Bowling with Teresa

We took Robert and Teresa bowling for Teresa's birthday (its not until Aug. 31, but we'll be on vacation in sunny Myrtle Beach!) We had a blast! We went up to a place called Strikz in Frisco.

We bowled, we ate, we played games.Everyone seemed to have a really good time. Lea was in heaven rolling balls, playing with Teresa.
Lea and Teresa at the bowling alley

Teresa's awesome rental shoes.


I actually won a game of bowling. I don't think I've ever beat Dan before.

Even Lea did pretty well. Of course she had the benefit of bumpers. This bowling alley had them come up automatically when it was Lea's turn. Pretty cool and high tech. They also had a metal frame that helped Lea bowl. She put the ball up and pushed it down a ramp. She did pretty well. Although when I helped her I forgot to move the metal stand for the second frame and the ball would inevitably go right through the hole the first ball left. Bright, Mommy!
Dan helps Lea bowl with a metal frame made just for kiddos.

The group shot.

After bowling we played a few games. It was half price day at the arcade so we got WAY too many credits, but we had fun with reckless abandon. Daddy's favorite was Deal or No Deal and ended up with a pile of tickets. I liked the snowmobile game. Lea and Teresa and Robert all played a car race game, but Lea ended up going the wrong direction.
Here is Lea at the Wack-a-mole

And we ended up with 358 tickets. I bargained with the ticket taker to get us 2 bears (valued at 200 tickets each) so that Lea and Teresa could have matching bears. Teresa chose purple and Lea chose yellow (until the way home when she said she wanted purple like Teresa, but now she's happy with yellow.)

We've started ballet class

Lea took her first official Ballet class yesterday (Tuesday Aug. 19). We went for one trial ballet class two weeks ago to make sure she liked it. She did. They did a lot of little kid games, like a princess walk and walking like a bear (downward dog on the go) and jumping like a frog. The best, I thought was "going on a bear hunt." Its a song where you "walk through the forest" so you take big steps sweeping pretend grass out of the way, then "travel in the canoe" where you pretend to paddle, then "go over the bridge" so you walk on tip toe, and so on and so on. Then you find the bear, which in this instance was a little stuffed bear the teacher had put up on a shelf. Lea said "Oh, its just a stuffed bear." It was so funny to me. She even went over to the teacher and said "Its just a stuffed bear."

Lea getting ready for the tryout class.

Pretty ballerina waiting for class on her carpet.



Lea interacted with the other girls very cutely. That's what I think will be best about the class is having friends she sees every week.




I went with Lea to the tryout class, but did not get to go to the first class. It is something that can get Daddy and Lea out of the house, so I'm not supposed to go, but boy did I want to. She's so adorable with her hair pulled back in her LEAtard. I explained it was called a leotard, and she ran to Daddy and said "This is my LEAtard." And she loves the ballet shoes! I talk to little footsies every night and they say they love the ballet shoes too!

The class seems to end with ribbons on sticks. Dan got some pictures of the girls twirling their ribbons. And there is some video of that too. All the video is from the tryout class.

Her teacher's name is Miss Amanda who seems very good with the girls. She said to us after the tryout class, "If they didn't cry it was a success." I like a woman with low expectations. Seriously, what she meant was that Lea was kind of shy and I'm sure there's been a melt down or two on the floor. There was one little girl at the tryout class (the last class of the summer session) who would NOT do anything without her mom, so I joined in a bit to get Lea going, but removed myself halfway through. Since I wouldn't be there every week, I felt it important not to set a precedent. Dan said at the first real class she was hesitant on some things, but got involved in the big stuff. Sounds like next week she will get to stand next to Miss Amanda so she can help her be less shy about moving around. But if we stick with it... Rather, as we stick with it, we have 9 months to go. And a recital in June. I don't expect it to be more than the little girls waving their ribbons on sticks around, but perhaps I will be surprised! I am excited about our first recital of any sort.





video link if the above playlist does not work

The Big 3 Ring Circus Party

Lea's 3rd Birthday (3 ring circus!) was a complete success. We had so much fun. As usual, Mommy had grand plans and Daddy made them all come to reality. We had a make shift big top. A cardboard box circus train and an acrobat course. Mommy's vision realized thanks to Daddy's hard work!

