Archive for June, 2013

Pretty ballerinas

Posted in Leah, Molly, Sports on June 16th, 2013 by jen – Be the first to comment

For this year's ballet recital, Leah and her class were snowflakes dancing to "Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Winter." She did great… at the rehearsal, which is where these pictures are from. At the actual performance, she was in a mood and refused to do most of the dance. Ah, 3 year olds.

Ballet recital

Snowflakes fall.

Snowflakes fall

Happy ballerina

Happy ballerina

And… bow.

Bows

Molly and her class danced to "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast.

Belle

Nice moves.

Nice moves

"We tell jokes! I do tricks with my fellow candlesticks."

Seal stretch

Molly is one of the smallest in her class. The class she was supposed to be in didn't have enough girls, so they combined it with the next class up. She did great, though.

Small one

"Heaven's sakes! Is that a spot?"

Oh my goodness

Mid-air.

Mid-air

Beautiful dancing, Molly.

Nice job

Ready to kick.

Kick line

Finishing pose.

Finishing pose

Grams joined us for the performance.

With Grams

Leah was still in a mood after the show, but we eventually got her to cheer up a bit.

Finally cheered up

You can see the video of both performances here.

Ballet recital

Posted in Leah, Molly, Video on June 16th, 2013 by c-had – 1 Comment

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The girls had their ballet recital yesterday. They won't let me shoot video in the actual performance, but I was able to shoot the dress rehearsal the day before. It ended up being a good thing, as Leah was in a bad mood for the actual performance and refused to do much of her dance. Ah, 3 year olds.

We’re on our way, first grade!

Posted in Molly, School on June 15th, 2013 by jen – Be the first to comment

Molly's school held a kindergarten promotion ceremony last week. Molly was selected as one of three kindergartners to introduce the whole program. All the classes performed on stage.

Kindergarten promotion

After the ceremony, we headed to Molly's classroom to pick her up and take a picture or two. Leah went right to the carpet with the kids to be with her sister.

Classroom pickup

Ms. Colella made it official. Kindergarten - check! We have loved Molly's teacher and we'll be sad to be leaving her.

It's official

To complete the year, here's a picture of Molly waiting for the bus on her last day of kindergarten. This was also her last day to ride the bus to school for five years, as she'll be a walker when we move into our new house.

Last day of school

And just for fun, here's a comparison picture of her first and last day of kindergarten. I'm amazed at how much she's grown over the school year, physically as well as making huge strides in her reading, writing, and math skills.

FirstLastDayofK Molly

Kindergarten promotion

Posted in Molly, School, Video on June 15th, 2013 by c-had – Be the first to comment

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Molly had a kindergarten promotion ceremony at school to show everyone how much they learned this year. Molly was selected to be one of the three kids to introduce the ceremony, which she was very excited about. The classes sang a couple songs each, and then all five classed joined together for the grand finale. The house was packed, and the kids did great.

Our little flower girl

Posted in Celebrations, Leah, Molly, Trip on June 4th, 2013 by jen – Be the first to comment

We headed to Atlanta this weekend to attend Mike and Mary's wedding, which featured Molly as the flower girl. We flew in on Friday and then headed to the church for the rehearsal. Molly was very excited.

Rehearsal

Not only did we get to join in the wedding festivities, we also got to see cousins. Molly and Leah were thrilled when Emmie showed up.

Cousin time

The rehearsal dinner was held in a great outdoor space, and included yummy barbeque from Jim 'N Nick's. After dinner, Brian (Mike's dad) made sure to embarrass Mike with a walk through his life so far.

Embarrassed

They also had some fun stuff for kids of all ages, including these foam swords.

Swordplay

There were also quilt squares that guests could sign or decorate, which Jan (Mike's mom) plans to put together for the bride and groom.

Quilt squares

A bunch of cousins. They cross generations and don't include others, but I believe the one thing they have in common is that they were all unmarried (at least for the next few hours).

Unmarried

Our little flower girl on the day of the wedding, just after putting on her dress and having her hair braided.

Ready to go

I made the majority of Molly's dress in March, but finally brought out the machine again last week (after packing it away while selling the house) to finish the dress for Saturday's wedding. Mary sent the sash to match the bridesmaid dresses.

The key skill required for being a flower girl is patience. Molly was outstanding in this regard. Here she is patiently waiting for pictures to begin before the wedding.

