First day of school

I sent TWO girls off to school this week. Cue the waterworks.

Just kidding. No one cried.

We dropped Charlotte off at her kindergarten classroom and she skipped to her desk.

Evie gave me a quick hug at her second grade classroom door and then walked confidently to her desk.

I sure love these girls and can't wait to watch them grow this school year!

A mommy date downtown

We dressed in our most Seussical outfits and drove downtown for a production of Seussical the Musical at the local children's theatre. It was a nice way to get out of the house while not actually spending any time in the 102 degree heat.

The Alaska Run for Women

On Saturday we participated in the Alaska Run for Women. The girls were troopers; Evie walked all five miles and Charlotte walked about four. We finished in a little over two hours, including a short break at a playground. It was a lot of fun to dress in pink and join ten thousand other women participating in the breast cancer fund raiser.

Thursdays we go on field trips

To help Evie learn the days of the week, Tu Tu taught her a little song and helped her identify one special thing about each day. Tuesdays we go to ballet, Fridays are movie night, etc.

Thursdays we go on field trips. The Living Planet Aquarium, Hogle Zoo, art classes at the BYU Art Museum, the Planetarium, a tour of the ballet theatre, even a quest to try all cupcake shops in the county... We have explored a lot of the Salt Lake and Provo areas. Our latest venture was to the Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah.

But before we went to the museum, we stopped for lunch at Food for Thought Bakeshop.

Lunch was fine, but the real fun began when choosing dessert.

The museum was so fun. There were five floors to explore, so we started at the top with Weather and worked our way down.

The earthquake simulator occupied the girls for about twenty minutes. You build a tower, select a real earthquake from history, and watch the tower shake and tumble.

In the dinosaur section there were huge areas of glass floor so you could see the bones underneath. Before anyone could step on the glass, Charlotte threw out her hands and yelled, "Danger! Danger! It's an emergency! Do NOT step forward, you will fall and be hurt!" She was so confused and it took quite a bit of coaxing to get her to walk across the glass, gripping the side rail the entire time.

The last hour was spent in the kid "backyard" section, where the girls explored tunnels, dressed up as bugs, and got drenched playing the stream.

A lesson in fairy tales

Every now and then Evie goes on a Pop Pop and Tu Tu date to the ballet. Most recently they watched Cinderella. In preparation for the big show (and in an attempt to broaden the girls' Cinderella horizons past the Disney movie) we read several different versions of the famed fairy tale. We also watched the old Roger and Hammerstein version of Cinderella. The girls loved it and the other day I caught Charlotte singing "Impossible" while in the bathroom.

Charlotte had a bit of a blank stare until the fairy godmother showed up and then things got more exciting for her.

Evie curled up with the favorite snuggle buddy of the house, Pop Pop. She loved the ballet and I am told the first thing she said after leaving the theater was, "So which restaurant are we going to eat at that is close by?" She has quickly learned that a date with Pop Pop and Tu Tu always includes good eats.

Pretty Lips

As a little girl I was completely obsessed with "pretty lips", or lipgloss. Life has come full circle, as evidenced by the following pictures.

And what about the brother? Where does he fit into this pretty lips obsession? Alas, the fate of a brother with two older sisters is to be constantly kissed and perma-covered in glitter.