Back to School!

Last year, I read on the NieNie Dialogues blog about their back-to-school dinner. I loved the idea -- what a great way to make the start of the school year even more special! NieNie went all out with her decorations -- tulle on the table, homemade crowns and the like. I just didn't have time or energy or skill to do all that, but ever since we unpacked my grandmother's china last year with the matching golden (oh joy!) utensils, the girls had been begging for a special occasion to use them. So we dusted them off and let each person in the family choose part of the meal (Millie: mashed potatoes, Abby: green beans, Jane: ice cream sundaes, Daddy: biscuit muffins, Mommy: turkey breast -- we had forgotten a special drink, but Daddy came through in a pinch with some of his gatorade:)). We ate by candlelight and talked about our goals for the school year and then Mark gave the girls their beginning-of-school father's blessings. It was such a special night!

The girls are now in the throes of the school year. Millie's favorite parts of second grade are basically the same as those that were her favorite in the first grade: Art, PE, and Science. She loves to run the track after lunch and is obsessed with beating the boys (apparently she's able to beat all the boys, but two).

Abby loves her wonderful, nurturing preschool teacher, Miss Kathy, and has been busy trying to come up with explanations about her world. On the second day of school she said to me, "Mom, I know why they have two teachers in my class (one is a teacher's aide). One is the servant and cleans up everything and one is the teacher who teaches the lessons!" I'm not sure if I'll share that comment with her teacher's aide.

Jane started a cooperative playgroup/preschool with some other children in the ward and has been excited for weeks!! Everyday she has been saying, "Mommy, I going to playgroup and I'm going to leave Mommy and then Mommy will come pick me up?" and "My playgroup is starting really soon!" She has been so eager to have something special to go do like she's see her older sisters do, that she actually threw a tantrum on the first day of playgroup when she realized that it was at our house! She did, however, have fun and looks forward to going twice a week.
My grandmother also left me this piece of Dresden china that I had loved looking at at her house when I was a little girl. It brought back so many tender memories as I pulled it out for the centerpiece.

Jane was very careful while using her "fragile teacup"

Off to second grade!

Abby and Miss Kathy

Summer Snippets

It's only taken me all summer -- with me thinking about it at least once a week, and then putting it off again -- to get back to blogging. I could blame it on a temporarily lost camera, but that was pretty temporary. We've had a pretty low-key (and HOT!) summer, but it's been fun to be together. Here are some highlights:

10 Years!

Mark and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary!! Yes, ten years! We had a wonderful get-away, sans kids, to the Texas hill country. It was so, so wonderful to be together and relax! I'm so lucky to be married to such a loving, dedicated, optimistic, grounded, geniune -- not to mention devilishly handsome -- man!

The Texas Hill Country (I can't take credit for the picture and I'm not sure we saw these particular hills, but it is the prettiest part of Texas I've seen so far)

Sharing some homemade blackberry cobbler with Mexican vanilla ice cream at a farm along the road.

Fun with Friends (including sisters)

Playing with friends at the beach in Galvaston.

Doing makeovers with Mommy on a particularly stifling day

Taking in another drive-in movie

Starting Music Lessons

The older girls started music lessons -- something I've been wanting to do for awhile, but have been psyching myself up for (lots of practice hours to come!). They are really enjoying it so far (for the most part, let's hope the excitement continues!)

Having Visitors

We loved having a visit from Mom, Dad, and Dave before heading up to Dallas with them for a family reunion:

The girls and Dave taking in a birds-eye view of Houston from the top of the Chase Tower.

Enjoying a pre-Father's Day dinner before heading up to Dallas.

Family Reunion

We had a wonderful family reunion with the Ward side of the family at my sister Jennifer's house in Dallas! It was the first time in two years that we were all together (my youngest sister having just returned from her mission) and it was heaven! It was so nice of Jennifer and Matt to pack their house full of 21 people, but we had so much fun being together, listening to Dad play all of our favorite Debussy pieces on the piano, playing in the pool, getting Bobbi Brown makeovers (just the girls, of course), celebrating Mom's birthday, going through the temple with my sister Katie for the first time! (so special to be there with my parents and each of their seven children -- such a milestone!), eating yummy food -- especially Sprinkles cupcakes and a specially-imported (on Dad's lap) Smith Island layer cake, going dirt-biking, playing with Jennifer, Matt W. and Sara in a string quartet in sacrament meeting, having special Family Home Evenings, driving tours of the most opulent Dallas homes, going shopping, playing the Wii, getting pedicures from Auntie Em, having an impromtu baby shower for Matt's and Sara's baby boy, the girls playing with cousins, talking, talking, talking . . . Enough said. Can't wait for next time!

