Party girls

Kellie planned and hosted a unique "art and tea" birthday party for Dawson's friends.

The girls used clay to make animal-shaped pinch pots and drank tea from real china that Kellie and her mom collected at second-hand stores all spring. What a cute idea!

These clay balls became...

...this cute doggie bowl for Kyle's desk at work.

Outside, Kellie had an area for chalk drawing so everyone could be outside while the studio was transformed for tea and lunch.

One of the artists painted the girls' hands and arms with designs. They didn't do face painting. Being an art studio they felt it was important for the kids to see the process of painting. They all seemed to love watching art created on their bodies!

Looking at the paint and glitter.

Mayna and Grace waiting their turn.
Mayna chose a beautiful dolphin!

Flowers for Grace

And flowers for the birthday girl!

Suitable for framing

We picked up Grace's art work from the studio today when we were there for Dawson's birthday party. This piece was done around Easter during a class about mixing colors. I think it is wonderful and I probably will frame it to hang in my office at work! I love how proud Grace looks showing it off.

Ce-le-bra-tion, come on!

I loaded some Kids Bop music (pop songs sung by kids for kids) onto Grace's Mp3 player last week. Since then she has been singing, ABC (Michael Jackson), Girls Just Want to have Fun (Cyndi Lauper) and Celebration in the back seat. It is funny to hear some of the music I grew up listening to come out of a 4-year old's mouth. And, it is really interesting to see which songs she doesn't like and just scrolls right past, like Stand By Me and Brown-Eyed Girl (one of MY favorites!). She also loves Electric Avenue and takes Kyle's iPhone to play it!

Dancing and singing "Celebration"

Here is Grace right before going to Kyle's nephew Elijah's 5th birthday party this evening. He is having a Star Wars theme, so we were thrilled to find a talking Jedi helmet as a gift. I know Grace can't wait until Elijah opens it so she can try it on.

Thanks for the cute top, Nana. Do you like it?

Too busy to blog

Friday was my "official" day of work for the summer and we have been busy enjoying our vacation time together. That is why I haven't been blogging. But, here is a photo from tonight to prove we are still around.Grace is already working her summer tan! 70 SPF and she STILL has tan lines!

Our next few days include school for Grace tomorrow, golf for Kyle and me, two birthday parties, gymnastics camp, and leaving for our trip to San Francisco. I definitely know how to pack a lot into a short amount of time. Maybe too much.....

Two funny bugs

The Little Gym started in 1976 with the philosophy of encouraging children to do their best in a non-competitive environment. The Little Gym says that their gymnastics routines as based on the USA Men's and Women's compulsory routines for levels 1-4 but children are not "scored" or "graded". Grace has been taking gymnastics lessons here for about 1 1/2 years. I don't expect her to become a competitive gymnast but we see her developing confidence, new physical skills, have having a great time each week! And it is much more fun since our friend, Dawson, joined!

Tonight was the "show" for her Funny Bugs class. After a couple of warm ups and group cooperation exercises, the kids divided into three groups and showed off their skills on the bars, beam, and floor. It was far from perfect, but fun to watch!

At the end, every child received a medal and posed for pictures. They were so proud.

Our "Funny Bugs" posing!

Giddy up, Cruiser!

I surprised Grace with horseback riding lessons this week. She gets so excited around horses so when I saw a Groupon for lessons at a farm near our house, I got it right away! I bought three 1-hour lessons, but the instructor suggested that we come for double the number of 30-minute lessons. So, we will go once a month from now until November!

When we got there, Grace said, "I like it here with the horses!" Uh, oh....we DO NOT WANT TO BUY A HORSE.....PLEASE remind me of this when she asks for one! Because you know I am going to have a hard time resisting this face.

Grace met Cruiser, watched as they put the saddle on him, and got right on. The instructor showed her how to put her feet in the stir-ups, how to use the reins, and how to say "giddy up" and "whoa" to control the horse.

Before long she was using the reins alone and moving Cruiser around the outside of a little cone. I was impressed at what Grace was able to do for her first lesson.

Whoa, Cruiser!
Look at her pulling on the reins!

Left turn....

I loved how quiet and patient she was. She stopped sometimes and gave Cruiser a pat saying, "Good job, Cruiser!" Grace seemed so comfortable and confident on such big animal. You can see it in her face.

When it was time to end the lesson, Grace led him into the stable and spent a few minutes brushing and patting him. We talked about how much work a horse is....it isn't just fun and games of riding. Someone has to clean the poop! She wasn't too sure about that.

Running through the sprinkler

This is what we did tonight before dinner!

Last call

Tonight was my last high school graduation....at least until "Little Miss Attitude" graduates in 14 years!