One More Thing

Mia is also VERY into anything ancient Greece or ancient Egypt. She loves it all.

Birthday Ideas

In case you were wondering, both my kids would love cowboy boots for their birthdays. Mia is in a size 13 and Lennon is wearing about a 10.

Mia has a list a mile long, but a few of the items listed are:

-colorful duct tape for making duct tape wallets

-Colonial dress for herself and her American Girl doll/dolls

-Stationary

-little fairies for her collection

-American Girl stuff for any of her dolls, but she wants to start collecting the stuff that goes to the actual dolls, so Samantha, Rebecca and Elizabeth. Clothes for the best friends would do just as well; Nellie and Felicity.

-The Chronicles of Narnia series

-Scattergories

Both kids would also love a renewal of our science museum membership. We haven't been in ages and they are aching to go back.

I can't think of anything else for Lennon at the moment. He doesn't really play with toys. He mostly likes to play what he calls "imaginaries." He likes to help me in the kitchen and he LOVES any kind of machine. He recently has become very interested in pipes and sewage systems. We got some books from the library and he is really into them. OH! I just thought of something. He would love one of those models of the human body that you can find at places like The Lakeshore Learning Store that you can take apart and put back together. They have one that is table top size and he thinks it's the coolest.

I'll keep thinking.

Le Premier de Mia's Ballet

The file of her actually up on stage is too big to upload directly to the blog, so I'm going to have to put it on Youtube and then post the link on here. She had fun and did a great job. We brought her flowers and The Brills also brought her a beautiful bouquet and also brought Mateus and Bianca single roses wrapped beautifully. It was fun that although none of our extended family could be there we at least knew a few other kids who go to the same dance school. Her friend Nora from school last year dances at NSB as does Naomi, Biance and Mateus. We sat with The Lima's at the recital and went out to dinner afterwards with The Brills.

Claire was having a hard time getting Bianca's hair up in a nice bun, so they came over before we all headed over to the recital for some help and I snapped a few shots of our little ballerinas

The recital was at Memorial Hall in Melrose.

Mia being silly at Polcari's, where we went to dinner.

Lennon definitely enjoyed dinner more than the recital.

Mia and her best bestie ever! They are so sweet and love each other so much. It is going to be heart breaking for them to be separated next year.

I'll try to get the video up soon.

The Results Are In

I just received the test results for Mia's end of year assessment we did a few weeks back. In her lowest category she scored equivalent to what a student in grade 5.5 would score and in her highest category she scored the same as a student post high school. She scored above average on almost everything. First year home schooling: a success!

Way to go Mia!

More of Papa's Visit

On Monday, Papa's last day here, we went out to the Arboretum in Boston. In 5 1/2 years here we had never been and it was sooo beautiful! Free parking, free admission and lots of gorgeous trails and gardens to explore. We spent a couple of hours there just inspecting the various trees, bushes and flowers.

Lennon made sure to bring his binoculars to get a closer look.

My babies

The prettiest little thing in the world!

Mia dipping her toe in the pond

Just before Mia went to bed Monday night. I had to take Papa to the airport at 5 AM, so the kids were both sleeping soundly until after I got home from dropping him off.

We had an awesome time with you Papa! I can't believe this is our last May here. If anyone wants to come see what Boston has to offer, you better hurry up and plan a trip cause time seems to keep going faster and faster. Before you know it we'll be gone and you won't have a free place to stay anymore to experience all that Boston is!

Papa's Spring 2011 Visit

We are so excited that Papa recently got to come visit us, but we sure missed Nana. Shelby's gig was while Papa was here, so we all packed into the van and went over to Bloc 11 Cafe in Somerville to watch and support him. It was a lot of fun. The kids all sat right in the front row and cheered him on. Lennon was especially excited to clap after every song.

Mia is so proud of her Daddy! She wants to go up on stage with him and perform and it probably won't be too long before she can.

Lennon was almost literally bouncing between his seat with the other kids and this stool next to Papa. Eventually, Papa moved because he was so nervous that Lennon was going to fall off the stool.

Lucky me, I had my sweet husband, two kids and my dad here with me on mother's day this year. It was awesome. They all let me sleep in while they went and bought fresh flowers to adorn the table along with my other gifts. Then after we all got dressed we went to my favorite brunch spot and had a wonderful meal complete with a lovely mimosa!

Mia's acrostic poem she made on our table at Full Moon Cafe in Cambridge on Mother's Day

The kids colored and played and shared a huge plate of pancakes, sausage and fruit.

After breakfast we went to a carnival that always comes to town in the spring. They sell wrist bands for something like $10 for the kids and then just let the adults on the rides with the kids for free. It's so awesome. The kids always have the time of their lives and it was a beautiful day to be walking around in a nice park, where this carnival was.

One of the many crazy rides Mia would have had to do alone if it wasn't for awesome Papa. You really should click on this one to enlarge it to see their faces better.

Our sweet little kiddos in the Dizzy Dinosaur

Going through the Fun House

Lennon probably rode this roller coaster 10 times with various adults. It was called The Wacky Worm and as you can see from his face...

He is QUITE wacky indeed.

Papa with his two favorite Francis grandkids

This ride looked super fun, but I knew I would definitely puke if I did it with her.