Ballet Recital

The little chickens pecking with their beaks.

Teacher Laura put Sophia as the leader of all of the dances.



Juliet the kangaroo!

Sophia the kangaroo!

The girls had their recital for their dance class this morning at the Linden Hills Community Center. It was so darling. They did a chicken dance, kangaroo dance, and a unicorn dance. There were costumes for each dance. Sophia was one of the older kids, and the teacher put her as the leader of all of the dances. I tried to take videos, but I am not very good at doing it and they did not turn out. Sophia had been complaining about going to dance class for the last few weeks, but said that she really liked the recital today. She may just need to learn that it takes a lot of hard work before you get to have the enjoyment of the recital! We are taking a break from all organized activities in the summer, and we will see if we continue dance in the fall. I personally love it and hope that they want to continue.

Kindergarten Graduation: Part III

Sophia, Kate, and Juliet petting the animals.

Sophia riding on the pony.

Juliet having fun on the pony.

Juliet loves the pony ride.

Juliet petting the pony.
Mrs. Lisa had pony rides and a few farm animals at the park for the kids. Juliet was so excited about the pony rides. For days before the graduation she would talk about the pony rides. She told us that her pony was going to be named "rainbow" and would be "rainbow colored." The pony would be "two years old" and she was going to "race the pony." I was a little worried that she was going to be disappointed with a grey pony named "Frosty" who was not a race horse, but she was not disappointed. She didn't even notice that he wasn't rainbow-colored.

Immediately after the graduation, she starting running up the hill saying that she thought she saw the pony and wanted the pony ride right away. She was the first kid there and got the very first pony ride. She pet the pony for awhile before she rode it. She was so happy. Sophia rode the pony, too, but was not as excited about it.

By the way, the crown Juliet is wearing in these photos is an accessory that Juliet wears almost every day. She wears it like a headband and wears it everywhere --school, the park, the grocery store, lounging around at home. I guess that every moment of every day is a good time to wear a crown!

Kindergarten Graduation: Part II

Juliet having fun at the park. She wants to be a SW Montessori kid, too. When the kids sat on the long rope in the grass to start their singing, Juliet tried to sit there too. She could not hide her disappointment when she had to sit with the moms and dads and siblings of the SW Montessori kids instead.

Sophia and Liv.

Goofy.

Waiting in line for a balloon animal.

Having too much fun with her girlfriends.

Kindergarten Graduation: Part I

Sophia, Mrs. Heather, and Kate banging on the drums.

Mrs. Lisa presenting Sophia with her diploma and cap.

Inspecting her diploma.



Proud Sophia.

Sophia had a great year at SW Montessori. She made so many friends and learned so many new things. Sophia could read going into Kindergarten, but now she excels at it. She also has done really well on her spelling tests and has learned math and science skills . She really enjoyed going to school everyday. Sophia had seven kids in her graduation class, among the about 35 kids in her school. The big end of the year party was last Thursday night at a park in Minneapolis. The kids sang songs, played on the park equipment and had pony rides! We are so proud of Sophia. Next year, Sophia is off to First Grade in the public schools. But, we still get to be a part of SW Montessori because Juliet will go in the Fall!

Julietisms

Adam: "Juliet, can you please put your books away?"

Juliet: "Nokay."

Adam: "Thank you."

Juliet: "No! I said 'nokay.' "

Adam: "What does 'nokay' mean?"

Juliet: "It means 'no, I don't want to do that.' "

*****

Juliet: "Mommy, I got hurt when I fell off the swing."

Chris: "Did you cry?"

Juliet: "I did a 'dry cry.' "

Chris: "What is a 'dry cry?' "

Juliet: "It is when you cry with no tears. You do that when you get hurt only a little bit."

*****

At a family outing to Bachmans:

Juliet: "Mommy, those flowers smell like chocolate! Those flowers smell like grapes! Those flowers smell like butt!"

*****

Juliet has several names for me including the traditional "Mama" and "Mommy." But, she also like to call me "Mama-sha-cong-a." I cannot really remember how it started.


****

Juliet: "Pee-pee...pee-pee...pee-pee."

Chris: "Juliet, no potty talk."

Juliet. "It's not potty talk! I am saying the letter P."

