Eva's 4th Birthday

Eva is 4! And she is very eager to tell people.

For some reason, this was a much bigger event than any other birthday. It was almost like a rite of passage for her, crossing over from "little girl" to "big girl."

Her day started with Daddy's homemade crepes, complete with four birthday candles. Typically he spreads jelly on the crepes, rolls them up and sprinkles powdered sugar on top. But not this time. Eva had specifically requested dried blueberries, raisins and cranberries for her birthday.


After a quick breakfast, we headed to swimming lessons and then returned home to open presents right before lunch.

She received lots of fun things, like some pretty dresses from Grandma Jo, a moon dough pizza making kit from Amanda, a Dinosaur Train Color Wonders set from Liam, and some books from Mama and Daddy. There were a few other little odds and ends thrown in, like a package of red pens and a composition notebook... both of which were purchased because Amanda is tired of Eva stealing hers. Oh, and a new boogie board for the beach - and one for Amanda as well, to avoid fighting over just one.

But the highlight of her birthday were these: Sketcher's Twinkle Toe sneakers.

I have unfortunately become one of those moms who does not keep up with current fashion trends. {gasp} Somehow both of the girls know that Twinkle Toes are all the rage amongst the young girls. They showed them to me at Kohl's one day and begged for them. I have yet to pay $40 for a pair of shoes for either of them, but the other day, I just happened to be in the shoe section and they were on clearance for a little under $30.

I want to go back and see if they have any in Amanda's size, in anticipation of her birthday in August.

I commented to Dave that they actually seem to fit Eva's personality perfectly. Sneakers for her tomboy side, but bedazzled with all sorts of glitter and jewels for her "glamorous", dress-up side.

For dinner, I made Eva's special birthday request: tater tot casserole. (Her first choice was sushi, but since it was a teaching day for me, there was no time to make homemade sushi!!)

She picked out her own cake, an Oreo ice cream cake, and we all sang to her as she blew out all four candles in one try.


It's funny, but she actually does seem older since her birthday occurred. I guess there was just something magical about the number 4 for her.

Extra, Extra

Amanda did a great job at her big end-of-the-year formal dance recital yesterday!

I didn't hear her mention stage fright at any point, which surprised me.

I think that could be because she was so busy "taking care of" the younger kids in her class. Her class is comprised of three 5-6 year olds and four 4 year olds. Her favorite little friends in the class are Shyla and Matthew. Lots of the parents commented on what a good "mother" she is to them, and were surprised that she is only five years old. I told them that she gets lots of practice at home, and she really is a very good helper.


Unfortunately we were not allowed to videotape or take photos during the recital. Instead, we had the option of buying the $30 DVD. We opted not to do that, so the only video I have is during the rehearsal.

The show began with a full studio performance of "I Heard it Through the Grapevine", and all of the kids were dressed in black pants and T-shirts... with black garbage bags over the top so they looked like raisins. It was really cute.

Amanda's tap performance, "Extra Extra", went very well. I thought Amanda was right on the beat and really looked like she knew what she was doing. Most of the kids in her class seemed to have forgotten the routine, but the audience smiled and laughed simply because they were all so cute.

At intermission, I took Eva and Omi backstage so they could say hello to Amanda while I helped with her costume change.

The ballet portion of her performance consisted of the kids dressed as dalmations, dancing to "How Much is That Doggie in the Window." It was super!! I really wish I could have videotaped it!

For the finale, the entire studio came out again in their black pants and T-shirts, with colorful feather boas around their necks. After the final bow, the kids sat down on the stage while Miss Alicia handed out ribbons, certificates and trophies. I had no idea there would be an award ceremony so that was a neat surprise.

Amanda was awarded with a 1st year ribbon, and a trophey for having perfect attendance. (She actually missed one class while Liam was in the hospital in the winter, but she went to a bonus class so I guess that made up for it.)

Here's a video of her receiving the trophey, which came as a big surprise to her! (She is wearing the pink boa.)

Next year Eva will be enrolled in dance class, which she is very excited about. It has been fun to watch Amanda progress over the past year. She really enjoys dancing and I think she's quite good at it! It will be fun to see what she learns next year when she's with girls all her same age!

After the recital, I took the girls to Wendy's for a special (unhealthy!) treat but Amanda didn't eat a bite. I thought she was just exhausted from the day, having been at an anniversary party earlier in the day and then straight to the recital.

