Cousins.....

Dance class photos of Lilly.

Since Lilly and I were technically both registered in the Mommy & Me class, I was able to take lots of pictures of her in dance class. Here's a bunch I just downloaded from my phone. She got really comfortable and did a great job participating on her own. It was so fun to just sit back and watch her do her thing. I was so proud.

Here's a short video:



Here's a longer video of her doing part of her dance class:



Here's a video of part of the song they warm up to called Miss Puffy:




Here's part of Miss Puffy about 6 weeks ago:

Sophia lost another tooth!

I had no idea that Sophia's second loose tooth would come out so soon, but it fell out while we were in the car today. Incredible. I think Tina Toothfairy is going to bring a pack of sugarfree strawberry shortcake chewing gum tonight. Sophia's going to love it.

First night - pull up free

Unbeknownst to me, Will put Lilly to bed without a pull up on last night. She was bone dry this morning. She's been waking up dry for about 2 weeks, but it never even crossed my mind to put her to bed in undies.

She's been completely potty trained during the waking hours for months now, but we're clearly in the home stretch for the night time as well.

Way to go Lilly! This is much earlier than Sophia was potty trained. I can see $$ now. No more pull ups!

Sophia lost her first tooth.

It was literally hanging on by a few threads. She could push it with her tongue and point it completely upside down.

We were at Target - in the dressing room. I asked her if I could just pull it out because I was afraid she was going to lose it and flick it with her tongue and not even realize it. She was crying. She was scared. And then it just fell right out onto her tongue.

We ran to the $1.00 section and found a Hello Kitty round, pink "Tupperware" container and put it in there for safe keeping until we got home.

That was on Wednesday night. Sophia has a decision to make. She could either put the tooth under her pillow that night and have the tooth fairy visit without ever seeing her tooth - or she could wait until Sunday night. Will had left on Tuesday night for CA and wasn't getting back until Saturday morning, at which point he was planning to join us at Haley and Carlie's family's beach house in Duck, NC. The girls and I left for Duck on Thursday morning after swimming class. We were planning on coming back on Sunday afternoon, but like I already mentioned, Will was going to arrive by noon on Saturday.

Sophia decided she would wait until Sunday night to put the tooth under her pillow. So, last night, the tooth fairy came to our house. She left a red envelope under Sophia's pillow. Inside it was $1.00 and a miniature booklet of cupcake tattoos.

All day Sophia carried her loot around in the pink Hello Kitty "tooth" container.

I took this picture at Target.

First day of swimming class

We're half way through swimming lessons. The girls have each had 45 minute lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the last two weeks. We've got 2 lessons left. Sophia is really improving over last year. Lilly has yet to put her face in the water and cries if she gets splashed. She will put each of her ears in the water, but she prefers to play with toys on the safety of the steps.

Yay for new power cords

I'm finally back online. My new battery and power cord arrived so my computer is like new again! I love it. I've got a lot of pictures to go through and share.
We've been so busy since the beginning of June.

School is out for summer.
Sophia had a church choir banquet for the "end of the year".
Swimming lessons have started.
Sophia had her dance recital last weekend.
We joined the YMCA so we could use the outdoor pool.
Sophia lost her first tooth this past week while Will was in CA for work. I took the girls down to Duck, NC with Haley and Carlie on Thursday and we arrived home this afternoon. Will was supposed to join us, but he was a victim of the United computer glitch on Friday night and got stuck in San Fransisco and then Chicago and didn't arrive home until late last night.

Sophia or Lilly???

By the way, it's Sophia in the picture - and it was only just a few weeks ago. Doesn't she look almost exactly like Lilly? I did a double-take when I saw it.

technical problems

I can't find our camera .... for two weeks now.

And the power cord to my laptop finally bit the dust. (Again). Will ordered a new one...please arrive quickly.

Are least I have my phone to get online and check emails, but man does it take forever!!!

I'm so behind on my blog entries..

Sophia and her friend, Elizabeth

This is Sophia and Elizabeth taken at a birthday party they both attended on Saturday morning. Don't they look like they're having so much fun?

Songs...

The girls each sang a song the other night for me to tape.

Being silly

Lilly's last day of school

Lilly's last day of school was today! Instead of picking her up at the normal time (noon) all the parents were invited to the school at 11 for a special song presentation and and a hot dog picnic.

