In Memory of Aunt Millicent

Tom's Aunt and Godmother Rose Millicent Lynch passed away last Friday at her home in Marshfield at the age of 86. She was a great lady, so kind and considerate of others and still living on her own right up until her last few weeks of life. She will be greatly missed by all. Melanie's middle name is Rose and she will always remember Aunt Millicent as being whom she was named after. Millicent had six children, all who will be gathered together tonight and tomorrow for her memorial services in Marshfield. Here are some photos taken of her last visit with the girls this past spring when Janet was in town.

The Big Bash

We couldn't let a opening weekend of High School Musical 3 go by without a big celebration. Our friends threw a dance party and invited just about all the girls they know. The kids had a blast running and dancing, playing "hot microphone" (hot potato with a blow up mike), backpack relay (relay race to fill up a backpack of school supplies, freeze dance and HSM trivia. After a fun filled afternoon we all headed to the movie - all 22 kids plus parents then were joined by several other friends at the theater.

The movie was great, but we need to see it again now that we know the story line, so we can just sit back and enjoy the singing and dancing. I especially liked the scene where Troy and Chad sing "Boys are Back," reminiscing about their childhoods and flashing back to when they liked to play superheroes and army men (now having to be grown up and make college choices). It reminded me of those high school days when we still liked to occasionally break out the Chutes and Ladders and dress the Barbies for the prom.

Here are some photos from the party and below are some videos of them dancing. Oh, and there's a pic in here of Kylie losing her top front tooth at church today when she "ran into" Melanie's hand with her mouth. It was quite the scene.

Did I mention that both girls had sleepovers last night? Melanie was functioning on about 5 hours of sleep, Kylie on 7. They went to bed early tonight!

Conga line

HSM 3 Bash

Melanie's Dance Day

This Wednesday, Melanie had her observation day at dance class. This is her first year in a real organized dance class. She has been in gymnastics for several years on and off, tumbling, horseback riding and a hip hop session here and there, but had never expressed an interest in ballet or tap dancing until Kylie finally rubbed off on her. At Kylie's most recent recital, Melanie decided she too wanted to be up on that stage showing her stuff.

The class I enrolled her in is a combo class of ballet, tap, jazz and acrobatics. It is for 1 1/2 hours per week. Most of the girls in her class have been taking classes since they were 3 or 4 years old, so I thought she'd have some catching up to do.




I spent the first 20 minutes of class with tears in my eyes.

Ok, I know I'm a sap anyway. I cry when the Cherubs sing at church. But, here was a girl who has been in physical therapy on and off for years as well as the above mentioned classes (all to help her balance, strength and coordination) completing plies and jetes, holding her leg out straight while keeping her balance perfectly still and completing the ballet steps in almost perfect sequence. Sure she swayed here and there and had to put her foot down on occasion to catch herself, but most of the time she was just as steady as the rest of the girls. Ballet may prove to be the most beneficial therapy she's been in just due to the sheer fact she has to have such great balance and strength to pull off the correct steps (and we all know what a rule follower she is, so she tries her best to make it just right).

Then the tap portion of the class seemed fun for her and again she kept up just fine. Jazz showed that she needs to loosen up a bit, but again very good for her. The acrobatics portion was a just a repeat of all the gymnastics and tumbling classes she's had. She is getting stronger to be able to hold her body up during handstand and headstands, but still has difficulty with her trunk strength during a cartwheel (not to mention fear of kicking those legs up high). She also had a little fear about walking backwards on the pretend tightrope (ha! just the fact that she did it is progress!).

I got a little video of her during the jazz portion, mostly becasue I was too enthralled with the rest to remember to record. It's in the next post.

Speaking of Cherubs, here they are singing last week. Kylie's on the far left in the pink dress. So cute.

jazz

Tap Dancing

Dancing Fun

Happy Fall!

Yikes! It's been awhile since I've updated my blog. . .guess we've been busy.

