Graduation Day

Nora graduated from pre-K today! At 2 pm, Pop Pop, Caroline, Kathryn and I went to go hear Nora and her class sing some songs and receive their diplomas. Nora wore a new dress, her Easter shoes, and a string of "pearls" she inherited from either me, Nancy or Katie (it was from one of our old jewelry boxes, I think). She looked beautiful, and was one of the most animated performers. All the other parents commented on how much they enjoyed Nora's "performance." Nora was also excited when Kathryn surprised her with a little graduation gift! After graduation, I took the girls to an "after party" at classmate Caitlin's house, and then we came home to discover presents on the kitchen table from Pop Pop (flowers and a card for Nora and a coloring book for Caroline). In other news, Nora and Caroline received their end of the year assessments from their teachers yesterday. Pop Pop got a real kick out of reading them last night and was laughing out loud. Nora's teacher, Mrs. Hall, observes that Nora "enjoys the time spent with her friends - she definitely likes to be the one in charge. Her fine motor and reading skills are excellent and she is always curious and eager to learn. Nora asks questions and has a great memory." In a similar vein, Mrs. Carroll observes that "Caroline is very comfortable in the classroom setting [and] shows confidence in her selection of activities and engages in many curriculum areas." but that "[she] sometimes struggles with showing kindness to her friends when she asserts herself. At times her tone of voice can come across as quite harsh. We have been encouraging her to use a more gentle and peaceful tone with her peers, and to always use her words (no screaming!)." Screaming aside, Mrs. Carroll professes that she does "enjoy teaching" Caroline, however, and looks forward to seeing her next year. We've got two pistols on our hands, that's for sure!

Naked River

A week or so ago, the girls' friend Kaia and their mom Lisa introduced us to a new part of Rock Creek Regional Park, behind the Meadowside Nature Center, which includes a stream with a swimming hole. Lisa told me that she and her husband dubbed it "Naked River," since Kaia has had many spontaneous dips in the water in her underwear. On Sunday, we all returned to the Naked River (we accessed the park from Lisa's house this time...her backyard borders on the park) and brought cousin Brynne and Nick along with us, since they were visiting for the day. Caroline did not want to wear her bathing suit there, but as soon as she saw Nora and Kaia swimming in their suits, she wanted to join in the fun. So she stripped down to her skivvies and had a grand old time (as did all of us, although none of us went swimming or skinny dipping). What a find! We had a good day today (although Caroline is still a bit cranky as she recovers from her cold). Caroline had an ice cream party at school (since this is the last week of school) and Caitlin came over to visit this afternoon...Nora came up with the idea that they should make their own salads...hers consisted of spinach, strawberries and apples with a ketchup-soy sauce-sugar dressing (and she ATE it!). Caitlin's had spinach, strawberries, apples, shredded cheese, walnuts and pecans (she passed on Nora's homemade dressing). I took a picture of them eating their masterpieces (and Caroline stuffing her face with shredded cheese). I'm also throwing in a pic of Caroline and Everett playing prince and princess together last week...Everett just rescued Caroline with his trusty rocking horse. Wonder what the two of them will come up with tomorrow, when they have their weekly playdate after gymnastics. Tomorrow is Wacky Wednesday at school for Nora...she gets to wear mismatched clothes to school (is that any different than most days for these kids?!?!)

Kindergarten Orientation

Nora and I just got back from kindergarten orientation at Mill Creek Towne Elementary school. We were so excited when we saw that our neighbor, Caitlin, was there too at the same time! The kids all got name tags and the teachers took Nora's picture with a sign that says "Class of 2024." Then the kids went off to explore one of the classrooms, where they drew pictures, and solved some puzzles, while the parents learned more about the school. There are 4 kindergarten classes in the school, each averaging about 18 kids this year (max can be 21). Each classroom has its own Promethean board (computerized white board), 10 laptops and 3 desktops. No chalkboards! And if you want to buy hot lunch, the kids just type in a password into a machine and it automatically deducts it from their online account. No more envelopes with loose change on the days you want to buy hot lunch. It surely is a brave new world!