Meeting Baby Emma

Our friends Dave and Sara recently had a beautiful little girl named Emma.  We met her for the first time over the weekend and she is simply precious!!  Elizabeth really loved holding her and Emily, true to form, really didn't show much interest.  We loved visiting with her and can't wait until she is a little older and can come to our house for a visit.  Congratulations Dave and Sara!!!

Elizabeth was so thrilled to hold Emma.

Look at that grin!

Awww...

  

Emily's turn.

I'll give her credit - she was interested in Emma for the thirty seconds that she held her.

Dave and Emma.

A Double-Fun Birthday

Our friends Madison & Victoria are eight today and this past weekend, we all celebrated their birthday with them - and 20 little girls!  It was a great day for a party and everyone had a wonderful time - from the face painting, to the scavenger hunt, the dancing to the yummy pizza and cake, this party had it all!  All four of us had such a great time!  Happy birthday to Madison & Victoria!!!

The birthday girls.

Opening presents.

Madison is loving all of her gifts!

Even Apryl is excited about all of the presents!!

Great father-daughter moment.

One of the two cakes (Victoria's, obviously).

The whole crew.

Turn up the volume; click on the four arrows on the bottom right to enlarge.

Bird Houses

A few months ago, Lee and the girls made some crafty bird houses.  Never in my life did I think that these things would see the light of day, but a few weekends ago, Lee pulled out the ladder and let the girls choose EXACTLY where they wanted their birdhouses in our yard.  Needless to say, I can't wait for the leaves to start growing!!  The birds, however, love them - in less than a week, we have already spied several birds going in and out of Elizabeth's house.

Elizabeth carries her birdhouse over to the tree she selected.

Thanks Daddy!

Elizabeth watches to make sure that he hangs it just right.

Off to put up Emily's birdhouse.

My goodness, the leaves can't grow in fast enough!!

Build-A-Bear Birthday

Last weekend, Elizabeth and Emily's friend Jasmine had a birthday party at Build-A-Bear.  The girls each made cute pink bears and each of them called their bear "Pinky" - they actually made up this very "unique" name while sitting quite a distance from one another, so there was no copying involved.  Although Elizabeth was not at her best at this party, Emily had a wonderful time.  It was really great for me to see Emily interacting with other little people and I was happy to learn that she can make her own fun, even when her sister is not playing along.

Emily waiting patiently to build "Pinky".

Jasmine, the happy birthday girl!

Jasmine is such a sweetheart, comforting the unhappy Elizabeth.

Apryl finds a new outfit....

Emily is simply delighted by Pinky.

Pink-Delicious

We have been thinking about re-doing the girls' room for a while.  It's been four years since Elizabeth moved into the room and two since Emily moved in with her and aside from the bunk bed and bureaus, not much has really changed.  So, every weekend for the last month or so, we have been making changes to their room.  We started by adding a chair rail; then we spent a weekend painting the room two different shades of pink while the girls slept in the guest room; then we renovated their closet; and finally, we spent an afternoon putting up curtains, changing out bedding and rugs, and hanging various accessories on the walls (with the little help from some friends who were gracious enough to watch the girls for us - thank you!!).  The result is a room that is, in the words of Elizabeth, "Pink-Delicious!!!"

Their bunk beds, complete with need princess bedding.

You can catch a small glimpse of the princess rug here.

New curtains, new ribbon board and mirror on the closet door.

The closet.

New clock and nicely organized (for now) book shelf.

Coat rack and easel.

School Arts Exhibition

The Zilkha Gallery at Wesleyan University recently displayed the art of area school children and Elizabeth was lucky enough to have a piece chosen to be on display.  We took the girls to catch a glimpse of her masterpiece and to look at the art work of her other friends and schoolmates.

Posing in front of the entrance to the gallery.

Elizabeth's masterpiece - a tree in the fall.

The proud artist.

Examining her friend Madison's artwork. 

A Glimpse of Spring

This past weekend, we were spoiled with a brief glimpse of spring.  The temperatures hovered in the 50's both days and we took full advantage of the warm sun and spent some quality time outside, including a few hours at a local park on Sunday morning.

Playing together.

The climber.

It's amazing to me that the swings are always a favorite.

Getting a lift from Daddy.

Safe landing.

Pure happiness.

The Artist

Another masterpiece in the making....

The painter.

Concentrating.

She has already decided on the recipients of these masterpieces.  But it's a surprise.

The Calendar

In January, I attended a couple of workshops for kindergarten parents that were held at Elizabeth's school.  Today's kindergarteners learn to read and write - which was a huge shock to Lee and I, as we both remember learning our letters and how to tie our shoes (which, by the way, they do NOT teach!) - and the teachers do a great job of providing parents with the necessary tools to encourage their children and help them move in the right direction.  One of the suggestions was to create a calendar - and it has worked wonders in our house.  The purpose of the calendar really is to facilitate writing, but we are using it for writing and to keep track of Elizabeth's reading successes.  Each week, she fills in relevant information about the upcoming days, sounding out each word.  When she finishes a Level 1 reading book, she gets to put a sticker on the calendar; she also gets to put a sticker on the calender whenever she writes more than two sentences in a sitting.  The calendar is a great motivator for Elizabeth and we are so proud of how much she is learning.

Filling in her schedule for the week.

Updating the calendar to include Chinese New Year.

The completed February calendar (notice the stickers for reading and writing).

Working on March.

More Swimming

We are in our last round of swimming lessons at the Y for the season and we couldn't be happier with the progress the girls have made over the last few months.

Emily in her first week of lessons without a parent.

Go Emily!  We are so proud of you!

Emily with her teacher Ashley, who is by far our favorite - she has really taught both girls a lot this year.

Elizabeth, our swimmer extraordinaire.

Hurry up and wait - this session, Elizabeth is definitely the best swimmer in her class, so she either goes first (to show how to do a new stroke) and ends up waiting for everyone else, or last (because she catches up to everyone else so quickly) and ends up waiting around for her turn.