The Many Faces of Brenna

She's changing and growing up so fast that it takes my breath away.

Mostly I just want to freeze her in time though.

She's simply amazing.

Spoiled? Who Me?

A big part of this story is that you have to visualize Molly saying it. A friend's mother has met my girls several times and always comments that Molly's very expressive. She noted that"Molly talks with her eyes" and since then I've noticed that it's really true. Her stories are funny but it's the expressions on her face that make them hysterical sometimes.

Anyway, Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Krissy babysat for a bit last night while Dean and I went to a party. This morning Molly says to me, "I know what Auntie Krissy is giving me for my 16 birthday." Like a fool I asked and she replied "A picture phone." Now I know she's fascinated by Krissy's camera phone so I figured they played with it last night and now it's fresh in Miss Molly's brain. When I asked how she knew what her gift would be (12 years from now) she looked at me with this expression of utter dismay that I could possibly be so dense and said "Ummm . . . because I asked." The "Duh" part that she undoubtedly was thinking about saying luckily was not verbalized (I'm hoping she's at least 10 before I, as a parent, repulse her THAT much that she has to say Duh!)

It just struck me as so funny that she assumes that if she asks for something she will get it. Because she usually does. Because she's spoiled. And she knows it. And we know it. But she's not getting a camera phone anytime soon - not even from Krissy!

Water Baby

How can I not love this child? She's all personality!

Three big pools at her disposal and she is having a ball in the garden hose at the swim club!

(Plus I'm just impressed that my camera got such nice shots!)

Hmmm. . . What shall we do today?

You guessed it, go swimming - again, and again and again! These girls are becoming total pool rats. Brenna had her second official swim lesson today and things must be going well because she can swim the 25 meter length of the pool quite well. Not bad for the kid who wouldn't put her face in the water last year and was vehemently opposed to doing the "developmental" (read: swim lessons) swim team this year. She loves the water but wanted no part of the organized team. Fine by me as I've heard all the horror stories of 4 hour meets and excessive travel from other swim parents! I just want both girls to be able to swim recreationally and it looks like Brenna is well on her way!

Moving Mushrooms

I don't know - I just thought this picture was a hoot. It's not often you see a 4 year old toting a giant mushroom around! There's an area at the zoo that has a pizza garden and a playland that looks like a giant pizza. We were playing there and I just cracked up at the kids sliding on mozzarella, crawling through olives and moving mushrooms! 

Just Chillin' Out - Literally!

Just laying low these days. The AC is fixed so we're actually enjoying just staying home for a change! Brenna is finishing up her summer reading books so we can get them back to the library before we head to Boston. We went to Target yesterday to get a few school supplies for the girls. They don't actually need much but we like having fresh crayons and markers for homework and such. All that's left are shoes for Brenna (why is it so hard to find simple navy blue shoes for girls?) and a lunchbox for Molly.

Today the girls took a little drive to Baltimore with Grandma and Grandpa. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTIE KRISSY! From what I hear they all had a nice lunch and played in the park near her apartment. Personally I quite enjoyed the peace and quiet here! I caught up on some housework, ran errands and did the grocery shopping. It's amazing how much easier things are sans kids! I guess this was a glimpse of my how my life will be when they both are off to school. I'll miss them for sure but this rare free time is really nice!

I leave you with a shot of the Miss America herself - always posing! 

Getting Jiggy - Part 2!

(Double clicking the photo should make it bigger)
One final 90+ degree day brought an end to Brenna's Irish Dance Camp. They ended with a ceili so they could show off what they learned (and also see some of the advanced dancers to see what they have to look forward too if they continue dancing!) Dean, Molly and I, Grandma and Grandpa and our new neighbors all came to watch so Brenna had quite the personal cheering section. She did a great job and although she's REALLY tired (we've been following her 2 hours of jumping the heat with 4-5 hours of swimming every day for the past 2 weeks!), I know she enjoyed it. Sean Culkin has a very different style than Laureen James who Bren has taken a few classes with after school. Now she's torn as to who to dance with in the fall. Mind you she's laying the groundwork for us to sign her up with both studios!!

One of the highlights of the event was a special performance. After the kids performed "The Siege of Ennis," a group dance they learned (just yesterday actually!), Sean asked them all to get a family member and bring them out onto the floor to also learn it. Well Brenna grabbed Grandma! She was a great sport and Brenna was thrilled. As you can see, Cindy may have a future in this! I think we'll sign them both up for more lessons!

Splish Splash

Another hot day, another fun day at the pool!

Keeping Cool

The heat hasn't been getting the girls down. It actually suits them fine because they know it's much easier to convince me to head to the pool every day! I swear the best thing we ever did was join the neighborhood pool last summer. It's close by so running over for an hour or so is easy. Of course on days like this we pack lunch or some snacks and stay for several hours! We know lots of folks who also belong to the pool so finding playmates is rarely a problem and the bonus and both girls are becoming little water bugs. Stay cool everyone!

