On the High Seas!

Today we spent the day boating and swimming with one of Dean's co-workers, her husband and their nearly 5 yo son. They have a gorgeous motorboat and took us for a spin and a swim on the Occoquan River. What a great day!! The girls loved every moment and of course now they want a boat.

I must admit that Dean and I would too!

Ahhh . . . maybe someday!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

We stayed at home yesterday. Boy did it feel good! I guess I'm getting too old to be running around every single day.

Today we were well rested so we headed to the pool at lunchtime. Seven families we know from Molly's old preschool were there as well so we all had friends to hang out with. Brenna's been going to her swim team practice every night and is doing amazingly well. She was showing me her butterfly stroke which is the only one she can't consistently do for all 25 meters of the of the pool length. You won't hear me criticizing though because I sure know I couldn't do it either and I'm a lot older than she is!

Tomorrow we are meeting up with a coworker of Dean's. She and her family have a boat and are taking us out on it for the afternoon. The girls are really excited! The weather is going to be really hot and humid so I suspect we'll be at the pool again before weekend's end as well. And then on Tuesday Brenna heads off to a Girl Scout day camp for two weeks. I hope the humidity breaks for that!

July 4th

Happy Fourth of July to all of our American family and friends

(and a belated Happy Canada Day to our family and friends north of the border!!)

We celebrated locally again this year attending the neighborhood parade and party in the park. It's such a little slice of hometown America that you really come away feeling good. It's just a big bicycle/scooter/stroller parade followed by homemade floats and local politicians. (Please do not comment on the Hillary sticker on Molly. She was so excited with it that even Daddy's threats that we'd now have to burn her tainted clothes didn't deter her!!) Afterwards they have a giant bbq at the local playground with games for the kids and some moonbounces, etc.

I'm sitting here now watching the Boston Pops concert though and remembering all of the fabulous years I attend that with friends. Now THAT was fun - great memories!! I think that next year we may go downtown here to see the fireworks. We know the girls would enjoy it but we want to make sure that we'd enjoy it after sitting out for several hours with them!! Not to mention that we've had vicious thunderstorms that have caused them to evacuate the Mall area each of the last two years. At least in Boston I had Ed and Chris to stake out the spot early in the day and the rest of us slackers would come strolling down to the Esplanade hours later. Oh to be young again! But for now I'll settle for grilled burgers and sparklers at home with two little girls just enjoying the day!

DC

Once again the weather cooperated and we weren't about to let a July day with minimal humidity go unused! We decided to spend the day downtown - something we just don't get enough time to do during the craziness of the school year. Brenna has had her heart set on visiting the Lincoln Memorial sometime this summer so we made that our highlight today. We started at the Smithsonian (where the Folklife Festival is winding down), headed past the Washington Monument (where the July 4th preparations are heating up), around to the World War II Memorial, through the Korean War Memorial and along the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial. It was a good long walk for both little and big legs but we had a great time. Do note though that this weather is highly unusual for July and if you plan to come visit us and do some touring, do it in the spring or fall - or even winter - but summer in DC is definitely not for the faint of heart!

It was also a reminder that there is just so much to do that we really need to make more time to get downtown. Molly wants to get to the Capitol and White House next time, Brenna has her heart set on the National Gallery of Art and the Air and Space Museum (again) and Mom really wants to get to the Museum of the American Indian. Looks like we had better start looking at the calendar for more free days!

Park Day

We set out this morning to go blueberry picking but when we made it to the farm, it was closed. (The website made no mention of closings so we schlepped 35 mins. to get the bad news! Our "usual" farm doesn't grow blueberries so we have to venture further to get them.)

So as not to lose out on a gorgeous day and the picnic lunch we already had packed, we decided to instead dour to a great park near us. It's so rare for us to get a July day with no humidity that we just had to take advantage of it. The girls played on all of the new equipment that has been recently installed and after lunch we rode the minature train around the park.

We finished the day in true summer style as well - the girls applied tons of bug spray and grabbled jars to catch fireflies in the backyard. Next time I'll remember to get chocolate bars and we'll make s'mores. Now THAT would have made the day perfect!

Tomorrow is supposed to be equally nice so we'll decide in the morning where our travels will take us!

VBS Concert

The last day of VBS ends with a concert. Over the course of the week the kids learn about 6 or 7 songs complete with hand motions. It's definitely one of their favorite parts of the day. We listen to the song CD in the car driving to and from each day and Molly can't understand why I don't do the hand motions while I'm driving!

