Molly played her viola for the school talent show again. She decided to embrace her love of Star Wars this time around, which the crowd loved. Thanks to Margaret (her private instructor and also our Children's Minister at church) for accompanying her and having fun with it.
Aunt EA went with Jen to Bingo when Uncle Scott was out of town, so Molly, Leah, and I babysat Charlie at our house. It went great, and I took lots of pictures. Here are a bunch of them.
This almost-middle-schooler had fun with the toddler toys we got out for Charlie.
Doctor Leah needs to hear your heart, Charlie.
I don’t know what evil doctor Leah is injecting into Charlie.
These old matchbox cars captivated Charlie for much of his visit. Leah did a great job playing with him. Molly… nice face.
I’m taking a picture from one side, while Molly takes a picture from the other.
Charlie enjoyed watching Molly play a game on her phone.
Molly decided she could entertain Charlie with some viola music. He paid attention to her for a few seconds, then went back to the cars.
The girls were invited to an ice skating birthday party, and had a great time. It was during free skate at the rink nearby, which we get into free as part of our Columbia Association gym/tennis membership. So, I decided to go as well since we don’t go ice skating that much. A fun time was had by all.
The girls had a Time Travel Day at school, and decided to go with 80s looks again (they seem to love 80s looks).
This month, the girls’ school has encouraged the kids to be more active with a “Movement Calendar” of daily activities. If completed, the kids get a little prize. So, we’ve had daily activities (often, but not always, exercises). Every Wednesday is family fitness day, Jen and I join in as well then. Here’s Leah showing off some mountain climbers.
Leah again participated in the Bumble Bee spelling bee at school. Again, it was intense. Dozens of second graders spelling words out loud in front of a large crowd of adults. One mistake and you’re eliminated. There’s some serious pressure.
Leah was fortunate to randomly end up sitting next to friends (both sides and behind her). They clearly didn’t let the pressure get to them as they waited for the start.
Leah made it through her first 3 words, but got unlucky on the fourth word and was eliminated earlier than she expected. I must say I was so proud of how she handled it. Many of the kids ended up in tears (understandably), but Leah handled disappointment with strength. She was even comforting others who didn’t handle it as well and congratulating those who succeeded.
We had to postpone our initial plan to celebrate Aunt EA’s birthday with her as Charlie had a fever. A week late, we joined for presents and treats at Grams’s house.
Charlie’s a lucky guy. His mom shared her birthday dessert with him.
Looks like he wants some of Molly’s dessert as well.
Happy birthday Aunt EA!
Our Norway Spruce tree looked great, but it was horrible when it came to needle retention. This is what the floor looked like after we finished taking the lights off. Yes, all those needles fell from undecorating the tree. We even undecorated early because we didn’t want it to get any worse.
New Year’s Eve is a big day in our family, with it being Grampa and Aunt EA’s birthdays in addition to the holiday. We had celebrated with Grampa early (and we celebrated late with Aunt EA), so on that day birthday greetings were given electronically. The girls made this video for Aunt EA.
They talked to Grampa via FaceTime. Between Leah’s Sorting Hat and Molly’s one-piece owl pajamas, these girls have quite the outfits to wish Grampa happy birthday.
The girls requested to stay up till midnight on New Year’s Eve this year for the first time, and we finally agreed. We just stayed home, played games, and watched the ball drop on TV, but they enjoyed it. And they had no trouble staying up (no surprise).
As usual, I wanted to see the new Star Wars movie as soon as possible, but our schedule would not allow that. I managed to avoid spoilers for a couple weeks, and then we finally headed to the theater with Grams to watch The Last Jedi. And the movie was well worth the wait.
