More Ballerina

We're working our way towards Sadie's big dance recital in a few weeks. The highlight of dance class continues to be getting dressed for the class.

Our Painter

Uncle Tommy sent Jack and Sadie a fantastic easel for their birthday. We broke it out for the first time last week and had a wonderful afternoon painting. Thank god for backyards where kids can get messy!

Our Trip to Mars

Break out your 3-D glasses! We were able to have a 3-D photo of us taken in front of the Santa Maria Crater, as photographed by the Opportunity rover. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories hosted an open house this morning. Space dorks from all over Southern California flocked to JPL for the action-packed weekend. We learned all about the different missions JPL is working on. Jack and Sadie are now schooled all about the red planet (did you know that there was once water on Mars?). Our little astronauts are ready to explore the final frontier!

Olvera Street

We had a family outing to Olvera Street with Pud yesterday morning. We got Jack and Sadie guitars, the first step towards their becoming mariachis. All was good until we waited too long to have lunch, and we had double melt downs waiting for a table at a restaurant. We had to abandon that plan and make a beeline to the closest fast food restaurant instead. Despite the poor end to the trip, it was a fun morning of LA history, shopping, traditional dancers, and mariachis.

The Ballerina

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Sadie had her first ballet class on Saturday. Or, it might be more appropriate to say that Sadie witnessed her first ballet class on Saturday. She spent 95% of the class standing stone still. Sadie was in absolute awe and did not move until the very end of the class when she raised her hands. That move alone seemed like a triumph. After the class she said that her friends were dancing, but she couldn't dance because her body was tired.

I'm excited to see if next week she might move up to moving her feet. Despite her lack of movement, she loved the class and is very eager to go back to Miss Donna's class next week.

Easter

3rd Birthday Party

We had a lovely birthday party for the kids on Saturday. We had such a great time at Lacy Park last year that we decided to go back again this year. Sadie made it absolutely clear that she was going to wear her new ballet dress. Jack dressed up as a cowboy. As per their request, we had lots of balloons. Jack and Sadie each wore two balloons on their wrists and each of their guests got a balloon.

We had lots of friends at the party, including a number of families from the kids' school. And, of course, our VIP guests: Grammy, Papa, and Pud. The highlight of the party were the two chocolate cakes (my best yet, if I do say so myself) and the gift of a play castle, which kept all the kids entranced for the last half hour of the party.

It was a beautiful California spring afternoon, perfect for celebrating two very special three year-olds.