Well, as expected here in the Midwest, we kind of went from wet and soggy (aka, Spring) to surprisingly humid and hot. We finished -graduated- from preschool, had a dance recital and a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa Hill. The girls probably couldn't be happier in life.
The end of school was actually kind of anticlimactic. It just kind of ended without any fanfare of note. The teachers were very pleased to have been able to work with both girls throughout the year, and they complimented them immensely on their kindness, ability to get along with others and their eagerness toward learning. I did really appreciate the school, and I do wish that it continued on through at least fifth grade. I would absolutely work to pay for that tuition. I strongly believe in the co-operative spirit and see nothing but positives in that environment. Hope I haven't set myself up for disaster next year!!
Dave and I took a little weekend trip with the girls to San Francisco in early June for our 20th high school reunion. It's amazing that we met there in 1988! The girls got to stay with Grandma Terry and Grandpa Larry while we partied it up with people we literally haven't seen since 1990. My parents took the girls to see Peter Pan the Musical as an adventure. Little did they know what they were getting into! Taylor and Cassidy brought along their Peter Pan and Tinkerbell costumes and they had me fix their hair and add fairy dust for magical emphasis. My poor parents took the girls on the public bus, a cable car and finally to the show. Taylor's Tinkerbell costume had wings. Can't you just see them skipping along sprinkling their fairy dust with my parents chasing after them? I really would have liked to see that. The show was apparently very good for the girls (not so much for the grown ups), and I think it's an experiece that they'll remember forever.
After we returned from our trip, it was time to focus on the upcoming dance recital. The girls had two numbers, totaling about 2 minutes on stage. They had worked very hard for at least 6 months on these two dances, and had a lot more to practice! Their tap number was to the song "Crocodile Rock," and their ballet was to "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch." Just tremendously cute, as you can imagine. I have a soundless video of them that I'll try to upload. (The cable is missing, and I have a lot of transferring to do.....) For tap, they had a bright green leotard with flapper-style strings as a skirt, green elbow-length, fingerless gloves, a feather for their hair and fishnet tights. The ballet was a beautiful light purple leotard with an attached longer tutu and matching bracelets and a scrunchie. Cassidy wasn't too pleased with the purple outfit because purple is one of Taylor's chosen colors, not hers, but she eventually decided that she would be able to wear it anyway.
On Friday, we had a dress rehearsal, the first time they were allowed to wear their outfits. I did their hair up in curls and applied a ton of make-up, as requested by their teacher. I tried false eyelashes but they wouldn't stick. The rehearsal went really well, and the girls -12 in all - did a great job. But Friday night, Cassidy said that her eyes were hurting, and I assumed that, as she was bathing, some of the mascara had run into her eye (never a nice thing). Turns out that she had some sort of horrible reaction to the toner powder I used, and the poor girl wound up with puffy eyes at half mast, red marks all over her face and many horrible blisters from her neck to her eyebrows! No make-up for her on the actual recital day! Poor thing! Taylor claimed to be scared of the make-up, so she didn't have any either! But other than a freaky looking child up close, the recital went really, really well, and both girls did a fantastic job. I was a very proud parent! Cassidy's horrible, open-sore-blister-rash finally went away about 10 days later with the help of benadryl, cortisone cream and ointment.
Our summer activities are now in full swing. The girls have chosen to do gymnastics on Mondays, they ice skate on Tuesdays and have swimming lessons on Wednesdays. We have an annual pass to the zoo, the aquarium and the "dinosaur" museum in Chicago. We also got a pass to the public pool here in town, which is open whenever there isn't lightening around or tornadoes.... I have a gigantic garden this year, and that is taking a lot of time too. We also "white-trashed" it up and put our hard molded plastic pool at the bottom of our play structure's slide so they could pretend to be on some kind of crazy, unsafe roller coaster ride. It's terrifying, and thankfully Cassidy doesn't like it, so only Taylor is likely to break a limb in the process. Next house = pool for sure.
Well, the only thing that's holding us back these days is the obnoxious Midwest weather again. Yesterday we actually had the tornado warning horns blaring, and so much lightening and thunder that the deaf cat hid under a chair. It seems like every time it rains, it's measured in inches, and we are now experts at finding mushrooms in the lawn. My poor garden needs to be replanted to save all the little seedlings. I guess I can console myself by saying that at least it's not snowing.
Added Photos! Hope you enjoyed!
