Cousins

Have you ever seen a cuter group of children? Lexi and Zachary took little Eva for a stroll during our Father's Day picnic on Sunday. We spent a lovely afternoon with the Lippman clan at Hopkinton State Park where we had lunch, relaxed, and even let the kids play in the pond for awhile. It was a nice way to spend a beautiful spring day, and celebrate some of the Dads we love.

As a side note - Eva took off walking on her own just three days after this picture was taken. Her cousins will take all the credit for that. ;) When I showed Zachary the video of her walking he said, "Awe! I so proud of her!"

Preschool Graduate!

It is nearly impossible to believe that Lexi could have graduated from preschool today.  Yes, I know that preschool probably has a damn near 100% passing rate, but it simply seems unbelievable that she could be old enough to move on to Kindergarten.  But it's true - this kid is ready to go, and we couldn't be more proud of her.

Last week I got her report card, and I'm sure I'm not surprising anyone when I say that I sat in the car and cried while reading it.  I actually did pretty well getting through four pages of "Shows a consistent understanding of concept" and "Lexi is a pleasure to have in class", etc.  It was a glowing report card if I've ever seen one.  But it was the very last sentence that started the waterworks, "Lexi loves physical play and is very proud of her fast running."  Frankly, she should be.  And I am too.  So proud.  She's come a long way, baby, and that confidence she has is simply amazing.  I know she's off to do amazing things in the years ahead of her.

Today was her final preschool graduation.  She actually had two, because they are divided by MWF and T/Th classes, of which she attends both, but today was the "real" graduation.  Gigi, Poppy, Daddy and I enjoyed the wonderful performance she put on with her classmates, and looked on with pride as she received her preschool diploma.  I was mostly just proud that I was able to keep the crying to a dull roar, and not completely embarrass her - impressive considering she made me cry by opening a card that played pomp and circumstance in the card store the other day.
I'm A Star
Earth Day Birthday
NEMS Moving On Song

After we said goodbye to her friends and teachers (until we see them next week for camp), Ahren, Gigi and I took Lexi out to lunch.  But the real treat was what she found waiting for her in the car.  Some kids get cars when they graduate from high school (some kids, not you Lexi and Zach...just in case you're reading this!), so we thought it would be appropriate to get Lexi a new ride as well.  She is officially in a booster seat, which has already proven to be more exciting for me than for her, as she can now buckle and unbuckle herself.

All in all it was a lovely day, and we are so proud of our big girl!  On Friday we have invited the entire graduating class of NEMS to our house for a party.  And they're calling for rain.  Oh well, who needs the sun when you're surrounded by good friends...and we certainly made a lot of those in the last 2 1/2 years at NEMS.

Lexi's Birthday Circle

At NEMS, all of the summer babies have their school birthday celebrations in the last weeks of school.  Today was Lexi's 6th Birthday Circle Celebration, and I was invited to go along.  I had so much fun with Lexi and her classmates.  First they sat at circle time and Lexi showed on picture from each year that she has been alive. 

Next she presented one item from each year, which signified her favorite toy of that year:
0-1 - Daddy's rattle
1-2 - Her elastic and bead ball
2-3 - Her Snap and Style dolls
3-4 - Dress up shoes
4-5 - The necklace she wore in Auntie Jen and Uncle Devan's wedding
5-6 - The first two books she read all by herself - Happy Halloween, Mittens and Run, Dogs, Run.

Next she held an earth, and walked around the sun six times while her classmates counted each of her trips around the sun.  Video of this here.

Finally, Lexi and I handed out the supplies for her birthday craft.  Each child received a small paper box with paint and stickers to decorate.  The class had a good time doing this, and I was impressed with all of their creativity in decorating.

It was during the craft that I overheard the cutest conversation between two of her classmates.
Girl - "Look, I made the cross!"
Boy - "The cross of Jesus?"
Girl - "Yea!"
Boy - "That's so cool!  I LOVE the cross of Jesus!!  Did you know there is a cross of Jesus on top of our school?"
Girl - "Uh, yea!  That's because we're in a church."
Another Girl - "I go to another church.  In Acton."

NEMS is not a Catholic School, so this was a surprising, and very cute conversation.

I am so proud of Lexi, and I had a great time celebrating her fake 6th birthday with her this morning.  Next week...preschool graduation!!!

Funny

More funny things my kids say...

Zach, talking on the phone with Gigi about going there for dinner:
Zach, "And after I will go in my car and go home, and you and Poppy will go into your house?"
Gigi, "Yes."
Zach, "Because my house is not stuck to your house.  My house is stuck here...to the grass."

Lexi, while reviewing the booster seat options I was presenting to her:
"Well, that one is nice Mom, but you know I am kind of outgrowing the color pink."

Zach, as we were pulling away from a fun party for Tommy's 2nd birthday:
"Phew!  That was a great day!"

Lexi, after watching Pocahontas:
"Mommy, the end of that movie almost made me cry.  My chin looked (wrinkling her chin) like this I was so close to crying."  and then "I can't believe that bad guy shooted John Smith.  And he was even on his team!  You're not supposed to shoot someone on your own team!"  and then after a few minutes, "Mom, can you imagine if something like that happened here?"  
I really thought I would have to explain things like, "How do babies get here?" before I would have to explain things like war.

Lexi, after I asked her how she liked my outfit (which happened to be gray):
"Well, it's the color of rocks...but...it still looks good!"

My kids are just such a pleasure all the time.  And nothing makes me happier than when they play well together, and take care of each other.  Lexi has started helping Zachary get dressed and put his shoes on in the morning.  Here is a cute video of one such morning.

Back To The Hill!