A week or so ago she had to take in a plain white t-shirt so the teachers could tye-dye them to wear especially for today. Her class (the 8 of them) all wore yellow shirts. I thought they stood out the most. The blue shirts (standing behind her) and the green shirts (in front of her) looked very similar. There was also a pink color which you can see in the video below...but my favorite was yellow.

When Lilly's class paraded out to take their seats I sensed that she was a big nervous. She had a single finger "glued" to her mouth and kept looking behind her and sort of scanning the room. She eventually found us and gave a big smile.

Lilly sat quietly in her chair for the entire performance. She didn't sing one word or make one hand motion, but chose to sit there and just look like an angel.

After dinner tonight Lilly stood up and performed the songs with the hand motions for all of us. It was adorable...and she knew all the words too! Of course, Sophia knew "He's Got the Whole World In His Hads" song so she insisted on singing it too. Three more times!

Here's a video of the power point presentation the director played after the kids sang their songs. I only got Lilly's class on tape so it's not very long. She's featured in it twice.

When the show was over we went outside for the picnic (hot dogs, watermelon, pasta salad, chips and cookies). We didn't stay very long. It was 95 degrees out and I had a few errands to run before she and I had to pick up Sophia...from her last Spanish class of the year.

Lilly brought home a parting gift from her teachers. It was an orange sand bucket with a shovel, a piece of sidewalk chalk and a little Goofy sand mold. They also returned the throw-away camera we provided at the beginning of the year. I can't wait to get the photos developed to see how she spent her time at school. The best thing, by far, was a little booklet they made called Preschool Memories. It's a bunch of pictures of Lilly they took throughout the year. There were even a few of Sophia in it too. Here they are:

Lilly's 3rd birthday party

Everyone had a blast at Lilly's birthday party this morning. There were a total of 12 kids including Lilly and Sophia.

Each kid colored a strawberry shortcake color page and painted a strawberry magnet. Then we played pin the stem on the strawberry. The best part was when they all got to feed bok choy to the farm chickens and then pick strawberries.

After we picked berries we sang and let Lilly blow out her candles (well, I helped a bit because I thought she was getting a little too close to the flames). The kids ate cupcakes and red Jello jigglers and the adults ate strawberry pretzel salad.

The strawberry fields were actually closed to the public today because there weren't very many strawberries left to actually pick. The girls were all able to fill their baskets, but we all had to play "hide and seek" to find the best berries.

Lilly opened her presents at home after we ate lunch. She wanted to have pizza so we picked one up on the way. She got some really nice gifts. Sophia insisted she play with all of them too! She got a build your own ice cream sundae/banana split. It was a big hit. Sophia claimed her Vet Pet Barbie. She also got a bathing suit, a set of princess pjs, a straberry shortcake movie, beach sand toys, and a few arts and crafts gifts. She absolutely loves all of it.

Here's a picture of the group (minus 3 kids). One had to leave early, one was using the restroom and the other didn't want to be in a picture.

Friday is Lilly's real birthday and we'll be celebrating with her Kindermusik class. She'll also be taking snack to school for her classmates on Wednesday...which happens to be her very last day at Kids of Grace.

Strawberry picking

Tomorrow is Lilly's birthday party. I'm pretty sure she thinks it's her actual birthday, although it's not until Friday the 27th.

She's been telling everyone we run into that she's going strawberry picking for her birthday,

We're all set...except I'm afraid the balloons (which I picked up at noon today) will be deflated by tomorrow. I just found out that they only last for 8 hours! Oops. may be making a speedy trip to Party City tomorrow morning. Good thing they open at 8:30.

I've got the camera packed and made sure the SD card is actually in it this time.

Lilly told Will she's really excited to eat cupcakes and open presents.

FUN FUN!!!

Going to school

I took these this morning as we were headed out for school. I thought they both looked really cute today.

Lilly only has two days of school left - Monday and Wednesday next week! Unreal. I'm not sure how we're going to fill our mornings on Mondays and Wednesdays after next week, but I hope I can find something fun for us do while Sophia finishes out the school year.

Lilly learned lots of songs this year at Kids of Grace, but did she learn her colors? No. Did she learn how to use scissors? No. Did she learn her letters? No. I won't say it was a waste of time or money because she really enjoyed going to school (until today when she cried as I dropped her off) and making friends. She really enjoys her time with her friends and each night at dinner she tells us what each of them did that day. It's cute.

She's a pro at counting! And the girl has some serious rhythm. She can tear up the dance floor with her moves.

