Claire's Birthday Trip

Claire turned 7 in April (still last month ... I'm only a month behind).  I talked her into a day trip to Atlanta to shop at the American Girl Doll store in lieu of a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. 

 

{FYI ... After 8 hours driving by myself in one day, I was kind of wishing we were at Chuck E. Cheese.}

 

At the last minute (like on Monday night when we went on a Wednesday), I decided to make Claire and her doll matching dresses to wear on her birthday trip.  Claire's dress became a top because I didn't have enough fabric for a dress.  Fortunately, I had a cute pair of MJ pants that matched perfectly.  I always hate that it takes me just as long to sew the doll dress as it does the big girl dress.  She was really excited and it turned out cute.

 

 

We headed out early and made it to Atlanta just in time to eat lunch at Moe's Southwest Grill ... Claire's all-time favorite restaurant.

 

Then, it was time to shop.  Little Claire and all the other AG dolls racked up!  And this is the time I think ... maybe the birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese would have been cheaper.

 

We love Molly and Emily (Claire has both of these dolls).

 

She was so excited to see Saige!  We had just finished reading her book before we went.

 

Look!  It's little Claire!

 

We opted to do the afternoon tea at the AG cafe.

 

Little Claire even got her own cup of tea.

 

And Claire got a Happy Birthday cupcake.

 

 

Claire and I.

 

Drink up little Claire.  We've got to hit the road!

 

What a fun day with my girl!

Dance Pictures

To tide you over until I get some time to do some MAJOR catching up on the blog.

 

Claire's ballet picture and her pretty feet.

 

Claire's ballet group photo.

 

Claire's jazz group photo.

 

 

Claire's tumbling group photo. 

(FYI ... these cute rompers came from The Children's Place and we will definitely be wearing it to play this summer.)

Spring Soccer

Claire and David both played soccer this year.  David played up in U6.  He did fine.  I think he would have been bored in the younger league another season.  Claire is still playing U8.

 

It was a cold spring, which is surprising since we had such a mild winter.  We wore long-sleeve tees under our soccer jerseys almost every single week.  I even took a blanket one week!

 

Some pictures of David one Saturday.  He was kind of hit or miss as to whether he was really into a game or not.  Sometimes, he preferred to play with the scenery.

 

 

Most of the little boys from Claire's awesome fall soccer team played baseball this spring so we had a whole new team with the exception of her buddy Griffin.  This is her team at practice one night. (I get better pictures at a late afternoon practice than I do at an early morning game.)

 

 

 

Here David in action again.

 

 

David missed his last game because he was running a fever ... and it was 38 degrees that morning.

 

Here is Claire's team photo that Will took on his phone.  (I stayed home with David.)

 

 

Claire and her friend Griffin.

 

Field Trip: Adventure Science Center

Last week, we took what is hopefully out last field trip for 1st grade.  (I had 10 spare days to fill from our curriculum).  We headed out with some other homeschool buddies to the Adventure Science Center.  I went here when I was a child, although I think it was called something different at that time.  I just remember it was a fun trip!

 

The main reason I wanted to go was to see the Magic School Bus exhibit.  It was pretty neat.  It was all about WEATHER.

 

 

Claire and her buddy McCall.

 

We learned a little bit about sound and light in the adventure tower. 

 

 

Then we headed up to BodyQuest where the kids played brain storm-they controlled the ball by controlling their thoughts.

There was a giant heart ...

 

And a water table that showed how blood flows through our veins, arteries, etc.

 

They even spent a little time in the OR.

 

They answered some gross intestinal questions.

 

And they brushed a giant tooth!

 

More fun on the Adventure Tower ... climbing up the vertebrae ladder.

 

The space exhibit was AWESOME!  I loved the giant solar system.

 

Some of the "little planets".  Little compared to Jupiter and Saturn!  The girls really wanted to do the moonwalker (which gives you the feeling of walking on the moon) but you had to weigh at least 50 pounds and our girls clocked in at 41 and 44.  Too bad we couldn't put them in a harness together to meet the weight minimum!

 

In The Magic School Bus exhibit, we learned all about weather.  The air blasters were a big hit!

 

This was Tim's Hot Backyard.

 

Claire was calling in to check the local weather.

 

The girls were dying to get in the "Wild Winds" booth, so Leigh and I scrounged up $2 to play.  The winds got up to 90+ mph.

 

There was hair everywhere!  But they had fun!