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Sunday, June 02, 2013

no rest for the weary

Let me start by saying that anyone out there with more than two kids...kuddos to you! I have no idea how you do it. I find it hard to get through the week, keeping up with my two. I've got to hand it to those Mom's with more than two children, because I am pretty confident that I would not be able to handle it.


Through all of the chaos of managing our household we manage to have quite a bit of fun. It is important to me that my kids get to experience as many things as we can possibly give them. One of those things recently included taking the girls to Disney on Ice. We went last year and just took Olivia. Cece wasn't even one at the time and we did not think she was old enough to enjoy it. So glad we choose to take her this year.




It was a given that Olivia would enjoy herself. I wasn't sure if Cece would have the patience to sit through the entire show, but she did great. She was fascinated by the skating characters and the Tinkerbell hat she was able to take home that night. I love when we can create fun family memories for the girls, and these Disney shows always deliver!




With the first signs of Spring we began counting down the days until the opening of our zoo. Each year we have a zoo pass that allows us to come and go as much as we wish during the summer. The weather did not cooperate with opening weekend of the zoo, but that didn't stop us. 


It was a chilly, drizzly day but turned out to be the prefect zoo day. All of the animals were very active and friendly. We stared into the eyes of Bill the Lion, Cece fed a giraffe for the first time, we got up close and personal with the oranatang, and of course had a ride on the carousel! There was hardly a soul there which made it even nicer. It was probably the best visit we have ever had at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. Note to self...the chilly, rainy days are the best times to go!




The girls have been keeping us very busy with their activities lately. Olivia has her dance classes two days a week. Her recital is coming up at the end of June and then she will have the summer off. She is also very involved with soccer. She has one practice and one game each week. She loves it and seems to be quite good. Cece realized that it was time to start keeping up with her big sister and started gymnastics lessons. 


She has been going for about a month now, and after a slow start she has begun to enjoy it. If nothing else, being a part of this class is helping her get used to organized activities. She will start taking a dance class in the fall, so this is perfect practice to get prepared for that. And she looks stinkin' adorable in her little leotard!



The first week of May included a few fun activities. The first was Cinco de Mayo. I like to celebrate this holiday because I LOVE Mexican food. We had our own little Mexican feast with margaritas and all. Olivia desperately wanted to try a margarita so we made her a virgin version. She loved it whcih of course made her sister jealous, so the whole family ended up enjoying a nice margarita with dinner that night.





I also celebrated my 35th birthday at the beginning of the month. I had the entire week off of work to get ready for our annual garage sale. On my birthday the whole family went out to dinner. In my opinion as you get older birthdays become less and less important. What is important is that I had my two sweet girls by my side. It was a good day!


As this school year comes to an end for Olivia she is faced with many changes. She has to say goodbye to the classroom where she has spent the past four years and the teacher with whom she has a very special bond. She will be moving into the Elementary classroom next year and things will be quite different. Many of her little friends will be moving up as well which should help to ease the transition. 


The end of the school year also means it time for some hard goodbyes. There are usually some friends that are moving onto other schools, or friends leaving town. In this case Olivia will be saying goodbye to someone she has grown incredibly close to in a very short amount of time. Her dear friend, Vicky. Vicky is from China and she spent the second half of the school year here while her father worked at one of our local colleges. When Vicky arrived at the school she could hardly speak a word of English. In a few short months she was able to speak very well, with the help of Olivia. 





Olivia took Vicky under her wing and taught her everything she needed to know to be successful in the Primary classroom. They have became dear friends and Vicky's impending return to China in a few short days is something Olivia is not ready to deal with. They have exchanged numerous gifts in the past months and have given each other many momentos in which to remember each other. I am not sure how Olivia will handle saying goodbye to hear dear friend, but I know it is going to be hard. Not just for her...but for me too. 

There are always some fun activities jammed into the last few weeks of school. One of my favorites is the Mother's Day luncheon. Each year the school hosts a lunch for the kids and their Moms. I always look forward to this, but not as much as Olivia does. The kids all work hard on their special gifts for us and you could just see how proud they were as they presented their creations!



It was nice to share lunch with Olivia, her friends and their Moms. Olivia has made some very special friends during her time at Peace Montessori and nothing makes me happier than to sit back and watch the special bond they have. Each year there are friends that move on and Olivia must say goodbye. It is never easy and as Olivia gets older I think it becomes more difficult for her. But there are also friends that she will continue her educational journey with for the next few years and that gives her comfort.



With school coming to an end we can start to get into full summer mode. A few weeks ago the temps were high so we busted out the baby pool and sprinkler for the girls. Olivia is a little big to splash around in the tiny pool but she is more than willing to play along with Cece. 




When Olivia was a baby we set up her tiny slide so that it fell into her baby pool. She loved it! Knowing Cecilia we thought she would love it as well. Judge for yourself...





I could have watched this girl play in her pool all afternoon. I had to force myself to put my camera down after catching numerous smiles, laughs and squeals. There is no greater joy than watching the joy in your child's eyes. Nothing compares to it!


The girls have been keeping us quite busy lately, but what else is new? I am not complaining. I love the fact that my girls are busy bees. All of these wonderful experiences will help to make them well rounded, happy kids. Things aren't slowing down anytime soon, either. We are getting ready to leave for California next week to visit my Aunt. It will be Cece's first tip out there, but Olivia's 8th, I think! Should be fun, but exhausting I'm sure! More to come...