First Communion

It was a beautiful day - special in every way! The sun was shining (but not sweltering) and we had a nice lunch back at home afterwards with all of her grandparents and Auntie Krissy. Brenna was very excited and everything ran smoothly - except for one little girl getting sick (Brenna had to fill in and read this girl's part during Mass) and Molly getting pink eye. (Leave it to Molly to insert herself in some way into the festivities!)

Sunday it was back to church for the parish Mass (that's why her hair is up in some photos and down in others - too much activity!) where the kids sang their First Communion song again and took part in the May Procession to crown Mary.

I think she enjoyed her weekend and I know we're all very proud and happy for her! Nana and Papa headed home today (with a stack of photos of course!)

I have gazillions of pictures and will make up a nice one to mail to folks soon. I'll save some pictures for that, but here's a few from the weekend . . .

Brenna has something to show you . . .

Or actually to NOT show you!

Sure enough, that wiggley tooth finally popped out today. I think she was trying to hold it in until after First Communion, but it was not to be. She was playing a game with her friend today and a little bump sent it flying. Luckily the 3rd grade teacher was nearby and they found it and delivered it safely home in a Ziploc bag.



So now she has six permanent teeth in various states of growth. She looks quite like a jack o'lantern!! But the funniest part is listening to her talk.

Thee thounds tho cute!!

Brenna Van Gogh

I'm part of the team of parents who work together to present the "Meet the Masters" art program at the girls' 2-3 times per year. Today I was in Brenna's class for the second half of the lesson I was doing on Vincent Van Gogh. The first half last week was a slide presentation and discussion presenting Van Gogh's life and works and then the second session has the kids doing a piece of art in the style of the Master Artist they are studying. So today we brought out some oil pastels and the kids replicated Van Gogh's "Starry Night."

It's a fun program and I've really learned a lot - probably more than the kids! So far we've done Pablo Picasso (abstract cubism), Katsushika Hokusai (Asian brush painting) and Georgia O'Keeffe (magnified florals) as well.

Brenna enjoys having me teach these classes and I'm so glad I have the chance to do it!

Another nice weekend

The weather has been great so we've been trying to get a lot of our yardwork done on weekends. Today we were working on the screenporch but the girls were getting bored. Dean packed up their bicycles and took them for a ride on the C&O Canal while I plowed through the rest of the work. We have Brenna's First Communion next weekend so as long as the weather cooperates, we'll be able to enjoy a little party outside after the big event!

Too Funny!

I'm weeding through some old photos and came across these from June '02. They gave me a good laugh! (Brenna is 2.5 years old and Molly is 2 mos.)

There, there baby Molly . . .

Enough with the crying already . . .

Okay, this is really getting old . . .

That's it - I've had it!

I sure don't miss the days (months) of that crying baby! I do remember that Brenna seemed unfazed by it all which is why these pictures seem all the funnier to me.

All Checked Out!

I took Molly for her 5 year old checkup today - partly because it was time and partly because her class is riddled with cases of strep and/or pink eye. She's been complaining of a scratchy throat in the morning which I chalked up to her cold and the pollen count but I wanted to be sure she wasn't the one inadvertently spreading strep all through the building!

No trace of anything contagious and she measured in at a cool 43 lbs. and 44 inches. That puts her at or slightly above the 75th percentile - which is what you can expect with a daddy who is 6'4". Two shots and we were done. Dr. E wasn't too concerned about the hives that are still appearing every few days. I can't even begin to guess at a trigger but the dr. agrees that it is almost certainly an ingestion thing as opposed to an environmental one. He did give her a prescription for an EpiPen though "just in case" it ever worsens quickly. Otherwise we'll hold off on the allergist for now and see what happens. We haven't seen anything in a few days so we're crossing fingers . . .

Not much else going on. Brenna is writing almost exclusively in cursive in school now and she's loving it. Actually her cursive penmanship is much better than her printing! She did a presentation to the class on her Freedom Trail trip which was nice of her teacher to encourage since it wasn't a school project. The teacher is very big on oral presentations and developing comfort with public speaking which I'm happy about. Brenna doesn't seem to mind giving oral reports (they do at least 1 per month)which is great given that she can be quite timid at times.