The show is always a highlight for Brenna and Molly was in 7th heaven to finally be able to do it too. This is one of their favorite songs called "Obey-o."

Final Hours . . .

Tomorrow will be our last day of Vacation Bible School and I think the girls are really going to miss it. We've all had a fun - and tiring! - week and have enjoyed the program. The water theme has been perfect for the steamy hot temperatures we've had the past few days.

And I now have a new respect for teachers! I come home exhausted each day and I only have 12 very well-behaved 4 & 5 year olds for a half day! I think part of it is that Dean has been away for a full week so I've been running around with kids in tow nonstop. He's due back tonight so the thunderstorm watch we are under had better not get in his way. This momma needs a break!

Thunder

Today's heat brought 2 hours of rumbling thunder tonight. Thunder automatically closes the pool. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal but tonight was going to be Brenna's first swim meet.

So although Miss Bren said she never wanted to swim a meet, evidently her coaches have been giving her good feedback and she decided she was ready to try two events - the 25m freestyle and the 25m breaststroke. Needless to say, she had hyped herself up just enough to be disappointed with the cancellation. The next team they swim against has several kids from her school on it so I'm not sure if she'll want to sign up for that one. She's still pretty self-conscious when it comes to athletic pursuits. I was impressed that she was willing to try this meet and hope that's a sign of more self-confidence.

Earlier in the day her VBS teacher came to my class and said she just wanted to tell me what a great kid Brenna is. She said Bren is always attentive and cooperative, always excited for activities, friendly with all of the kids (especially given that she knows none of them) and she's just generally a great kid to have around. As a parent it really does your heart good to hear that! I made sure to tell Brenna what I was told because I think it's important for her to know that her good behavior never goes unnoticed. She can be so quiet that sometimes I think she feels overlooked when adults are actually just grateful she's so good and doesn't require a lot of attention!

So I guess Brenna is really starting to "come into her own." Sometimes I see her struggling to fit into her own skin, so to speak, but she's apparently managing just fine. She's just growing up before my eyes!

VBS

We are elbows deep in "Take the Plunge" Vacation Bible School (and yes Dad, it really is at a Catholic Church. He doesn't believe me!) Brenna has been doing this camp for 3 years and Molly has been dying to do it as well. She's spent previous years in the childcare room while I volunteered doing crafts so she's happy to finally be in her own class. And wonder of wonders I'm back voluntering - this year every day. Silly me said I would teach this year so I have Molly's class - a group of 13 kindergarteners called the "Steadfast Starfish." They are great kids and we are having a ball.

As you can see, today was Hawaiian shirt day. Overall, I couldn't be happier with the program, the people and the fun activities. It has always been one of Brenna's favorite summer highlights and now Molly and I can see why.

Fortunes

I took the girls out to our favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner tonight. It was a fun "girls night" and when the fortune cookies came, we were all having fun.

Molly opened hers first and it read "You will be showered with good luck." Mine was next - "You will receive good news by mail." Then Brenna read hers - "The more you give, the more you have." I wondered if she'd understand what it meant but she immediately started explaining if she gave to others or helped them with something, the happier she would be and that meant she would have more love in her heart.

I was sitting back, basking in that brilliant child's insightfulness when Molly piped up, "And mine means that every time I take a shower, I'll get more good luck! Woohoo!!"

God help me - she's blonde inside I guess :)

Fish + Friends= Fun!

We had a great time at the National Aquarium today with our friends. It's a beautiful facility and the kids really enjoyed themselves. There is a feature exhibit about Australian rainforests which was neat since both my girlfriend and I have been to Australia and have seen the Barrier Reef rainforests. The girls were most impressed with the dolphin show and the sharks, but I'm 100% sure that there wasn't a single thing there they didn't enjoy!

Pool Rats

Brenna shows off her new bathing suit (she's all about the racing style ones now) while Molly shows off the new hole in her head!

Lawnmowers

These 2 little guys (and quite a few of their sisters and brothers) have become regular visitors in the past few weeks. Last year we saw rabbits quite often but this year they have clearly multiplied in population! We see a bunny on our lawn or on one of our neighbors' at least once a day. Luckily they aren't nearly as destructive as the deer!

Movie Time!

