Catch Up!

 We're playing catch up this week, after taking last week off.  Mom was in Illinois, which is a place I've never been, for most of last week getting training for a new job.  We had a sitter here to help us, and Dad managed great, but there wasn't a lot of time to make a blog! Mom is temporarily helping  evaluate The New Teacher Project for the American Institutes of Research, which is evaluating The New Teacher Project's i3 grant from the Feds. All that training for a job that will be over by Christmas! Luckily, the evaluation kicks in again in the spring and next year too.   Before Mom left on Monday, we had lots of sports to play.  That means swimming for me (which has become my cross to bear), and soccer for Marina.  Marina likes soccer, but I don't think that's for me either. I told mom that after fall swim, I want to dance!

 

 

We've also been going to church a lot, on account of my preparation for First Communion.  Church is FUN in Tennessee!  First of all, my Religious Ed, or RE classes, are led by three very fun teenagers.  And there's only 5 of us kids!  We have a blast!  Second, at the Mass itself, I go to Children's Liturgy of the Word, which makes the time fly.  What's really different here though is that Marina goes to her own Pre-K Church class, instead of the Mass- and she's gone the whole time!  She loves it!

Our new church is very big.  And they have very big events.  These are pictures of the Fall Picnic.  Mom also thought is was very funny that on top of all this kids' fun, the church also had an open bar. Dad had a beer, which looked pretty gross, but made Mom laugh. Highly unusual!

 

waiting in line for the jumper.



Jumper!

Bounce House

 Mom also made sure to get Marina's room finished before she left Monday night.  This is the finished product.  Turned out very well, thanks to some good advice from some old neighbors!

This week's stop: Seabrook Island, SC

This week, Mom said: "One more big trip, then we're taking in some Tennessee weekends, for a change!"

And so we packed our things and hit the road, but not before a little Monday through Thursday fun at the house.

 

And then we were off! 9 hours later, we were settling into our condo by the sea.  And by the pool!

 

We traveled all this way to celebrate our Great-Uncle's 70th birthday.  They live at Seabrook full time now, which I bet is like having a birthday every day!  Our first and second cousins were there too.  Very fun!

Saturday night was the big party.  As you can see, we really like big parties, and my sisters especially enjoy dancing the night away!

Hokie Fever!

This week, we caught a case of  Hokie Fever! We were so excited to travel to Virginia to catch the Hokies game with the wonderful and amazing Hitchcocks on Friday, we could hardly wait.  Luckily we had swim and bikes and parks to fill our time.

I got some Fins!






And then... It was Friday and time for Hokie Football and Hokie friends!

 We took some time to hang out around campus. 

Jessa embraces the engineering symbol!

 At the bookstore!

 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
And then we all cheered the Hokies to a victory. Go Hokies!

We also played a lot in our accommodations.  Which is a very fancy word for the HoJo's.  Probably too fancy? We loved our weekend though, complete with egg patties on the warmer and great friends two doors down on the second floor. 

 

A trip to the dentist!

Last week, Jessa went to the dentist for the first time.  We hadn't even meant to take her for a visit, but when Mom called for me and Marina, they said they were happy to see a two year old.  And she loved it!  In North Carolina, we went to a family dentist, who saw all of us.  That sort of didn't work for Marina, who takes a little special attention in the teeth and gums department.  She needs a person to coax her mouth open and tell her how great she is.  And big girl dentists are not about that.  So here we are at the Pediatric Dentist- where they have cartoons in the ceilings, balloon animals made by dental hygienics, and sweet little Mina talk all the time. 

 

My little sisters are settling into their Tuesday/Thursday schedule at school.

Mom tries to make Monday, Wednesday and Friday fun too.  SO far, they've had some play dates and made some salt-dough. Lucky ducks. This is the letter A!

 And we are also very happy to be a little closer to Atlanta, as we've already said.  Mommy's friend and old dorm roommate from college can come see us here!  Mrs. Kim came on Friday with her sweet baby Isabel.  We had such a fun time with the sweet baby girl!

 

And, sports are in full swing!  Soccer for Marina on Tuesdays:



 

 And swimming for me on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Here I am at my first meet.  I got two second place finishes (out of three!), so I'm working hard in practice to bring down my time!

Mom also started on Marina's room, but that was sort of a disaster.  Lots of time and effort, but the paint just peeled right off.  Rehab starts next week.  We'll keep you posted.

My new room! I have lots to share, but first I've got to show you my room!

My room at the new house started out very yuck.  Brown, Grey Yuck. Of course,  I was ready for a change.  So I picked out a pretty light blue and my mom got to work!

Much better!  Mina's room is next.  It's just plain-jane white right now- but not for long.  By next week it will be Lemon Sorbet, which is much fancier.  That's unless Mom loses steam, which has been known to happen. 

Speaking of Mina, she's still sticking with Marina. We still call her Mina all the time at home, but her soccer team and her preschool class only know her as Marina.   Guess our girl is growing up. She's also getting ready to be a soccer star! Her first game is Saturday.  She's just had one practice so far, and I'm not sure that she has any idea how to play.  I think that would be fun to watch,but it turns out I have to miss the whole thing, on account of my first swim meet (!) which is also Saturday morning

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Dad tries to set a good example for us.  Here he is on his YMCA basketball team!

watching the big game

When we aren't getting new paint or playing sports, we're big into being taken all over our new city! Here are some pictures from the Adventure Science Center, which we visited on Saturday while Dad caught up on his first love, college football.