First two weeks of summer break

Lillie has been out of school for two weeks and we have been enjoying her summer break.

Lillie started tennis lessons and took a few science classes.

We went to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum, picked strawberries, 

and we had a playdate at Jack and Jill Preschool. This past year, we bought a brick as part of Jack and Jill's fundraising project. Lillie and Sophie sat by their brick pictured below.

Today, we went to a library event and met Zeus, the world's tallest dog. He was in the 2013 Guinness World Record book. He was 44" tall to the top of his back. He was really friendly and the girls were not scared of him. 

Tigger 1 year later

One year ago this month, we brought Tigger home to live with us.  There is a saying "Everything grows with love." As you can tell from the photo, Tigger is loved and he loves food. Lillie can't carry him around the house anymore. He weighed 3 pounds a year ago, and he now weighs 17 pounds.

Lillie's Dance Recital

Saturday, was Lillie's dance recital.

  She did a tap routine

 and a gymnastics routine.

All of the students were in the finale. Lillie is throwing confetti in this photo.

 Lillie had fun and she did a great job. We are very proud of her.

Sophie's trip to the zoo, Reading and Perfect

On Tuesday, I took Sophie to the zoo for one last special day with me, before Lillie gets out of school. She was a little afraid of the giraffe's long tongue when she fed them. But she fed them by herself.

We ran into her friend, Aslynn from playgroup, and they rode the train and petted the goats.

On Friday, Sophie and I were playing the scrabble game and identifying letters. We found the letters in her name and she put them in the correct order. I also spelled out "cat" and she read it without any help.

Saturday, at Lillie's Dance recital I took Sophie to the restroom.  We were looking for a stall, because if she doesn't get to pick, she makes it harder to get her to go. I asked her, "how about this one?" She replied, "perfect, just like me."

Piano Recital

Last night, Lillie had her second piano recital. She played 3 Blind Mice and Lightly Row.

We listened to a lot of great songs and we had a reception afterwards. Lillie was the youngest of the 14 performers. Mrs. Lawrence and the students are pictured below.

Lillie Field Trip and Excel Expo

Two weeks ago, Lillie and I went on her class field trip to the zoo.  I got to ride the bus with her and I didn't get sick.

This picture is of her class when they got off the bus. They were very tired after a long day at the zoo.

Lillie has been in excel this school year. Excel is a special accelerated class that meets for an hour each week. This past Wednesday, all of the Excel students showed off their projects at an open house.  The 1st graders did a animal research project. (They don't have Excel for Kindergarteners, so they put her in the 1st grade group.) Lillie displayed her triarama of a polar bear habitat. She also completed a research packet, made a pub menu of a polar bear's diet and a polar bear out of modeling clay.

Trip to Chicago

On Monday, we took the train to Chicago.

This was Sophie's first train ride and the highlight of the trip for her. Five days later, she says that it was her favorite part of the trip.

When we got off the train we walked across the street to see the bean.

We had lunch at the American Girl Cafe.
Lillie took both of her dolls, so that Sophie could sit by one at lunch.  Sophie helped Julie with her tea.

We did some shopping at the American Girl, Lego and Disney Stores.

Sophie got a bitty baby doll and she named her Mary.