Because the girls don't do a lot of summer camps, I try to fill our calendar with lots of activities in and around our area. And lucky for us there are lots to choose from if you know where to look. Today we headed out to a movie theatre that has free movies on Tues. mornings and saw "Curious George." Tomorrow we'll hit a local shopping complex where "Animal Ambassadors" will do a show. Thursday is a trip to the Baltimore Aquarium with friends and I can't even remember what we have planned for Friday! We've also been at the pool nearly every day for Brenna's swim team and both girls are quickly becoming little fish. They are both registered for the library's summer reading program and all three of us will be at Vacation Bible School at a nearby parish next week.

So keeping checking back - we never sit still for long in this house!

Tooth Fairy Coming Again!!

The Tooth Fairy is becoming a regular in our house lately.

Poor Brenna looks more like a jack o'lantern with all the gaps in her smile.

This time the poor fairy might get a little mixed up though.

She'll have to find the right room because this time things are different . . .

Now Miss Molly has a hole in her head! Her loose tooth has been hanging on for days and finally, after much drama (why are these first teeth so traumatic?!) it's out. Just goes to show that you never know when these things will happen. Brenna has been one of the last in her class to lose teeth and Molly is one of the first. Go figure.

It's funny how such a tiny tooth can leave such a big hole. She really looks different!

HAPPY FLAG DAY!

And in our house that also means

Happy Birthday Daddy!

The girls and I will make him a his special Heath bar/Cool Whip/angel food cake concoction and see if he still has it in him to blow out the candles!

Zoo Day

It's been a while since we've gone to the zoo. It's so close by and we have a membership but with school and activities, it's hard to carve out the time during the year. Summer is much easier (as long as the weather cooperates - the many hills are killers in the humidity!)

Well today was perfect so we grabbed out best buddies and spent almost five hours checking out all of our old favorites. The zoo is on watch now as they wait to see if the female panda Mei Xiang is pregnant again. That would be big news! We also picked up the schedule of summer concerts which the girls love. My guess is we'll definitely be back to the zoo sooner rather than later!

Portraits

Here are Molly's belated 5-year-old pictures. It took me awhile to get them done and scanned. I love the shots with her arms crossed. I initially didn't buy those but when I saw them printed, I just had to get them since they most capture her personality.

My spunky little sailor girl!

Ahem! Has Anyone Seen a 3rd Grader?

Oh wait - here's one now!!

Today was Brenna last day of school and the excellent report card she brought home tells me that we have a new third grader in the house. YIKES - Grade 3!!

She was sad to say goodbye to her teachers in Gr. 2 - especially since we learned the wonderful Gr. 3 teacher will be leaving. However the new teacher has already been hired and "word on the street" (she'll be coming from another school nearby) is nothing but good. The school is also losing one more teacher - Molly's! So both girls will have new faces in their classes but we trust that they will be wonderful - and the school has been right on with all of their recent hires so I'm not at all worried.

The only other recent hire for the school is . . . me! I was offered and accepted a job in the school office. I guess they figured I was there so much that they might as well hire me. The timing was perfect since both girls will be there full-day next year so I just couldn't refuse.

So after a long week of work (I've been in the office the past 2 weeks) and parties and every other imaginable "extra", we are all ready to kick off our vacation in style. We'll start by sleeping in!!

Rooting for the Home Team!

A great time was had by all at Girl Scout Night at the Nationals yesterday. It was the first time we've been to the stadium. But boy are we tired today - it was a late night!

Can you stand one more?

This is just a 20 second blip of Brenna at her final Irish Dance class last week. My camera is on the fritz and kept seizing up so I didn't get much else. She looks happy at least! Her teacher wants her to compete in a feis this summer but Brenn says she doesn't want to. It doesn't matter to me either way so I told her she could try it or not, change her mind, whatever and that would be fine with me.

Scouts

Today was Brenna's last day of Brownies. They had a big luncheon for all 75 Girl Scouts at her school which was a great way for them to end the year. She received the last group of patches she's earned this year and loves sporting them on her vest.

Now she'll have a two week session of Girl Scout camp to look forward to in July!

One more Recital post

The girls had their dance recital Saturday evening. They were wonderful! Sadly my camera fritzed out on me and nothing that I taped in the "movie mode" came out. Big bummer because I had Brenna's Yankee Doodle jazz number that was fabulous and the Finale to Dreamgirls that was great too. All I wound up with was a single shot of the Finale. . .

Brenna's there just to the right of center. They were all wearing tiaras and shirts with gold stars and their names. It was a nice little show with just enough dazzle without all the razzle! Both girls want to return for next year so watch this spot same time next year for more dancing!

