Recital 2010

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A highlight each June is the girls' dance recital! This year the theme was Dancin' in the USA. The show opened with the 6-9 year olds performing Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" and then each following dance number represented a diffent state. Brenna danced to "Waking Up in Vegas" and "Something About the Sunshine" which is from a recent Disney movie. Molly danced to "Charleston" and "Private Idaho" by the B52's. Brenna had more last number - a tribute to Michael Jackson where her class and another did Thriller. After a terrible rehearsal, the show went off well. Molly still very much enjoys it but there is a possibility that we may have seen Brenna's final dance. She didn't enjoy her numbers this year and it showed. Oh well, we'll just have to wait and see what Sept brings to see if she returns to classes . . .

Scout cakes

Brenna's Junior Girl Scout troop worked on a fun cake decorating badge today. One of our school moms is a wonderful cook and she hosted us at her house. We only had a short time but the girls learned about baking and then praticed form frosting and piping techniques. We ended with them trying to re-create a famous painting by Wayne Thiebald. How'd they do?

Molly

Yes indeed, we cut her hair again. It's shorter than I wanted but she's completely in love with it. And based on the complements she's getting, I think folks like her in shorter hair. Although people are always commenting on Brenna's hair, Molly too has really nice shiny hair with great highlights. This little wedged bob really brings that out and I think it makes her happy when people notice her too instead of just commenting on Brenna's blonde hair.

Of course everyone also thinks she just got her ears pierced simply because you can really notice her earrings now. I'm having a hard time getting used to her without bangs. Personally I like them better on her but she wants to try it this way for a while.

US Botanic Garden

At the tail end of Christmas Break, I took the girls downtown to the Botanical Garden. With the girls so interested in the museums now, I hadn't realized how long it's been since we were there. It was the perfect day too - FREEZING and windy outside (witness the quick photo at the Capitol Christmas tree followed by the sprint into the warmth of the indoor gardens! We had a great afternoon checking out the wing which housed a huge display of model trains running though villages made from natural materials. There is also a permanent exhibit of the monuments of DC made entirely from plant matter.

So amazingly detailed!! Check out Abraham Lincoln super close up - he's only about 2 inches tall but look at that detail!

Blizzard!

Christmas vacation started with big excitement here in DC. We got 23 inches of snow on the very first day of vacation which made for fun times playing outside! It's a rare treat to get that much snow and the girls don't remember the last time we did. They are such snow bunnies that they didn't want to waste a minute of it. The only downside was that we had tickets to see the touring version of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular which was canceled. We were all looking forward to brining in Christmas week watching the Rockettes but I guess we'll have to do that in NYC another time.

Nativity

Both girls had little roles in nativity pageants this year.

Gr. 2 always does a little one in school for the parents and I swear it doesn't feel like Christmas until you've seen 7 year old shepherds with dinner napkins for headwear and kings in red bathrobes! They were so precious and beside themselves to present their show in the classroom. Molly was Elizabeth and then slipped in the back as part of the angel choir.

Brenna pitched in again this year with the pageant that was done in Church at the Christmas Vigil. It's tough to get 5th graders to pitch in but she was happy to be the lamb. (I had to laugh at this picture from rehearsal. That's one bored looking red sheep!) She enjoyed it but mostly I think she was just happy that she didn't have to wear a dress to church!

Horseback Riding

Brenna's scout troop had a riding lesson in preparation for a trail ride we're planning in the spring. I wasn't able to use flash for photos but I was able to capture a little bit of Brenna's excitement riding for the first time. What I was not able to capture was my big body on the horse behind her!

That's probably for the best though. . .

We had a great time and I'm excited to ride with them again soon.

Band Concert

Brenna is in her second year playing flute with the school band. It is something she really enjoys and has made a great deal of improvement. They had their Christmas Concert just before school dismissed for vacation and we all enjoyed watching her perform.

I'm so glad she's learning an instrument - music is such a beautiful talent!