Oakland Chinatown

Holly met her friends in downtown Oakland at Chinatown for a fun play date shopping, walking, and eating/ Gelato was the fun refreshing chocolaty part.  We had some lunch first and then headed back to the main square near the Library.  The girls enjoyed watching the fountain.  They played on the stairs and escalator and we walked around a few markets afterwards.  It was a fun laid back afternoon.

Last Day of Summer School

 Here is Holly in her Snow White Dress.  It's her last day of summer school.  In her class was Jalen, Joey, Scottie, Samantha, and Hassan.  Joey and Samantha have moved on to Kindergarten.  Holly still sees Hassan in Swim and Gym and she also takes a Swim lesson with him.  Holly is now in a Full Inclusion class with teacher Gladys, we were sad to say goodbye to Teacher Johnnie But with so many of her classmates moving on it was the right thing to do.  Even Aidan and Nate moved into Teacher Gladys class with her and Gio who she plays with at Recess is now in Teacher Karen's class.  The summer was great but Holly is finally getting adjusted to her new class and slowly making friends.

Daily Video: Rapunzel

Holly LOVES Tangled.

This is a song called "When with my life begin" She actually has the whole thing memorized and asks to listen to it in the car almost everyday.  Now when she watched tangled she practically acts out the whole Movie, either with a doll or she herself plays Rapunzel.  Here she is with her new Rapunzel hair dancing and singing to her favorite song.  She wants to "Cut" her hair at the end of the Movie so the other day I found a Short Brown Hair wig for only $2.99 So she has hair for that part of the movie now too. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNnvzdsE1aM&feature=share&list=UU7gxag4psIOsb7IV3fFrWtA

Sewing Playdate: Cat in the Hat Skirt

So Mai had a half yard of this really cool Cat in the Hat fabric. It was so adorable. Not quite enough for a dress and we wanted to make something for both girls so we cut it in half to make two skirts. The single panel was a little short and didn't leave much seam allowance so I used some pretty matching blue fabric with little flowers on it and attached it to the top of Mimi's skirt just enough to add an elastic waist band. I wanted a longer skirt for Holly so I added on 7 more inches. It was also an easy project and my first with an elastic waist band. It was a simple hem and loop for elastic that we pulled through and closed. On Mimi's skirt I stitched the elastic in place on two spots which kept it from twisting. It was great. So anyways, here are the girls doing there silly poses and hugging. They have such fun playing while Mommies get to be crafty.

Daily Video: Car Singing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MupoR75b8-4

So even though Holly is currently Obsessed with Rapunzel she also plays and listens to Merida quite a bit. I suspect it might be more if the movie was already out on DVD and we could watch it over and over and over again at home like Tangled. This is a song from the movie, thought I have no clue which part it is from it came of the CD with a Brave Story. Amazingly she has all the words to this song memorized as well. On this day she had just gotten a Queen Eleanor Doll as a reward for something so she was super excited about listening to Brave music. Once she realized of course that I was trying to record she of course wanted to zip her lips. But here she is. Sorry about the sideways angle. and don;t worry we were sitting in Construction Traffic so the few times I was moving I was maybe going two miles an hour.

Summer Swimming and the Park

So we went to Roberts park almost daily for a month, it was always so so hot and so for the most part afterwards we would go to the forest to snack and play.  But on this day I gave in and decided to head to the playground.  Throy really wanted to swing.  It was fun, but HOT. In the pool Holly was with out Olivia, I think it helped her to be a little less mischievous.  But she still had a lot of fun.  On this day she did really good with her floats and she practiced her stroke.

Sewing Playdate - Daddy Dress

This is an awesome dress I made from one of Ron's old shirts. Mai donated it to the cause and since I sewed it we were going to let Holly keep it but she didn't like it. I think it was the coloring. But I loved the idea of making a dress from a men's shirt, it came from a Martha Stewart book.  I couldn't believe how easy it is to do since the collar and the buttons and the bottom seam are all built in.  So we now have plans to go and buy some old shirts from Good Will that Holly picks out so she will like them and see what happens.

Ballet/Tap Class

So we have signed up for a 4-week trial Ballet/Tap class at kids in Dance in Oakland. These pictures are from week 2. mommies are not allowed in on the dance floor, but we do get to watch the class on a TV in the waiting area. it is such a cute class and the girls love it. They typically start off with Tap Shoes then do some stretches and finish with ballet. This session is all about the nut cracker and in each 45 minute class they usually get to dress up in costumes twice. the first week there were 4 girls total, this week there ended up being maybe 8 but our girls did a great job participating and following along and the class seems super fun. Afterwards we went out for a smoothie down the block. These girls are doing there "naught Girl" poses, as these days it about the only way I can get them to stay still and look into the camera.