happy summer...love renée!

Last Wednesday, was the Renée's last day of Kindergarten. And once again the girls were wooed by a stretchy little headband. Oh, the simple things:)

passing of the plaid!

There's no Kindergarten graduation at ASH, but there is "Passing of the Plaid." The "primary school" is comprised of first through fourth grades, so at the end of the year the outgoing fourth graders welcomes the upcoming first grade class to the lower school and passes them them the plaid! Renée has been excited for this day to come for weeks--as I am sure most of the girls were! Their "grader" walked them down the aisle to the headmaster and lower school director to receive their plaid, then they took their place on the state to sing a few songs.

It actually works out really neat--these two classes are forever connected. The same class would welcome our girls to the middle school when they enter fifth grade on the other campus, and would then again welcome them to the upper school when they enter ninth grade.

Then it was back to the classroom for pictures and showing off on the smart board!
{paige and renée}
{phylis, renée, and isabella}



Although, I think the highlight of their morning was their new headbands! Plaid to match their uniforms for next year on a stretchy headband. Apparently, stretchy ones are the new craze. I love that a little headband is still SO exciting! Hopefully, that won't change just because they are going to be "graders!"

born to perform!

We knew that Hazel loves to dance, but what I didn't know was that she LOVES the stage even more! Last weekend the two of us went to Monroe to help Ms. Linda celebrate her 50th recital!! The two of us sat in the audience during the last performance. It was waaaay past her bedtime, and I thought that she would just fall asleep. NOT the case. She did not take her eyes off the dancers. She was captivated.

At the very end of the show, there was a little surprise presentation for Ms. Linda. I took Hazel on stage with me. She did not want to leave. During the finale she danced with Ms. Linda Lou, and loved every second of it. She loved it so much, that afterwards she wouldn't even come to me. She was clinging to Linda Lou--I suppose Hazel was rewarding her. She NEVER chooses anyone over me! When it was all over and the clean-up began, she took her place at center stage and watched it all--she even showed off a few of her dance moves :)

She was enthralled by all the teachers--especially Miss Mallory!! I can't wait to see this little one dance! It won't be long until my 3rd generation girls are dancing with Ms. Linda again!!!

good-bye smocks, hello summer!

{first and last day of kindergarten}

{first and last day of nursery school}

It's official....Renée will no longer wear a smocked dress to school, and Elijah has completed his first of many years of school! Sad but true...they are getting so big!

dressing the part...

If you're going to draw mermaids and fairies, then you had better dress the part. {rainboots included...a necessity in NOLA these days!}

may crowning {2010}...sweeter than Abbey Rd!

May Crowning was last week. It was the LAST time that they get to wear their white dresses. Saddness. Tomorrow is her last day to wear her smocked uniform. I'm not sure which is sadder.

When I got to the school and parked, the girls were already walking to the Rosary Campus. {Nursery-4th grade is at the Mater Campus 2 blocks away. The chapel is at the Rosary where the 5th-12th grades are.} Adorable....for some reason I kept thinking about the Beatles picture when I saw them walking across. {and oddly enough, a Beatles song is playing on pandora right now!} The walked over 2 by 2. Each pair had a PreK girl and a K girl. Renée is hidden, but you can see her big pink peony in front of the black car.
Goûter in the courtyard afterwards...where Hazel discovered her love for petits fours! She wanted MORE!!

Renée and Madison top.

Renée and Lizette bottom.

I can't believe how much there girls have grown since last year! They are looking so much older!!! I just don't know if I will be able to stand seeing them in plaid jumpers next year.

cute as a button...

Last week we had a baby shower for a friend at church...her favorite color is "rainbow" and she's having a girl!! I mean seriously...so much fun! It started out as just flowers and pom pom trim, but then I wanted to make a mobile to hang over the table. I usually just use paper, but then I remembered this shower...soon it was all about buttons!

Luckily, I still had a stash of buttons that I stole from my Mimi :) It was definitely much easier to make than my paper ones, but then it got tangled--three times. And it fell in the fudge after the first attempt to hang it. I definitely need to figure out a method to transport without tangling. And maybe a little time management too. Just pretend like I had time to press the table runner, and that I didn't just haphazardly throw things on the table--although maybe the mobile tangling is to blame for all of that! :)

My absolute favorite was the vase!! Luckily, Mimi has LOTS of buttons!!
And the favors....more flowers!!! Such a fun shower!!!! Can't wait to see her.

two innings of comedy...

Last friday was Elijah's first t-ball game! He LOVES it! He even has his own personal coach; although she's never played ball herself, when he was in the dugout she was giving him direction through the fence. The little baby below sat for almost the entire hour and just watched.
all training was received on the field--we don't have practice, but that works for me! They told the kids before heading out, "spread out on the field and don't tackle!"
his helmet was SO big that he had to hold it while he was running.

look at that stance...yes, his glove is on the wrong hand:) when they {he} ended up in a position on the field that wasn't actually a place you were supposed to stand in, they would just pick the kids up and plop them where they were supposed to be.

Notice, that Renée quickly lost interest in coaching and decided to just play on my phone.


Elijah was SERIOUS when he was on the field--a couple of kids decided just to lie down. Not Elijah--his goal was to get the ball. Everytime. Initially he was playing shortstop, but then he got "promoted" to first base. Eventually he ended up on the pitcher's mound after being told that he couldn't just stand on the first base line across from the pitcher. A little girl wanted to be pitcher too, but he stood his ground without actually touching her--such restraint :)

2 great hits and not strikes...I think he takes after me! I was awesome at t-ball...softball that's a different story. Like my only game hit was a foul ball, 2 black eyes {1 was MAJOR} and another ball to the forehead. I think it's obvious why I stuck to ballet :)

By the end of the game, Elijah realized that the other kids were charging the ball every time it was hit, and joined in the fun. {he's number 12}

This little baby decided to venture from the bleachers and decided that this ball thing looked pretty fun. She also found a little boy her size to bear hug...over and over. He shared a cookie with her. Food is obviously still the key to her heart!

Trying to play the baseline...



There's no score, but apparently someone told Elijah that he won. Now when he talks about his game he tells everybody that he won--not his team, just him. Hmmmmm...I guess we'll have to work on the concept of teamwork :)
His friend Cooper was on the other team. Trust me, Elijah is not really that short. Cooper is almost a whole year older. Did I mention that Elijah LOVED baseball? He did, and has asked when his next game is everyday since.