Sophia's last day is Wed, June 15. Sophia's had an exceptional year. She has completed reader books 1 -4 and is about to finish reader 5 any day. Within days she'll also be finishing up her first math workbook. Beach Manor follows a structured curriculum. The follows a strirst academic thing they do is Phonics book 1. When they have completed that book they are allowed to begin their first reader book. They do not get their first math book until reader 3 (I think) and they don't start on their second phonics book until they successfully complete reader 4.

One of Sophia's best friends this year is a little girl named Elizabeth. They are both in Mrs. Peeler's class and they also take Spanish together. I was talking to Elizabeth's mom last week after spring parent/teacher conferences and she told me that Elizabeth just started her first reader. . . . I steered clear of the sharing with her Sophia's progress this year, but I'm so proud of her.

Birthday Bike

Nana and Poppy got Sophia a new bike for her birthday. I picked it up from the store after lunch and Will put it together this afternoon. After the rain let up, she went for a cruise down the street on her Huffy 18" "Puppy Love" bike...with removable training wheels.

Sophia and I went to almost every single store that sold bikes to look for the perfect one for her! We checked out Target, Walmart, K-Mart, Dick's, Sports Authority and Toys R Us. I had her test drive a dozen before we finally settled on the blue puppy bike. It's got everything she wanted: a bell, streamers on the handles, and front carry pack. This one also came with it's very own water bottle (a bonus that none of the other ones had). It also has decorative paw print inserts that you can put in the wheel spokes. Cute.

She loves it...and it fits her really well.

When we originally started looking I put her on a 16" and a 20" to test for the appropriate size. The 20" was just too big so we settled on the 16" for her. I had no idea that we could even get an 18" bike until we discovered this bike at Toys R Us! It's a better fit than the 16" and she'll be able to ride it longer (another bonus)!



Bike riding was fun.....until she realized there were puddles to jump in!

Happy Birthday to You

Happy 5th Birthday, Sophia!

Sophia turned 5 today... well, in exactly 1 hour she'll turn 5. She was born at 11:27 PM on May 14th (Mother's Day 2006).

We had a great day and a super fun butterfly party. I'm sad to report that I didn't have a SD card in my camera so I don't have ANY pictures. Unbelievable!

There were a total of 15 girls at the party including Sophia and Lilly. The girls decorated their plain white goodies bags with tons of different types of art supplies (markers, stickers, glue and glitter, fake flowers and pom poms). Then they filled the bags with all of their crafts, candy, and goodies we gave out. First we made foam butterfly magnets - easy easy.

Then we used markers and glitter glue to decorate butterfly sun catcher wind chimes. They were so cute! The girls got really creative (and messy). After that we played a version of pin the tail on the donkey, but instead I gave each girl a butterfly and had them "decorate the flower field". I used construction paper to cut out different shapes and sizes of flowers/stems/leaves and pasted them onto a white poster board. It was cute to see the final product.

I could tell they were getting antsy...so we headed outdoors to catch some butterflies. Will spent a good twenty minutes strategically scattering butterflies in the field beside the library and in a matter of 90 seconds all the butterflies had been collected. I made nets for each girl using a plastic sandwich bag and a wooden skewer. I cut out enough mini butterflies for each girl to collect 6. While we were outside we "broke" open the pinata. I found a butterfly pull-string pinata which actually failed to open after all of the strings had been pulled off...so Will broke it open and left a trail of candy across the grass.

Then we headed back indoors to ice, decorate and eat giant home-made butterfly cookies. The girls also traded in their butterflies and nets for 6 fun pieces of candy and a swirly drinking straw. I don't know what I was thinking, but I also had a cupcake for each girl. You would have thought they would have been filled up with cookie, candy and juice boxes, but they all ate their cupcake too! Well, Lilly didn't eat hers and I watched Adrianna throw hers away and we found another one that was bald of icing, but for the most part the girls consumed them. (smile).

Normally I wouldn't have opted to open presents, but we had time to kill before most of the parents returned (about half of the moms didn't stay for the party). The girls swarmed around Sophia like bees on honey to watch her open presents. It was hard for us to keep the cards and the gifts paired together, but we succeeded! Sophia received some wonderful presents. Some of her favorites included: a fairy princess Barbie doll & book, Strawberry Shortcake cafe, a Rapunzel doll & Tag Reader book, a Zhu Zhu pet and a dance stage, and a Fuzzoodles craft kit. She also got a bunch of other princess stuff and a really cute bathing suit. A very lucky girl with super nice friends!

Sophia took these pictures