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Saturday afternoon, we walked two doors down to a neighborhood Memorial Day party. Molly and Leah spent a good bit of time swinging around.

Leah put her gymnastics skills to work.

Molly wanted to have me take a picture of her jumping off the swing. She does this all the time, but apparently trying to show off for the camera pushed her to over-rotate. She landed face first on her arm, which was thankfully OK after a little ice.

Thanks to our hosts for putting this on!

G’Mom and Grampa came in town to celebrate Jen’s birthday. After arriving late Friday night, they immediately started baking with the girls Saturday morning. Their first project - chocolate angel food cake for Jen’s birthday.

Baking a cake was not enough. So, on Monday they baked some scones with G’Mom as well.

Yes, there was even more baking. On Tuesday, Leah and G’Mom baked 6 mini-loaves of English muffin bread.

And if that wasn’t enough, Jen immediately followed them up by baking Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. In addition to meals and a few other extras, our kitchen was out of breath by the end of their visit.

A lot more happened during their visit, but I’ll save that for future blog posts.

Molly joined my worship band yesterday to sing her first solo in big church (as opposed to children's church). She did great! Jen said it was a good thing it wasn't any longer, as she would have started crying.

Here's the song in its entirety. Her solo starts at 3:45 in case you want to skip over me and the rest of the band.

I got to chaperone Molly’s class field trip to the Robinson Nature Center. Thankfully, we had a beautiful day. Nature’s much more fun when it’s not cold and rainy, as it was the day before we went.

Our group first walked through the exhibits, including a large forest exhibit. Part of it was even a nocturnal forest. Then we went into a classroom to learn a bit. During our classroom session, we learned about the different types of vertebrates, including amphibians like these American Toad tadpoles.

After the class time, we ate lunch outside. Then we went on a nature walk through the woods, learning along the way.

Our final activity was a fun show in the NatureSphere planetarium about the Earth, Moon, and Sun.

The trip was lots of fun for everyone. The Robinson Nature Center is a great place, and now I know they put on a great field trip.

Unlike last year, the weather for this year’s elementary school Field Day was fantastic - bright and sunny, but not too hot. I was assigned to staff the sack race station, a favorite of many. Unfortunately, that kept me so busy that I didn’t get any pictures of the events. So, you’ll just have to take my word that the kids had lots of fun.

I did manage to get one picture after the events were over. This was taken during the picnic lunch outside. Molly’s sporting her face paint, though it’s a little smudged from all the activity.

On Mother’s Day, both of the girls’ choirs sang in church. Sadly, they did not sing at the same service. So, we got to go to two services.

First up was Molly’s choir. They sang a couple of songs and didn’t make it easy for me to get it on video, but I did my best. She looks so grown up with the music folder in her arms.

Leah’s choir sang at the next service. Their song really pulled at the heartstrings. I teared up a bit (and continued to do so every time I rewatched it to edit the video).

Great job girls. I know your mom (and dad) appreciated it.

Molly’s school held a night where kids could come and build Legos with their dads. Molly and I of course attended. They had 3 rounds with prizes handed out and lots of fun. Each kid got a bag of random Legos and then had to create something with them. Here’s Molly’s spaceship from the flying things round. Note that it includes a pizza oven in the back as well as jet propulsion.

The last round was without a theme, so the kids could build whatever they like. Molly decided to build a giant robot that the operator could ride on. Oh, and it also included a pizza oven.

Leah was so excited to honor her mom at Jen’s last Mother’s Day Celebration at East Columbia Preschool. The kids performed “Over in the Meadow”, sang a number of songs, and showered their mom with gifts. Everyone was then treated to a royal treat of dirt (aka chocolate ice cream with crushed Oreos).

In Leah’s preschool, they honor each kid as the Top Dog for a week. They get to wear a special vest for the week and receive special treatment. At the end of their week, they have a special presentation, which Jen and I got to attend (as we did with Molly 3 years ago).

Leah created a top dog book with details about herself, what she likes to do, what she likes to eat, and what she wants to be when she grows up. What might that be? The President of the United States, of course. I’ve told her that she has to be at least 35 years old to be President, so she’s reluctantly agreed to be on the county council or governor until she is old enough to be President.

After she presented her book, she was presented with Bones. These are notes from her classmates telling her what they like about her. They included such gems as “I like the color of your skin” and “I think you’re cute”.

Here is a video of her presentation in its entirety.

As winter soccer drew to a close, we asked Leah if she wanted to keep doing it. She decided she wanted to try something different instead and chose tennis lessons. She had her first lesson last week, which she and I are both very excited about.

At her age, they spend a lot of time working on skills without their racquets. This drill is designed to help them with hand-eye coordination.

She loved her first lesson, and she can’t wait for the next one (which should be taking place this afternoon :).