a year gone by...(school year that is)

Rory recently completed her first year of preschool with much success. I can't speak highly enough of her school and how much progress I have seen her make through her twice weekly classes. She would love to go everyday, but I am not ready to give up my freedom of schedule just yet. Anyway, we love teacher Angie at our house and rory often leads her babies through a day of school when she comes home. they had a really fun end of year celebration where the kids got to where caps and sing a couple of songs in english and spanish, followed by dinner and dancing. Since rory had missed several days due to her surgery, it was great for her to get some closure to the year and get the idea about this whole summer vacation thing. what i was most struck by when looking through pictures was how much older she looks at the end of the year compared to the beginning. see here for the 1st day of school.... http://pbandr.blogspot.com/2009/09/1st-day-of-school.html
here are pics from the last day of school. notice the addition of the starbuck steamer- one school day habit we need to kick this summer!

a rare sighting...

...both girls clean at one time! just thought I would take a few obligatory bath photos. someone once told me that if you have a crab then get it to water. so true- no matter how bad the night is going or how cranky they are, water always helps.

blowing bubbles!!

Jr. Rose Parade

once again we ventured out to see the jr. rose parade. the real rose parade is a big deal in portland, but pat hates parades and i am not brave enough or motivated enough to haul 2 young children into the mass chaos that is that particular event. soooo, we settle for the jr. version. this means that the floats are homemade and mostly consist of decorated bicycles and cardboard attached to wagons. the bands are all middle school instead of high school and the audience is mostly the 6 and under crowd. what this means is that it is PERFECT for us!! we have a whole system of eating lunch at one of our favorite breweries (fancy micro brew included!) and then timing it just right so there is no waiting and no crowds. the best part is watching how excited the girls get. they clap, dance, and stare in awe the entire time.

it really reminds me how simple it is to impress them- the littlest things are so cool to them. rory's favorite part is that the mascots stay in their cars (unlike various sporting events where benny or blaze try to come talk to her) and all the dance teams. every one that passed was accompanied by "ooh, mom- i am going to do that when i get older!" lucy just loved the bands. she was big into clapping and dancing and has pretty good rythm. it was supposed to be thundering and super rainy, and ended up being perfect. now we have done it 3 years in a row- officially a maloney family tradition! next year, come join us!!