Unfortunately, this morning she woke up with a 102.2 fever. I'm glad her body held the sickness at bay long enough to finish the recital. I just hope it's gone by tomorrow because she starts swimming lessons in the morning and has her best friend's birthday party in the afternoon.

Amanda's Dance Pictures

This weekend is Amanda's big dance recital. At the end of the year, they go all out and perform in the middle school's auditorium. There will be three costume changes. (Four, actually, if you count the garbage bag she is supposedly wearing in the opening number... but that's supposed to be a surprise, apparently.)

This year's theme is Extra, Extra and it's centered around newspapers. Yesterday was Picture Day at a church and it was a big deal. I was nervous about it all day long, hoping that I had remembered all of the parts to her costumes, gotten her hair right - "half up, half down and curled" as instructed, and applied makeup. She really, really does not like makeup on her eyes. Blush and lip gloss was about the extent of her makeup.

Here is her tap outfit.


And the group picture.


And here's the costume for the ballet number. Isn't she an adorable dalmation? I'm already thinking ahead to Halloween, wondering whether or not this will still fit her by then.

This is their pose at the conclusion of the ballet dance. These two little girls, only 3 or 4 years old, adore Amanda. And the little boy in her class, Matthew, follows her around just like a little... puppy. (We really should have started her in ballet before she was 5. I had no idea the beginner class would be mostly younger kids. Oops.)


The dress rehearsal is on Friday and the big show is on Saturday. Can't wait!

Like Father, Like Son

Liam loves to tinker with things and try to figure out how they work. He likes puzzles and anything that snaps, buckles or fastens.

He is very much like Dave in this way.

In fact, when Dave opened the 6-in-1 screwdriver set on Father's Day, Liam ran off with the screwdriver and walked all over the playroom, going from toy and toy and tinkering with them.

If he sees a child lock left unlocked, he will spot it immediately and try to snap the pieces together, unknowingly locking himself out.

If he walks past his high chair, he will buckle the belt - which is rather annoying because I have to take time to unbuckle it each and every time I go to put him in. The same goes for the stroller if it has been left outside.

He has recently learned how to crawl into the bike stroller and buckle his safety belt. That's pretty impressive because it's a tricky one!

And also, when I put him into his car seat, he immediately sets to work trying to buckle the seat belt.

Last week he watched me blow up his little baby pool... by mouth because I was too lazy to get the air compressor out of the shed. The next day when he was in the pool, I noticed him putting his mouth on the little plastic nozzle of the pool, imitating what he had seen me do.

One day, he got into the cupboard and pulled out the cord to my electric kettle. He then walked over to the outlet near the piano and tried to stick the big prong into the outlet! Guess I'll have to put a lock on THAT cabinet as well.

A few weeks ago, when he had gotten up at the break of dawn again, long before anyone else was awake, he found my car keys and tried to "unlock" my bedroom door. The door doesn't really lock, unless you have one of the old-fashioned skeleton keys. But he managed to get a key into the lock and open the door.

One evening as we all played in his bedroom, he worked diligently and ever so patiently, trying to hook a toy car up to Big Bird's tow truck. I stopped the video off after a minute, but he kept up with his efforts long past the end of this video clip.

It is so much fun to watch him learn all of these new things. You can almost see the wheels spinning in his little brain. The really fun thing is to take videos of him, and let him watch them on my iPhone. I'm pretty sure he doesn't realize he's watching himself, but he watches with a very intense look on his face as if he's saying,"What in the world is that kid doing?"

He will be 17 months old in a few days, edging closer and closer to his second birthday. His whole world will be unlocked soon, I have a feeling.

Father's Day: 5K Molly Walk

First of all, Happy Father's Day to my dad!

He is spending the summer in Wisconsin and I'm hoping my card arrived at his vacation home in time. Hope you're having an enjoyable day, Dad!

We started our morning with a delicious breakfast of french toast - made not by me, but by Dave. Yes, a little backwards... but he insisted.

After breakfast, the kids crowded around Dave and "helped" him open his gifts... clothes, a screwdriver set, a topographical atlas of recreational trails and such in Massachusetts... and tickets to a sunset paddlewheel boat cruise in Plymouth Harbor.


After gifts, we scurried out the door to participate in the 5K Molly Walk.

Five years ago, on Father's Day, a local girl named Molly drowned in her family pool after having a seisure. She was only 14 years old. We remember being at a cookout and hearing all of the sirens. It was horrible. The following year, they put together an annual Molly Walk to raise money for her memorial fund.