So that's about it for now. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Arghhh! A Pirate's Life for Me!

Molly headed off to her friend's birthday party today. It was a pirate theme and the kids were encouraged to come dressed as a pirate if they wanted. Molly was excited and we found black shorts and a red striped shirt that worked perfectly with her do-rag bandana and eye patch. That is until she found the Hello Kitty holographic butterfly shirt. Clearly that was much more appropriate for the pirate look she was aiming for! So we added some tatoos to toughen up her look and off she went.

The party was a big hit but she told me she didn't go on the moon bounce they had. Her exact words - "I don't do puffy things like that." Miss Molly is a a girl who makes no bones about how she feels. Kind of like when I asked if she wanted to play on a soccer "team" with her classmates. (She didn't enjoy it AT ALL last year but I thought with new friends it might be appealing . . .) What started as "Soccer's not my sport" escalated into "I'd rather die than play that soccer thing." Her words exactly. When this kid is serious, she's SERIOUS!!

Anyway, my mini pirate had fun today and that's all that matters!

Spring is FINALLY here!

Today the sun was high in the sky and the thermometer read 80 degrees. Dean and I got some yardwork done while the girls "helped" (mostly by staying out of the way!) Tomorrow is supposed to be equally nice so we'll head out again and by next week we'll have a nice looking yard and I'll no doubt have a nice looking case of poison ivy! It never fails.

We worked until 4pm when I had to get Brenna ready for her dance class. Her teacher brought in a friend to do a special hip hop session today and again in May. Brenna was very excited and had a great time. This is her first year in jazz and a little extra practice can't hurt - especially if she's just having fun.

After that we grabbed a quick dinner and I took both girls to Dean's alma mater for their spring theatre production. Put it this way, when they saw the flyer come in that mail that they were performing "High School Musical," there was no way my girls were missing it! The kids did a nice job and both Brenna and Molly danced and sang along throughout the show.

All in all - a good day.

Ummmmm . . .

Sometimes there are no words . . .

This is what I found lurking behind me last night. The tie dye shirt, the pink & blue leopard-print capri pajamas, the neon water shoes, the doll blanket cape . . . She thought she was truly stunning.

Sometimes all I can do is shake my head.

She was also all bent out of shape the other night because I didn't give her enough broccoli for dinner. She said "Well the least you can do is make more and put it in my lunch tomorrow!" Ever hear of a kid begging for broccoli?

As I said, never a dull moment . . .

Home Again

We came back home from Boston by train this time. Airfares were high so we thought we'd take a rail adventure instead. Good thing we did because that nor'easter that ran up the coast all weekend would have kept us stranded at the airport. My mom travelled back with us and stayed a few days. The girls especially liked that! Monday I did the dancing class carpool, Tuesday was library duty for Molly's class, etc. It was nice for Nana to tag along for "ordinary" days rather than just being here for holidays or vacations.

So we're getting back on track and gearing up for the next round of events - First Communion in a few weeks, their dance recital a few weeks after that, and all of the other end-of-year activities. Never a dull moment around here!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Five years ago last night my cousins Alan and Sharon had arrived to help me start setting up the nursery and just generally help keep me entertained as I counted down the final weeks before Baby #2 arrived. I had some blue gingham fabric and Sharon was going to help me with some valances for what I was positive was going to our little Joseph Benjamin in 5-6 weeks.

Five years ago this morning Alan and Sharon were instead entertaining Brenna "just for a bit because I'm sure the hospital will send me home" I said. Oh they sent me home alright - with Molly!

Miss Molly - you took us by surprise then - we didn't even have a name for you (we chose it on the exit ramp to the hospital)! - and you continue to take us by surprise each and every day. But we wouldn't have it any other way!!! You bring so many smiles and laughs to our house and we're lucky you decided not to wait any longer to join us. Who could have imagined that the cranky little baby that the hospital nursery refused to keep because she cried so much would just 5 years later be the funniest, most endearing little charmer?

I love you Baby Girl!!

