Fall parties

Before we tell you about this week, Marina wanted to be sure to show you what you missed last week.  First, take a look at the ears! Beautiful!



We also had a few pictures left to show you from Marina's party. Very exciting events around here!

 

 At the end of last week, both girls had fall parties at school.  Jessa got dressed up and we had a morning full of big girl school parties.

 Maddie's class had a play before the party. Maddie was the water underneath Christopher Columbus's ships.

Marina had a very good time eating up fall treats. 

 

More mountains pictures and a birthday party

Our friend Jen caught some pretty great pictures in the mountains that are definitely worth sharing!

Beautiful little people, but we're short one little friend! Baby Kellan will have to join the pictures soon. Also, look closely for all Marina's missing teeth. She's lost both her front top teeth in the last few weeks. 

 

My favorite: The creek in front of the cabin, the kids still in their jammies, and the morning light. Does it get much better?

This one is not quite as sweet as she looks!
 

 This past weekend, we celebrated Marina's SIXTH birthday with all the sweet girls from her class.  We had a crafty pizza party, and made out own chef hats, decorated our aprons and cooked up some pizza! So much fun!
Marina had her ears pierced earlier in the morning, so she was very happy that all her friends could come over and see the new ears that very afternoon.

Unfortunately, by Sunday at noon, Marina was a very sick girl! Her actual birthday was Monday, and she had to stay home from school.  She was up most of Monday night with a fever, but happily is fully recovered as I write this (Wednesday).  Unhappily, now Maddie has the nasty bug, and I think the folks at Vanderbilt are getting antsy to see me in class. 

Catch up, September and October 2012

We're seriously behind! Here's what you missed:
A dragonboat festival and boar race on the Cumberland.  Dad's boat came in an amazing and impressive 14th!

A church picnic, complete with bouncy houses, a bungee bounce and a climbing wall!

 

 

 

A butterfly ceremony in Maddie's class. We adore Maddie's teacher this year. She's had the children raise catterpillars to butterflies, and they've documented daily developments. Maddie wrote her butterfly (which she named Lizzie, after her Grandma) a touching goodbye letter.

 

 


Most recently, we went to the mountains of Virginia to visit with our dearest and wonderful VA friends. We had a great trail on the property, which we rented for not much more than the cost of a tent site. We hiked and played and made a campfire and had an amazing time.

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Soccer and Dance!

A certain person in our house might be under the impression that football season is the big event around here in the fall, but he is heavily outnumbered these days!  Fall might mean football for Dad, but for the rest of us, it means soccer and dance! This year, for the very first time, Marina and Maddie are signed up for dance classes.  We've been holdouts, and honestly we have steadfastly avoided anything that might be construed as encouraging a fondness for cheerleading later in life (I was a high school coach for one painful year, I'll remind you, so my trepidation is unbelievably well founded), but the dance school here is so positive and so well attended and so CLOSE, that we gave it a go.  So, every Thursday it's over the YMCA for dance instruction.  Maddie has already announced she will not be performing in any sort of recital at the end of the year, so it's purely recreational.  Maddie also tumbles with other second graders on Friday.  We're keeping an eye on this (that is: tumbling as a gateway sport), but seriously,  I think it's safe to assume that Maddie is not going to be our cheerleader anyway.  It's those other two we've got to watch! Maddie was a little put off after her first class, as you can see in this picture.  That's because she felt she didn't do very well.  She likes to be very good at things and is sort of hard on herself when she finds herself at the foot of a learning curve.  It's a good (if uncomfortable) life lesson, though, so we're sticking with it! Our friend and neighbor Megan, who is also in the 2nd grade, has agreed to "tutor" Maddie at recess.  Megan says she has her own little dance club, and invited Maddie to "join", so it seems all will be well.  Very sweet.

Marina is too young to tumble, so she is signed up for soccer again.  She has a new team, since almost all her old team took this year off.  She was very excited for new friends!

Jessa is considering soccer in the spring.  For now though, she's enjoying these precious days as a preschooler with her preschool buddies.



 

Jessa is seriously enjoying her new preschool and the new preschool songs she's learning! Here's a Maddie filmed sample (a little bouncy- sorry about that):



First days for Jessa (8/13) and Marina (8/17)

 Big changes are afoot! Jessa started preschool last week and Marina finally started kindergarten!  Jessa is doing great! She's back to a five day week, and she's adjusted perfectly.  She loves her new friends and her new teachers. She gets to meet her big sisters at our bus stop every afternoon, and all is well in the world.  Marina is adjusting beautifully too- she comes home full of stories and energy.  Maddie has always struggled just a bit more with transitions, and she seems seriously worn out some days! But she'll bounce back soon- she does every year!

 I took a trip to the mountains to see my NC friends last weekend, so I was taking pictures of the view and not my sweet girls.

 

 Luckily, I got home in plenty of time for some Sunday afternoon gymnastics!

 

I started school this week too, but I did not ask David to take my picture.  I'm still working at the public defender's office in the Kids' Rights Program, and I'm committed to working 20 hours a week in Vanderbilt University research in order to cover my tuition grant and draw my stipend, so things are a little more hectic around here.  Hectic in a great way, but seriously harried.  SO, if we fall behind, we'll catch you back up at the next holiday. 

 



Back to School!

 Back to school time is very exciting business in these parts! School offically started on Friday of last week, although Marina and the rest of her kindergarten friends won't go to school until Wednesday. Jessa's preschool starts tomorrow.  It's hard to believe that summer is over. We got together with our Daisy friends at a back to school party early in the week, which was a blast!

The rest of the week we spent in back to school preparation! Haircuts and back to school outfits!

This was Jessa's first haircut.  We're pretty happy with the results!



After all of our preparation was complete, we took a minute to relax and enjoy the last day of our summer vacation at the pool, singing and sliding and splashing. 



 And then the first day of school was here! Maddie was so HAPPY to see all of her old friends again! Marina was also thrilled, because she got some special one on one time with her new teacher, Ms. Gadsey for kindergarten assessment.  

Summer's last days

Sorry for the delay.  It turns out writing the blog is not as fun for Maddie as I'd hoped.  Summer is almost over and she has asked to be removed from blog duty.  Permanently.  Marina is waiting in the wings though, and will be very ready to take over next summer! We had a great second to last week of summer.  School starts back a week from tomorrow on August 10th! Everyone is oh so excited! To keep them school-ready, the big girls have been reading and writing for one hour a day nearly every day, and they have both made significant gains. Marina was starting with fewer skills than Maddie, obviously, so she's seen the biggest growth this summer.  Here is a before and after from Marina. The first paper is from mid-May. The second is from mid-July.  She's catching up fast!

Of course all work and no play makes us all very dull girls, so here's the rest of the story:
Last week, we kicked off the Olympics festivities with a party at a friend's house. The kids practiced their skills and took home medals and treats. 

We rarely leave home without Abby and the kids, and judging by Ms. Abby's look at the party (on right), you can see why.  The folks are crazy fun.

      
I'm working part time now in a Kids' Rights Program (temporarily covering a maternity leave), but I try to keep Fridays off for just us.  Last Friday, we took a day at Lucky Ladd Farms. It was pretty deserted, so we enjoyed full freedom to play with no waiting!

On Saturday, we checked out Ice Day at the Nashville Zoo. We enjoyed free ice cream and Shreck and Fiona, and all sorts of other things.  We love having a zoo within 15 minutes!

And on Saturday, we were with our dearest Tennessee friends again to celebrate Grant's 5th birthday.

We had a blast! Our friends recently installed a zipline in their yard which zips perfectly at a speed fun enough for the big kids, but safe enough for Jess.  How fun is that?