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Finally, after a couple extra days due to all the snow, it was the last day of school for Molly. Here she is, ready to go finish out first grade.

For comparison, here she is on the first day of school this year. I'd say she's grown up a bit.

After school, we got a picture of the neighborhood kids just like we did the first day of school. There are a few more kids here than there were then, plus a few extra friends.

Here's that first day of school picture.

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.

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.

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.

We headed to Molly’s school again this weekend to take advantage of the blacktop and playground. They started by riding their bikes on the nice, flat blacktop, but then switched to playing hopscotch.

I told Leah to see how high she could jump in hopscotch.

Molly soared on the hopscotch course as well.

On to the playground, so Molly can flip things upside down.

The girls wanted to pose in the playground windows. And, yes, Leah was determined to keep her bike helmet on the entire time. I guess she wanted to be ready to hop back on her bike at a moment’s notice.

Leah’s waiting expectantly at the bottom of the slide.

It’s so great to be able to play outside like this again.

The girls have gotten back into Lego Friends, and they used some Toys R Us gift cards to get some new ones. Here's Leah with her newly constructed rehearsal stage and jet ski.

Molly still keeps her tongue out while working on detailed tasks. So, it was out pretty much the whole time she built this sports car.

Molly like her new Legos. Ignore the wimpy thumbs up.

Molly is back in lessons at the swim school, and this time she’s brought her sister along for the fun.

The girls are doing fantastic, with new firsts every lesson. Molly swam the length of the pool for the first time here.

Not long ago, she wouldn’t put her face in the water. Now Molly is swimming with her head down.

Leah got to wear flippers for the first time, which was loads of fun.

Molly’s getting pretty good at making a splash when jumping in the pool.

Hopefully, this will make summer swimming season much more enjoyable for both of them.

Molly had her Field Day at school, and I joined in the fun as a parent volunteer. It was a chilly, misty day despite hitting 90 degrees the day before, but the kids had fun anyway. I was assigned to one of the water/first aid stations, though I thankfully didn’t have any first aid emergencies to handle.

Here she is with some kids from her class at the softball/tennis ball toss. Molly’s the one in the pink hat, throwing the softball. Please excuse the pictures, as it was tough to shoot through the mist.

Molly and Grace race around the cones with soccer balls squeezed between their knees.

There were lots of activities in 3 primary areas (gym, blacktop, and lower field where I was stationed). I didn't see Molly too much, but I at least got a wave when she wandered by headed to another activity.

We were supposed to eat a picnic lunch outside, but the grass was wet so the teachers changed the plan to picnic in the classroom. So I joined Molly’s class there.

By the end, the kids were chilly, wet, and very dirty thanks to running around a muddy field. Despite that, they had a good time, and almost all of them were energetically participating until the very end.

We spent much of Mother’s Day with my mom (crazy, I know). These girls love their Grams.

Leah loves Grams’s charm bracelets, and wants Grams to explain each charm every time we get together.