Waiting patiently

Molly posing with the bride and groom.

With the bride and groom

Each bridesmaid had a bouquet with a different color of daisy. Molly was very excited that her bouquet had flowers of all the colors of the bridesmaids.

Flowers

When Molly was in the picture, people would often try to get her to smile. So, when she was done being in pictures, she decided to help the photographer out in getting others to smile. She made an excellent assistant.

Smile!

The four of us, ready for the wedding to start.

Us

Final instructions before heading down the aisle.

Final instructions

Here comes our little flower girl.

Flower girl

She made it. Now we just need the bride.

Up front

Molly did a great job standing still and paying attention at the front for the entire ceremony. She even laughed at the pastor's jokes.

Funny

After the wedding picture with cousins and grandparents.

Cousins and grands

Lots of flower girls across the generations. Anne was Susan's, Michelle and I were Anne's, Maggie was Michelle's, Maddie was mine, and Molly now joins the group.

Generations of flower girls

In addition to the wedding cake at the reception, they also had blue velvet cupcakes (because red velvet just doesn't work with Auburn and Georgia Tech grads!). Molly, of course, mostly focused on the icing.

Cupcakes

Leah caught the ear of her Uncle J.

Deep conversation

And finally, a bubble send-off for Mr. and Mrs. Batson!

Bubble send-off

A berry fun time

Posted in Leah, Playdates on June 3rd, 2013 by jen – 1 Comment

Leah and I picked strawberries at Gorman Farm last week with some friends. She did a great job of inspecting her strawberries to make sure they were only red.

Inspecting her strawberry

On the hunt for the perfect strawberry…

Finding the perfect one

Strawberry picking is always more fun with a friend. Leah would have stayed longer, but the buckets were full!

Always fun with a friend

I froze one pound of the strawberries for Strawberry Sour Cream ice cream later this week, and the rest of them are gone! Guess we need to take a trip out to Larriland Farm to pick more!

A trip to the Zoo

Posted in Leah, Molly on June 2nd, 2013 by jen – Be the first to comment

We went to the National Zoo on Memorial Day (which was so crowded they had to close the parking lot within 30 minutes of opening). Our first stop was the Great Ape House to check out the gorillas and orangutans. When we left the house, we found that a couple of the orangutans were climbing high above our heads. It was very cool.

Orangutan crossing

Our next stop was the carousel. The girls always want to ride on the carousel when Chad's around, as I get motion sick and consequently won't ride them.

Carousel

One of the animals the girls were excited to see was the flamingo. So, Molly made a beeline to ride on one when they let her through the gate.

Flamingo ride

Of course, Leah couldn't just smile nicely at me while I was trying to take a picture.

Wacky Leah

Looking at lions and tigers is fun.

Having fun

Hi down there, Leah.

Hi down there

Turtles are fun too.

Turtles

Along the new American Trail, near the seals and sea lions, they had a splash pad with a small tidal wave. Molly loved it. Leah, not so much.

Splashing around

Molly got up close and personal with a couple of California sea lions.

Sea lions

Leah enjoyed being inches away from this meerkat while it was playing with its makeshift toy made from a toilet paper roll and a couple of Dixie cups.

Meerkat manor

The girls ended their day posing in the zoo sign with their new stuffed panda bears.

Zoo sign

Centennial Park Field Trip

Posted in Molly, School on June 1st, 2013 by jen – 1 Comment

Chad chaperoned a field trip with Molly's kindergarten class to nearby Centennial park. Howard County Recreation and Parks put on a very good nature program for the kids. They started by passing around some animal things, such as this fox fur.

Centennial Park Field Trip

Molly's favorite thing was this turtle shell.

Turtle shell

The kids then headed out to a field to catch some bugs. Molly and Alia found a small beetle. Chad was impressed that all the kids got into it and no one was scared of the bugs.

Bug catching

It was nice to have a little father-daughter lunch.

Lunch time

They then walked down to the lake to look at all the birds there. They saw ducks, geese, blue herons, and many other birds.

Water fowl

There was also some time where all the kids made their own butterfly craft. Alia seems impressed with Molly's.

A craft

After the program was over, all the kids flew to the playground. It's quite a site to see 80 or so kindergartners in tie-dye shirts attack a playground with full force.

Play time

Molly was all over the place, having lots of fun.

Hi Molly

Climbing

Molly's class, hot and sweaty, ready to head back to school.

The class