.6% in Science -- The science teacher is NOT one of his favorite teachers - actually he is really bad. He was a meteorologist and didn't like that profession or couldn't become a weatherman on TV. Then decided to teach school - hmmmm. Science has ALWAYS been Brady's favorite subject - but not this year. We have to struggle through this year with this teacher unfortunately. Brady will still do his very best. I hope the experience with this teacher will not ruin is love for Science. My fingers are crossed!

Brady has also been preparing for a piano music festival in February. He has memorized two songs already to perform. Friday we received a telephone call and an email from his music teacher. This is what it said:

Brady and Sondra,

I just got a phone call from my Festival Mentor. She was going over everything in my packet. The only thing she said was going to be a problem, was the choice song we have selected for Brady. Apparently, no arrangements can be played. It must be an original. Lots of things gave me reason to believe that the "Hallelujah Chorus" would be a great selection, but at his level, it is not! He's not yet capable of playing to full arrangement of that music by Handel. Sooo, in order to earn a Superior rating, we must change his "choice piece". I have his old Bastien level 4 books. I looked through and found an original piece written by James Bastien, that fits the criteria, and is in the same level as his required piece. I know he hates to play chords, so I chose something at the beginning of the book that was quite simple. Complexity doesn't matter to the judge, just that it fits the Festival criteria and that he plays it as perfectly as possible! I'm going to attach a copy of the song I'd recommend. My mentor must turn everything in to the board tomorrow (Saturday), and I have to have a name of a piece to give her, so if I don't hear from you otherwise, I may put this piece down, which will mean you have to learn it and memorize it! I'm sooo sorry! At least it's a lesson learned, not too late . We can still fix it...and he has time to memorize still. Thanks! Glenna

Poor Brady!!! He is in the process of memorizing another song for the festival. He didn't go with the song Glenna recommended. He spent Friday night going through his music books until he found one he liked. He wasn't too happy, but will get over it.

Then Saturday morning he was asked to give a talk on Sunday which I already posted. What I didn't post was that Br. Newby who is Glenna's husband called to see if asking Brady to give a talk would push him over he edge.... LOL!!!!!!! I told him it wouldn't and he came over and gave the assignment to him and of course Brady accepted it. Then Br. Newby (who is also our Home Teacher) asked him if he would like to go to Boondocks, now called Wahooz on Tuesday night with his two boys (aaahhhh wasn't that nice). Their oldest two boys( out of four boys) are young, 5 and 7 years old. I didn't know if Brady would really want to go with those young boys but he did. I was happy because they really look up to Brady and I knew it would be such a great experience for them to hang out with this cool big kid.

Tuesday night arrived and Brady went with them to Wahooz family fun zone. They wanted to stay until it closed, but Brady wanted to be home by 9PM because that is his bedtime (yes, he is a great kid). He called at 8:30 and I ran over and picked him up. The parking lot only had about three cars there. I mentioned that it looked like they had the place to themselves and they did.

The played miniature golf (outside in the cold) and had a super time. There wasn't anyone in front of them or in back of them. They could take their time at each hole and just enjoy it with no pressure from other players. Br. Newby said it was the best experience he's ever had.

They also played laser tag. Before Brady left, I reminded him to be extra gentle and nice to the little boys. His response was something to the effect - "Like, I don't already know that Mom?". They grow up so fast and wise... I guess I don't need to teach anymore because the teenager already knows everything -- he he!

Brady won this cute little blue, soft, fuzzy monkey from playing in the arcade section. Just a little boy at heart... It just melts my heart to see him excited about a stuffed monkey.

Last night was the Young Men's youth program at our church. They were suppose to come with three recipes that could be made within 15 minutes. I kept coming up blank on a meal you could cook that would be ready in 15 minutes. I came up with taco's, egg in toast and a cake you make in a cup in the microwave. I printed out the direction and put them in a book. I thought we could keep putting in recipes for his mission and when he is out on his own.

Taco recipe step by step.

Egg and toast and microwave cake recipes.

He actually cooked the egg in toast at Young Men's. He took the bread, butter, eggs, salt and pepper and our griddle. He tried it several times until it came out perfect. They were really shocked that he likes a runny yoke. We like over easy eggs - and they thought that was weird. I guess we march to the beat of our own drum...

Some of the other boys made; oriental dumplings, no bake cookies, quesadillas (I hope that is how you spell it), omelet, some type of homemade ramen noodles(??). He really had a great time. I love it when the Young Men program works on ways to prepare them for their life and work on their Duty to God booklet and Scout Merit badges. It makes a Mama happy!!

Brady is off to Salt Lake City this weekend - again ..... already... Such is the life of Brady in the fast lane and a frequent flier.