I put together some circus posters, that I am rather proud of, to decorate the fence. I found some posters on a college collection website and changed out the text for the toddler/pre-school theme.
Circus Posters slideshow


The party began with some outside play. We put together our pre-school sized acrobat course and, when completed, the kids got a sticker. Leo ended up with 6 stickers. The stickers were a hit! Here, Lea leads Molly and Anna on the "tightrope" as Dylan watches and waits her turn.

The tumbling area was the second stop on the course. This was not too popular until I sat down and helped the kids flip over, then many of the kids were tickled to roll over.

Last on the course was the trapeze swing, the most popular stop. Daddy pushes Lea on the trapeze swing

This was the most popular and has become a permanent fixture in our back yard. Lea still loves it. While both Lea and Leo tried to push the boundaries by pulling up a chair and jumping off, (which we quickly put the kibosh on) they were content to be swung by Dan. He could get them pretty high (as seen in the videos at the end). The kids loved the swing.



In between acrobat course play, the kids ran around in the circus train, painted and put together by Daddy. He did such a great job putting this fun play area together. Grandpa Dan bought us great inflatable animals for our menagerie. Lea, Leo and Dylan played a game of runaway monkey (also in the videos at the bottom).

Dylan and Lea peek out of the Circus Train

Lea and Dylan in the Circus Train

The managerie


And once all our guests arrived and had some outside play time, we made our way inside for the best puppet show ever. Mia and her friend Lucy put on a wonderful marionette puppet show with the help of Leo (who helped set up the different scenes). The kiddos sat perfectly for the show with help from some hulless popcorn snacks and juice bags, but mostly I think parents and kids sat enraptured by the great show. Mia and Lucy used a combination of dolls, stuffed animals and crafted puppets to do Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Teddy Bear Picnic and more verses to the Itsy Bitsy Spider than anyone knew (well I guess the girls knew them, but I was amazed!). My favorite of their puppets was the glow worm which was a large plastic tube (like a can for tennis balls) with yellow pipe cleaners inside for the glow. That one really struck me as inventive, but all of the puppets were great. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Super Bear. Lea is quick to remind me of Super Bear. Super Bear was baby bear who kept wanting to fly around and interrupt things. This was a cute addition and transition throughout the show. The little kids really loved super bear and his super hero call of "Su-u-u-per Bear"
The Puppeteers in front of their adoring audience

The puppeteers Lucy and Mia with their stage hand Leo.


Aunt Teresa got Lea a "3" ribbon that she wore with pride.

Aunt Bonny and Lalanya got in the spirit of the party with clown noses. Bonny and Lalanya brought lots of clown paraphernalia. The noses were a big hit. We also got a flower that squirted water. Dan and I had Lea convinced that it just blew air for a while, but she got wise somehow and we made it a pool toy. Lea squirts it at us when we "smell the flower," but it also makes a good fountain.

Lea and Lucy with clown noses.


After the puppet show it was time for presents and cake. That went swiftly and wonderfully. Lea got wonderful presents from everyone. Thank you so much to everyone. We've had so much fun with all the presents.
Lea with one of her fabulous presents. Sleeping Beauty and her pretty dresses.

Lea in her new Tinkerbell hat blowing out her candle.


And finally (if you're 3) it was time to swim. I put swimming on the invitation because I knew that the kids would see the pool while playing outside, and we swam last year. I was very worried it was too much to ask of the guests and fretted that the moms would leave before swimming, but everyone was all for swimming. The kids asked a few times "is it time to swim yet?" All the kids got in the pool, and many parents too. Who knew our little pool would hold so many people? It was so fun to swim with everyone and I was thrilled that everyone was excited about it. Really what better way is there to spend a July afternoon?

The look of joy on Daddy's face as he soaks in monkey soup
We had a blast. The next day, when it was just me and Lea in the pool, I asked, "do you like the pool better like this or filled with your friends?" "With friends," Lea quickly answered.

The kids played around out of the pool too. Here are Kris, Lea and Wilder playing with the new water channel table.


Lea (and mommy) had a perfect 3rd birthday. We really had so much fun. It all happened very fast and I kept losing my camera, so thanks to the people who helped me put together these photos. Nothing shows how much fun Lea had better than this photo of Lea running with the reckless abandon of being three.


Here is the Video Playlist. It covers the gamut of the party.


And here is a link for all the photos.

http://picasaweb.google.com/girlygirl449/Birthday72708242PM?authkey=ZZHDiqN2Oi0