Natalie's Graduation

Last Friday was Natalie's pre-K graduation. It was very cute. It opened with a special slideshow of "a day in the life" of their class and highlights of the school year set to music. Next the graduates all walked in with their caps and special t-shirts, and they took turns introducing themselves with the microphone. Natalie did a great job with the mic (no fear at all!) and she spoke very clearly. They then lined up and sang several songs and we finished with a pizza lunch. It was a nice morning. The same day, Owen's class had a special "trike wash." It's been very hot already - 90's - where is Spring? - so the teachers decided to have a water day. The kids all brought their tricycles from home. Mid-morning they got into their bathing suits, the teachers closed the parking lot, and they had an area where they washed their trikes with soap and hoses. Then they could ride around in a huge area after their wash. I drove by on the way to Nat's graduation and it looked like a lot of fun! That night we grilled out and had a special "decorate-your-own-cookie" dessert. It was big hit with Nat & Owen and there were sprinkles of every color involved. Saturday we stayed around the house and Ike & I spent time outside doing yardwork. Sunday we drove down to Galveston to go to the beach. We had some rain come in late Saturday, and it was overcast the whole day Sunday, but we still had fun. Natalie and Owen were like fish in the water, and Henry had a great time playing in the sand. And of course we had a few beach races before we called it a day. So it was a fun weekend. Now we are looking forward to a long Memorial Day weekend and Karen's visit.

Mom's Day and Ballet Recital

We had a nice Mother's Day weekend. Last weekend was pretty uneventful; the main excitement was that Henry moved from his high chair to a booster seat at the table. He's pretty excited about that! He and Owen continue their brotherly bonding. Unfortunately the wrestling and rough-housing is carrying over to school, where Henry has started wrestling and pinning some of his unsuspecting schoolmates. I think he's the only one in his class with older siblings (or an older brother, anyway). The big news last week was that after Natalie's stellar performance at the gymnastics mini-olympics, she was invited to join the competitive team/track. So that has been exciting for her. This weekend was nice. It was Natalie's ballet recital weekend. We weren't sure if everything was going to be rescheduled - the recital location this year was a high school theater - and the school was closed until late in the week due to a case of the swine flu. But we found out Thursday that things were back on schedule. Ike took Nat to her dress rehearsal on Friday night, then the actual performance was Saturday night. Owen & Henry went to Rainbow Kids, and Ike and I went to the recital. Natalie did a great job - no photos of the actual performance (against the rules), but we ordered the dvd of the whole show. The recital was The Adventures of Angelina Ballerina - taken from various Angelina stories. We took her out to dinner after and had a nice evening with our big girl. Sunday was a great day. The kids all made me really sweet gifts at school (and Ike picked out some good ones, too!). We had a nice morning (Ike let me sleep in!) and we went out for breakfast. In the afternoon we went to our friends' house for swimming and cooking out. We all had fun and we were pretty worn out when we got home. So we are getting ready for Natalie's school graduation this week. She's very excited!