Earlier this week, the girls and I took a few books to Molly's Dandelion Park and read in front of the peaceful fountain. It's a really nice addition to our town, located right in the center of town next to CVS.

This was our first year participating in the walk. Liam rode in the hiking backpack, which Dave carried, and I pushed Eva in the stroller.


We met up with some friends beforehand, who took a nice family picture of us, and even Amanda's Kindergarten teacher, who was walking with her daughter and two big dogs.



It was perfect weather for a 3.1 mile walk. Warm, sunny, no humidity. It was very enjoyable for everyone but Amanda. She walked... and complained every few minutes that her leg/knee/foot/stomach hurt. At least when we crossed the finish line, there were popsicles and pastries to make it all worthwhile.

We will more than likely do it again next year. The last I heard, they had raised nearly $40,000 for Molly's Memorial Fund. A very successful effort!

School for Liam?

It is the first day of summer vacation and already, Liam is trying to escape the chaos.

I had packed a picnic lunch for the girls because Dave had planned to take them to the beach this afternoon. Unfortunately work got too busy for him and he had to back out on that plan.

Liam found the lunch and decided it was his own personal backpack. His new words of the day have become backpack and school. When I drop Eva off at preschool and Liam is with me, it has become harder and harder to get him to part with all of the preschool toys. The sand table is a special favorite and on the last day of school, when the doll washing station was set up, he was drawn to that.

Apparently he has since decided that school is a more fun place to be than home.

Not yet, big guy. You're going to have to wait until it's your turn.

Candlepin Bowling

I signed the girls up for the Kids Bowl Free program this summer. Kids can bowl two free games every day of the summer. I also purchased a $25 Family Pass which allows Dave, myself, or a chaperone to bowl for free each day too. It's a really great deal. All we pay for is shoes, which came to $10 for the three of us.

On Monday, we went for the first time.


I decided to have the girls try candlepin bowling without the bumpers. After the first frame, I started to second guess that decision, but it was too late to go back. In the end, I'm glad they tried it because it made it more challenging and allowed them to practice their aim.

They were both tired after one game, which was fine, because we had been running errands for the past two hours and I was starting to drag too.


This will be a good activity to do with the kids when it's too hot to be outside!

More Blue for Eva!

The entire town of Marshfield was abuzz yesterday over the Bruin's hockey match last night. It was very exciting for people, but since we are not sports fans, it was a normal day for us. As I was drifting off to sleep last night, I heard fireworks and without even following the game... err, match or whatever it's called... I knew the outcome.

Sure enough, I found out this morning that the Bruins clinched the Stanley Cup against the Canucks with a score of 4-0.

Instead of the Bruins, the Lindsay family was cheering for Team Eva last night!!

It was the second week of the Youth Track series and last night Eva did even better than Week #1.

Our little winner!

That's right! Eva won both of her events last night, the 50 yard and the 100 yard!

Before the races started, I told Eva to pretend that a cheetah, her current favorite animal, was chasing her... trying to eat her toes for dessert. This got a big grin out of her, and I realized that she fully understood what to do.

The first race, the 50 yard dash, was a close finish. Eva was looking at her feet and kind of shuffling along. Maybe the cheetah story wasn't a good idea after all. (Eva is the one in purple shorts/pink shirt, 2nd lane to the right.)

The second race, the 100 yard dash, was close too. Eva and the other little girl were neck and neck the entire race and toward the end, I thought Eva was going to take a spill. She probably would have finished with the red ribbon if the leader hadn't stopped running before she got to the finish line. (That's the problem with the young kids' races. They start slowing down before the finish line rather than running straight through.)

Amanda ran in the 100 yard dash and the 400 yard (1/4 mile.) She didn't place and so again, the jealousy emerged. However, her best friend Katelynn showed up this week, so at least they got to run together.

Eva's name was in this week's newspaper for last week's race results, and she will be in again next week. I think she is really enjoying this, and we are too!

A Visit to the Recording Studio

For the past few months, Dave has asked if I wanted to sit in on a recording session with his band. They are working on their third CD right now and so far, it is sounding pretty amazing. I was hesitant to sit in, not wanting to ruin their momentum, and I always felt like it might be awkward, having "one of the wives" watching.

Yesterday Dave went ahead and arranged for a babysitter, Omi, to watch the kids for a few hours so I could go and watch the band in action. The deal was, I would only have to stick around for half an hour, watch them work, and then I could leave to do some shopping sans kids. Only part of the band would be there anyhow (no drummer or rhythm guitarist), so it was pretty low-key.

