Squeeze

A big hug for little brother!

Dance Recital

All dressed and ready to go, waiting patiently in the back room for their turn to dance.  

Dance Rehearsal. . . Take Two

Claire's turn for her dress rehearsal was this afternoon.  Her teacher, Ms. Meg, found these cute little skirts at Costco for their costume. 

Dance Rehearsal. . . Take One

The girls took dance for the first time this year.  Their end of the year performance is tomorrow night, so Grace's class had their dress rehearsal this afternoon.  I just love the dance studio we found. . . Grace's dance instructor made the blue coverup the kids are wearing, so I just had to spend $1.99 on black footless tights for the performance.  Can't beat that cost!

Last Day of Kindergarten

Grace's last day of kindergarten was today.  When Grace started elementary school in August, I actually think she chose to wear this exact same outfit.  She looked a little different though, as she sported bangs and still had all her baby teeth.  Needlesstosay, Grace loved kindergarten and learned a lot this year, making huge strides in her ability to read.  Grace started the year knowing only a handful of sight word and could not sound out anything.  Then a few months into school, a light bulb went off and Grace was reading on her own.  As the year went on, we were amazed at how fast Grace could read a book to us and marveled at the difficult words she just knew.  By the end of the year, she was reading chapter books on her own, her favorite books being the Junie B. Jones series.

Notes

Grace has been writing us a lot of notes lately.  Most of the time she writes us notes when she gets mad.  She will storm in her room, close the door and be quiet for minutes.  Suddenly we hear the door open and close.  When I go to check on her, I find that Grace has posted a note on her door, which usually says something about how mad she is at us.   Well, today was a nice change of pace.  I found multiple notes on Grace's door and they were all nice.  My favorite is "Mom you can put the baby in bed"

Noise

First day of summer vacation and Claire cannot even enjoy playing on her swingset.  Within minutes of being outside, Claire is plugging her ears and asking to go back inside because of the awful noise. . . darn cicadas!

Cicada

Although we've been hearing them for days now, we finally spotted a cicada on our driveway tonight.  Hopefully mating season is almost finished.

Nap

When Claire takes an afternoon nap, it means one thing. . . she is sick.  Can't say the same for Mike!

Goodbye 3 year old class

Yet another preschool school year has come and gone.  Claire is all ready for her last day in Ms. LD's 3 year old class!

Last Dance Class

Grace and Claire took dance this year for the first time and loved it!  Today was Claire's final dance class (before the end of year performance next week).  Here's Claire with Sadie (who just happens to be Claire's best friend in her preschool class), waiting for Ms. Meg to tell them what to do next. 

Caught

Caught with her hand behind the pillow. . . I think she was pilfering peanuts this time!

Trip

While I was visiting my brother and his family this weekend without kids, Grace wrote me this sweet note while I was away. 

Favorite CD

Playing in Tyler's room before bed, singing and dancing to the Phineas and Ferb CD that Daddy bought!

Two thoughts

That's one bright and obnoxious shirt and how can one sleep like that?

Bed

We have a gate up for the purpose of confining Tyler to the family room, kitchen and kid's bedrooms.  On occasions, that gate is left open.  And when it is, Tyler notices immediately and makes a mad dash toward our bedroom. 

Instinctive

Tyler loves his blankies.  He's not particular to anyone and will take whichever he can find, even Claire's pink piggy blankie.  And pretty much anytime he finds a blankie, he instinctively pulls in his lip and starts sucking. 

Remote

After living 4 days without electricity, Tyler is clearly happy to be back to normal. . . and showing me that he knows how you're supposed to point and click the remote!