1) braces off! probably Cece's highlight of the year, not just the month! what originally was planned to be four months of braces (in the first phase of orthodontic work) turned into six. at month four when she was scheduled to have them taken off, the orthodontist said her teeth weren't quite where they needed to be - and the same thing happened the next month. poor thing was so disappointed! we all kept our fingers crossed that the third time would be the charm and finally, it was! we celebrated at Antney's and then she continued the celebrations the rest of the week with a bucket full of treats from the orthodontist's office that are expressly forbidden when braces are on.
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| POPCORN!!! |
2) the aviary. our friends have a premium membership to the aviary, and were able to get both of our families in for free. the penguins and flamingoes were a predictable hit. they have a new raptor show that cost $4 per person and was well worth it -- no photos were allowed there, but they had several birds trained to fly from corner to corner of their auditorium and at the end, one of the birds accepted donations (if you held out a bill, the bird would take it in its beak and deposit it in the collection box). it was quite impressive!
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| Greta was not impressed by my suggestion that we should buy this book for her |
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| showing me her flamingo pose |
3) Living Treasures. we met up with other friends on Memorial Day for lunch at a local brewery (I'll have to go back sometime now that I'm not pregnant!) and then visited the animal park. Victoria in particular was completely enamored with feeding the alpacas, and they all loved the petting zoo.
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| she requested her picture with this gorgeous floral arrangement. why yes, that dress is three sizes too big for her. |
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| Cece wanted one too -- any chance to show off that braces-free smile! |
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| Nick, Amelia, and I joyfully burst forth into the Kookaburra song, much to the embarrassment of our children |
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| no one could persuade her that the binoculars were not, in fact, necessary to see the animals |
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| she was literally jumping up and down with excitement. so stinking cute! |
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| "it's a Vickie-sized alpaca!" |
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| baby goats! |
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| getting an up close view |
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| finally, we let the kids play at the playground while we sat on a bench and chatted. I actually ran into one of my patients here which was such a strange coincidence since this animal park is an hour north of Pittsburgh. he immediately promised me to get his overdue labwork done, ha! |
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| a successful trip to the gift shop at the end of our visit, to buy these $5 squishy things that most definitely leaked within the first week of being home. hey, it was their choice to spend their own money on them and if nothing else, we got a cute picture out of it! |
4) end of school. and just like that, third grade and sixth grade are in the rearview mirror! third grade was a fun year for Cecilia. she developed quite a robust social life with frequent play dates (I'm grateful for her friends' moms who most definitely were the planners/initiators!), and enjoyed playing winter basketball and spring volleyball. she continued to do well in school and particularly enjoyed her history class.
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| her growth spurt definitely came in handy for basketball! |
sixth grade was a bit of a tumultuous ride for Greta, with highlights definitely including her solo part in the spring musical, and making it to the diocesan semifinals in JV basketball. the end of the year saw quite a bit of upheaval among friend groups, with emotions running high, and definitely not helped by the fact that texts/messages/video calls go on outside of school hours, so it seemed there was always some new facet to the drama. I'm so grateful for the perspective of one of my friends whose youngest daughter (of four) is in Greta's grade -- she told me, "this is just what happens and trust me, it's going to get worse before it gets better!" by the end of the year, thankfully, the girls had reached a détente. Greta recognized that it was a good opportunity to really think about who she is on her own, and who she wants to be, rather than who the group wants her to be or thinks she is. the silver lining is that it has created the space for new (and dare I say healthier!) friendships to grow.
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| someone else had a growth spurt, too! |
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| receiving her pin for JV cross country at the athletics banquet (she swears she will never run cross country again -- I'm so proud of her for doing something outside her comfort zone!) |
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| JV and varsity girls basketball |
bonus round:
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| the last Broadway show of the season, The Great Gatsby. the set and costuming were absolutely spectacular. the light on the curtain backdrop winked and blinked. the music was okay (I haven't felt the urge to listen to the soundtrack since then) but the overall theater experience was a delightful way to end the season. |
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| Greta and Cece went to see a friend perform in their school's production of Alice in Wonderland. I didn't want to drag the babies along, so I drove to this little park five minutes away and let them play while the girls watched the show. it's such a sweet little playground! |
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| the playground also had this visual aid which I thought was so great! I've never seen something like this at a playground before. |
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