Flower Show

Every year we go to the flower show at Macy's in Downtown Minneapolis. This year, we thought we were being smart by getting there right at noon on the opening day to beat the crowds. It turns out that we were not that smart and that people had been lining up before the store even opened to go to the flower show. So, we decided to grab a bite to eat and stock up on some candy for the long line. It ended up that the line, while very long, only took about 25 minutes. The kids were fully sugared-up to enjoy the colorful experience at the flower show.

Dancing at the flower show.

Notice that Sophia has her around Juliet's shoulder and Juliet is grabbing her hand. They really do love each other a lot.

Another little snuggle party.

A sample of the amazing flowers at the show.

The three musketeers.

I Heart Sophia

Three boys at Sophia's school have expressed their sincere love for her. This means that in the first 7 months of Sophia's Kindergarten experience, more boys have expressed their love for her than in my entire 36 years of living. I think we may be in trouble. First, it was Aruel (5 yrs old) who told Sophia that he was going to marry her. Sophia promptly started to cry and told her teacher that she did not want marry Aruel. Mrs. Lisa informed Sophia that she could marry whomever she wanted, but that she should not worry about this because she had a long, long time before she needed to chose. Second, Sophia came home from school one day and said that Sam (3 yrs old) told her that he loved her. This time, she seemed unfazed by the profession of love and did not elaborate further. Then, Sophia came home recently with the following items from school. The bottom picture is a work of art that she and Grier (5) worked on together. One would draw one thing, and then the other drew the next, until they created the drawing together. We had just had a discussion with Sophia the night before about what "BFF" means (Best Friends Forever) because the letters were written on her new pair of slippers. She informed Grier what that meant, and they incorporated it into their drawing. Then, Grier put into her drawer the next drawing that he did on his own: a big heart with a arrow through it and "BFF" on top. Apparently, just to make sure there was no question about it, Grier put little cut-outs in Sophia's drawer, shown in the top photo. One says, "I love you." Another, "BFF: Sophia, Grier." Another: "BFF Club." And another appears to be a boat with the initials "S and G" on it. I think it is so cute that I can hardly stand it!

A few (unexpected) new things

New Thing Number 1: A New Car

On February 28th, Juliet and I were in a car accident. As I was entering an intersection on a green light, a driver did not see me and took a left turn directly in front of me. I smashed into his passenger side door. Juliet screamed and initially complained that her shoulders hurt, but she is okay. I was able to drive my little Corolla home, but it was ultimately totaled by the insurance company because of significant frame damage. Luckily, the driver's insurance company has taken full responsibility and, after a bit of haggling, the company compensated me fairly for my car. So, we had to go car shopping and we opted for a bigger (and brighter) car.

Adam and I did some car shopping together, but he picked out the car for me. He told me that it was "blue," but failed to mention that the color actually is called "electric blue." I often lose my car in big parking lots, so the color will come in handy. The color has taken a bit of getting used to, but I like my Ford Escape! The only problem is that I prided myself on my ability to parallel park with ease, but I am nervous to try with the big Escape. I think I will practice this Spring.

Having never been in a semi-serious car accident, I did not realize that whip-lash takes a few days to really set in. While I had initially thought that my most serious injuries were to my knees, which hit the dash board, the whip lash quickly became very painful. My parents were kind enough to interrupt their wintering in Arizona to take care of me and the girls for week shortly after the accident. I am receiving therapy and and will, hopefully, get better over the next few months.

A few days after the accident I was resting in bed and Juliet snuggled up next to me and read me some books. At one point, she looked me and said, "I forgive him." I said, "Who do you forgive?" She said, "I forgive that boy who hit us in the car crash." I thought that was so sweet and unexpected for her to say!

New Thing Number 2: Carpeting in our Bedroom:

We when first moved into our house 9 years ago we put new carpeting in our bedroom. I had it in my head that I wanted color, so we decided on light green carpeting and peach walls. I liked it for a long time, but then we decided to sell our house. So, we repainted the walls white, but kept the green carpeting. Then, on Monday Juliet accidentally knocked over the iron and it landed on the light green carpeting. She was okay, but it burned the carpeting. It did not look good. We finally decided it was time for some new stuff. Thus, the green has been replaced with a dark cream and looks great.

We are hoping for some good luck in the next month, because our pocket-book is feeling the pinch from all of our accidents!

Animal Friends

Sophia and a small portion of her stuffed animals.

Sophia and Juliet pretending to be puppies; Adam is taking them for a walk.

Sophia and her animals "on the train."


