Sally Says

Cool Boys

Tommy got new shoes. They are orange. He's been running and jumping everywhere since he put them on. He thinks they are super-cool. I think it was the LEAST painful shoe shopping experience I've ever had with him. They were the first ones he tried on.

Oh, and here's a bonus photo of Charlie the Cool with a dessert in each hand.

Charlie Catch Up

Yesterday was Charlie's last day of preschool.  I can't post pictures from his last day of school until I catch up with the pictures from his last couple of weeks of school.  I just can't.  It would be non-linear.  Plus, Vimeo won't let me upload another video until Monday, so you'll just have to wait until Monday for the cuteness of preschool graduation.

Anyway!  Charlie's class had a field trip at Dion's Pizza last week.  Dion's is a local place that is a favorite with lots of people around here.  We have always liked it, but didn't think it was anything spectacular.  Charlie has become fully indoctrinated into the Albuquerque kid culture, however, so to him Dion's is now the Best Pizza Place Ever.  They had Dion's Pizza Friday in his class twice a month.  They went to Dion's last year for a field trip and again this year.  He is now a Dion's admirer.  

 They got to ride a school bus.  It was sunny.

Charlie also figured out how to do a penny drop on the preschool playground.  I happened to be there the day he figured it out, so I recorded him.  I think the background dialogue is more amusing than the actual trick.

 

Squee!

My first set of Lord of the Rings legos just arrived! I'm so excited! I know what I'm going to be doing during Charlie's last 2 hours of school.

P.S. Tommy thought it appropriate that Legolas has the word "Lego" in his name.

P.P.S. I have an itty-bitty Gimli!

Dance Recitals...Now With More Jedi

Tommy's dance recitals were Saturday morning.  It's their "off" year, so they just danced for the other classes and parents in the studio during their regular class times.  Next year they'll be back in Pope Joy Hall at UNM and Tommy is super excited about it.

He took two dance classes this year, and I did record all FOUR of his dances with my phone.  However, we had really bad seats for the Jazz Dance performance, so those videos didn't turn out very well.  He fell out of love with Jazz Dance this year anyway, so I don't think he'll mind if I skip posting them.  

He was all about Modern Dance this year.  His class dwindled to three students after Christmas, and that was the best thing that could have happened for him.  It became a kind of special club, with lots of one-on-one instruction and comraderie.  It helped that the three students were TWO BOYS and one girl.  Tommy and his friend Cameron had a great time being the dance boys and learning partnering.  

His teacher is awesome, and she jumped at the opprotunity to encourage the boys.  They voted on their end-of-year performance song and chose the Star Wars theme.  Then she let the kids help her come up with the coreography.  You can't imagine how much ownership Tommy feels over this particular dance.

Here are the two Modern Dance performances they did.  The first one is the Star Wars dance, and the second one is to Bob Marley's Three Little Birds.  Sorry for the poor recording quality.  I did my best.  (Oh, and the teenager who is dancing with them is the class demonstrator - a kind of assistant.)

 

May 2012 Botanica

Sigh.  

This is the last week of school.  Charlie's end-of-preschool tea is Wednesday morning, and Tommy's last day is Friday.  Today was my last free Monday morning, and tomorrow is my last free Tuesday morning.  These are my last two free mornings for the next three months. 

Yes, I know.  How dramatic!

I'm sure David and I will trade off to give each other free half days over the summer, but it's not the same.  I enjoy doing stuff with the boys and having lots of friendly company all day long.  I do!  Really!  I just know that I will miss the luxury of taking a morning to myself once a month or so.  

So today I took photos at the Botanic Gardens again.  It's kind of crazy that I only find time to do this about 4 times a year.  It will be interesting to see if I have more opportunities for pure me-time next year, or if my new busy will just have a different flavor.  

And now we're veering into philosophical.  Enough!  

Here are some pretty pictures to look at.  There probably won't be more of these until August, so enjoy them while you can.  I know I did.  

(As always, you can view the tiny slideshow here by clicking the arrow, or you can click on the "May 2012 Botanica" title to go to Flickr to view the full-sized slideshow.)