An After-Recital Relaxing Lake Trip

Amid our usual fun trips on the boat and such, . . . the girls enjoyed thier new favorite water activity: swimming off the boat ramp!

Leia's & Annie's Recital 2010

Here are my two girls at the end of the most exciting night of their lives! BOTH of my girls chose to do dance this year! I'll never forget the way Annie danced to every jazz and hip-hop song LAST year, and I knew she was going to be hooked soon, too. Dance was pretty rough on Mamma this year, . . . the intense practices of the Nutcracker and then having Annie in class at 3PM as I picked up Leia from school and rush back to get her, . . . only to have Leia go back to her own class an hour later. Still, this was the evening that made it all worth it with Grandma, Grandpa, Oma, Papa, and numerous friends of Leia's (Quentin & Mom / Morgan & Mom) attending. Not to mention Leia's friend Lilly (as seen in the photos) who has danced with Leia for two years. My girls participated in four numbers tonight. Leia's songs were "April Showers" from Bambi and "Fun, Fun, Fun" from the Beach Boys (tap). Annie's songs were "A Whole New World" from Aladdin (Ballet) and "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid (Tap). Leia was placed front and center (as the head ballet teacher said when she asked her to join the competitive team, "That girl's GOOD!"), . . . and little Annie was on the far right on purpose. And although Annie mostly did her own thing she did it with SUCH expression and animation, . . . as a grandma of a fellow dancer would say later, "Annie stole the show." ; ) At the end of recital came awards. Leia received a trophy for two years of dance at Pisgah. Annie received a medal for being one of the youngest dancers. And the funny thing was, as Annie received her medal, I went up to give her flowers, . . . Annie took them and POSED for the audience! (See the photo below.) And boy the audience ate it up! Lots of flowers were had by all, . . . and even a glowing dinosaur and dancing wind-up from Quentin. And then I asked them, . . . "Okay, girls, here's the big question, . . . do you want to do dance again next year?" The answer for both was a resounding "YES." For Leia, it will be Ballet I, . . . and for Annie, . . . well, "Oh yes, I want to be in the SHOW!" Ha!

Immaculata Historical Day 2010

Oh my, what a beautiful colonial girl! Wait, . . . it's LEIA! : ) What a day for the entire school, and for Annie, Grandma, Oma, and Papa who came as well! Each class had a different time period they were focusing on, . . . and first grade had Colonial Times. SO, . . . Leia Rose and I have been reading Felicity (one of the first American Girls) and watching School House Rock religiously. (And Mamma has been procuring about a million antiques to outfit our display, . . . which I got roped into, but ended up adoring). It was just a great day to LIVE history, . . . so Leia and I made our display into a living museum. Leia sewed her "sampler" (featuring a kitty and her name) and I (literally) sewed Annie's quilt with red patches (to try to fix all the places where Annie has pulled with her nails to get up on the bed) with our awesome backdrop being the very first ("Besty Ross") American Flag that the first graders all painted themselves (and boy did it look it, . . . the teachers joked that it was already bloodstained). A few highlights: the streets of the 30s, Marilyn Monroe amid lava lamps from the sixties, indian crafts and graves from the Trail of Tears, even a life-size Wright Brothers plane! As for the first grade, their little presentation on stage was so sweet, . . . and Leia's job was to talk about the Middle Colonies as the "bread basket" of the Colonies. By the end of the presentations, even Annie wanted a part of the action. Then there was the FOOD, . . . real recipes from all the different decades. SO awesome! As a special memory, Leia takes away her sampler and the colonial doll cradle (seen beside her in the scene) that I bought for her as a remembrance. It truly was a day to remember.

Finding a Box Turtle, Letting it Go, Naming it "Shelley"

Annie's First School Picinic

Next fall Annie will be attending Mountain Sun Community School, . . . and today they had their first school picnic at Terra Nova in Cedar Mountain! A fabulous lake with a beach, a diving platform, paddle boats, canoes, and even a little waterfall! Our family spent lots of time in the boats, . . . and it was really cool meeting some folks who actually used twigs as chopsticks (so as not to use a plastic fork)! But the funniest thing was that Leia thought the couscous was called "goose-goose"! LOL!

At Sycamore Flats & Dolly's (w/ Angela and Family)