Girls' day out

Still in the process of catching up with all of the pictures we have to share, but we're getting there.  A few weekends ago, Emma and I used some passes we won at a silent auction to go to the High Museum in Atlanta.  The boys decided to stay home and hold down the fort while we went and enlightened ourselves.

Emma enjoyed the Marta train ride as much as the museum itself.

I knew she'd enjoy visiting an art museum, since she absolutely loves anything to do with art.  But what I didn't think about was the fact that she might not be able to appreciate walking around and quietly looking at painting after painting.  (She didn't really.)  Thankfully, the people at the High Museum DID think of that and made a special area just for kids to get their hands on some of the cool stuff they see throughout the museum.  Emma's favorite part was playing with these huge oddly shaped blocks.  They reminded me of Tetris pieces!

 We took a self portrait in the kids' area, so that we could remember how much fun we had there.

They had some clear pieces of plastic set up so you could draw on them with crayon, wipe it off, and draw again.  If you can't read this, it says "I love every buddy."

Emma's second favorite thing was running up and up on the ramp that goes between the four floors of the museum. 

She definitely liked looking at the contemporary art the best, especially the Howard Finster exhibit (folk art made from discarded items, like bicycles, silverware, broken tiles, etc.).  I think next time we go, we'll head straight for that section and skip the Renaissance art.

Snapped this photo when we went to Best Buy last weekend.  I think Drew thought he was actually steering the car!  His favorite phrase lately is when he points to any type of vehicle -- car, truck, rocket, airplane -- and says, "VROOM VROOM!"  Maybe I'll catch it on video sometime.


The other day I was helping Emma get in the car after strapping Drew into his car seat.  When I looked back at him, he was proudly wearing an old pair of my sunglasses.  Don't you love the rhinestones on him?

And one current picture for you... Emma's class had a luau party at summer camp today.  Feeling bad because I totaly forgot about packing her a towel and sunglasses for Wednesday's beach party, I made a special trip to the store for a few luau items to make sure she was festive today.  Lucky for me, Target has a bunch of hawaiian-themed stuff for $1, so Emma was decked out from head to toe!

Kindergarten Graduation #1

You can tell my Blogger phone app isn't working by my lack of posts lately.  But the kids are away at Grandma and Grandpa K's house this morning, so I had some time to download a few photos and finally make a post about Emma's graduation.  It's only 2 weeks late!

There were only seven kids in her graduating class, so the ceremony didn't take very long. 

After the kids sang to us, they entertained us with their recorder skills.

After the "will definitely make you cry" photo slideshow, it was time to give out the diplomas.

Our proud Goddard School graduate!

Emma and her teacher

I hate that Emma and her BFF Elizabeth will be going to different elementary schools next year.  At least they will see each other occasionally afterschool. 

Emma and her friend Charlie

After the reception, we went out for dinner with Grandma & Grandpa H.  Emma decided to have a little fun with Drew's spaghetti.  Look at those eyebrows!

 And since Drew hasn't appeared once in this post, here he is showing his latest favorite food: blue blues!  (blueberries)  He asks for them every day, whether we have any or not.  Thankfully he hasn't realized yet that he can squish them and make a big mess.  It's only a matter of time, though.

 Time to go pick up the kiddos, but hopefully we'll be updating you with another post in less than two weeks this time! 

Beautiful ballerina

Last night was Emma's ballet recital.  I've asked her at least five different times if she wants to take lessons again next year, and she says no, so this was her last...her "swan song," if you will. 

She and her classmates did a wonderful job -- it was so obvious how far they've come since last year's performance!  I was so proud.  Daddy would have been proud too, except he spent the whole time trying to entertain Drew, who wanted nothing more than to run up and play where the girls were dancing.  Anything else resulted in loud screaming, which resulted in the boys spending most of the time peeking through the window (you can see them in some of the videos below) and playing out on the playground.

We have some other pictures from the nice camera that I will post soon, but for now, I have some videos and photos I can share from my phone.

The first two videos are the same song, but Blogger wouldn't let me load the video all in one file, so I had to break it up into two parts.  Emma starts in the back row on the far left (the taller of the two blondes).  I apologize for the shaky camera work at the beginning...it's clear who the better photographer is in our family, but unfortunately he was busy tending to The Loud One. 

At the end of the performance, they each got to do a leap and then receive their little certificate from Miss Jamie.  "Leap" might be a strong word for what Emma did.  I'd call it more of a "jump."  Her walk back to her seat, with one arm up in the air, is precious.