Last Day

Friday was Molly's last day of school. She insisted on bringing her two teachers these enormous balloons. PreK has been a very fun year for her and we are looking forward to a nice number of years with the group of kids that make up her class. All 21 of them are moving on to Kindergarten and will be joined by 9 new kids. Then, God willing, they will move together through the grades.

A big part of the reason I love the school is the wonderful spirit there. Because so many kids are there for 10 years together, it really becomes a special place for them. Friday was also the last day for the oldest kids as the 8th grade gradulated that night. A school tradition is that all of the classes, teachers and staff line the hallways and Gr. 8 makes a final trip through the school collecting hugs and high fives from all of the people they've come to know and love. There wasn't a dry eye in the building!! It will be very emotional when my kids the big-kid end of that rather than the little kid end!

The only bad part of the day was that Molly wasn't able to wear the "last-day-of-school" dress that she agonized about picking out Her class had their Relay Field Day so they all needed to be in shorts and sneakers. She had so much fun that I think she forgot all about the dress!

It's been a great year!

Dress Rehearsal

Here they are - my dancing dolls! This will be Brenna's fourth recital and Molly's second so they have declared themselves old pros and today's rehearsal was a piece of cake. I managed to sneak in and video Molly's class performing and Brenna's tap number. I'll try to get those uploaded later.

Here is Molly's number - it's a cute song!

And here's Brenna. This was at the end of a 2-hour session and they look pretty pooped. She has a jazz number and a long finale dance as well. I'll try to tape those at the show on Saturday.

No School!!

There great rejoicing in our house today as the girls wound up with a bonus day off. A water main break on the street near the school left the building with no water.

So now we are left to decide what to do with some unexpected free time. The girls do have a dance dress rehearsal today at 4pm so whatever we do will involve Molly with her hair in rollers though!

Eww! This is not what I wanted to see in my backyard yesterday! Needless to say we had a little chat with the girls about what they should do if they encounter an extra "friend" in the yard while they are out playing!

All's well here and we're enjoying the warm weather over the holiday weekend. We were up at the pool today and ran into lots of folks we don't often see - other than at the pool! I think we're going to have a nice summer.

Molly had her "Step Up Day" at school yesterday. That's when all of the PreK (and the 9 students who will be coming to join them next year) visit the Kindergarten classroom and spend a few hours with the teacher there. Molly said it was lots of fun, "even if all we did was work, work, work. And do you know there's no tv there?!" Clearly she has some misconceptions about what type of activity will be expected of her next year! Her lead teacher will be a fabulous woman who was the secondary teacher (there are 2 in every class) when Brenna was there. I'm excited to be back in that class again (sounds like I'm the one in school, huh?) Brenna will have her Step Up Day during her last week of school (she had Field Day yesterday). Word on the street is that there is a tremendous jump in expectations at Gr. 3 but she's not worried. Her teachers will be a team of two young women who work well together and seem to have a great rapport with both the kids and the parents. So as sad as we are to see this year coming to close, it's nice to end the year knowing what good things await for next year!

But I still don't like the snake . . .

Things are going swimmingly!

It's a busy week here with lots of activities and errands to run as the school year winds down. But in case we weren't COMPLETELY crazy before now, we went ahead and signed Brenna up for our pool's swim team. Well, it's only the beginner squad but she's excited. Last year we couldn't have paid her to try it but this year she was very excited. They hold practices every weeknight from 4:30-5:15 from now through July but luckily the kids aren't expected to be there every time. Thank God because with school still in session and other activities still going on, she'll probably make less than half of them over the next 3 weeks! She won't swim any meets this year but it will still be a good experience. Most of her friends swim on other teams which I think was what encouraged her to go for it.

Things are starting to wind down. Yesterday was the last "official" dance class for both girls although Brenna has another special class and both have a dress rehearsal next week. Girl Scouts finishes up with a meeting this week and a luncheon next week. Irish dance has a show next week. Her teacher for that wants her to compete this summer but I can't commit to bringing her to Virginia each week for extra classes. Oh and we have four birthday parties between June 4th-8th.

Next week is Molly's last week of school and Brenna has one left after that. Here comes summer!!

A Special Goodnight

Tonight Molly and her best buddy Francesca had a special treat. Back in March at the school auction, our families won a "Bedtime Tuck In" with their PreK teacher (it was meant for 1 child but we split the price and the teacher was happy to do them together) Our girls simply adore this woman and we knew it would be a lot of fun.

