Molly has really enjoyed learning to sew. She needs help some of the time, but I can give her basic directions and she takes off.
Leah is a very patient seamstress. She’s slow and steady, which is great for achieving straight lines!
The girls were excited to show off their custom Easy Tote Bags. The bags turned out bright and colorful (just like the girls’ new tie-dye shirts!)
Yes, the day has come. Yesterday, Leah headed off to kindergarten. No longer a preschooler, she now joins her sister in elementary school.
Molly’s now an old pro, headed off to third grade. She’s wearing a skirt that Jen made for her this weekend.
Grams made this dress for Aunt Caroline’s first day of kindergarten. Molly wore it her first day of kindergarten as well. Now Leah is wearing it her first day of kindergarten. The smocking plate is even called Kindergarten Scissors.
Here’s Molly wearing it 3 years ago.
And Aunt Caroline wearing it 19 years ago.
I know that lots of kids dread the start of school, but these girls are definitely not like them. They’re very excited to get back in the classroom.
Two sisters, walking to school together for the first time.
As usual, the neighborhood kids gathered for a picture on the walk to school.
While many of the kindergartners were crying at drop off, Leah and her new friend were happy to start the day.
Kindergartners lined up and following their teacher to their classroom.
Both girls had an excellent first day, exiting the school with big smiles on their faces at the end of the day. We’re looking forward to a great school year.
Friday, the girls had each got to go to school for a Sneak a Peek to meet their teachers and some of their new classmates and tour their new classrooms. First up was Leah. Yes, Leah is headed to kindergarten.
Here’s Leah with her Kindergarten teacher, Miss Leotta. She’s been ready to start Kindergarten since we signed her up in March and now it’s finally here!
Leah was excited to make a new friend in her Kindergarten class. The best part is that they share a birthday!
3rd Grade in Mrs. Wanex’s class will be super fun since Jordan and Molly are in the same class for the third year.
On the last day of camp there were some award ceremonies. In the morning, we adults attended the awards for the little kids. Leah, Emmie, and JJ were kind enough to sit in together, making it easy to get them all in the shot.
They sang a bunch of songs for us, though JJ decided not to participate.
This song was especially cute.
Emmie won the Miss Creative award, which apparently happens all the time for her. She’s got some serious arts and crafts skills (I wonder where that comes from). She seems pleased.
Leah won the Sweetheart award, which was well deserved in my unbiased opinion.
JJ won the Helper award. Here are all three of them with their awards.
At the end of the camp day, Molly’s group had an awards ceremony as well.
Molly won the Best Smile award.
Molly made a friend at camp. She befriended Daphne on the first day, and they stuck together all week.
The kids weren’t the only ones to get awards. I won the round robin tennis tournament at the end of the week. I didn’t tell the girls about it, so they didn’t find out until my name was announced at the circus. To say they were excited would be an understatement.
My prize for winning the tennis tournament was this lovely t-shirt.
Throughout the week, the kids learned a bit of acting. On Thursday night, they put on a show for us. The drama counselors opened things up with a performance of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. Then, the kids had their turn to entertain us.
The little ones went first. Leah stole the spotlight in the performance of Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.
After the little ones, it was time for Molly’s group. Molly was in two of their skits. First was The Invisible Bench.
And lastly, Molly was in Telling Time.
We also played tennis at Callaway. Leah, Molly, and I were excited to get to play while we were there, though squeezing it in amongst all the activities was tough. The kids didn’t play tennis as part of their camp activities, but it was offered as an after camp activity. After a very active day of camp Monday, Molly said she was too tired to play tennis. Leah, however, wasn’t going to let a little fatigue get in the way of hitting the court. Amazingly, she was the only kid to show up, so she got a private lesson.
We missed tennis Tuesday due to a scavenger hunt (details to come), but headed back on Wednesday.
Yet again, Leah was all alone for her tennis lesson.
Molly wasn’t too tired to play tennis this time. She had a different time for her age group, and was the only one to show up as well. Private lessons all around.
I played tennis too, though I didn’t take pictures of myself playing. I had hoped to play every day, but ended up missing 2 days due to other activities. Since none of the other adults in my family played, I befriended a bunch of other tennis playing folks. Throughout the week, I’d hear “Hi, Chad” most places we went, as I ran into tennis playing friends.
The girls attended G-Force Vacation Bible School this week and had a blast learning how to put “God’s love in action!” Jen again taught Leah’s class, but this might be Jen’s last year teaching preschool as next year both girls will be with the elementary kids.
After a fun week, they joined some of their fellow attendees on Sunday to show the congregation a couple of their songs.
Leah, something appears to be missing from your smile. Oh, is that your first lost tooth?
Leah's tooth has been loose for months and she finally pulled it out Friday. She was wiggling it before we left for the pool, and I could tell it was so close, so I encouraged her just to pull it out. I had to look away though. I couldn't watch the twisting. She is very proud of her accomplishment!
The permanent tooth replacing her lost tooth is already well on its way (as is the one next to it).
For Week 3 of Mommy Sewing Lessons, I worked with the girls to sew pillowcases. I pre-cut the fabric, so first was the introduction to pinning.
Leah was very diligent in her pinning.
Molly was quick to sew the top contrasting band of her pillowcase.
Leah was very focused on her sewing, even taking time to practice removing the pins. I needed to help guide her sewing a bit more than big sister though.
We used the “hot dog” method of sewing a pillowcase, which involves rolling the main fabric inside the contrasting band. The fabrics are then pulled right side out.
This method is a fun trick to enclose raw edges of the fabric. Leah had fun pulling her main fabric through the "hot dog bun."
Molly was so excited to make her pillowcase that even pinning more fabric was fun!
The floor was the perfect workspace for Leah to pin her pillowcase sides together.
After I serged the inside edges to prevent fraying, the last step was to top stitch the contrasting band. Both girls have slightly wonky lines, but they did great!
Molly and Leah were so proud of their first project. After proudly showing Chad, Molly ran to her room to switch the pillowcase on her pillow!
Last week, the girls attended a Frozen-themed Lego camp at Snapology. When I went to pick them up on the last day, they wanted to show me what they had built that day. They were celebrating Anna’s birthday and had built lots of birthday stuff for it. Oh, and please don’t try to infer Batgirl’s secret identity from this picture. She might get mad at me if I gave it away.
