Backstage with Sophie

I want to make a cool movie but I need an idea. "Mum, what could I film?" I ask.

"How about a show and tell," Mum suggests. "Get all the things you have been doing this week and show people."

I think this is a great idea. So grabbing my notebook and pen. I sit down to plan what I could show people.

"You could have it themed," Mum says. "One video about things that have changed around the house, the next about movies."

"I know what my first video is going to be about," I cry. "I will do one about books I have recently read."

Mum smiles as I rush off to find all the books I have read.

"I need a box to keep all my show and tell things in. I could put my hand into the box during the video and bring the books out," I decide. So I totter into the garage to see if we have one floating around.

Soon I am coming out again, an old kitty litter box in one hand. "This will do."

"You can't have an old kitty litter box on film," Gemma-Rose protests. "What will people think?"

"It would take heaps of coats of paint to cover up the pictures on the box," I tell her. "I don't want to wait that long." Suddenly an idea pops into my head. "A collage, I could do a collage! I'm sure some ripped up paper would look great glued to it and it should be much quicker to do."

"I will help," Gemma-Rose volunteers. "I could be your assistant."

"You could be my assistant on the video too. You could hand me the things from the box."

Looking in the garage, Gemma-Rose finds some old wrapping paper that came off her birthday presents and I find some green and pink paper and the glue pot.

Later we start working on the box. Ripping paper, gluing it on and then ripping some more paper. We are having a great time. We haven't done anything like this in ages.When we are finally done we hold the box up to show Mum. "What do you think?" we ask.

"Looks great!" Mum says. "A box like that would be wonderful for storing things in."

"Its our mystery box," I tell her.

I rush off to show the big girls. I knock on their bedroom door and hold up the box.

"This is our mystery box," I tell them.

"I wouldn't mind having a box like that to put super cool things in," Imogen says.

"If I can find another box, I will decorate it for you," I promise.

"I'll help," Gemma-Rose offers.

In the afternoon, we set up our studio. I look at Gemma-Rose and pick up a hair brush. "You can't go on film like that," I tell her.

Gemma-Rose's hair has lots of short bits that always come out of a pony tail. My solution to that is hair clips and lots of them. Soon she has a head covered in them. I am sure her hair is going to be the star of the show!

"That looks better," I say as I go to tell Mum we are all set up for filming.

She arrives. "Ready?" she asks and hits the record button.

I start talking. I make a mistake. I make another. Gemma-Rose's eyebrows go down low.

"Can we restart this?" she asks.

"We will have to now," Mum says. "Don't worry if I have to tell Sophie about her mistakes. It will just make it funny."

But Gemma-Rose doesn't agree. She makes faces at the camera whenever there is a mistake and it takes five goes to get it right.

Finally we have a version that we are all happy with. Smiling we go for some afternoon tea. Then I have the hard bit to do.

Mum puts the film onto my USB stick and I put it into my computer. I get to work cutting bits out, sticking bits together and just basically editing the video.

"Are you sick of the sound of your own voice yet?" Imogen asks a while later. She remembers what it was like when she made her videos.

"Yes," I agree as I hear myself say, "Hi, welcome to Sophie's Show and Tell," for the hundredth time.

"You're a natural on camera," Mum tells me. Me? Natural? I don't agree, but I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

By dinner though, my video is finished. It just needs uploading to YouTube.

All evening we watch my computer, surprised at how long it is taking to upload the video. Bedtime arrives, but I am going to stay up until my video is finished. There isn't that much more to go.

"What percentage is it now?" Mum asks.

"That's funny. It hasn't changed," I answer. "Oh no," I wail as the truth hits me. "My computer has lost Internet connection."

We hurry to reconnect it. Luckily the video is still uploading, but Mum has decided I must go to bed. I am tired and thankful to climb under my blankets. A little while later Mum pokes her head around the door.

"It's done," she tells me. I smile and decide to write a post about it tomorrow. I had so much fun!

If you would like to watch our video, please go to our Mother, Daughters, Sisters blog. It is called Sophie's Show and Tell (Episode One). I am going to make heaps more videos. What will the next one be about?

Fences, Dogs and Dad

It was Callum's birthday. We were all sitting around the table having dinner.

"Dad, we had an idea," Callum said. "You know how you've always wanted a garden that has fences all the way around it? We had a look at materials today and we are willing to build you some fences."

Dad was happy about the fences but then he became suspicious. He wondered why we wanted to build a fence. "Do you have a plan? Is it a four legged plan?"

