Field Day

Posted in Molly, School on May 16th, 2014 by c-had – 1 Comment

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.

Field Day

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.

Softball toss

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

Hopping fun

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.

Hi Dad

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.

Indoor lunch

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.

Mother’s Day with Grams

Posted in Celebrations, Leah, Molly on May 15th, 2014 by c-had – Be the first to comment

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

Happy Mother's Day!

Grams and Leah

Grams and Molly

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

Bracelet lover

A day at the farm

Posted in Leah, Molly, School on May 14th, 2014 by jen – 1 Comment

Molly’s class took a field trip to Green Meadows Petting Farm. Non-chaperoning parents and siblings were invited to attend, so Leah and I drove out to meet Molly. The rubber duck races were a big hit with all the kids.

Field trip to the petting farm

Molly and Grace had a great day at the farm together, especially on the extremely bumpy hay ride.

Best Friends

Those are some funny looking animals!

Pretty pictures

Grace was the first of the group to step up and milk the cow.

Milking a cow

It took a bit of coaxing to get Molly to try milking the cow, but she finally was willing. Notice the stream of milk flowing in front of her.

Finally willing to try

The farm asked that only adults pick up the animals, but Grace was so excited to help hold a baby bunny.

Baby bunny

I think the bunny decided that Molly needed a few bunny kisses. Note that Leah does not appear in any of these pictures with animals. She was perfectly willing to enjoy them from a distance.

Bunny kisses

Mother’s Day at ECP

Posted in Leah, School on May 13th, 2014 by jen – 1 Comment

Leah invited me to a Mother’s Day tea at her preschool. We enjoyed a lovely snack of cheese and crackers, strawberries, and Hershey’s kisses while donning a fabulous crown. :)

Mother's Day at ECP

I was also given a special pillowcase created from Leah’s artwork. It was a wonderful morning!

A gift for Mom

Cousin pics

Posted in Family visits on May 8th, 2014 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Of course, with cousins in town, we need a picture of them. Here are the four of them after church on Sunday.

Cousins

The kids really wanted to take a picture with toys. We told them the could after we took one without. So, after the previous picture, we obliged and they were very excited. Well, maybe Leah wasn't quite as excited as the other girls.

Toys, hooray?

Up, up, and away

Posted in Family outings, Family visits on May 7th, 2014 by c-had – 1 Comment

Emmie, JJ, Aunt ‘Chelle, and Uncle J came to visit us, and we decided to check out the Air and Space Museum’s giant Udvar-Hazy Center. It consists of a couple of huge hangars full of things that fly.

Cousins and planes

One hangar is full of aviation stuff, but the other is even cooler as it’s full of space stuff. The girls are ready to blast off, standing under Space Shuttle Discovery. It’s big.

Blast off

The space shuttle is very impressive. Seeing the more than 24,000 unique heat shield tiles up close is really cool.

Discovery

The Space Shuttle Main Engines are huge too. Molly's still ready for blast-off.

Big engines

Leah was excited to see that the Apollo 11 astronauts landed in the ocean when they returned to Earth, and used these floaties to stay afloat.

Splash down

There were a lot of aircraft in the aviation hangar.

Aviation hangar

JJ loved everything, especially the helicopters which he called "copter" over and over again.

'Copter

Four kids and some helicopters… and a bit of one Mommy for moral support.

Four kids and some helicopters

Look, Mommy. An airplane!

Look, Mommy

It's fun to be a little girl, especially when you've got cousins and sisters together.

Swing your arms

Sometimes, silly faces are easier to get than smiles.

Smile?

Molly's favorite exhibit was the SR-71 Blackbird. She liked the fastest plane in the world so much, she even got a toy of it at the gift shop.

Blackbird

The museum was very cool. It's not very interactive like some others, and instead is a traditional "look at all this stuff" kind of museum. But the stuff to look at is really cool stuff.

Ballet sisters

Posted in Leah, Molly on May 6th, 2014 by c-had – 2 Comments

Molly and Leah have ballet class back-to-back on Saturday. Leah loves to watch Molly’s class. She sits in the doorway for most of the class, mesmerized by the older girls dancing.

Watching

Occasionally, Molly’s ballet class goes into a larger room to practice what it will be like on stage for their recital. Leah gets to sit up front to act as the audience for them, which she loves.

The audience

Getting her ears pierced

Posted in Molly on April 27th, 2014 by c-had – 1 Comment

Molly decided she wanted to get her ears pierced. So, we headed to Piercing Pagoda in the mall to get it done. Here Molly is preparing herself. Note the purple dot on her ear designating the spot.

Getting her ears pierced

Here's the piercing. She handled it extremely well. I expected tears, or at least a wince. But instead, she almost seemed to say "that was it?".

Here she is right after getting her ears pierced, with her fancy aquamarine flower earrings. She looks older to me, though the missing teeth help keep her looking her age.

Pierced ears

And here she is with a second set of earrings (pink butterflies) to get her started. She was also happy to get a giant sticker announcing to the world that she just got her ears pierced.

Earrings

Preschool art show

Posted in Leah, School on April 27th, 2014 by c-had – 1 Comment

Leah’s preschool had an art show for us to enjoy. They displayed several pieces of art from each of the students. Here’s Leah with the rocket she and I made on Father’s Day.

Preschool art show

Here’s a close-up of our rocket. Ignore the label that says it’s a building. I believe we started building a tower, but then Leah decided it was a rocket instead when we were part way through.

Our rocket

Leah’s teacher said she was the most meticulous of all the students when creating her self-portrait. Leah made sure she had all her teeth, eyeballs including the iris and the pupil, eyelashes, and ears.

Meticulous self-portrait

I like that her favorite color is “all of them”, rather than her usual answer of pink. And that she’s 4 turning 5 (her birthday's in 5 months). And that she wants to do really wide splits.

Self-portrait up close

Easter fun

Posted in Celebrations, Leah, Molly on April 26th, 2014 by c-had – 1 Comment

The girls were very excited to find their Easter baskets filled on Easter morning. Thankfully, I’d told them the night before that they had to wait patiently in their room until a reasonable hour before getting us up to head downstairs.

Easter morning

Molly seems to think her new bubble wand is Excalibur. The crazy glasses complete the look.

Crazy knight

Leah was quick to crack open this new pirate princess book.

A new book

After church, we gathered with family at Grams’s house. Molly decided to be the photographer for the day, and wandered the house taking pictures with my camera. She even got this mirror selfie to prove it.

A budding photographer

Leah loves it when Uncle Scott lifts her up. Note that this picture was also taken by Molly.

Lift