One of our family's favorite weekend activities during the warmer months is to go hiking in Weir Hill.  It's been a long winter, and a rainy spring, so we were thrilled when we woke up this morning to a perfect temperature and clear schedule.  We all quickly got dressed to head over to the hill for our hike.

This is the first time we completely ditched the stroller, assuming that both kids could walk the entire trail, or get piggy backs when they were tired.  Lexi has been hiking on her own for years, and Zach doesn't like the stroller anyway.  There was a little more carrying than we anticipated, but it was still a great hike, through trails that we have less frequently traveled.

Lexi, of course, wanted to stop at every rock and stump to have her picture taken, and Zach  begrudgingly went along with the photo shoots.

We walked, chatted, listened to the animals, explained poison ivy to Zach, and Lexi taught us all about camouflage.  It was a great hike, to be followed by our first trip to Benson's Ice Cream for the year.  What a perfect kick off to summer!

Baby Ballerina Like a Rose

Do you ever have those moments in life where you think, "I wish I could go back to my 1987 self, tap her on the shoulder, and show her this moment through a little window of time."?  I had one of those moments this weekend when Lexi danced in her very first Nancy Chippendale's Dance Recital...except the more I thought about it, I couldn't decide which version of myself I would most like to show off this moment to.  It sure would have been fun to go back to "Crissy version 1982", a young Chippendale Dancer herself, and let her see that someday she would be the proudest mommy in the audience while her little five year old danced her heart out on that stage.  Or maybe "Crissy version 1997" in college, having my whole life ahead of me, and having no idea the joy that I was in for.  But I finally settled on "Crissy version 2006", the terrified mother who was carting her young daughter from Neurologist, to MRI, to Neurosurgeon, and spending hours in tears, pacing through the house, so worried about her beautiful daughter's future.  That Crissy would have done anything to take a peek through the window and know that this little angel would someday be a beautiful ballerina, dancing with the biggest smile on her face, on the same stage that she used to dance on as a child.  But that's not how life works.  Instead you have to live through the hard times, relying only on faith that everything will work out for the best.  And maybe that's what makes moments like Saturday so amazing...remembering all you've been through to get there.

Either way, the most important thing about Saturday was that Lexi had a blast.  In the weeks leading up to the recital, it was clear that she was nervous about the whole ordeal.  She couldn't possibly understand what a recital was because she had never been to one, or in one.  I think the unknown was making her very uncomfortable.  But on Thursday we had a dress rehearsal, and as soon as she got there I could tell she was hooked.  She waltzed away from me without even a second glance when the teachers came to take her class back stage.  I sat in the audience feeling totally unsure of how she would react when the curtain went up, but when it did she ran straight to her spot and sang and danced her little heart out - biggest smile ever plastered on her face.  When I met her backstage for the costume change she was elated.  She couldn't wait to get back out there for her second number.  When the rehearsal was over, it was nothing but excited anticipation of the recital in two more days.  I'm not sure which of us was more excited.

On the day of the show we were both giddy with excitement.  We couldn't wait to get there.  Now that she knew what to expect, she just wanted to get back up on that stage and dance.  I had so much fun watching her family - Gigi, Poppy, Great Gram, Grammy, Grampy, Auntie Kae, Auntie Jen, Uncle Devan, Eva, Zach and Ahren, watching her dance.  I had to hold myself back from standing up, pointing to her and saying, "THAT'S MY KID!!!  ISN'T SHE AMAZING???"  I didn't, but she was.  And I was absolutely the proudest Mommy in that audience.  It was a day that I will never forget.

You can see videos of her dances, and more pictures here.

Zachary the Comedian

Zach is a funny kid.  The list of amusing things he says is endless, and often not as funny unless you can hear him saying it, and see the expression on his face - much like last night when I was telling Ahren that I thought it would be best to have our dinner delivered rather than going to pick it up.  Zach replied with gusto, "Yea!  It's true, DAD!  It's TRUE!"  I started cracking up and he wagged his little finger at me saying, "It's true.  It's true."  I know you cannot grasp the comedy of this moment without having seen it unfold, but trust me, it was very, very funny.

Zach's current "go to" thing to say to people is, "Hey , did you know that my people are coming to my house?"  He has been saying this since before Easter, and will tell anyone who will listen.  "Zach's people" have become quite the joke in our house.  We never used to refer to friends or family as "his people" so we had no idea where this came from...until Wednesday morning when I dropped Zach off at Yaya's house.  All of his friends came out into the entry to meet him and say hello.  Ultimately it was time for everyone to go back in, so Yaya said to them, "Okay my people, back inside for schooling!"  Ah HA!!  I should have known it came from Yaya.  :)

While his vocabulary is impressive for a two year old (we thank Lexi for this), there is still some confusion and misunderstanding when conversing with Zach.  A few weeks ago we were driving to Connecticut for Cousin Sophie's birthday party.  Gigi was riding next to Zach in the backseat.  During the drive Zach pointed to a plate of blondies that my mom had made and asked what they were for.  My mom replied (speaking "properly" with her Massachusetts accent), "They're for the pahty."  Zach replied, "I want to put one in."  Not quite understanding what he meant, Gigi replied, "Ok Zach, you can!"  I quickly jumped in, perfectly understanding the miscommunication, "No Zach, Gigi brought them for the paRty, not the potty!  You may not put the blondies in the potty!"  Zach's reply?  "AWWWWWE!"

Yes, it's true - Zach keeps us laughing all day long.  He knows he's funny, and enjoys making us laugh, so I see this as a theme that will continue for some time, and I'm fine with that.  Some of my favorite people make me laugh on a daily basis.