New park

Maple Grove has torn down an old park and replaced it with a new, colorful, state-of-the-art park, just a few miles from our house. Mira, Amelia, and I have been there twice since it opened, and it's so wonderful! Very colorful, lots of different sections, each with specific skills to master. The girls really love it!
We hope everyone is having a good summer! Hoping to hit the pool a few times next week! It's supposed to be hot!

Sprinklers, Lemonade Stand, and Matching Outfits

Summer is finally here! And that means running under the sprinklers! Mira and Amelia had a great time running through them one recent hot afternoon.
And Mira has been talking about a lemonade stand for a few weeks and got the okay from Chris to go ahead with it. Here she is, manning the stand. I love how her sign says, "Lemonade. 25 cents or more." What is the "or more"? She had one family stop by (neighbors across the street) and made a whopping $3.00, which she promptly spent 10 minutes later when the ice cream truck happened by. What timing!
Kohl's was selling these cute pajamas with a matching outfit for a doll. Mira and Amelia both picked out a pair and dressed their dolls immediately for a photo.
We're having fun this summer! The are taking advantage of the community pool, the neighborhood parks, story time at Barnes and Noble, library time, and the free concerts at the Town Green several times a week. Here's to hoping for great weather this summer!

Taylor Swift concert!

On Tuesday, we had the joy of seeing Taylor Swift in concert! Mira, Amelia, and I are big fans, and the girls were so excited to go to their first "real" concert. Taylor was wonderful, singing 17 songs for nearly 2 hours! Both Mira and Amelia were dancing in the suite and singing along to every song. It was really a night we'll remember!

Taylor Swift on stage for her first song, "Sparks Fly":
Me and Mira at the show:
Me and Amelia:
Amelia enjoying a moon pie. And boy did she enjoy it! Oh, the sticky!
For Taylor Swift's last song, "Love Story," she flew around the entire arena in a balcony. She got really close to us and waved to Mira!

Last day of 1st grade!

Today is Mira's last day of 1st grade. Here are some photos of her at the bus stop:
Mira and Amelia:
Mira and Isaac, her bus stop companion:
Getting on the bus:
Mira and her BFF Kassidy:
It was a great year for Mira in 1st grade! We are looking forward to the summer together, and then 2nd grade!

Mira's birthday party with her friends

Today Mira had her friend birthday party. She invited 7 other kids over from her class. It was a good old fashioned party at home! The kids jumped in the bounce house (okay, that part wasn't so old fashioned):
They decorated two cupcakes each:
They played musical dress-up game:
Decorated my sidewalk with chalk drawings:
Mira opened presents:
They played in the playroom:
Amelia really enjoyed the party:
Mira and Kassidy. They are total BFF! Isn't she the cutest?
Mira and Alexa:
Mira and Kaylee:
Mira and Cameron. He was a trooper being the only boy. (The other two boys invited couldn't come.)
Mira and Tia:
Mira and Rachel:
Mira and Raya:
The entire gang:
All in all, it was a really fun party. I know Mira had a blast! At the end of the party, Mira passed out water bottles filled with candy. A nice treat for summer!

Cedar Island vocabulary parade

Last week, Mira's school had a vocabulary parade. All the kids in the school participate. They are given a list of words to choose from, and each child creates a costume depicting their word. This year, they had to choose a math word. Mira chose "dollar." (She really likes money!) Here she is in the parade:
It was really fun for the kids to get to put on a parade for the parents. Some of the costumes were really clever!

Amelia rides a bike!

With all the posts Mira has gotten lately, it was time to highlight my youngest. Amelia has been watching Mira tool around the neighborhood on her bike, and now she's decided to give her Dora bike a try! It took all of 5 minutes before Amelia was also riding down the sidewalk (although at a wonderfully slower pace!). She's so proud that she's like her big sister now!

Mommy's little helper

Amelia is home with me now since the girls no longer go to daycare until I find a new job. So while Mira is at school, Amelia has been busy helping me around the house. She's very excited to get her hands on my steam mop! But today was watering the bushes day. Chris and I have planted quite a few new bushes around the house lately: dogwoods, holly, pussy willows. Amelia was a great help to me watering them today!
We'll be having lots of fun this summer! We plan on going to parks and the pool every day. Library time, reading time, biking time. Maybe I don't want a job yet . . .