Our fall routine has been going well. Kylie has settled into Kindergarten and has yet to be sent to the Take A Break chair (is it possible to channel some of that good behavior at home???). She is excited about all the new friends she has made. On her second or third day of school she ran off the bus and said, "I made a friend today and she sucks her thumb too!!" She is finally showing a real interest in letters and numbers and forming words. Melanie was doing this when she was 3, so I have been patiently waiting for Kylie and now it's happening - right when it should!

Melanie seems to really like 3rd grade. She has already shown great improvements in her reading and math skills. She's already read 7 books on her own at home just since school started. That's without me making her! Her favorite subject is social studies. She is definitely a history buff (her first grade teacher picked up on that before I realized it). They just finished their unit on Sandwich history (not the peanut butter and jelly kind, Sandwich is the name of the town we live in). I learned right along with her that Sandwich became a town in 1639 formed by the 10 men of Saugus and that Thorton W. Burgess wrote 150 books and 15,000 stories! Wow!

Melanie is enjoying her first experience with a formal dance class. She has taken years of gymnastics and a hip hop class here and there, so this is something new for her. She is in a combo class that teaches jazz, tap, ballet and acrobatics. Kylie's class this year (her 4th year of dance!) is also a combo of all of the above except acro. They have their observations days coming up so I can see how they are doing and get it on video. Luckily their dance classes happen on the same night but are staggered a bit so I end up sitting in the lobby of the studio for 2 1/2 hours.

Kylie is in cheerleading again and Melanie is in Brownies. We have a Brownie blog this year which is cool. Melanie was in charge of the first story. Check it out at : http://www.btroop782.blogspot.com/ I am doing a Daisy troop for Kylie as well - keeping it small to 5 girls. We had our first meeting the other day. Here is Kylie is her Daisy smock and reciting her Girl Scout promise.

This past weekend, Tom's Aunt Jo Ann and Uncle Don came for a visit. They were in Maine on vacation and were able to spend some time with us before flying home to Florida. We were able to enjoy two nice meals out and a few drinks at home during Friday night's Red Sox game. We took them to a farm Saturday morning to go pumpkin picking which was a lot of fun. Here are some pics from the day:

That's 41 pounds of pumpkin!

Popcorn on a hayride. . .what could be better?

We had an impromptu Red Sox party Saturday night with a few friends. Too bad they didn't win! The kids had a blast running around with their friends and the grown ups enjoyed a few beers/wine and lots of snacks. I think I gained 5 pounds just Saturday. Uggh.

Today we have a day off of work and school (I have been working 2 days a week at Tom's office and 2 days as an OT around Kylie's kindergarten schedule). We enjoyed the morning in our PJs watching a movie and now the girls are dressed as fairies and planning for the next big adventure.

Health wise - Melanie has had more doctors appointments and is doing well on her meds. We got a second opinion of a neurosurgeon in Boston who agreed that her spinal cord hangs low and it is hard to really tell what is happening in there, but if it was his daughter he wouldn't do surgery. She's doing so well, that I don't see the point either and wouldn't dream of pushing for it. My dad has had a slight setback. Some of his blood work came back elevated and he has to have a CT scan sooner than expected to see what's happening. That's scheduled in a couple of weeks. I like to think they are just being overly cautious. . .keep him in your prayers!

Tom is having some video done of him in action for his website. Check them out at:

Cape Cod Wedding life

Oh, I have to share a website that I've been following and think is pretty cool. The Barnstable High School Drama Club put on the show Wizard of Oz last spring and it was a really good peformance. The WB network did a bunch of behind the scenes footage about the show -everything from the auditions to the actual performance. The episodes (or webisodes as they are called) are being shown on the WB website. In the beginning of the second episode, they show the BHS panoramic photo that Tom took. Cool. Two new shows go up every Monday. I'm hooked already (mostly because I'm such a WOO fan). You can check them out at:

http://www.thewb.com/shows/high-drama/

Ooooh. Episodes 3 and 4 just went up. Gotta go!