The four girls from the Kindergarten class, who have grown so close over this past year.
 

Emma's graduation ceremony (yes, another one) is on Friday, so expect more photos soon!

Muffins, Mom, and Mr. Independent

I was lucky enough to spend some time with both kids at Muffins With Mom this past Friday morning.  I even went to the trouble of making a special batch of nut-free muffins so that Drew would be able to have one, instead of just watching the rest of us eat.  Emma sweetly escorted us into the room and showed us to our seats at the table.  Drew instantly hopped down and ran off to play with the "big kid" toys and didn't want anything to do with the muffins. 

You can see how uninterested he was in joining us at the table in this first photo:

Got a much better picture 10 seconds later, once I let him go and do what he wanted.  And he still made it into the shot!

By the time I left the school, my arms were filled with gift after sweet gift from both kids.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

First look

Saturday morning was our first chance to see Emma's new school, which was just finished being built a few weeks ago.  We started off with a 5K to benefit the science, art, and technology departments.  There was a Fun Run for the kids too, but we figured Emma and Drew would rather ride along on the 5K because we didn't know how long the Fun Run would be.  Turns out it was just across the school parking lot.  In contrast, the 5K (3.1 miles) with a double stroller holding 75lbs of kiddo with very steep uphills and downhills seemed like a MARATHON!  

I did not appreciate the comments from the peanut gallery.  "Mom, how come you're not running as fast as the other people in front of us?"  "I wish you'd go faster so we could feel a breeze."  "If I was pushing the stroller, I'd run faster than this."  "Go go go! (Drew)"  Misery.  Suffice it to say, next year Daddy can run the 5K and Mommy will assist Emma and Drew in the Fun Run across the parking lot!

After we were good and sweaty, it was time to go inside and get a tour of the new school.  It's so new that there's no furniture yet, but it was still a good chance for Emma to get a peek at where she'll be going for the next six years. 

It struck me as she stood at the front entrance that it sure is a big building, and she sure does look awfully small.

The main hallway:

I have a feeling we will be watching many school performances on this stage.

Ready for elementary school.

The vast cafeteria, which we tried to explain will be full of tables with kids eating lunch.  I don't think she quite grasped the concept, since they eat lunch in their classroom at her school now.  Also, she is demonstrating here how it's not as hard as Mommy said earlier that morning to push a stroller around and walk fast.  Mommy politely reminded her that there were TWO kids in the other stroller and that there are no hills in the cafeteria.  She wasn't very sympathetic. 

Drew didn't care one way or the other about the new school, but he does care about his new favorite spot to enjoy a snack. 

Crazy hats and sparkly teeth

Today was Crazy Hat Day at school, so we rounded up the craziest hats we could find.  Special thanks to Aunt Laura for Drew's selection.  She gave it to him for Christmas, and today was the first day he kept it on his head for more than 2 seconds!

Today was also Emma's first dentist appointment.  She did awesome and got a big thumbs up from Dr. Charlie for having no cavities.  Right before I took this picture, she was inspecting her freshly cleaned teeth in the mirror, and she said excitedly, "I can see the sparkles on my teeth!" 

After the appointment, it was off to school to put on her pink sombrero and join the Crazy Hat Day fun.

Tomorrow, we'll be up early for a 5K at Emma's new elementary school, and then we get to go inside and have a tour.  Emma is SO excited to see her new school!  We'll be sure to snap some pics to share.

Roswell Square

I mentioned in the last post that we were out and about on Saturday.  We decided to go check out the Marietta Square, since neither of us had been there in many years.  However, on the way to Marietta, we passed through the downtown Roswell area.  Boy, has it changed since  I used to live there!  It looked like so much fun that we changed our plans and spent the afternoon in Roswell instead. 

I don't have any pictures of the historic district area on Canton Street, but it is lined with quirky shops and yummy restaurants.  Because it was a warm, sunny day, the patios were hopping.  Tim and I will definitely come back for a date night sometime soon!  

After grabbing lunch at one of the cafes, we strolled down Magnolia Street and made Daddy take some photos of the kids in the square.  I don't have much to say about the photos, so I'll keep the commentary to a minimum.  Just wanted to share these because there are quite a few good ones.  Enjoy!



I must admit -- this was an interesting plaque about Roswell King and how the city of Roswell came to be.  Grandpa Hill, if you haven't read this yet, I recommend checking it out sometime!

Not sure what had her so excited here, but it was definitely something!