First Mass

Today our parish hosted the first Mass of a newly ordained priest. Fr. Juan Esposito from Argentina was ordained yesterday. Coming to DC he was assigned to our parish for the summer and has since made it his home away from home. He's been here every summer and we're happy to claim him! He was thrilled to have a spot on the altar at the recent Papal Mass (he's in red just behind Pope Benedict) so clearly he's made a name for himself. We happily lined up to receive his first blessing in hopes that it will give us the patience to make it through the summer! (Suffice to say Day 1 of summer vacation was a bit of a challenge!)

Next week we say goodbye to Fr. Woods who has been with us for 3 years and is quite the popular dude around here. He teaches at school twice a week and although the principal has lovingly dubbed him "a discipline problem," he's clearly a favorite with all the kids. We'll miss him and hope his replacement (another newly ordained priest) can fill his big shoes!

Bring On Summer!

Today was the bittersweet end to a wonderful school year. We had 3 new teachers join the staff in September and amazingly my girls had all of them. In a small school where some teachers have been there for 25+ years, it can be unnerving to have "new" teachers.

Not these ladies!


Brenna's class is 29 very energetic kids known to be rather boisterous. Well, this lead teacher may be young but she really connected with that group and they all had a fabulous year. She's confident and fun and Brenna really came into her own with such guidance.


Molly's adorable teachers just captured my heart. I really enjoyed getting to know them outside of being a classroom parent. Her lead teacher is so dynamic and dedicated that it's impossible not to love her. There were many tears today both from her, the kids and the parents! She has a particular soft spot for Molly (she even came to her dance recital!) which makes me love her even more. She wouldn't take her sunglasses off for this photo because her eyes were so red from crying at dismissal! Of course her first class in a new school will always be special, but she is just so funny about her "beauties" that we just have to laugh. We weren't out of school but 3 hours when I had a text message from her saying we needed to have a playdate next week because she misses Molly and her 2 best buddies already. Her favorite phrase to Molly (and me when I do things in the office!) is "I love you the MOSTEST!" which frankly describes how we feel about her!


Molly's teacher aide is equally sweet. They work so well as a team and I'm so happy that I will still be just as involved with them next year as part of the faculty. It was very hard to say goodbye.

The nice thing about our school is that goodbyes really aren't necessary. We will still see them all the time next year. But it won't be the same so we had to thank them today for making our 2007-2008 year so incredibly wonderful.

Last Day

Brenna had a little party on her last day of Irish Dance and the kids from her class and the one after theirs combined to do a little performance for us. They were great and Brenna really enjoys it. She has promised to practice all summer so she can go back next year to a higher level class.

Beauties

Molly's wonderful teacher refers to the kids in her class as "beauties." You can hear her all the time in the hallway saying things like "Let's go beauties - walk on the right" or "Beauties, what are you doing?" It's become such a tagline that the principal now says it too and we've all taken to calling the two kindergarten teachers "the Beauty Queens."

The class had a picnic this week and the teachers gave out these shirts with a class photo on the front and signed by the beauties on the backs with multicolored pens.

Adorable!

Hole in the Head

Look who has a new gap in her smile!

Season's End

This weekend Molly had her last two baseball games and the Phillies also received trophies from their coaches. Dean was in charge while I was away so this is his version of a team photo. I suppose I should be thankful he remembered the camera! What he didn't get was a photo from their last game - the one where Molly was the final batter - the one where she hit a homerun to finish the game. Go Molly!!!

Dance Recital

Last night was the girls' dance recital. The theme was "Seasons" and every dance number related to a holiday or calendar season.

I had posted a photo last week of Molly in her ballet costume. Here you can see the skirt change that they used for their tap number. It was "Jingle Bells" and it was the crowd-pleasing first number of the show. Ridiculously adorable! And not to be biased, but she's the best in her class. Just ask Nana! (wink wink!)