Carousel

Brenna's Dance Camp is in a nearby park that was once an amusement park. They have a gorgeous Dentzel carousel that is a great place to meet friends on a summer day. Molly swears she could listen to the Wurlitzer organ all day! Here's the cowgirl hollering "Yehaw!" as she rode and Brenna just cooling off.

http://www.nps.gov/glec/caro/carousel.htm 

Dance Camp Part 2

Brenna is still dancing and still sweating! With temps heading to 100 next week I think I'd better double up on the water I send her and plan to head straight from camp to the pool! She loves the class though and will be having a ceili recital on Friday to show off what they've learned. 

Gettin' Jiggy!

Brenna started an Irish Step camp this week and so far she loves it. I'll get some better pictures later (that's her in the red shorts) but for now she's sweating it out in an outdoor pavilion for a couple of hours each day. She's been taking lessons after school since January and was adament that she wanted to do this camp - in the heat and humidity of July in DC! We've told her she can get "official dance ghillies" if she still wants to continue dancing after this camp. I think I had better start shopping for some - she's hooked! 

I have failed!

Really, I try hard but I guess I'm just a negligent mother.

We're by no means die-hard naturalists but I try to expose the girls to as much as I can. We regularly visit a great farm and they've picked apples, pumpkins, blueberries, strawberries, etc. fresh from the field. We've hiked in the woods and trailed along streams. Come on now - they've even run though corn fields in Iowa so I know my little city slickers have at least SOME residual "nature" left in them!

So I wasn't exactly prepared for Molly's comment when we recently stopped at a local farmer's market under a big tent. When I pulled into the lot she shouted out, "Yippee! We're going to the food court!" So clearly my best efforts have been in vain and I'm doomed to continue raising nothing more than two born-and-bred mall rats. Sigh. Well, at least she made me laugh!

(And today she was reading a book about giraffes and there was a photo of some African hunters. She asked, "Are those Tarzans chasing the giraffe?" Dear Lord, Tarzans? I have so much work to do before I can let this child loose on the world!)

We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo. How about You, You, You?

Wow - I remember singing that song over and over in a little gymboree-type class I did with Brenna when she was small . . . Anyway, the humidity hovering over the mid-Atlantic finally broke yesterday so we ventured out to the zoo. (I can't do all those hills in the heat anymore!) This weekend the baby panda Tai Shan is turning 1 so the place was panda-monium! Okay, bad joke but it's the truth! I swear every kid there had a stuffed panda so evidently the gift shop made a killing. Luckily we're "regulars" at the zoo so the girls don't beg for goodies each time we go (well, other than ice cream.) It's been a while since our last visit though so we covered the whole lower part of the zoo and then stayed for last night's Sunset Serenade concert. I had packed a picnic dinner so we ate and the girls danced. All in all it was a great day!

Happy 4th!

 

We had a nice time at the neighborhood parade today. The girls loved decorating their scooters so we could march with our MOMS Club group. It was quite hot and humid but the party in the park afterward made it all worthwhile for them! 

Pearls of Wisdom - from a 6 year old!

We spent some time this morning with a friend who has a 3 year old daughter Genni and a 7 week old son Charlie. As we were driving home Molly, the biggest baby-lover around, says "I wish I was Genni." Brenna asked why and Molly explained, "Because she has a baby brother and I wish I did too." Brenna sighed and said, "Oh no you don't. Trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Some of my friends have little brothers and they tell me things. You think Charlie is cute now but just wait. He'll be trouble later on. I tell you, in a few years you'll be glad you stayed a part of our family and not theirs!!"

Once again I nearly put car off the road laughing! Last week was Molly -

We were listening to a song about the parts of the face. Molly randomly stated that chins don't do anything. When I asked what she meant she told me how noses smell and ears hear but that chins are boring. Looking in the rear-view mirror I saw her tugging at and checking out her chin. Finally she said, "Well, chins do stick out a bit. I guess that's to keep all the other pieces from just slipping off your face. So I guess they do something good after all!"

Two more for the quote book!!

Away She Goes!

One of the downsides of living at the top of a hill in a neighborhood with no sidewalks is that there really is no safe place to ride a scooter or a bike. So poor Brenna has had a bicycle languishing in the garage for a while now that is getting too small. She like the idea of learning to ride but everytime we suggested it, she balked. Two weeks ago we pulled it out and took one training wheel off. No problem - she just leaned a lot! So later we took the other off. She practiced for about an hour and was doing pretty well. Then the rains came and last weekend was a washout. So out the bike came again today and she up and took off just like an old pro! Molly was running behind cheering all the while. I'd like to think it was because she's proud of her big sister but my guess it was more about the deal we made. See we told Brenna that if she learned to ride a 2-wheeler then we'd get her a bigger bike for her birthday and Molly would get this one. So Molly was sharing the joy!!

Staying Up Late!

The best part of summer vacation is staying up late! We have nothing planned for the mornings this whole week so the girls have mapped out what movies they want to watch as they stay up late, late, LATE! every night. Here they are enjoying "High School Musical" - the latest cult hit for the teenybopper set.

VBS

This past week Brenna did a Vacation Bible School at a nearby parish. The camp was called "Trading Places" and once again she loved it. (She did last year's camp as well) It was really well-run and today the kids performed all the songs they learned throughout the week. Molly spent 2 days in the child care room there while I helped in "First Class Crafts" and even she loved it. She'll be old enough to attend next year and is already wondering what the theme will be.

Something Blue . . .