(and Sharon - you still owe me some valances!!)

My baby is almost 5!

With just days to go before Miss Molly's birthday, here's a quick look back at her birthday portraits from the past few years . . .

Which reminds me to make an appointment for the next one!

Baby Brody

Yesterday we spent the day doing what the girls like to do best when we're visiting - playing with their cousins!

Diane came with her boys and Sharon with hers and we all met at Auntie Dottie's. We were able to meet Brody for the first time (what a good baby!!) and the girls played with Jack, Michael and Nicholas all afternoon. Later today we'll catch up with Shannon and her boys (it's not school vacation here so Nolan and Aidan are busy during the days - but that doesn't rule out a pizza date or something!)

We're having a great visit - as if that was ever in doubt!

Boston

Today we took advantage of a free day to help Brenna with a Girl Scout project. She has the option to work on one patch on her own so she decided to work towards a program patch sponsored by the Patriot's Trail Council here in Massachusetts. There are two quizzes with a series of questions about Boston's Freedom Trail. So Papa, Mommy and Molly joined her to do a part of the Trail today. It was cold and windy but we still managed to complete most of the walk making it from Faneuil Hall to the Old North Church. We'll complete the Trail out to the USS Constitution on warmer day and just do a little research instead to complete the quizzes now! She's been dying to visit the Paul Revere house so we had to do that if nothing else!

It was a great experience and I think we all learned a lot! It can be so easy to overlook all of the wonderful opportunities that are right under our noses so I hope this is just one of many visits we make as she gets older and more knowledgeable about history. I want her to appreciate the wonderful things she gets to experience from living in DC and visiting Boston so often. She's already planning a trip to the Boston Tea Party next time!

Cool Slideshows

Happy Easter!

Checking in from chilly Boston to say Happy Easter to all. We had a nice day visiting with lots of family. We went to the Easter Vigil Mass at St. Brendan's and then Easter morning waited anxiously for the cousins to arrive at Uncle George's for the traditional building of the "bunny mobiles." George was wondering if the kids were getting too old to want to do it anymore but a rousing chorus of "no way" sent him out to buy Twinkies and Peeps again this year!

Then it was up to Auntie Bonita's for dinner with them and to see Jeff and Caroline as well. Finally back to Nana's for a visit with Uncle Don and Auntie Kristin. Did I mention they wound up collecting candy and gifts at every stop? We'll be eating chocolate for weeks but it's worth it!

Field Trip!

Wednesday I chaperoned Brenna's class trip to the Museum of Natural History. We had a great time and the kids were wonderful. The only problem (other than the horrible school bus with 75% of the seatbelts broken and a back door that constantly buzzed because it wouldn't latch properly. And public schools transport in this every day! YIKES!) was that it was a rainy day right in the middle of the Cherry Blossom Festival which meant that all the tourists were at the museum as well. Luckily I had Brenna and three other sweet girls in my group and they were lots of fun, very interested and behaved beautifully. Brenna was thrilled I was able to come along so I'm going to enjoy these days when she's still happy to have me around.

What a fun day!

Pre-Party

Because we start Spring Break on Thursday and tomorrow is an Easter party, Molly celebrated her birthday with her classmates today. We made some penguin cupcakes to share and she was thrilled to wear her birthday crown all day. I was at school doing some wrap-up work for the Auction so I snuck down at snacktime. I really wanted to get a movie clip of the birthday song that everyone sings at school. It's a special version that I've been hearing for 3 years now with Brenna so it was nice to "capture" it on film for once.

Today is the birthday I wonder of who?

I know it is somebody right in this room.

So look all around you for somebody who

Is smiling and laughing - my goodness it's YOU!

Happy Birthday Molly - From all of us to you!

Happy Birthday Molly - May all your skies be blue!

We congratulate you - And pray to the Father too.

Happy Birthday Molly! - May all of your wishes come true!

Dance Videos

Now they work! I had a little trouble registering the email address I used but now it's done!

Shelly inspired me to post some video clips. Here is Brenna the first time her dance class heard their tap song for the recital (they had learned some steps but not to the music.) It was a lot faster than they expected but they're doing great learning it. Watch Brenna here though - I think she was stunned! Her arms never move and she looks shell-shocked but she does pretty well.