At 8:30, we left on our Sunday morning date, first making a quick pitstop at Starbucks for food and fuel, meaning an expensive breakfast sandwich and an iced Americano... and then headed to Solstice Recording Studio in Stoughton.

By the time we arrived, Jason (the bass player) and Chris (the singer) had unloaded and set up all of the equipment. Dave set to work on tuning up while I got a quick tour of the place.

Derelict 80: Chris, Dave and Jason
(Missing: Andre and Rian)

And that's when I spotted the baby grand.

I made a beeline for it, peeling back the thick, dark blanket to reveal a shiny black Yamaha baby grand piano. I played a few notes. It sounded good, really good.

Pitter patter, pitter patter.

I wished I had brought along some music.

Dave asked Joe, the producer, to pull something up so I could get a feel for what it's like in the booth. I requested Lines, a favorite of mine that they're currently working on, which features a catchy guitar solo by Dave.

Joe played around with the levels, pulling some tracks in and out so I could hear the isolated instruments. Having had a digital piano with MIDI and sequencing capabilities, I knew how all of it worked but it was fun to see a professional at work.

I don't remember how exactly it transpired, but Dave started playing Tuesday on his acoustic guitar. I was sitting at the piano and asked what chords he was playing. I started playing along and after a few seconds, the singer joined in.

Before we knew it, it was a full jam session. We ended the song and Chris looked through the glass window into the production booth and said,"Joe, did you get that?"

And that's when we, meaning THEY, decided that it was good enough to record. After ONE time through, ready or not, we were on.

Yikes! Talk about stage fright!!

We recorded the track and then all headed into the booth to listen to the playback. I cringed at a wrong chord that I had played, but they assured me that Joe could "punch it out" and "paste in" one of my other correctly played chords into that spot.

What a treat to get to play with these guys!

Well, gosh! That was a lot of fun! Certainly more fun that going shopping at Ikea. I glanced at my watch and was surprised to see that it was almost 10:00. I had planned to be gone by then!

The guys liked the piano track on Tuesday so much that they, amongst themselves, decided that I should play on their new song, Sinking, as well.

Sinking is an ambient, atmospheric, kind of creepy song with only two chords. A bit Radiohead-ish... slow and in an odd time signature.

We ran through it once and I felt fairly comfortable, despite the difficult timing. Joe recorded the four of us and then we once again crowded into the booth to hear the playback. I wasn't happy with how my part sounded and felt I could do better.

They asked me to record my track alone, with headphones on, while a previously recorded version played into my ears. It was tricky for me because it lacked the energy that I felt when we were all playing as a group and I felt like I was in the spotlight. I don't do well under that kind of pressure.

The guys insisted that they liked it, but I knew I could improve and come up with something more creative. Dave suggested that I could come back another time once I had worked my part up, so I may take him up on that.

I also need to remember that this is just a rough edit. Once Joe adds some effects like reverb and cleans it up a bit, it will sound better. And of course, music ALWAYS sounds better in headphones... not in a tiny recording booth.

In any case, here's a little summary of how it all went down.



I got my five minutes of fame this morning and I can honestly say it was a blast. It was such an adrenalin rush; I don't think my heart has slowed down since.

Then again, maybe it's just the caffeine from my Cafe Americano!

How to Spend a Hot Summer Day

When the temperature reaches nearly 100*, it can be tough trying to keep everyone cool and in good moods. Here is an idea worth remembering as the summer goes on.

1. Put on swimsuits and sunscreen.
2. Fill up a bucket with water and lots of soap suds.
3. Spray van with hose.
4. Run through the spraying water.
5. Scrub every square inch of van.
6. Spray van with hose.
7. Repeat step 4
8. Abandon the act of washing van
9. Repeat step 4... over and over.
10. Repeat steps 1-9, this time washing Daddy's car.
11. Put on dry clothes.
12. Climb into sparkling clean van.
13. Drive to McDonald's to meet best friend, Katelynn.
14. Eat 49 cent ice cream cones... in the air conditioning!!!!

On top of that, we bought our beach sticker today, which allows us unlimited access to our town's beaches. I have a feeling it is going to be a good summer.

Eva's First Races

Last night was the first night of the season for the Marshfield Youth Track Wednesday Races. Technically last week was the first, but because of the sudden storm and tornado watch, they were canceled.

I finished teaching my last lesson, rushed to make sure everyone had socks and shoes on their feet and bottles of cold water in their hands, and out the door we went.

