Fun summer day

We had a fun, full day today. It was the last day of the spring session at Hill's gymnastics. Mr. Phil gave Nora a glowing report -- she was so excited. She's improved a lot this year. I can't believe the stuff she's doing! (learning cartwheels, flipping over the bar, walking across the balance beam unassisted). Caroline and Everett were thrilled to receive their ribbons from Mr. Edward too. Afterwards, we invited some gymnastics friends back to our house for a pizza lunch and playing in the sprinkler. Then we drove up to Dawn and Everett's house to try out their new trampoline, stopping by Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream on the way (the heat index was over 100 today!). Seeing the ice cream menu made us think of you, Mike, and we took a picture just for you! While the girls are at camp tomorrow morning and I'm at work, Omi will be on her way down to stay with us for the weekend and to see Nora's dance recital (we're also excited that Aunt Irene is coming on Friday). Nora makes a beautiful, graceful ballerina.

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!

April showers

It was cold and rainy throughout most of our trip to the northeast this past week, but our spirits were warmed by all the wonderful visits with family and friends. We first visited Kay, Paul and Audrey in Providence, and then went on to Boston to spend time with Aunt Alli, Uncle Gregory, cousin Eveline, and Aunt Katie too. Eveline has really grown in the past 6 months. I have lots of photos and videos of her to share, but will start with just a few in this post (I'll put more on Facebook). We went to Coney Island with Omi on Friday (ate at Nathan's and rode the Wonder Wheel) and went to the NYC Transit museum with Pop Pop and Aunt Nancy on Saturday (and boarded old NYC subway trains in an old abandoned subway station), attended Easter Sunday service at Marble Collegiate in the city (Aunt Nancy's church), had Easter dinner at Omi's with Aunt Irene and Jack, and then had dessert and lots of laughs with the Walsh/Cacciola/Costello/Gillson/Toohill clans.

Astronomy and Earth Science

As we were catching up on the day's events Monday night (after I got home from work), Nora suddenly asked me, "Mom, what year did Earth start?," or something like that. "Wow," I responded, not expecting that question to have popped up so soon (although we already touched on the birds & the bees, so I kind of had it coming...). "Um, billions of years ago, Nora." "How many billions of years?" she replied. "Um...almost 5 billion, I think...," my brain trying to conjure up distant memories of 8th grade earth science. "And what's earth made of? Where is it from?" she asked. (Thanks, Mrs. Hall and your pre-K lessons in anticipation of Earth Day!) I told Nora we'd look up the information on the internet the next morning to make sure. Sure enough, first thing next morning, Nora reminded me of our plan. So, we went online and confirmed that the earth is 4.5 billion years old, that it consists of a crust, mantle, outer and inner cores, and is about 8,000 miles wide, but that you would have to travel 25,000 miles to go around the earth (Nora learned the word "circumference"). Meanwhile, Caroline sat on the floor spinning the table-top globe, asking where Grandma and Grandpa live... We went on to learn a little bit about how earth was formed (not the creationist version, if you're wondering), and the Nora ran upstairs to create her own version of the solar system, which she cut out and proudly taped to her ceiling (see photo). (Next topic will be orbital paths, as Nora has all of her planets connected to the sun's rays...a floral version of the solar system, if you will). And yesterday, Nora did science experiments all morning from a special kit she has with Posey (our neighbor who was babysitting for the day). So, if anyone is wondering what to get Nora for future birthdays/holidays, think SCIENCE! (As for Caroline, anything that spins or reminds her of Florida would suffice, it seems!) :-) Also, here are pictures of the girls in their pretty new spring dresses that I just picked up from Target (just for fun!).

Spring Fling

Now that Mike has deployed again, the girls' blog is back in business! Yesterday, we went to the Spring Fling at Nora and Caroline's preschool. Although the weather was overcast, chilly and dreary, everyone made the most of it and we all had a good time. I helped organize a make-your-own bird feeder craft, another mom organized planting a veggie garden, and another mom organized flower pot painting. And our dear friend, Pat MacCubbin, brought a few musician friends along and provided Irish music all the while. They were great! Here are pics of the girls participating in the Fun Run, and a video of the beautiful music.