Here's jazz class. I fear she gets her sense of rhythm from me. But again, darn good for 1st year jazz! This isn't their recital dance - just some step combinations by a few of them. Excuse the part where she dances right of the screen - Molly was distracting me! :)



Here's Molly's class doing "A You're Adorable" as a warm up:


I'll try to get some better video after they learn their recital dances better.

"My Godbrudder"

Molly's friend referred to her godmother's daughter as her "godsister." Molly was happy to hear that she has 2 "godsisters" of her own from her godfather and 2 "godbrothers" from her godmother. Here is her new"godbrother."

Meet Brody. Isn't he a doll? We'll get our mitts on him in the next 2 weeks when we head to Boston for a visit. Can't wait!

Brenna was a bit bent out of shape about "godsiblings" since neither of her godparents have children. She was more than pacified though when we told her she was lucky to have two "goddogs" and a "godcat." That more than made up for it. She's still bragging to her friends that she has "godpets"!

So Much for That!

For the past few months, my friend and I have been going once a month to Let's Dish - one of those dinner prep places that are popping up all over the place. We make 8 meals to bring home and stick in the freezer. Because the meals feed 6 people, I usually divide mine in half. That means we have 12 dinners each month that are wonderful, but a bit more adventurous than the meals I usually prepare. I love it and we've all benefitted from trying lots of new things. Plus the food is really good!

Tonight I made "Sesame apricot chicken with rice." Neither of my girls like sauce of any kind - no ketchup, no gravy, no spaghetti sauce - but they do like Chinese food so I figured they'd at least try this. Molly ate her rice and then gamely took a bite of the chicken. Slowly she chewed, swallowed it and wiped her mouth in her napkin. Then she looked up at me with those pretty blue eyes and sweetly said,

"Well, that was just about the worst piece of chicken I've ever had!"

Well okay then! I'll take that as a "no" vote on this dinner!

There was no face-making, gagging or any of the other usual accompaniments - just a matter-of-fact statement. So blunt in fact that I almost laughed (partly because I didn't REALLY make the dinner so my feeling weren't hurt per se!)

But the really funny part? I convinced her to try one more piece (We have the "one bite to taste and one bite to decide" rule on trying new things) and lo and behold she wound up eating it all! I wish she were always so cooperative!

Getting Older

I've been teasing Molly a lot lately about my not wanting her to get any older. Her standard response is always "Well I'll always love you no matter how old I am."

When her alarm went off today she was being lazy so I crawled into bed with her for a few minutes. I told her that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do this much longer since she would soon be turning 5. I asked if would she consider staying 4 forever. Today she said, "Actually. . . I'm getting bored being 4. I think I need a change." Poor kid huh? Bored to death at 4!

Oh and then she said, "But I'll never be a teenager, okay? That would be just sooooo boring!"
Now that I should have tape recorded!

She's just a funny old lady trapped in a (boring) 4 year old body!

Picnic In the Park

I survived my third year as the Auction Business Manager at the girls' school. It's tiring job in the week leading up to the event since every piece of paper from the catalog to the bid sheets to receipts comes from me but the really bad part is that I wind up missing 99% of the event since I'm holed up in the office (although I did get someone to bring me a dinner since the food was amazing!) Above is the cover I designed for the program and catalog (the real version has the school name and address on it but I didn't want to publish that online) It was really well-received which made me feel good. I think this may have been my swan song because I'd really like to actually be able to attend and enjoy myself next year. I'll still help in the planning but I want to actually be able to sit with my husband for a change. He was threatening to bring a date this year!

The girls were thrilled because we won 2 cool items for them. We got a skating basket for Brenna that we split 3 ways with 2 of her good friends. It was for 3 girls to have a special lunch followed by a skating lesson with one of the school's 7th graders who is a competitive skater. The basket also had a skating dress, necklace and some other goodies that we'll just divide up between the girls. She really wanted that (if we didn't get her teacher's offering which was a trip to the zoo but that went too high for us!) For Molly we split her teacher's offering with her best buddy's family. The teacher comes to the winner's home with cookies and milk, has a little "party" then tucks the kid into bed and reads a bedtime story. She agreed that Molly and Francesca can have a "sleepover" and she'll read for both of them. They both just adore her and are so excited that she'll be coming! It was nice that they let us split it too since the bidding gets a bit high. Even with the split I had to gulp a bit at the cost. But it's for a good cause.

