A Star is Born

Over February vacation, Elizabeth was enrolled in a local children's theater vacation camp.  Rather than sit around bored all week, she spent every day of vacation week learning songs and dances for the production of MCT Travels the World!  Every night, she came home singing and showing off her moves.  I have to say, we were very impressed by all that she learned each and every day.  At the end of the week, we were treated to quite a show.  Below are some photos and videos, although the quality is not great (this is one of the very few times that I wish that we had spent the money to invest in a high quality video camera).

The entire MCT (E is front and center). 

Lee brought Elizabeth flowers (her first bouquet)!

Elizabeth shows off her poster from her secret fan - she loved it!

Lexi and Elizabeth (friends from TDI) - thanks for this photo Jody!

"We Dance"

"Favorite Things"

"Wonderful World"

Valentines

The girls both celebrated Valentine's Day on February 12th and the 14th fell during school vacation week. They loved making valentines for their friends and classmates - every year, we make homemade valentines, both because they enjoy it and because it's a great way to spend a cold, winter afternoon.  They loved going through their bags when they got home, showing us the many different cards from their friends.

Before leaving for school - special shout out to Michelle, for creating their adorable, custom bows.

Elizabeth's valentine bag - the flying creature inside the heart is Ollie, with his angel wings.  She truly is a special child.

We gave the girls some nice treats (seeing as Easter is a LONG time away), including the Sound of Music soundtrack. 

They also got matching Bitty/Emily and Elizabeth/Elizabeth pajamas - definitely the hit of the night.

Elizabeth made this beautiful card for Emily.

And she made this gorgeous card for me.

Emily made this card for Lee (apparently, they are on a first name basis...)

And of course, our family was generous to the girls, as they always are.  Emily was thrilled with the stuffed animals from Jessa.

And Aunt Denise sent a box filled with hand-me-down American Girl clothes...

...including more shoes than the AGDs could possibly ever wear!!

Student of the Day

Each of the students in Emily's Pre-K have a chance to be Student of the Day over the course of the winter.  The title actually extends for two days - the first day, the student presents their poster, which helps them tell their classmates about themselves; the second day, they get to bring in some of their favorite things to show to their classmates.  Last week was Emily's week and she loved being Student of the Day!

Emily with her poster - she colored it all and provided all of the answers for us to fill in (she wrote her own name).  Among them - she wants to be a dentist (!!!) when she grows up; eating lobsters and clams at the beach is one of her favorite things; she is a star because she is a good little sister (that's questionable, but hey, it's her poster) and a gives great hugs (absolutely). 

On sharing day, she brought in Lambie, of course. 

She also brought her in children's bible.

Strong Kids

Today, the YMCA begins its annual Strong Kids Campaign.  Each year, our Y provides more than $300,000 in financial assistance to families in our community.  Since 2008, Lee and I have been part of the Y's fundraising campaign and over the last three years, we have raised close to $15,000,due to the generous support of our friends and family.  As most of you know, the Y is a huge part of our lives.  While we have always been supporters of its programs and efforts, two years we were literally stunned by the impact that Camp Ingersoll had on Elizabeth.  During four weeks, spread out over the course of the summer, Elizabeth changed into an outgoing and confident little girl.  Lee and I credit her smooth transition to kindergarten almost completely to her Camp experience.  And that, of course, let us wondering if Camp could result in such amazing changes in our little girl, imagine what it could do for the underprivileged children in our community.

                                                        

Click here to donate to the 2011 Strong Kids Campaign, and drop us a note (or leave a comment) when you do.  No donation is too big or too small; the life changing impact of the Y, however, is enormous.

Magic Wings

Last weekend, we made our third annual trek to Magic Wings.  With all of the snow, the girls have been going a little crazy, so we thought that it would be a good time to make the trip.  It was very crowded when we were there and we think that all of the noise and commotion might have freaked out the butterflies a bit because, for the first time, none of them landed on any of us.  The girls still had a great time (in fact, Emily was quite relieved that none of them landed on her!).  Afterwards, we stopped at Yankee Candle for a while and then had dinner at Cracker Barrel on our way home.  It was a good way to get out of the house and spend some quality time together.  On Sunday, Emily told us that it was the best day of her life, so it must have been fun!

Checking out some poisonous tree frogs. 

Elizabeth took a lot of pictures. 

Fascinated by some other disgusting reptile - they do not get their love/fascination of creepy crawly things from me, that's for sure!

Cairns Birdwing (Ornithoptera priamus)

Because we were there at a different time of year, we saw some stunning flowers and plants. 

This flower was also totally new to us (I have no idea what this butterfly is called). 

Glasswing (greta oto), which we've never seen before, and Rice Paper (idea ieuconoe) 

Another Rice Paper.

We watched this butterfly emerge from its chrystallis - very cool. 

New Furniture

Shortly after Christmas, it became clear that Elizabeth and Bitty Baby needed someplace to sleep.  The girls  picked out some unfinished furniture and I agreed to stain/paint the pieces and get them ready for Elizabeth and Bitty Baby.  I stained the chairs they picked out, which went pretty quickly, but I decided to paint the beds, which has taken some time.  The other day, Elizabeth's bed and Bitty Baby's cradle were finally revealed, much to the excitement of the girls.

The (unfinished) chairs - so that Elizabeth and Bitty Baby can sit with us during our meals. 

The bed that Elizabeth picked out. 

Almost done. 

The bed for Bitty Baby (I cheated with the bedding, purchasing it from an etsy store - my new obsession). 

  

Elizabeth's bed. 

Emily immediately went to get Bitty Baby so that she could sleep in her new bed. 

She takes such good care of her! 

Elizabeth in her new bed.

Elizabeth at dinner.