Juliet and her animals "on the train."

The girls love their stuffed animals and they love to pretend to be animals. Here are a few pictures to prove it.

Sleeping Beauties

Juliet with her puppies: Woofie and Fetch

Sophia with her bunnies: Bunny Bun and Baby Bunny Bun

Sophia and Juliet share a room, and they love it. On most nights, they talk and giggle themselves to sleep. I love to listen to them. I also think they look like little angels when they sleep.

Conversation with Juliet

Juliet (getting out of the car): Oh, look! The moon followed us home. I didn't even realize that!

Adam: Oh, that's great! Juliet, I love hearing you talk.

Juliet: Thanks. I do have a beautiful voice.

Happy Vietnamese New Year!

I occasionally go to a nail salon near our house called "Nails Only." It is nice, inexpensive, and owned by a Vietnamese couple. I am on their mailing list. This year we received an invitation from the owner to attend a Vietnamese New Year's celebration at a restaurant, Lucky Dragon, for a small fee. I thought it sounded great. So we went. It lived up to my expectations. It was a large event with almost 500 people in attendance (we were 4 of about 20 non-Asian people). At first there was several speeches, including one from guest speaker Senator Amy Klobuchar (who I shook hands with!). There was also traditional and modern Vietnamese music.

Then there was the dragon dance, which was as fabulous as it sounds. Sophia and Juliet were absolutely mesmerized. At one point, a red dragon came close to us; Juliet hugged Adam tight and exclaimed, "Daddy! Hide! Hide!" Once she understood that the dragons were just kids in a costume, she became obsessed. Over and over again she asked if she could wear the dragon costume. Finally, Adam told her they could try to make one at home. I do not know exactly how that is going to happen!

After the dragon dance, our seven course meal began. The girls tried the first few courses and then were too full. I sat next to an interesting women named Phuc (pronounced fu), who is a librarian at the Richfield library near our house. I am going to email her tomorrow, because she plans all of the fun Asian cultural activities at the library and wants to include us! Sophia and Juliet sat very patiently during the three hour dinner, and said they had a great time.

Course #2: Potstickers. Yum!

The Dragon Dance

Juliet ate a lot of her seafood soup. Sophia tried one bite, but only because I made her!



Dragon Sophia. She made the mask at school when they were talking about the Chinese new year.

More of the Dragon dance. Sophia stayed on the chair and kept her distance.

Waiting for dinner. I purchased my Vietnamese dress over ten years ago when I was in a Vietnamese wedding of one of Adam's friends. In the past, I wore it all of the time. I dusted it off, and lo and behold, it still fit!

Juliet Can Write Her Name!

Adam has been helping her learn to write (I have been helping her learn her letters and sounds). Juliet has been doing a great job learning her letters. Now, she can write her name! She has been able to write her name at home for the last few weeks. But when we got this picture from school with Juliet's name written on it, we knew that she REALLY knew how to write her name! It really is so rewarding being able to teach your kids. Their little brains really want to learn.

Birthdays!

On January 29, Juliet turned 3 and Adam turned 38 (Sophia was telling the teachers at school that he was turning 48). It is hard to believe that lil' Miss Juliet is now three years old! On Saturday, we had a little birthday party for her at build-a-bear at the Mall of America. The mall was unusually crazy and crowded, but it was fun. Juliet's friends Maxwell and Jackson joined in the fun, too. The next day, we had brunch with the Heffelbower gang at Uptown Cafeteria. It was so much fun. And as you will see from the pictures, the cotton candy given to the birthday crew made it extra fun.

Juliet enjoying her cotton candy at the Uptown Cafeteria. I can only assume that her mouth is wide open behind this puff of cotton candy.


The Heffelbower gang.

Juliet quickly became a sticky mess.

Lindsay and baby Whitney, who slept the entire time.

Juliet in a birthday outfit from Jada, Jon, Jackson and Maxwell.

This picture is not staged. It looks like their entire heads have been eaten by cotton candy.

Yum!

Sophia and Juliet playing with their new American Girl doll outfits from Green Bay Grandma and Grandpa.

Sophia was so, so, so excited to give Juliet the birthday present that she picked out herself: a little brown beagle puppy, which Juliet named "Fetch."

Sophia also made Juliet a card at school. She drew a picture of Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall. I am not sure who was more excited about Juliet's birthday--Juliet or Sophia!

Sophia on Video!