Racing around I never did get any more pictures of Brenna in her pink costume but this is the "football" outfit she wore for the finale. She really enjoys her dance classes and I like that it's a whole group of girls outside of her school friends that she gets to hang out with. Here's a quick clip my brother took on his camera. It's dark but you get the idea! (Brenna is just right of center most of the time. Just look for that blonde ponytail!)

Girl Scout Camp

We're too tired to say much beyond it was great - but boy are those girls early risers! 5:30am is too early no matter where you are!!! The weather was perfect (though chilly in the morning) and we had a lot of fun in a relatively short time.

Dress Rehearsal

I love this time of year!! The girls had their dance recital dress rehearsal the other day and the show will be Saturday night. They are old pros at this by now - Brenna's 5th year dancing and Molly's 3rd - and they love it (as you can tell by Molly's smile!) Break a leg darlings!!

Soccer Star

Molly had her last day of soccer clinic complete with the long-awaited trophy! She was in her glory. She's actually a good little player . . . but says she doesn't want to do it next year. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now we'll just enjoy all of the good things that come with having a new trophy to display!

We Got the Party!!

As part of our school's annual Gala & Auction, various teachers arrange class parties or similar events that all kids can sign up for as opposed to having one family win an outing with a teacher. Friday was one of these parties and I had agreed to help the PreK and Reading Resource teachers pull it off.

It was a Hannah Montana Extravaganza!

We had over 60 girls in grade K-4 come for pizza, crafts, dancing and karaoke. And then wonder of wonders - Hannah Montana herself arrived!!

Okay, it was actually the AfterCare teacher's teenage daughter. But since most of the kids don't know Tara they were happy to go along with the impersonization and just have fun! She's a wonderful singer and she had all of the girls dancing and singing all of those songs that they know oh so well. My girls had a ball and it will be tough to find something to top it next year.

Brownie Cover Girls

I forgot to blog about this to everyone (though some of my mommy friends know it already!)

Brenna's Girl Scout troop went to the Capitol a few weeks ago. When they were leaving, a woman ran up to them saying "Oh good, you're here on time! Let's get started." The troop leader said she didn't know what that meant so the woman explained she was sent there to meet a group of scouts to photograph the cover of the calendar for the Nation's Capital Council. She said our group was so well behaved and in full uniform that she assumed they were the ones she was looking for. Not exactly - Brenna's troop was just there for a tour.

That group arrived shortly after and insisted our troop stay and be in the photo as well (our kids looked sharp in their uniforms even if it skewed the number of Brownies in the photo! 13 of the kids in the photo are from our group. The older girl in navy in the back is a wonderful Senior scout who graduated from our school and helps out with our girls.)

We heard that one of the photos taken will definitely be the cover for the 2009 calendar. That's called being in the right place at the right time! And you know I'll get several copies to keep. :)

She's really enjoying scouts this year and they've had some fun trips that I've been able to join in on. We're going camping over Memorial Day weekend which will be Brenna's first overnight camping trip. Wish us luck!

Back to Baseball

Molly missed her practice and game last weekend and there was no practice this week but it sure didn't stop my Silly Phillie! She had lots of fun at her game today and hit each time she was at bat. Maybe it helped that Uncle Don was there to cheer her on!

Gorgeous!!

That describes the bride, the flower girl, the whole wedding party, the day . . . It was so perfect in every way. I'll write more later but here's a peek!

Almost time . . .

Tomorrow is my little flower girl's big day!

The rehearsal went very well yesterday and Miss Molly is ready for action. Her dress fits perfectly, her flower basket and sash match "the big girls" and she's been practicing her smile. (Although the mere mention of this wedding gets her beaming anyway! She just adores Lisa and Angelo!)

This is going to be fun!!

Friday Favorites - Wedding Edition

Next weekend we'll be off to Boston for a very special wedding. Molly is to be the flower girl at my cousin Lisa's wedding. Miss Molly is beyond excited because in her book Lisa and Angelo walk on water and she is thrilled they asked her.