Family picture

Millie and Josh working on a project

Millie and Emma

Getting pedicures from Aunti Em -- much better than at the spa!

Picking up some decadent Sprinkles cupcakes after getting Bobbi Brown makeovers

Millie having some down time with Aunt Katie

Jane had so much fun with her cousin Jake and he was such a great sport to play with her.

Grammie and Grandpa with the grandkids (minus Lucy who was in bed)

Celebrating Mom's birthday.

Girl cousins

Ready for dirt-biking

Grandpa in the pool

Millie and David

Jane and Daddy

Grandpa playing pieces from the Debussy book Auntie Em gave him for Father's Day -- some of our favorites since he would practice them while we were going to sleep at night when we were young

The kids doing Gollywog's cakewalk to see who got the first piece of Grammie's birthday cake

Swimteam

Millie swam for our neighborhood swimteam the Tidalwaves and had a great season -- especially since she couldn't even swim a full lap when they began. We were so proud of her pluck and determination. She ended up with four fairly strong strokes, a lot of fun friends, and an assortment of different colored ribbons (a good thing that she didn't care a bit about the placement, merely the color :)) Her favorite stroke: backstroke. Her finest moment: when, during the first relay of the first meet, she swam her third position lap, turned around and swam the fourth lap behind the fourth position swimmer. No one had fully explained to her exactly what a relay was and what her part was (to swim one leg and then hop out of the pool), but she finished both laps, exausted, but having finished!

Swimming friends

Goodbye First Grade!

Millie said good-bye to First Grade with a special end-of-school picnic

Whew! Hopefully it won't take me as long to post next time!

Memorial Day

We had the perfect Memorial Day this year -- an easygoing, lazy day with good food and friends. Mark's sister, Melissa, hosted us at her house and we all had great time. The kids loved the inflatable water slide in the back yard and the adults loved all of the good food and company. Thanks, Melissa and Mark for being great hosts!

Jungle Party

Millie had her first grade program -- Jungle Party Tonight! -- last week which was a pure delight! It was really adorable! The girls in her class were dressed as monkeys and needless to say, with Millie's passion for pretending to be various animals, she has wanted to wear her monkey costume on a daily basis ever since (it's now just deciding between the cat costume and the monkey costume).

Catch up . . .

As the end of the school year winds down, we've found our busy-ness picking up.

A few weeks ago, we enjoyed a visit from the wife and baby of a dear friend of mine from high school. I loved catching up with Rachel, and baby Ramsey charmed all of the girls in the McLaughlin family. It was so great to see them and to meet Ramsey. Old friends are like gold . . .

It was so nice to be pampered on Mother's Day this year. Mark really came through with a yummy dinner that I didn't even have to lift a finger to help with and some beautiful flowers I'm still enjoying. The girls spent the week putting together various Mother's Day surprises. This has to be my favorite thing about Mother's Day -- the little, special homemade gifts the girls make. I treasure them! Abby and her preschool class hosted a special Mother's Day brunch which was so much fun!

We also had a magical time (by the way, "magical" is one of Jane's favorite words these days -- she displays anything beautiful or sparkly saying, "Look! It's magical, it's perfect!") going to a drive-in movie as a family. Coming back from Dallas after Spring Break, we passed a drive-in movie theater and the girls asked what it was. Mark and I had so much fun relating various memories of drive-ins from our childhood, that the girls were infected with a desire to go. We found a drive-in here in the area and had such a great time! It was an enormous success with the girls. We loaded blankets and pillows in the back of the van and snuggled up with snacks and treats. Mark and I mostly had fun watching the girls' expressions. Jane would periodically get up off my lap to groove to the music. Millie watched with wide-eyed delight, and Abby kept saying things like, "I feel like we are watching this at home!"

A recent Jane-ism: She was playing with a little friend who puckered up and gave her a kiss. She willingly kissed him back and then said, "Thank you for the wonderful kiss, Tate!"