Dad guessed we were hoping we could get a dog once we had fences all around the garden.

Everyone started talking at once.

"A dog?"

"We would look after it."

"Please Dad!"

"I have always wanted a  dog!"

"We looked at the ones in the animal shelter and they don't cost that much."

"What?" Dad cried. "Are you seriously hoping for a dog?"

"Please Dad, it's my birthday," Callum begged.

We all started talking again, begging Dad to let us have one.

"What kind of dog?" Dad asked.

"What kind of dog would you like?" we said.

"Why me?" Dad looked at Mum.

"What size?" Dad asked.

"Middle sized, something that can keep up with Mum while she runs," Callum answered.

"What size is middle sized?" Dad wondered.

"Collie sized," Callum told him.

"I don't want a collie," Dad protested.

"I was just giving you an idea of a size. We don't want a collie," Callum said.

"Get the fence up first," Dad told us. 

While we washed the dishes we prayed Dad would say yes. 

"We had a dog years ago," Charlotte told Casey, Callum's girlfriend. "Her name was Rocket and she was a bit crazy." 

Callum started hunting on the Internet for a picture of a dog that Dad might like. Very soon Dad sat down next to him to have a look too. He had agreed to let us have a dog!

We were so excited. We spent all evening trying to find a dog we liked.

"We can't decide on a dog until we have the fences up," Mum told us.

So that's what we are doing: building fences. I can't wait to see what kind of dog we get. We have decided it must be a trained adult, but that's about it. I have always wanted a dog, especially one you can walk and run.

Do you have a dog?

Secret Garden Embroidery

The door bell rang. Mum rushed to open the front door.

A moment later she closed the door again, and she called, "Girls, come see my parcel!" We all dashed over as fast we could. We all wanted to see what the postman had delivered.

Mum tore the parcel open, almost as eager to see what was in it as we were. She held up a colouring-in book called The Secret Garden. Opening it she flicked through the intricate leaf and flower drawings.

"Those look amazing!" I gasped.

"I am thinking of enlarging some of the pictures and embroidering them onto calico," Mum told us.

"They are so detailed, it would take forever," Gemma-Rose commented.

"It would be a wonderful project to do while you are reading to us," I said. "Could I do some embroidery with you, please?" I begged.

"Of course," Mum agreed. "We will do it together."

A few years ago I did a few embroideries, but I gave them away. I sewed a fat cat with red thread on calico. I also sewed some flowers. I wasn't very good at embroidery, but I had heaps of fun while I was doing it.

I can't wait to get to work on some new embroideries. I bet Dad would be more than happy to enlarge the pictures we want on the printers at work.

"I bet the hardest bit of embroidery is transferring the picture to the fabric," I said, remembering all the problems I had had last time.

"I didn't draw mine on. Charlotte did it for me," Gemma-Rose told us.

Maybe Gemma-Rose would like to do some embroidery with us. She is better at sewing then me. I sure we could find another embroidery hoop for her.

"You can use my light-box," offered Mum.

Perhaps you'd like to do some embroidery too.

My First Piano Lesson of the Year

I nervously entered my piano teacher's house. My knees shook. I hadn't had a piano lesson for ages because of the long summer holidays. Would I have done enough practise? Would she say I had gone backwards?

"Hello!" my teacher said smiling at me and Charlotte. "Who will have the first lesson?" I didn't know if I wanted to get it over and done with or leave it as long as possible. Luckily I didn't have to choose.

"I think I will teach you first, Sophie," Christine decided. I took a deep breath and followed her into the music room.

I started on my scales, being very careful to get them all right. Christine tapped her fingers to help me keep the same pace. A few times she made me repeat a scale until I got it perfect.

Once I was finished with my scales I started on my exam pieces. My forehead furrowed in concentration. Imogen had helped me out with one of them over the holidays, so I wasn't really worried about it, but the others I had been practising on my own.

"That was really nice," Christine said as I finished one of my pieces. "I can tell you really enjoy that piece."

I sighed with relief. I did enjoy it a lot. It is really fun to play.

When my lesson was finished, I walked out and grinned at Charlotte. She smiled at me and walked into the music room for her lesson. I settled down on the sofa with my book to wait.

Later Christine walked us to the front door. We said goodbye and rushed over to the car where Mum and Imogen were waiting to pick us up.

"How did it go?" Mum asked.

"Great!" I said.

"Christine said we did wonderfully," Charlotte agreed.

The grin didn't leave my face the whole way home. I was so happy.