Butterfly girls

Nora and Caroline are taking a ballet/tap class together once a week at a dance studio near our house, and it is both wonderful and hysterical. The girls absolutely love it, and it's hard to tell what they love best...is it the energetic teacher with great taste in music? Is it getting to dress up in leotards and ballet and tap shoes? Is it the room-sized mirror they stare into for 45 min.? Or could it be the pink butterfly wings they get to strap on and prance around in? And I don't know who enjoys it more -- them or me, who gets to watch the whole spectacle. The highlight of class this past Tuesday was when Caroline, in the middle of an upbeat jazzy number that the rest of the kids were rhythmically running to, plopped down on the dance floor to inspect the taps at the bottom of each of her shoes, oblivious to all the activity around her. I wish I had been able to get a picture or video, but my reflexes were too slow.

We just had a fun couple of days with Omi, who arrived Monday night loaded with delicious food from New York. Omi had fun playing with the girls, and enjoyed seeing Nora's classroom when she dropped her off at school the day I had a job interview (which probably won't materialize into anything, but was good to go to nonetheless). We continue to enjoy the piano, and I'm grateful that her highness, Miss Caroline, allowed me to play something other than "The Starlight Waltz" and the William Tell overture today (she usually protests by screaming, pulling my hands off the piano and saying "No, Mommy. Play horsey song!" or "No, Mommy. Play dance song!").

Here are pictures from dance class, reading DVD jackets in the family room (Nora's idea), playing in the parked minivan while eating Italian cookies, and Nora's first driving lesson.