Tommy in March

For Tommy, March means baseball and this boy was so ready to get out on the field again.  Back are the games being played and replayed in his head and the full intensity with which he plays every game.  Thankfully, he's followed through baseball season by his own personal photographer (Papa Tom) so we get amazing shots every week.  Tommy takes a Musical Theatre class once a week at the dance studio and continues to train in gymnastics.  He's in Level 2 right now and already felt the pull of deciding between baseball and gymnastics when he was asked to join the gymnastics pre-team.  The schedule would have interfered with baseball and his ability to do anything else, so we all opted to pass on the invite and stay put in Level 2.  He looks forward to being able to play on a basketball team next year.  He's starting to develop that boy appetite and can devour a cheeseburger or several slices of pizza in record time.  We read the first Percy Jackson book as well as the most recent adventure of Origami Yoda.  Tommy continues to flourish at his school and thus far does a beautiful job handling the challenges of his youth vs his abilities.  He has a very supportive teacher and principal who really look out for him as we all make a habit of reminding ourselves how old he is.  I love this t-shirt we found (he's wearing it in some of these pics) with the minions from Despicable Me and the caption "Challenge Accepted."  That's Tommy in a nutshell.

Tommy also wrote another book for his school's Young Author Project titled "The Mystery of the Missing Tree."

Lucy in March

Lucy is currently 4 years old.  She attends preschool 5 mornings a week and takes two dance classes per week in Musical Theatre and Ballet/Tap.  Current obsessions include: Frozen, Nubi frozen yogurt, caesar salad, dancing, Doc McStuffins, and Brown Bear.  She enjoys time with her cousins, particularly Molly.  Molly and Lucy began weekly science classes with Grandma and Aunt Sara at Chabot, following in the footsteps of Tommy and Marco at the same age.

Lucy's drawing of her cousin Molly

Catching Up - January and February edition

Wow... apparently it's mid-April and I haven't posted anything here since 2013.  Yikes!

Well, this will be a quick little catch up.  Honestly the thing that slowed me down, aside from the lack of time, was the disorder of my iPhoto.  The task of organizing that was more daunting than my desire to update the "baby book."  But proctoring a long test will get one caught up on things so here we are.

January:

I organized my biggest dance concert to date, celebrating the 20th Anniversary of our dance concert and welcoming back alumni, recreating old pieces... it was fun but a huge undertaking.  So I'm not sure what my kids were up to most of that time.  Here's what I've got.

Trying out the hoop that Santa brought

Taking care of class "pet" George the Bunny for the weekend

Not taking such good care of class "pet" George the Bunny... (a certain big brother put George up the chimney to examine where Santa comes down)

He wasn't in that much trouble... just a field trip to Alcatraz.  Bay Area kid right of passage!

Cousin fun

Free Samples of Caesar Salad at Trader Joe's (a new obsession)

Just feeding the deer

Is it only raining on her?

February:

Not sure if it's good or bad when my kids spend time with my students.  Especially when they teach Lucy how to take a selfie

1st Semester Awards Assembly - Honor Roll

2nd grade has been very exciting for Tommy academically and personally.  He's having a great time with his class, got a lead role in the musical (playing one of Cruella's henchmen in 101 Dalmatians), and loves playing sports on the playground at every possible outdoors moment.  His school had to tinker with their math program mid-year and adjust the accelerated schedule that all the students were working at.  It's a long story, but the result is that Tommy and his good buddy Shen are now taking math with the 3rd graders!  We continue to be astounded by Tommy's thirst for knowledge.  He absolutely loves math and is excited to be learning how to type.  He has also recently been complimented on his beautiful cursive writing.  Loves math and has neat handwriting?  We're really not sure where he gets it!

Both kids are very excited that Lucy will be moving to Pre-K at Tommy's school next year.  They are looking forward to being at the same school and riding to school together in the morning.

Lucy's been hard at work preparing for the new school.  Grandma even gave her a little "homeschooling" on a sick day.  Lucy is very clearly revealing that she's a lot like her brother in many ways.  uh oh!

But really, what more is February to a baseball fan than the last long wait until March?