Brenna was the flower girl in Feb. 2004 for one of Lisa's sisters, Sharon (who is also Molly's godmother) I was looking through some of those photos and wanted to share . . .

Sharon and her mini-me.

You can't even see their faces and yet it's one of my favorites!

Peeking through the railing at the reception below

Too sweet!

In their winter capes

Happy Birthday x Happy Birthday x Happy Birthday

Today we had a joint birthday party for Molly and two of her buddies. They all have birthdays close together and it became obvious that we were going to have trouble scheduling all of their parties without overlapping. The solution was inviting the whole class to a bowling party at the local country club. The kids had the day off school today so it was also a fun way to fill the afternoon. The real treat was that both of their teachers came to visit. The kids were in 7th heaven. It must be nice to be such a rock star! They just adore these ladies - probably becasue it's easy to see that they adore the kids. The lead teacher refers to them as her "beauties." Now even the principal will refer to them that way, "Grade 1 is in the lunchroom and the Kindergarten beauties are on their way . . ." It's a really cute sentiment.

Papal Mass

Amazing. Beautiful. Unforgettable. I could never find just the right words . . .

Many more photos here . . .
http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareLanding.jsp?shareCode=AE1B812C566&cb=PW

If I had a better camera I would have felt like I was sitting on the altar because our seats were wonderful!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOLLY!!

My baby is 6 today. Holy cow is all I can say!

Love you tons baby girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Papal Mass

Brenna and I are very excited to have received tickets to Pope Benedict XVI's Mass here in DC on Thursday! We'll be sitting right above the third base dugout and the last plan I saw had the altar in center field. I'll do my best to get some pictures (makes me REALLY wish I had a better camera now!) but I'retty much thinking that this is going to be something where you really need be there to truly appreciate it! We're very excited!!

Phillies

Today was Molly's first ballgame. She was nervous about it so I told her it wasn't really a game and each team just was going to have batting practice while the other catches for them and vice versa. It worked and she had a ball! They play 3 innings with each team batting all the way through their lineup. They allow about 5 coach-pitches and if the player is struggling then they bring in a batting tee. Molly got 3 pretty good hits and seemed thrilled with that. It was cold and damp today but I think it will be a fun activity for the next few Sundays if the weather gets a bit better!

Cherry Blossom Gala

Things have been crazy around here because I was up to my eyeballs working on the Auction and Gala at the girls' school. It's a lot of work but I enjoy it. One of my favorite parts is that I always get tapped to do the catalog/program for the night. This is the cover I came up with for this year (I blurred out the name and address) Love my digital software!

Tooth Fairy - Again

The Tooth Fairy mast week under less than ideal circumstanaces - Dean

knocked his front tooth out when he took a bad tumble skating. This week she had a better visit - Brenna lost another top tooth. So the current count is Brenna 7, Molly 2 and Dean 1!

Rained Out

Molly's first baseball game was rained out today. That's probably a good thing since they started practicing ummm . . . yesterday! She was cute this morning though bounding downstairs to ask when we were leaving for the field on the subway. I told her we weren't taking the train and would just drive there. She was adamant saying "they keep saying there's no parking. You are supposed to take Metro!" Finally I put it all together -she thought she was going to be playing at the new stadium downtown! Sorry Molly - at 5 years old with only one practice under your belt you guys are not ready for the 40,000+ seat Nationals Stadium!

Stay turned for next Sunday when the Phillies take on the Athletics - at the local middle school.

Five Friday Favorite Molly Fotos

Molly had to bring in a baby picture today so I decided to post the five she was deciding between as this week's contribution. I think she picked some pretty representative shots actually! Can you guess which one she eventually chose as her favorite?

These were all taken at roughly the same time when she was only a few months old.

#1 - Does she look bored by life or what?

#2 Miss Inquisitive

#3 Those sky blue eyes

#4 Chunky Monkey

#5 See? She did smile sometimes!