First day of Kindergarten

Kylie started Kindergarten today. She was so brave as the big yellow bus pulled up, yelling, "Come on Nani!" (what she calls Melanie). She was smiling from ear to ear when she got on. I met the bus at school and took a few more pictures and she was a little more subdued (after 25 minutes on the hot bus) and seemed a little nervous. But she gave me a small wave and smile and followed her fourth grade guide into the building.

Getting off the bus at school

Sean, the fourth grade guide gathers his students
Walking in with the other kids

I am watching two other little girls on Tuesdays and here they are after an afternoon of playing hard. . .worn out kindergarteners!

Forever Summer

Wish it could be. . .Forever Summer. . .wish it could be. . .forever summer!

Melanie attended a two week drama camp this summer at her school. At the end of the two weeks they put on an entire musical production entitled Forever Summer with 7 songs and dance routines they had learned. Each child of the 20 3rd-5th graders had a speaking part as well. I recorded the whole show, but at 28 minutes, it's too long for YouTube and I haven't figured out how to compress it. So below you will see the final song and curtain call of the show. Melanie is in a pink skirt and jacket and starts out in the middle.

The play was the perfect theme to our summer. I also wish it could be forever summer. In the play the teacher on the first day back at school is asking her students what they did over the summer. Melanie's lines for the play sum it up pretty well:

If it's proof you're after, let's flash back to the past

To a one room school house and a sad sack class

It was the first day back to school you see

And school was the last place they wanted to be.

The answers for the teacher were everything from going to a baseball game (Take Me Out to the Ballgame musical number), to going to the beach (By the Sea, By the Sea), attending a 4th of July parade (When the Saints Go Marching In), going fishing (Crawdad Hole) and visiting New York (The Streets of New York). Very classic ways to spend a summer vacation.

It got me to thinking. . .what would Melanie say if her teacher on her first day back on Tuesday asks her those same things. What did she and Kylie do this summer?
1. Trip to Vermont
2. Trip to Kansas
3. Learned to play classic games like Pick up Sticks, Marbles, Dominoes, the Game of Life, String Games (Cat's Cradle, Cup and Saucer, Eiffel Tower, Jacob's Ladder - just Cat's Cradle for Kylie)
4. Read 6 Magic Tree House books (Melanie)
5. Had a ton of sleepovers, playdates and beach days!
6. Took swimming lessons, drama camp, jump roping, Vacation Bible School and doggie camp (Princess Ballerina camp for Kylie)
7. Finished summer workbooks
8. Dressed as a firecracker for the 4th of July
9. Survived a wild and crazy 4th of July cookout at our house
10. Said goodbye to a very good friend


And what did I do this summer?
1. Numbers, 1,2,3,9 and 10 above count for me too!
2. Got my throat stretched and started on a myriad of medications
3. Got reacquainted with an old friend
4. Added several new words to my vocabulary - tomtom GPS, iPhone, Pandora, Shazam
5. Started Facebook and have acquired 49 friends
6. Read too many books to count. . .probably 2 or 3 a week
7. Taught Vacation Bible School
8. Huey Lewis concert and a few other fun nights out with friends
9. Finished writing another novel
10. Watched the 2008 Olympic Games

All in all a very good, complete and busy summer. I will be sad to see it come to an end. But I think we feel fulfilled and are ready to dive back into our school year routine. Melanie starts 3rd grade on Tuesday, Kylie has one more week and starts kindergarten officially on Sept 9th.

Wish it could be. . .Forever Summer. . .wish it could be. . .forever summer!

Drama Camp

The Land of "Ahs"

It's always good to go home again. Melanie, Kylie and I just got back from our annual trip to my hometown of Lansing, Kansas. We had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends and it was bittersweet to come back to the Cape to vacuuming, laundry, groceries, back to school planning, etc, etc, etc. . .

