Our local aquarium has a preschooler program once a month. We try to go once a year to one with our friends. We just got back from one of these programs. This year the class we attended had only our kids in it. The girls didn’t seem to mind the specialized attention. The class was about coral and the animals found in it. They got to color a seahorse craft, hear a story about a clown fish, have a snack, and touch a live starfish. It was fun. After the class we spent time exploring the aquarium. We caught two dive shows and while it was fun to watch the feeding it was really hard to understand the commentary that went with it. I asked the three of the four girls what their favorite thing to do in the aquarium was. Elena said touching the starfish and Emily and Julia both loved the penguin tunnel.

Some other fun things from the day –

• I had told Julia the night before what we were going to do, but told her it was a secret and not to tell Emily. In the morning I asked her if she had told Emily, she put her finger to her lips and said “shhhhh”. She had kept the secret.
• The girls loved loving on McKenzie and Kenzie seemed to like the attention.
• The glass floor in the penguin area and tunnel took some getting used to for Julia. She didn’t want to walk on it at first. Then she had to master crawling on it. She loved standing above a swimming area and watching them swim by.
• Watching the little girls watch the Nemo fish tank. They tried to grab the very recognizable Nemo and Dory fish.
• Going shopping after the aquarium with a bunch of little girls.

Emily touching the starfish. A lot of times she chickens out of things like this when she actually has to do it, but this time she even asked to do it a second (brief) time.

Julia touching the starfish. She was so excited to get to do this like the other girls.

Ms. Jessica teaching the Sea Squirt class.

Little girls discovering the “Nemo” fish tank. I love Maeve’s face of delight.

Big girl friends hanging out in the fish tank.

Julia watching the penguins swimming with McKenzie and Ms. Heather.

The girls had their last day of Thursday School for the year. Both will be returning next year. The day went well for them. Julia had a substitute in her class and she adjusted amazingly well. One funny thing that she did at pickup time, she accompanied the Mamas to get the big girls from class. They place the lunch boxes and any take home papers on the floor outside of the door. Julia fetched both Emily’s lunchbox and artwork, but also took Elena’s lunch bag to Ashley. I guess, I underestimated her memory and recognition again. Emily was her usual happy-and-hyper self in class.

After school we took our girls out for celebration ice cream. Emily proudly picked Smurf ice cream (it turns your mouth blue as you eat it) and Julia picked strawberry. Everyone finished their ice cream before Emily. Emily was too busy playing and not eating. She offered to let the other little girls share her ice cream to finish it. As they did, I never heard any fussing over it. I thought that amazing for four little girls to sample blue ice cream and not get in each other’s way.

Emily and Julia ready to go into school on their last day before summer break. It was a hot day!

Just a perspective photo from their first day of school last September. It is hard to see how much taller they are, but they both look bigger.

Emily with Ms. Kathy, her teacher.

Emily with Ms. Louise, the class helper (and fun toy provider)

A little after-school celebration ice cream

To my girls delight, we took our first trip to Dollywood for the year. There were so many delightful things to enjoy.

1. Going with your best friends. This year Ashley, Elena, and Maeve got tickets too and we made the day trip together. The first thing the girls asked when I told them we were going to Dollywood was if their friends were going too. I didn’t deny or confirm, but surprised them when we met their friends to drive over.

2. Emily got her own ticket. I’m not so excited about this as she was. She is proud of her pass and photo, proud to put the ticket in the machine, proud to walk through the turnstile by herself, and proud to show off her pass to her Daddy. I wish my photo was as good as hers was. She should be proud.

3. Emily has grown since last year. This year Emily is tall enough to drive a car all by herself. She thinks that it is awesome!

4. Peer pressure is not always bad. Emily was willing to try a bunch of things this year that she was afraid of last year. She was still hesitant, but not willing to let Elena do something without her. Thank you, Elena.

5. When we run out of steam, we run out of steam. While we waited to drive the cars one last time, Julia asked for me to hold her. Then she started to give me hugs. Next she laid her head on my shoulder. Lastly, Emily drove her car while Julia slept in my arms.

6. Having season tickets means we can go back.

Sharing a ride around the carousel.

The big girl driving all by herself!

The little one doing her share of driving. She loved driving until she realized there was a horn on Mommy’s side. Then there was conflict over what to do next.

I love the smile on Emily. The carousel is her favorite ride in the park.

Julia still seems little on the big horse. She waved at all the people as we went around like she was a princess in a parade. She even blew kisses out to people who waved back.

Emily was delighted to ride with Maeve on the duck ride. See our pink cheeks – the day was pretty warm for early May.

Happy Julia and her famous wave.

Julia flying around with her friend Maeve. Maeve was missing her Mama who was with the big kids on a roller coaster.

One really tired girl! She slept through a snack and the walk to the car and then played all the way home. Emily fell asleep shortly after we left the and slept all the way home.

The Edwards girls and Tappan girls have been attending Thursday school together these past two years. All four girls were privileged to have Ms. Melanie as their teacher. While there is one more week of school, this past week was Ms. Melanie’s last week with the little girls. She has been such a sweet spirit with the girls showing them so much love. We thought it was good to get a parting photo together. I’m afraid that we made her a bit sad with our parting good-byes. Thank you, Ms. Melanie!

The big girls enjoyed playing together and trying to climb a tree.  

We went strawberry picking with our friends. The morning started out looking stormy, but when we got there it turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day. We joined Ashley, Elena, Maeve, Ariaun, Aiden, Tracy, and Brown for our hunt for red fruity gems. We all left with plenty of great strawberries!

The field was very easy to pick because the plants were elevated and the mounds tarped, but it had a bit of mud along the rows that we had to get around. By the time we were done, the kids were covered in mud and strawberry juice. They seems pretty happy about it.

The big girls picked with Tracy. I’m not sure how much they actually picked, but they seemed to have fun. They also enjoyed hanging out with Brown. He was awesome with the girls! Tracy was very sweet to carry each of the girls over one large mud hole.

The other kids moved between the rows with the other mamas. When they were ready to switch places we picked them up and passed them over the plants. Aiden made himself comfortable with any of the girls or mamas.

Julia started eating strawberries as soon as we got to the strawberry plants. It was like strawberry heaven for her. I wasn’t sure if she was capable of picking a strawberry and putting it in the basket without it going into her mouth. After a while, Julia discovered the dirt path and that she could just play in the dirt. She was one happy girl.

We enjoyed a beautiful spring morning at the UT gardens with friends this morning. We were joined by the usual suspects of Ashley, Elena, Maeve, Heather, and Kenzie. Also joining us was Deborah, Sarah, and Andrew who were in town for a visit and brought Grandma Darrie. The big girls love Ms. Darrie from church. We could not have asked for a more delightful morning. The kids enjoyed being with each other and at times were willing to pose for photos too. I think my favorite game the girls played was pretending to be ants and crawling around a set of benches.

My best photo at our attempt to get one of all of the girls. They are busy and loved being with each other, just not all looking at the camera at the same moment.

Sweet Elena

Emily was so excited to give McKenzie a hug. It was really sweet. She kept hugging and kissing her.

Emily was pretty reluctant to give the camera a smile. She loved checking out the flowers, sticks, garden art, benches, paths, and just everything else in the garden.

Awesome Julia smile!

Kenzie in the Heart

One of my favorite photos from the day. Maeve was really playing in the dirt surrounded by all of the beautiful flowers. Happy as any bug found in the garden.

Sarah and Andrew taking their turn posing in the heart.