Eva's race was the first of the night and she lined up with about 10 other girls at the start line for the 100 yard dash. Last year she was too shy to participate in the race, so I wasn't sure how it would go. Also, Dave was working late so I was flying solo, which made it difficult because I was torn about where to position myself. Should I stay with her at the starting line to encourage her... or should I stand at the finish line to congratulate her?

I decided to let Amanda stand with Eva and I slowly made my to the finish line, weaving through the crowd, pushing Liam in the stroller.

Eva lines up for her first race.

The announcer blew his whistle and dropped his blue flag, signaling the start of the race. Amanda did a great job of cheering for Eva. Eva kept her eyes straight ahead of her, stayed in her lane and really ran her little heart out.

And she won!

After sending a few instant messages to Daddy to tell him the good news, we made our way back to the start line. After the young kids finished their heats of the 50 yard dash, it was time for the 100 yard dash. Again, the 3 year old girls ran first.

This time I made sure to position Liam and myself at the finish line and I waved and cheered as Eva ran toward me. (She's in the farthest lane to the left in the pink shorts and white tank top.

It was a photo finish between Eva and another little girl, who kept glancing over at Eva as she ran. In the end, they awarded Eva with the 2nd place ribbon and recorded her name to submit to next week's newspaper.

I think Eva was more excited about having her name in the paper than she was about getting the blue and red ribbons! I am so proud of Eva and glad that she received accolades for something. It's about time she comes out of Amanda's shadow and has something to boost her self esteem.

Amanda raced in both the 100 yard and 200 yard races. She didn't win 1st, 2nd or 3rd place but she was awarded with a green participation ribbon.


Well, she was not at all pleased that Eva won and she didn't. As she told Dave during the phone conversation on the way home,"I got two green ribbons. That means I didn't win."

We explained to her that everyone has different "special talents" and that you can't win everything. We reminded her of last week's successful recital, and also about her blue ribbon during her first race as a 4 year old. But she was still a bit pouty about the whole thing. It was a good lesson for her to learn though, and she will need to accept that fact that she can't be #1 at everything.

Kindergarten Graduation

Amanda had her official Kindergarten Celebration and Graduation this morning!

Boy, was THAT a quick year!!

Amanda's Debut Recital

What can I say? It was a FANTASTIC recital this afternoon!

Amanda had nerves of steel and played just beautifully. I am so, so proud of her. She later told me that she had so much fun, that after she was finished playing, she wanted to go back up and do it again.

Right before the recital started, I gave Amanda a silver necklace with a pair of eighth notes and a treble clef so she would always remember her first recital. (My hope is that she will wear it for all future recitals and maybe pass it down to her own children, should we be so lucky!)

This gift certainly did not go unappreciated. I actually thought Amanda was going to cry when I gave it to her. She threw her arms around me and exclaimed,"Oh thank you, Mama!" It was pretty great. Unfortunately I forgot my camera and did not get a picture of her with the necklace. A few of the parents took pictures so hopefully they will share theirs with me.

Taken after we got home from the recital.

(I think Eva felt a little bit of envy over Amanda getting all the attention. Here she is, trying to sneak her way into the photo.) She tried to get in on the group photo as well.


I think it was actually one of my favorite recitals ever. The music was fun, we had a great variety of pieces and the kids genuinely seemed to be enjoying themselves up on stage. Every single one of them exceeded my expectations and had some of their best performances ever.

This year I handed out long stemmed red roses to each of the students. It was a nice touch and I think I will do that again in the years to come. After each student took a bow, I presented them with a rose and quietly congratulated them on a great year.

My 2010-2011 Studio (missing one student)

After the recital, we went out for Chinese food and sushi with Amanda's aunt, uncle, cousin and grandma.

Here is the first part of the recital, which includes a beginners' trio (Amanda, Halina and Cedric) of Bluebird on My Shoulder, followed by Amanda's individual performance.

* If you tried this previously and it didn't work, try it now. I accidentally had it set to "Private."

Amanda's Program
1 - Bluebird on my Shoulder (trio)
2 - Cinderella's Waltz
3 - Tchaikovky's Waltz from Swan Lake
4 - Theme from Star Wars
5 - A Rainbow is a Smile Turned Upside Down (duet)

Snapping Turtles!

I have never seen a snapping turtle in the entire time that I've lived in MA.

Today, I saw not only ONE... but TWO of these prehistoric looking creatures!

As we were leaving for Preschool, Dave looked out the window and saw something in the grass. "Is that a turtle?" he asked.

