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Last week was a milestone week for the girls in karate. Leah had a stripe ceremony, and Molly tested to get her yellow belt. This followed the same template as last time, so it wasn’t quite as scary this time around.

First up, Leah’s stripe ceremony. Here she is leading the class in their initial chant.

Leah and Serena demonstrated 10 point, where they take turns striking (without making contact).

Here’s Leah receiving her teamwork stripe.

Leah also got a medal for perfect attendance, and a certificate of completion.

After Leah’s stripe ceremony, it was time for Molly’s belt test. I managed to get a lot more shots this time, though they still have reflections as I had to shoot through 2 sets of plexiglass.

Here she is as the test is about to begin. Molly is ready to go.

Her strength was tested.

Sensei tested their abdominal strength by walking on them. Yes, it’s very odd to watch an adult step on your child.

Molly continues to love sparring. She’s starting to get better at it, too.

As the girls lined up to receive their new belts, Molly was so excited she couldn’t contain herself. It was so noticeable that we had other parents commenting to us about it.

Here it comes.

Bow to show respect.

After bowing to show respect, jump up and down to show excitement.

And hug

Leah wants to make sure you don’t miss the fact that she got a medal.

OK, now a straight one.

Like her sister before her, Leah got to experience the fun of a planetarium in the middle of her preschool classroom. And, as with her sister before her, I got to be there for the fun. It’s a giant inflatable dome (that is slightly too big for the room as it smooshes into the ceiling) that serves as a planetarium.

Leah watched in wonder and loved the show. She’s so into space now, she says she wants a space-themed birthday party. It was so dark that it was hard to get a picture, so I waited until our spaceship had landed back on Earth where it was a bit brighter to take this one.

For Christmas, Jen got us tickets to a Chocolate Tour of DC in Georgetown. Here’s our fabulous tour guide, Linda, at our first stop, Sprinkles.

Sprinkles is the cupcake place founded by the lady from Cupcake Wars. According to several folks, they’re better than Georgetown Cupcakes. After trying them, I think I agree.

The second stop on the tour was my favorite - Thomas Sweet. We had some of their fudge - dark chocolate with caramel in the middle and salt on top. It was outstanding - so good that I may have had a second helping.

Next stop - Godiva for some basic chocolate.

We then headed to Olivia Macaron for some delicate French macarons (not to be confused with macaroons). Note that macarons are commonly filled with chocolate ganache, which is why they qualify for the chocolate tour.

Our tour guide was nice enough to take a picture of the two of us. It took her a second to do so, however, as she was interrupted by a woman who had followed us in off the street to ask Jen where she bought her dress. She was sad to learn that Jen had made the dress herself, so there was no chance of her purchasing it.

Our next stop was Dean & Deluca for some fancy chocolate from Bolivia.

Our last stop was Pie Sisters, a great place with pies of all kinds. We had tiny chocolate pecan pies which were fantastic. And thus ended our delicious afternoon of chocolate. We didn’t have time to linger, though, as Jen had planned a fancy dinner immediately afterward.

For dinner, we went to the very fancy Farmers Fishers Bakers. Jen got the Ahi Tuna Poke Salad and I got some very yummy Corvina.

My favorite part of the dinner was this Hibiscus Lime Rickey. I knew it would be tart, but it exceeded my expectations. Wow!

It was a wonderful outing for the two of us. In case you were wondering where the girls were, they spent the day having tons of fun with Aunt EA and Uncle Scott who live pretty close to Georgetown. Their day included duckpin bowling, toys, Ledo Pizza, watching a movie, and eating cake. Thanks Aunt EA and Uncle Scott!

We’ve had some fantastic weather lately. I’ve meant to take the sleds off the porch (where they live for the winter), but have not gotten to that. Yesterday, the girls decided that they didn’t need snow to sled. They climbed in one and tried to slide, but of course went nowhere. Then they discovered that if one of them pulled down the hill, they could move pretty well.

They naturally took turns pulling/riding. Here Leah has adopted a more aerodynamic pose in order to speed things along.

On our third attempt to do some bike riding this Spring, we finally got a perfect day. Leah took advantage of it and was riding her bike without training wheels in no time. Great job, Leah!

Here she is in action. This video shows a bit of her progression after she started to get it.

In the beginning, I would run alongside her in case she started to fall, but it didn’t take her long to decide she wanted to do it on her own. She was happy to get a little help to start (which Jen gave her here), but then the parent had to stay put while she zoomed around.

It was a great day of bike riding. We can’t wait to do it again.

Did I make the girls Easter dresses? Nope. But I made one for myself! You may have caught a sneak peak of it on yesterday's post, but here's it in full view.

Leah gave me the Washi Dress pattern for my birthday two years ago. I bought the fabric soon after, but never took the time to make the dress. Since the girls we wearing smocked dresses made by their grandmothers, I thought the Easter sewing could be for me.

On a side note, I'm twelve days in to a three week sewing hiatus. I brought my machine in for service over Spring Break, so I've been catching up on my reading and organizing around here. Hopefully, it'll be ready early as I keep adding to my project list for April!

When Easter morning arrived, the girls were very excited to get downstairs (after the appointed time we set, of course) and see what the Easter Bunny had brought.

A big hit this year - Peep bunny stuffed toys.

Leah loves her new Peep bunny.

They received a bunch of books, so it wasn’t long before they sat down to read a bit.

We then got dressed and headed to church for Easter service. Then, on to Grams’s house for some family time.

While there, we took a photo of the four of us. We’ve never had a successful family picture taken so quickly. Uncle Scott must have been working some magic behind the camera to get nice smiles out of Molly and Leah so quickly.

I brought and set up a portable studio for the previous shot (just a simple 2 flash setup), so I asked if anyone else wanted their picture taken as well while it was set up. Aunt EA and Uncle Scott were happy to have their portrait taken as well.

Then it was time for some food and family fun. Happy Easter everyone!

Both of the girls’ choirs joined the adult choir to sing on Palm Sunday. Sadly, I only managed to get video of Leah as Molly was hidden from view. But I'm sure you can pick out her voice among all of them ;)

The day after Molly’s birthday, Molly and Leah headed out to their first sleepover with friends away from home. They went to the home of their long time (their entire lives) friends Allison and Rachel. They did great - so well that we didn’t even hear from them until Jen picked them up the next morning. They can’t wait to do it again.

By the time Molly’s actual birthday rolled around, most of the celebrations had ended. But she still had a couple presents to open from Leah, including the one she’d been hoping for - a stuffed Olaf.

For dinner on her birthday, Molly requested hot dogs. Afterward, we broke out the leftover cake and ice cream from a couple nights ago and sang to her one more time.

Molly is now officially 8 years old. Happy Birthday, Molly!