unFrozen

The Disney movie "Frozen" is still a huge hit with little girls.  Dawson invited Grace to her "unFrozen" pool party yesterday.  It was a blast!

Grace loved jumping into the deep end (12 feet!) from the diving board.

And the highlight for all the girls was when Elsa arrived to spend a little time with them.

Elsa put lipgloss on each girl, gave them princess wands, and showed them how to walk and wave like a queen.  Grace loved seeing her and told me on the ride home that is was the REAL Elsa.

A little birdie told me...

It has been a busy 11 days since the last day of school.  In that time Grace has gone to the pool, went on field trips to the movies and to Lake Farmpark, took a cooking class, saw a magician show, and went to vacation bible camp.  Today, she participated in her first golf lesson.

There were 11 kids in the group with two golf pros.  They started out showing them how to grip the club, how to stand, and how to swing.

And then they finally got to hit some balls!

The coaches reviewed what they learned and gave all the kids a token for a free bucket of balls.

Grace told me she had a good time and we agreed to go to the driving range to practice a little before her next lesson.

First and last

Today was the last day of first grade.  Grace told me this afternoon that she was sad to leave Mrs. Harris.  She really was a wonderful teacher who made learning fun.

It was a good school year. Grace ended the year at a DRA (reading level) of 24-28 which is a mid-2nd grade equivalent and her report card was perfect in all subjects.  We know Grace is not perfect and she needs time to think and process new concepts, but we were pleased with the results of 9 months of hard work. She is reading chapter books (with a little help) and is independent in so many ways.

Having an almost 2nd-grader is really so much fun because Grace has a personality and a definite opinion but she is still my baby and likes to cuddle and give me a big squeeze when I leave her at Kindercare in the morning.  
It is hard to believe how much she has grown since we took this photo back on the first day of first grade in August.  Doesn't Grace seem so much older?

 And, she does know how to spell "first" now!

Young chefs

Grace and her friend, Brooklynn, went to a cooking class yesterday at a place called "Young Chef's Academy".  They have classes for kids a few times per week where they teach technique, how to use different cooking tools and utensils, and safe food preparation.

They say that kids will eat a greater variety of foods if they help with the preparation.  They made grilled calzones and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies. These two ate every last bite!

I don't think either of them are picky eaters, but I am sure making the food themselves had something to do with it!

Family

One day last week I came home from work to find this on Grace's art easel:

And then a few days later it looked like this.

She is certainly not going to win any awards for being an artist, but I can't imagine any better illustration of our little family.