Lea reports "words of wisdom" for her school.

Morning announcements at school on October 29, 2013. 

Lea was given the script and practiced all weekend. She did awesome!

The image is the speaker in the foyer of the school 

with a portrait of the school's namesake and dedication plaque.
I didn't want to make her nervous or annoyed by my omnipresence so I stayed in the hall. She saw Dan and I when she finished and she got a kiss and a big thumbs up from both of us.

Third Grade

Where does the time go?!? Lea is in third grade now. She is still in the dual language program and in class with many of her best friends. She is now on a soccer team, The Cheetahs who have more rainouts than games, but again she's with many of her best friends. She's got something going every day after school from a schedule playdate (possibly to be replaced by violin soon — which she took last year and for 6 weeks over the summer), CCD, Science club (run by a lady from my church group coincidentally), Girl Scouts and soccer practice. That fills up the week. Dan is not crazy about this stacked schedule, but Lea seems to be doing very well with it. 

Loaded with attitude.

One front tooth growing in, the other a gaping hole.

Many days we see more of this, than we see her face. She's addicted to screens of all shapes and sizes.

Third grade style. These high tops light up. Thanks Grandma Bubby!

Ready for Third Grade!

Even on cold days, she's sporting her own style. This is "cheetah coat" (which replaces last year's "bear coat") and her purse full of essentials such as two kinds of hand lotion, lip gloss, toothpaste sample (but no tooth brush), 4 key chains (but no keys), and a camera. What every eight year old needs!

More skating

Lea is a fantastic skater. When she goes to Grandma Bubby's, Grandma lets her skate in the kitchen doing the whip around the kitchen island like roller derby. Lea also skates in the driveway. Here she is with her new Build-a-Penguin (instead of build-a-bear) who came with a new dress and pajamas (complete with eye mask).

In the first few weeks of school there was also a Girl Scout skating party. Lea was having a lot more fun than this photo shows. They had a great time with many of the Girl Scout troops in our area.

Eight is great, skate and stay up late.

 Lea's Eighth birthday was celebrated in fabulous fashion. She got family presents on the morning of her birthday. Dan got her a mini drum kit. Its not as torturous as it sounds.

Big smiles with two front teeth missing for our Great Eight year old.

Presents from Grandma JoAnn. Great gifts all round.

On Lea's actual birthday we went to Chuck E. Cheese with Aunt Teresa and Robert.

Lea with her Chuck E. Cheese swag.

How did Daddy get the sweets? Don't fill up, we're on our way to Mooya for dinner.

What a happy girl after Chuck E. Cheese on her birthday.

 After Lea's actual birthday we had a weekend party for her friends. Of course we can't just have a little party and call it done, oh no! We had a skate party and then the girls came back to the house for a spa party and a slumber party. Everyone made it through the night without incident thanks to an hour and a half of reading Gulliver's Travels (a book I thought boring enough to put anyone to sleep with its old language, but I was told be a few of the girls it was too exciting and made it hard to go to sleep).

Birthday girl with her new skates ready for guests.

Ready to skate.

Birthday girl gets a balloon hat (which mommy wore more than the birthday girl) and was the center of attention for a few skates. Including the Hokey Pokey!

Cupcakes with friends at the skate rink

The skate party was very much about the money tornado box! 

 

I'm not sure which one of us had more fun at the skate party!

Then it was back to the house for our spa party. Lea had a little book of spa treatments and made her list for us to follow. We made at least 5 from scratch beauty treatments with different stations for the girls to travel to in pairs.

The master beauty treatment list.

The skate cake.

The make up station where the pairs of girls got to make each other up.

More make up than maybe an eight year old should have.

The nail salon where I painted nails. With glitter thanks to Grandma JoAnn's great nail salon gift. It was a fantastic addtion. We also had a massage station with hot rocks and face and hands station with hand made scrubs. Also a "make your own pizza" station run by Daddy.

Ready for the sleepover part

This little prodigy could play "We will rock you" as soon as she sat down! Lea's best rif was a rim shot. She'd run over and say "Tell a joke, tell a joke!" and then Ba-dum-bum.

The next day swimming and lots of play before bringing the party to an end.

 

Maine vacation July 2013

Click here for photos of Maine vacation July 2013, a set on Flickr.

12 state in 11 days from Dallas, Texas to Portland, Maine for the 4th of July and mom's birthday — caught lobsters, saw amazing fireworks, visited the Blue Ridge State Park and swam every day from here to there and back again. Amazingly awesome trip with an amazingly awesome family!