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After dinner, Uncle J taught me a few ukulele chords, which of course led to a ukulele dance party before bed.

Nice dancing, Leah.

The next morning, the girls decided to begin our first full day in Memphis by giving a presentation on dinosaurs. Or at least on this dinosaur.

This was the first time that the cousins were together since Jen made them all mermaid dresses. They were excited to wear them to G'Mom and Grampa's church together.

JJ may not have had a mermaid dress, but he wanted to be in the picture as well.

After church and lunch, G’Mom and Grampa took the girls to a playground for some fun.

We went to G’Mom and Grampa’s pool as well (thanks to Coach for admitting us in spite of the rules!). Despite the intense splash pad calling to the kids, Leah wanted to jump straight into the big pool.

The splash pad had a water slide, and Emmie was quick to try it out.

Molly was quick to use the slide as well. If you’re wondering about the mask, Emmie had just given Molly and Leah a snorkel set which Molly had to use immediately.

JJ got his dad to go down the splash pad slide with him.

On the way home from the pool, we stopped by the side of the road to feed a couple of horses some recently mowed grass.

Aunt ‘Chelle put curlers in the girls’ hair to sleep in for the first time. Molly’s ready for bed with four of them. Unfortunately, most of them fell out during the night.

I asked Leah if I could take her picture with the curlers as well. She immediately gave me the over-the-shoulder pose. My little model in training.

Then, after a very busy day, the girls went to bed. The adults stayed up long enough to play a game of Texas Rummy, which Susan dominated more thoroughly than I've ever seen.

Our church does a couple of weeks of Vacation Bible School (VBS), and last week was the week our family participated. I joined in the fun one day as the official preschool photographer, though I snuck upstairs to briefly check out Molly and the elementary kids before heading down to preschool.

I’m not sure what Molly’s shouting at the opening of VBS, but she’s definitely getting into it.

Jen taught Leah’s class. Here they are with everyone for opening singing.

Jen’s an expert VBS teacher. She even gets asked if she teaches in school year-round.

At the beginning of outdoor games, this counselor said the first two kids to tag him would start off as sharks. Leah was one of them. She isn’t the fastest kid, but she’s quick to move.

Jen’s not the kind of teacher who sits on the sidelines and watches. She’s right in the middle of the action.

The game they played was Sharks and Minnows (a land-based version). When they got the go-ahead, the kids made their break.

Run, Leah, run!

Leah wasn’t the only kid clinging to Jen.

It was a great week, and all of us had a lot of fun. The girls were sad it had to come to an end, but not too sad as they knew a new adventure started the next day...

Outdoor swim season is fully here, and the girls are loving it. You'd never know that Molly was so afraid of putting her face in the water just last year.

The girls are now taking swim lessons at our neighborhood pool. Since the girls are now comfortable in the water, these are focused on learning strokes now. Here's Leah swimming toward her teacher's arms.

While Leah's in her lesson, Molly's practicing streamlining and kicking.

We're looking forward to a summer filled with a lot more water fun and a lot less water fear.

This week, Leah tried out soccer for the first time by going to a UK Elite Petite soccer camp. The coach was fantastic and very creative. Here, he's given the kids pinnies to wear as super hero capes.

Leah had a great time, and was an excellent listener.

In this game, the kids were mice and the coach was a cat. They had to dribble around to collect "cheese" and then bring it back to their cone. Then they had to hide behind the ball so the cat wouldn't see them.

In this game, the kids had to run into the "cuckoo's nest" and dribble a ball back to their team's base. Leah's got her ball and is moving quickly back to her team.

She's moving so fast she's a blur.

Nice dribbling.

In this game, the kids had to steal balls from other teams. Leah's just collected this one and is hurrying back to her team's base.

She had a great time at soccer camp, and now wants to do soccer again in the fall. Right now, she really wants to be on a team, but she may decide she'd rather do some more clinics before getting competitive.

The girls have been asking to get their hair cut short for a while, but Jen told them they had to wait until after their dance recital. With the recital done, it was time for a haircut. Here's Leah before they left for Cartoon Cuts.

And here's Molly before going to get her hair cut.

Molly's hair was cut shorter than I think I've ever seen it. Note the new earrings Jen bought her after the haircut as well.

Leah's hair is quite short as well. She came home in a funk, though, because she didn't like that Molly's hair was shorter than hers. I eventually cheered her up enough to get a picture, but it took a while.

Of course, it didn't take too long after I got her to cheer up before she started being silly.

And silliness leads to laughter.

I think Molly's new haircut has given her some attitude.

It’s dance recital time again, and this year it’s much more serious for Molly. She was in three different numbers - one ballet, one tap, and one jazz.

Molly’s jazz dance was to I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair from South Pacific. So, they had big tubs for doing just that.

Like last year, Stacie and I took the little sisters to pick strawberries at Gorman Farm. Here they are finding the perfect ones to pick.

You must taste them along the way, right?

Leah and Matilda were proud of their loot, showing off the biggest strawberries in their bucket!

The strawberries were gone in 2 days! So, next week...strawberries at Larriland Farm?

It’s been a while, so we decided to have a photoshoot of the girls out on our porch.

For the photo geeks out there, most of these pictures were taken with my brand new Speed Booster. The head shots were taken with it combined with my Canon FDn 100mm f/2 (making a 71mm f/1.4) and many of the later shots used it combined with my Canon FDn 50mm f/1.4 (making a 35mm f/1.0). That said, I stopped down a good bit on all these to ensure I had enough depth of field for the whole shot.

On to the pictures. First, a head and shoulders shot of Molly.

Leah is still the queen of silly faces. This can be loads of fun when taking pictures, but sometimes challenging if you just want a simple smile.

Try again for a smile, get a different silly face.

We did eventually get a smile.

Even better. A happy little girl.

Leah’s ready to head out to her last day of preschool this year.

She looks much more grown up than she did at the beginning of this year.

For fun, here she is on the first day of preschool the year before. Wow, they grow up fast.

The Cherub Choir sang in church for the last time this school year. Molly will graduate to an older choir in the fall, so this was her last time singing with the Cherubs.

I accompanied them, meaning that Molly, Leah, and I were all together. Hopefully we'll get to do it again in a little over 3 years, when Leah is in second grade and old enough to be in the same choir as Molly.