Oh, and the bookcase - it went for $1,200 in the Live Auction! Needless to say, we didn't get that!! We joked that it will come back to us someday though since Harrison's parents bought it and we all have money on an eventual Molly/Harrison wedding. Instead of an engagement ring, she'll be getting a bookcase!

So it's back to life as usual tomorrow. Easter and Spring Break are coming up so some fun times are on the horizon.

Here are some quick shots of the PreK bookcase I did with Molly's class to go with the photo book as their class Auction project. It's just too darn cute! It's running hand-in-hand in the popularity contest with the amazing canvas painting of DC that Gr. 5 did. The photo below doesn't come close to doing it justice - the incredible attention to detail, the colors . . . It's hard to believe 10 & 11 yr olds did it. We'll make some good money on these Saturday night!

Still here . . .

It's been a quiet week with the kids - just school and dance and what-have-you. Today Molly came home with a big report on Patty and Timothy the Leprechauns who apparently had been leaving messages all week in the classroom and last night snuck in and did a lot of mischief! I love this age!! Brenna is off on a trip to the police station now with her scout group which is leaving me the chance to get some laundry and misc. stuff done. It's been a busy week for me with some extremely late nights working on their school auction but at the same time it's been fun. Today I was in Molly's class working on the bookcase that they are doing as their class project. It has cute stick figures of all the kids and we let them fill in the clothing and hair (with a great deal of help to keep it neat!) and then each kid wrote his/her name under the figure. It is cute, cute, CUTE if I say so myself. Their handwriting at this age is so precious and come next year in kindergarten will become so much more formalized so I'm glad we "caught" it now. I'll get some photos of it because Lord knows we'd never bid enough to win it! We've asked every child to being in his/her favorite od then will top it off with the photo book I made (well, it's still away being printed and had better be here by next week!) which is an ABC book. I'll post some pages below. It was fun, but I'm tired! More from us later . . .

Hitting the Ice

Since today was a day off from school, Brenna's scout troop had a skating party. It was Brenna's first time on skates and she was so excited! They broke into 2 groups based on experience and started with a lesson followed by a free skate time. She got all laced up and followed her friends - right into the group of experienced skaters! She more than held her own though and had a great time. There were a few tumbles - some of them quite hard - but she kept getting back up and moving on. I was honestly very impressed with her and how well she did. Now she's begging for skating lessons. Which we'll fit in between dance class . . . Irish step . . . scouts . . . homework . . . Oh my!

Dance Visitor Day

Today was Visitor Day at the girls' dance classes. It's always fun to watch them dance and get a glimpse of their recital routines. Molly's class will be doing a ballet number to a song from Charlotte's Web and Brenna will be doing a tap number to the Miss Victory song from the American Girl movie "Molly on the Homefront" and a jazz number to a song yet to be finalized. Brenna's class in particular has come a long way in their skills. The teacher is wonderful and is very disciplined in the way she teaches all of the fundamentals. Brenna's 2 numbers are really difficult so it's a good thing they have a while before the recital!

I'm trying out some new digital software so here are some photos I took in collages. I'm hoping doing my scrapbooks digitally will help me get up to date! You can still click the photos to make them bigger.

Living on the Wild Side

Molly is my animal girl. She beelines straight for the animal books when we're at the library. She wants to pat every dog we see. The leopard costume back at Halloween should be proof enough that her wild streak is more than skin deep!

Yesterday the girls and I went shopping with my mother-in-law and Molly found a skirt.
A corduroy skirt.
A corduroy leopard-print skirt at that.
Simply put, she wasn't leaving without it. It was a size 4 which means she'd wear it once and that would be the end of it. But at a mere $.99 (gotta love those clearanc racks!) I agreed because any mom knows that buying a kid's happiness for under buck is great deal no matter what they want!