The first thing Melanie and Kylie said when we got to Kansas last Tuesday, was, "when can we see Alex?" Alex is my brother's little boy, their 4 year old cousin. So, Wednesday we trekked to Overland Park (suburb of KC) and spent the day at Alex's house. They swam, played games and just generally had a great time.

Melanie, Alex and Abigail
That night I had a wonderful eye exam with my buddy, Kim who fixed me up good as new with some miracle eye drops for my allergies and new contacts. I felt like a new person. After my new eyes were in place, we went out with some of her friends for some food and a movie (Pineapple Express).

Thursday was spent touring Leavenworth (Leavenworth and Lansing are kind of like Sandwich and Forestdale - sort of). First up was the Parker Carousel, a refurbishment of a real old fashioned carousel that used to be manufactured in Leavenworth. (In fact if you have been in Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich, you will see a print of a Parker Carousel from Leavenworth on the wall outside of the carousel nearest the art history room). Next, we went to a museum that I always loved as a kid, the Carroll Mansion. It has wonderful Victorian era memorabilia and shows how the rich and elite used to live back in the days of new electric lamps and indoor plumbing.

Riding the rabbits at the Parker Carousel

The "heroic" big black dog outside the Carroll Mansion

Abraham Lincoln once stood on these steps to give a speech

Friday was spent at the Overland Park Arboretum, (free!) near Alex's house. The landscape is absolutely gorgeous and was in full bloom. We took tons of pictures.

An interesting frog sculpture

Lemonade anyone?

Aunt Freddie, the kids and MomThe Medicine Wheel hut

From there we took Alex home to Lansing with us for a sleepover with his cousins. They played non-stop and had a great time.

We took him back to O.P. the next day to meet up with his parents and for a trip to the can't miss Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead. Deanna Rose is a place we have gone every single time we have been back to Kansas. I WISH there was somewhere just remotely comparable to it here in Massachusetts. It's an amazing (and FREE) place to take the kids. Tons of animals that depict Kansas' regional flare including buffalo (the state animal), prairie dogs, bobcats, bald eagles, pigs, horses, goats, cows, fish, etc, etc, etc. . .All this is combined with beautiful gardens typical to Kansas and walking trails. You can rent a fishing pole to fish in the pond (you catch about a dozen fish, but throw them all back), take a hayride, ride ponies, feed the goats from a milk bottle, milk a cow, be a student in a one room school house, tour a wigwam and tee pees, mine for gold, tour a chicken coop, ride little tractors and play on an extensive playground and run through a watering hole!






Everyone was worn out after the farm and fell asleep super early Saturday night. Sunday we were up for Sunday School and church in the church I grew up in. It was great to sit in Sunday School and hear my dad share his vast experiences and knowledge and see all the familiar faces. Then I headed to my friend, Michele's house for our annual Fab 5 reunion with Michele, Darcee and Amy (missed you Tanya!). We had a great time reminiscing about OT school and looking at pictures from our younger days! It's great to see we haven't aged at all!!!

Me, Darcee, Amy and Michele (minus Tanya!)The Fab 5 kids

Next up was visiting with my friend Karen and her two little girls Morgan and Kendall. I've known Karen since we were 4 years old. Ever since that day she asked me to play at the little chalkboard desks in preschool. Melanie and Kylie had a blast with her two little girls, but it was short lived and no one wanted to part ways at the end of the night.

Kylie, Melanie and Morgan

Kendall and Karen

Monday was spent letting the girls play, play, play. Mom kept all my old toys including Strawberry Shortcakes (the old version), Little People (when they used to be wooden), Barbies, dolls, board games and card games. That night we threw together and impromptu party for everyone to come say goodbye to us. My grandmother, Aunt Freddie, my brother and his family, Karen and her kids and Kim and her boyfriend Rich all came. It was a great going away!

Puzzle time with Great Grandma

The Party!

Kim and Rich

It was good to see how my dad is holding up with his chemo treatments too. He does get very tired and has to stay out of the sun, but all in all he kept up with our crazy schedule pretty well. Thanks for everything!