So we all went over to their house and our families had a fun dinner together. (Francesca's big sister is very conveniently Brenna's best friend so our families are very intertwined!) Then Mrs. M arrived with cookies and milk and some special books (with wonderful inscriptions) for the girls. They played and giggled a while together before having their snack. Then it was up to bed where all three of them snuggled up for stories, prayers and lots of hugs and kisses. The funny part was when she asked the girls to say a bedtime prayer, Francesca launched into "Bless us O Lord, for these thy gifts . . ." I'm not sure Grace Before Meals is a proper bedtime prayer but I think they are just so used to saying it with her (they do it before snack and lunch every day) that it just popped out of them. Needless to say, that got a lot of laughs!!

How can you not love this picture? It's nice to know that in a world so scared of personal liability and such that we have such a wonderful school community with faculty willing to really get to know their families and have personal relationships. It was a special activity for the girls and one they'll look back on with nice memories for a long time.

Dance Recital songs

The theme of the show is "Movin' to the Movies" and every class is dancing to a song from a movie. Brenna will be in a tap number and a jazz number as well as the Finale. Molly will do only a ballet number. Given that the show is only an hour long (oh how I love this place better than the 3.5 hour show of the other studio we first tried!), that means we'll be filming most of it!

This is Brenna's song for the Finale. Dream Girls.wma All I know is that it involves tiaras and much posing! The funny thing is that the two classes performing with the oldest girls (teenagers) are Brenna's group (7-8 yo) and the other 6-7 year old class. Brenna's class has a very patriotic costume (she won't let me show anyone yet!) which should be okay but the other group is dancing to something from Pirates of the Carribean and their costumes are very "pirate wench" looking. That ought to be interesting for this number!

Her tap song is from the Molly American Girl movie. It's called "Victory Sisters" and it's quite long. The teacher's daughter dances in this class so their routines are always a step above in some ways. Sadly many of them can't keep up and it kind of ruins things. Brenna's been practicing though so I hope she remembers all her steps! Victory Sisters.wma

Her jazz song is sort of a swing version of "Yankee Doodle" and we don't have the music for that yet. I'm hoping she gets a copy soon because I know she needs to work on that a bit more. Same costume (another perk of this studio - no huge costume fees!)

Molly is dancing to a song from Charlotte's Web (and old version though, not the newer movie) called "There Must Be Something." 01 Track 1.wma It's really precious. It's about being friends which is especially nice since 8 of the girls in the dance class are also in Molly's PreK class at school.

It should be a cute show!

HAPPY MOTHER"S DAY!!

I have two very good reasons of my own to celebrate Mother's Day today. And my wonderful friends and family have many reasons of their own to celebrate as well. I think our pastor said it best at today's Mass when he blessed "all of the mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, aunts . . . everyone who loves another with a mother's heart."

So we say Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers who have touched our lives!

(And I know you'll all be jealous but I got breakfast in bed today. Brenna had already climbed in with me and Molly came running in with 4 granola bars, threw them in the bed and said, "This is all I'm allowed to make by myself!" But you know, it was the best granola bar I've ever tasted!)

Spring Concert

Friday night was the girls' Spring Concert at school. The Christmas Concert was canceled because their music teacher passed away very unexpectedly just 2 weeks before the show so this was their one chance to perform a concert this year.

Naturally it was adorable, the kids were fabulous and everyone's pictures came out too dark in the church but a good time was had by all.

(Feel free to comment on Miss Molly the poser. She's a total diva these days! She made a comment that it was good to be the youngest in the family "for lots of good reasons and only one bad one. When you're the youngest you're always the last one to get everyone else's clothes!" Mind you she gets more new clothes than any other second child I've known. She's a diva and she's spoiled!!)

Hanging at the Park

The weather has been beautiful and the girls have spring fever in a big way! Luckily we live right near a few great parks so we've been trying to get out and play a bit after school whenever we can. It's also "birthday season" and each of them has several parties during April/May. Add to that the myriad of school events, scout activities and dance classes/rehearsals and we are one busy family these days.

Last week Brownies for Brenna was on Monday instead of Friday. Except that Monday is also her dance class. But dance class also has a makeup class on Thursday. Whoops, Thursday is already booked for Irish dance class. That's okay because there's also a dance rehearsal next Sunday and the following Tuesday as well. Too bad that Tuesday is also the Brownie picnic. I'm really glad we limit her activities and we don't have soccer practices and games or something on top of all of this! Luckily Molly only has dance class. She didn't want to add another activity now but she's dying to do tennis in the fall. I don't know where the interest comes from for that but I think I'm going to have to get them a chauffeur or something. I can't keep up!