Mid-September Mayhem

This week, Daddy has been in NC, and we've all missed him greatly.

However, we've kept busy.  Louise won a math award for working quickly and accurately:












Charlotte has now lost two teeth:

Tonight, a neighbourhood teen will look after the three girls whilst Mummy goes to Meet the Teachers.  Apparently all three teachers are 'awesome,' so she is quite looking forward to the event.  Unfortunately, the specialty teachers won't be present.  Claire believes her art teacher is a superhero because she has Tickle Power ("she tickles better than you, Mommy!"). Mummy thinks the teacher is a superhero because she got a five year-old tomboy excited about "dayGAH", and begging for a trip to the museum.

Back to school!!

The girls were VERY excited to start school yesterday.  Louise, who told us Wednesday evening that she doesn't "usually" like the first day of school, woke early and repeatedly asked, "Now?  Can we go to the bus stop now?  Now?"  Charlotte was also keen, and although she's in afternoon Kindergarten, wore her backpack to the bus stop at 8am.

We asked our school children what they wished to be when they grew up.  Louise eventually settled on veterinarian.  Claire wanted to be a dog, "so Louise can take care of me."  Charlotte wants to be a pop star.

Louise loved her music class, and wants to take violin lessons.  But her favorite part of the day was lunch - not surprising, since she was too excited to eat breakfast.  Charlotte & Claire both believe their teacher is "the best," but they'll quickly defer to Louise, since her teacher's husband is co-owner of an ICE CREAM restaurant.

The girls are settling in nicely.  Louise was asked to pick 4 things to describe herself and put them in a bag.  She had no interest in putting anything in to represent North Carolina.  We think that part of the easy transition is due to the great neighborhood friends, and particularly L's new favourite local second-grader, Allie:

Graduation!

The night before graduation, Charlotte asked Mummy, "Can I still live with you after I graduate?"  We're softies, so we said "yes."

The girls sang very sweetly.  We'll post the video once we resolve technical issues.

Before graduation, we've been having fun with friends, outside (at Duke Gardens, and the pool)

 ...and indoors (at a birthday party)

 ...and at Marbles Museum, where Louise was able to indulge in her latest obsession, chess.

C&C soccer stars

Charlotte and Claire for the past few weeks have been playing soccer (or Football depending on your country) in an under 6 league. There are eight teams in the league and after some practice sessions they have started playing each other. They are on team "Purple Power"!

They have both been doing as well as can be expected from 5 year-olds who have never played football before. They lost their first game 5-1, but their second game was a draw at 2-2. Both seem to be enjoying it and we are enjoying going as a family.

Louise visits the Insect house

As a special treat for Louise, Nana and Grandad we had a special behind the scenes look at the Butterfly and Insect house. Our guide was the Director of the Butterfly house. Louise was the bravest of us to gets hand-on experience with a stick insect, butterflies and a tarantula.