Today she was going to a friend's horse themed birthday party. Last week I convinced her she should wear her cowboy boots and denim skirt. That was fine until the leopard skirt entered the picture. Today there were no ifs ands or buts, she was wearing "her animal skirt." We conveniently found a scrunchie that was white, black and leopard print (I told you we had loads of hair things - this we got for a safari party that Brenna went to last year) Here's my little hoodsie all dressed after the party . . .



Actually I think she looks quite cute.

Which is a good thing because I think she plans to wear this skirt almost constantly until it will no longer fit her bony little hips!

Oldies but Goodies

It's raining and miserable so these 4 pictures are scrolling across my screen to remind me of summer. (click to see them bigger - I love the water drops on Molly and the freckles on Brenna!)


. . . which reminds me to send in our pool membership. It wouldn't be summer without that! Plus it saves me from having to send them to gazillions of camps. They will both do Vacation Bible School this year and Brenna may do a Girl Scout Camp if she gets a spot, but mostly we just hang out and relax. Ahhh - only 3 months 1 week and 1 day until summer vacation says my counter!

Cutie

Molly does a warmup dance each week at her dance class to the song "A You're Adorable." She loves the song and I hear her humming it all the time. Just the other day she decided to sing the words and I realized that she doesn't quite know all of them. She sings "A you're adorable, B you're so cute-able . . . "

It's just another one of those things that I can't bear to correct her on because well, it's so cute-able!

(This picture was taken last week at a school basketball game. She insisted on wearing Brenna's gym pants with the school initials and this basketball shirt that still swims on Brenna! She looked disheveled but at least was sporting some school spirit!)

Lesson: Don't make plans!

Things are busy around here so I tend to live by my calendar these days. Losing nearly a whole week to snowdays means my errands are all backed up. I turned down coffee with an old friend for yesterday morning because I really needed to get the van's oil changed and the dealership is in the next town. I still can't understand why my girlfriend didn't want to bring coffee and sit with me there . . . :) I had some running around to do after that but Molly was going home with a friend so I had until 3pm instead of the usual 1pm. Well Miss Molly woke up feeling cranky and feverish. Back to bed with her, playdate cancelled with tears from both kids and my calendar rescheduled. Molly was lethargic all day and just wanted company so not only did I not get the oil changed but the laundry and housekeeping didn't happen either and I wound up watching a lot of Disney Channel with Miss Cranky Pants. Then I went ahead and cancelled our playdate for today with the neighbors because I didn't want Molly around their babies since I didn't know what she was dealing with.

Today I had scheduled a morning meeting for the school auction with several folks helping me with various things. Molly woke up feeling great but Brenna was down for the count! So I called school and told them to reverse my message from yesterday of "Molly absent, Brenna coming in" to "Brenna absent, Molly coming in" and called to cancel my meeting. A shot of Motrin and some juice and by 9am Brenna's "headache was gone" and she was begging to go in after all. Since I believed her it was a headache I agreed. Minutes before we walked out the door the phone rang. Molly's teacher. "She's covered in hives and scratching like crazy." (Not the "bees" again - she's been fine for a week!) Off we go to school. Brenna goes to class with the promise she'll call if she feels bad later on. Molly looks fine despite the hives so I dose her with Benedryl and send her back to class. Her teacher poked her head out and I said "Scratching doesn't merit dismissal in my book - I drugged her and she's coming back to you!" She knows I'm a bad mom so she just laughed. Given the state of things (and that I had to be back there at 11:30 since it was my scheduled day to help with lunch and I luckily hadn't switched yet - I was about to make calls when Brenna announced she was better), I decided to stay at school (there's a big rummage sale there on Sat. so I just went and helped with the sorting) and make sure everything was okay.

All's well that ends well and both girls seem better. I'm butt tired but that's to be expected. Now I have a meeting to reschedule, laundry not done and I still haven't gotten the oil changed. It's times like this that I'm so grateful not to be a "working" mom though.

I need to go eat a box of Girl Scout cookies.