We all walked outside for a closer look, and sure enough... there was a large turtle on the lawn. Dave told us that it was a snapping turtle, and warned us to stay back or it could bite our toes off.

Check out those big beady eyes!

We could see where the grass was matted down behind him, showing the path it had taken as it walked up toward our house from the river.

We thought it was odd that it was walking in the wrong direction, away from the water. Dave was concerned that if it continued the way it was going, it would cross right over our busy road.

I took a few pictures so we could show Eva's preschool teacher, who is a real nature lover. I was fascinated by the spiky tail, which reminded me of the dinosaurs we've seen in Eva's books.

When I showed Mrs. McCarthy the photos, she confirmed that it was a snapping turtle. She guessed that it was probably on its way to lay eggs.

After Preschool, Liam and I bought groceries and then met a friend to go walking. And what did we see just the street from my friend's house? Another snapping turtle!

I started to wonder if there was some sort of symbolism in the fact that I had seen TWO turtles within an hour of each other, in completely different neighborhoods. Dave is competing in another 5K race tonight, along with some of his c0workers. Slow and steady wins the race, perhaps?

Later in the day, the girls and I did some research on snapping turtles. Sure enough, their peak egg laying season is in June and July. They sometimes travel far from their home looking for sandy soil to lay their eggs in.

We also learned that their defense mechanism is snapping or biting because their bodies are too large to hide inside of their shell.

I was reminded of the girls' favorite show, Wild Kratts. On that show, they feature certain animals and talk about their "creature power", their catchy term for "defense mechanism." I suggested that they write Chris and Martin a letter asking them to do a show about snapping turtles. Of course, Amanda's eyes lit up at that suggestion.

It was an interesting science lesson for all of us, that's for sure.

Eva's Tumblefun Olympics

Last week, Eva had her end of the year Tumblefun Gymnastics Olympics.

It was a day where the parents were invited to come and see all that the kids had learned. We were allowed to take photos and videos as we followed our children around from one apparatus to the other.

At first, Eva was a little shy. But near the end of the class, she started hamming it up and posing for the camera. She would hold her pose much longer than the 3 seconds that they have been taught, and as she demonstrated each skill, she would smile and wait for me to take her picture.

I just finished putting together a montage of the videos/photos, and will bring that to WI this summer so she can show the grandparents.

Here is a preview, some of my favorite photos from the day.

Posing with her medal

Her entire class and the four instructors

Climbing the Rock Wall

It has almost been a year now since our town's new Kids at Play playground officially opened. It has been such a great addition and we are lucky that it is within biking distance, or even walking distance, from our house. It is located in Library Plaza, which is perfect because we can check out a new batch of books and then stop for some quick fun at the playground.

Our town's new playground

We have gotten into the habit of going several times per week. Sometimes I'll go with Eva and Liam in the mornings when Amanda is at school. Sometimes when both girls are in school, I'll take Liam and let him explore. And when I'm really lucky, I can take the girls in the afternoon while Dave stays with Liam at naptime... and find a bench to sit so I can catch up on some reading. Like yesterday, for example!

Each time we go, Amanda and Eva find someone there that they know. Every single time! The kids all form a group and spend their time making up games to play, or take turns pushing each other on the always popular tire swing.

It's a great playground - fully fenced in, with a cushiony surface to walk on. There are various sections, so each age group has a specific place that is appropriate for them. It is so nice to have a playground that is safe and fun for all of my kids; not too babyish for the girls and not too advanced for Liam.

The infamous rock wall, on the right

There has been one part of the playground that Amanda has always aspired to go on: the rock climbing wall.

It seems to be some sort of rite of passage with the kids. Almost as if it is the Mount Everest among the "under 7 crowd." Those who are strong enough and skilled enough to climb it will often sit on the top in a sort of "King of the Mountain" type of way.

Amanda was always one of the kids who stayed on the ground, looking up toward the older kids perched on the mountain pee. She tried time and time again to scale that wall, but never got more than a few feet off the ground.

Until last week!

Dave took the kids one night after dinner, and Amanda came home and excitedly announced that she had finally made it to the top. "Without Daddy's help!", she insisted.

Sure enough, when I took the girls last Friday for a quick playdate before Eva's Tumblefun class, Amanda's friend came running over to me to tell me that Amanda was at the top!

I grabbed the camera and snapped a photo for evidence.

Queen of the Mountain

You will have to enlarge the picture to see the proud smile on her face. It was an awfully big accomplishment for her. Hooray for Amanda!