Bankrupt

That's what the Tooth Fairy is going to be tomorrow.
I swear every time this child opens her mouth something falls out!
3 teeth in less than 3 weeks.

Just today I took her (finally) to get her 6 year old pictures done and now a mere 4 hours later she looks totally different again.

And there's no way she can eat spaghetti anymore!

It Is Done.

"Choose Jesus" was the theme song

"Talk Talk" was the kids' favorite because of the "chatter" between verses. I liked the lyrics: "The Bible says that love is not words. Love is an act doing good for the world. It's time to live like love is verb. God gives us love so it and be turned and turned and turned and returned."

VBS is done for another year. It was fun and worthwhile on so many levels, but above all it was tiring! Molly actually came home today and took a long nap as the week obviously caught up with her. The kids ended with a performance of the songs they learned and I was able to get some video clips. Not of Brenna though as her group was all the way to the left and I had to sit near my class (on the top step in this clip - Molly's the short one in the middle)

The kids all came back to the classroom to pick up their bags and one of my little pumpkins was crying her heart out that we were done. I had to promise, promise and pinky swear promise that I would come back next year and teach up a level so we could be together again. How could you say no to this sweetie? All of my kids (rising first graders) were wonderful and spending the whole week teaching them (our volunteer commitment is only one day but I always wind up there all week!) really gave me a chance to get to know their personalities better. Plus they are so good for my self esteem so make me feel so loved in such a short time!

Here's another cutie - the toothless girls!

Creativity

Molly's class was using colored pasta to make collages at VBS this week. Molly made this summer scene. It wasn't until later that I noticed she used the red colored elbow shapes and two small circles to make a crab in the sand. How cute is that?

Arghh!

Pirates galore today at VBS!

The adults sometimes enjoy the themes as much (or more!) than the kids. I had my pirate gear but check out the music director! We all joked that it would have been hilarious had he been pulled over while driving in today. Try explaining that ensemble to a police officer!

We also have about a dozen teen helpers who are fabulous and very enthusiastic. We're having a great week and I'm enjoying teaching Molly's class. It's a fun group of kids who are so well behaved and really enjoy the activities.

Cowgirl

I think I'm going to find a picture every day of this one without those teeth! :)

This week the girls and I are at Vacation Bible School each day. I'm teaching in Molly's class while Brenna is off on her "yearly playdate" with her classmates. (This is not our home church yet we've been at their VBS for 4 years now so we've met some nice folks that we don't see through the school year.) Today was Western day. Get ready for pirates tomorrow!

Toothless Wonder

The tooth fairy is losing a bundle at our house these days! This one came out in the bathtub tonight.

I just love a kid with no front teeth! Brenna's first front tooth fell out and was half in before the other one came out so she never had that full toothless look. Molly's are already coming in so I need to enjoy this as long as possible.

First Feis

Brenna danced in her first Irish dance competition today (a feis - which is pronounced "fesh" for those not in this dance loop!) She surprised me by repeatedly asking over several weeks if she could compete so I was happy to let her give it a try. Frankly I think she was mostly wanting to do it so I'd get her the school's beginner costume. You can see from the pictures it's an embroidered shirt, black kick skirt, black tights and a black shawl with the embroidered symbol of her dance school.

This feis was held in Virginia and there were hundreds of kids from all over the Mid-Atlantic region there. I had heard it was not only fairly local for us but also well-run - an important factor for those of us not having the foggiest how to do these things!

She was registered for only one dance - a reel - and was really nervous. Last night she kept saying she didn't want to dance after all and what would happen if the judge didn't like her steps. The kids dance two at a time but each kid is doing different combinations as each dance school has their own particular choreography. That's got to be confusing! I just reassured her that her first few competitions were like practices where she shouldn't even worry about placing against so many other girls who have already competed in several feisanna. (See? I'm getting the hang of this lingo!)

Well go figure! She placed 4th in her division in that dance! (1st-3rd get trophies and 4th and 5th get medals)

Needless to say she was thrilled with her award ("It's the highest medal, Mom!" she said. I like her way of thinking - she hadn't even considered the trophies.)

We also bought her a special Tshirt to remember the occasion. It has the logo of the feis on the front and a partial list of competitor names on the reverse (you pick the program page featuring your own school and they add a star next to your name) She's in seventh heaven now!

Happy Camper

Each morning this week Molly joined some of her school friends at Camp Bumblebee. This adorable camp was run by 3 amazing high schoolers who put more time and energy into this than we could have imagined. Each day had a theme and they planned a ton of great crafts. I swear they spent all the money we paid (and let me tell you it was a real bargain anyway!) on treats for the kids. And of course the little ones had a ball!

Today was the last day and the kids performed the dance routines they learned and showed off the Tshirt costumes they made. After the show was an ice cream sundae party for everyone.

One of the counselors has been a special friend to Molly and is the one who introduced us to the dancing school we now use. If she invited Molly to sit on the curb for 3 hours each day Molly still would have gone! At dinner tonight Molly says, "Elise's family is so lucky because they get to see her every single day. But Elise is the luckiest of all because after all, she gets to BE Elise!" It must be nice to have a kid look up to you that much!

Thanks Elise, Bridget and Erin! Molly will be back next year for sure!!

Swim Team

Brenna is enjoying swim team at our pool this year. She swims every night for an hour and you had better believe they work them hard! She is literally in the water doing laps for that whole hour. So it's good exercise and a fun activity all rolled in one.

Tonight was the team photo and conveniently I had my camera in my bag from earlier today.

Another Pool Rat

And here's the other pool rat in the family . . .

Singing In the Rain

These two little darlings had a boatload of fun playing in the rain that moved through this evening. Even better was the puddle-jumping that followed.

They wound up looking like drowned rats but that's nothing a warm shower couldn't fix. You only go around once, right? Must be nice to be a kid!

(And I think it's a riot that Brenna's wearing a sweatshirt while Molly's in a halter top. They both wound up with boots completely full of water!)

New Look

A few days at the pool have made it obvious that Molly's longer hair needed to go! She's not very patient when it comes to getting tangles out so we zipped off to get a new haircut today. Well the stylist's idea of "just below the chin" didn't exactly mesh with mine but Miss Molly's new bob is cute (it's not like it won't grow!) and I'm sure we'll get used to it. I kept it shorter when she was younger so it's not like it's THAT big of a change.

Not to mention it shows off another part of her new look . . . earrings! She's been begging for pierced ears so today was as good a day as any. She was very brave and sure likes her new diamonds!

Brenna couldn't bite the bullet though. "Maybe another day," she said so I assured her that it was entirely up to her. We'll be spending all of our time washing chlorine out of her moptop and using vats of conditioner anyway so we wouldn't have time to take care of earrings on her!

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.