Thursday, May 26, 2011
Happy 6th Birthday Mia!
Mia turned 6 years old this past weekend. She started looking for bday cards in the mail about three weeks ahead of time and just couldn't understand why people would wait for the actual day to send or give her things. : ) She daily ran down the list of things she'd like for presents and in the days leading to her party with Grandma ran down the itinerary as to which order we'd eat, blow out candles on her Lego cake, open presents, etc. And did I mention a pinata? Mia has been wanting a pinata for her birthday for quite a while. So we surprised her with one this year. It was a hit! And plenty of candy for sisters too! She also got to pick out a brand new bike. Very excited to have some wheels as big as her big sisters' bikes that are all her own!
"Alice in Oz"
May 20 was Drama and Awards Night at school. This year's musical was "Alice in Oz." A take on, you guessed it -- Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz. Very cute -- funny lines -- the kids had lots of enthusiasm and did a wonderful job. Mia, with the rest of the kindergarten, was a "Jitterbug." When the Witch of the West casts a spell on Alice and friends the jitterbugs rush in and everyone starts dancing uncontrollably! They all wore new t-shirts with stripes of colored duct tape. Putting on the shirt (new shirt smell, duct tape smell) Mia says, "Hmm, I guess jitterbugs really are stinky!" LOL Katie was the 10 of Spades and Lauren was the Jack of Diamonds. They were part of a small cast of playing cards that introduced and closed each act. Lots of puns to do with playing cards as you can imagine. They both did great with their lines and little descant part on the opening and closing song. Fun night -- even more special because Grandma Butler was able to be there to see it too!
Happy Easter!
This year we dyed marblized Easter eggs. They turned out pretty cool! Tess got to go for her first Easter egg hunt this year. Not sure she quite got the whole idea, but was brimming with grins all morning. She was more focused on looking inside the egg rather than finding as many as you can. : ) At home the girls found these round, squooshy chicks in their Easter baskets. Loads of fun as you can imagine -- until one exploded all over the living room carpet!
Spring in DC
Over Easter break we headed into DC to try to climb the Washington Monument. We soon discovered that unless you arrive around 6:00 AM there's no chance to get a timed ticket for that day. Even online there is a two month wait! Ugh. Oh well -- fun trip to plan for the summer I guess. We still enjoyed a beautiful sunny day wandering around the monuments collecting National Park stamps in the girls' little Monument stamp book. The flower gardens were beautiful around the Smithsonian Castle -- perfect for a little photo shoot! : ) Tessa has a new found love -- bike riding! Here she is just before her very first ride on April 17. Now she gets very excited to put on her little bike helmet and get strapped into the bike seat. We've gone for several rides around the neighborhood. Tessa always has fun pointing out things like birds, squirrels, dogs, trucks and boats -- whatever catches her eye. If we go to the backyard to play, Tessa has many times headed over to the shed and wants us to open the doors to get out the bike. Looks like it'll be a fun summer!
Wax Museum
In March the school's academic fair was a "Wax Museum." Starting in January the kids chose a historical person to research. Over the months they read books, wrote a paper, collected pictures and items to display, learned a 30 second speech and put together a costume to wear as their "living" wax museum person. Kaitlin was Sojourner Truth (an abolitionist among other things.) Lauren was Helen Keller. Family and friends were then invited to tour the wax museum and listen and learn about the historical figures. It was quite a creative and fun night!
