The JCC gym put on a super cute show with all the gymnastics classes showing off their skills. The show wrapped up with an award ceremony and Ella was super excited to get a metal.  And this one was real metal, not a plastic one, which definitely didn't go unnoticed by Ms. E.

End of Year Parties

Kolter PTO always puts on a great end of year party and the girls had a blast hanging out with friends.  Here are some cute pics of the girls with their BFFs.

Last Day Of School

Kinder Expo

Ella had her first expo at Kolter.  The assignment was to research 3 different authors/illustrators and then do a self-portrait in the style of the author.  Ella chose Dr. Seuss.  The main characteristics she wanted to capture were the big head - tiny body, funky hair, and big eye lashes.  Other than me drawing one of the circles for one of the eyes she did the whole thing herself.  Then they had a day where the kids displayed their pictures and parents came to see what everyone had done.  Ella is displaying her masterpiece with her friend Robyn.

Crab Festival

We got cleaned up and headed back to the crab festival after the race.  It was even more fun this year because our friends the Olander's joined us, so the kids had fun running around together.  We got to see the weiner dog races this year which was entertaining, a little of the magic show, played on the inflatables, of course did the crab races and ate some crab for lunch.  I love the non-crowded Crystal Beach events!

Racers

We may have a new family tradition!  This year we decided to go to the Crab Festival down at the beach again on Mother's Day Weekend and I happen to notice that there was a 5K adult race and 1K kids race the Saturday of the festival.  I initially thought that Michael might want to run in the 5K and I kind of jokingly asked the girls if they wanted to do the 1K and they both said yes.  And as it turns out, we have quite a runner in the family -- Addison won 1st place girl and was 3rd place overall!! She did awesome.  She got a gold metal that doubles as a bottle opener (adults and kids got the same metals).  Ella was less enthusiastic about the race, but she finished and she was not in last place, so that was exciting too.

Ella's Kindergarten Performance

Oh my gosh, we are so proud!!  The kinder and 1st grade classes at Kolter put on a performance based on the Very Hungry Caterpillar book.  Each language class took a turn reading a page in French, Spanish or Chinese and then they would sing a song.  Not only did Ella sing with her class, but she actually stood up in front of a cafeteria FULL of parents and recited a page of the story in Chinese and then in English.  Her teacher Ms. Yu said that she had practiced the speaking part with all the kids, and then she asked for volunteers to actually perform in the show and Ella enthusiastically volunteered.  She did a great job!

Ladies Lunch

Ella's big gift this year was an American Girl doll, so I surprised her with a lunch at the cafe at the American Girl store.  Grandma, Meme, and Aunt Jean joined us and we got to enjoy a nice ladies lunch together and then some shopping for the new doll.

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY ELLA!!!!

Wow, 6 years old!  As always, Ella knew exactly what she wanted to do for her birthday this year. She wanted to have a gymnastics party at the gym with the bugs on the wall (painted, not real) and once I figured out what gym she was actually talking about, since it is not the gym where she actually takes gymnastics, the reservation was made and invites were sent out. She invited her closest girl friends and they had a blast running around the gym.

Ella chose a Shopkins theme for her party, so we had a Kooky Cookie birthday cake and "blind bag" party favors with Shopkins in them (turns out you can buy bulk Shopkins from China on eBay for cheap!)  All was very popular with the kindergarten crowd!

Disney in Concert

We are all in with Disney this year, and we are getting a taste of culture at the same time!  We took the girls to their first symphony performance.  It was super fun -- Disney songs with clips of the movies playing in the background.  I have vague recollections of almost falling asleep when we would go to the symphony on field trips in school, but this was great being able to sing along and watch movie clips at the same time.  We made a night of it with dinner downtown followed by the show.  We'll definitely have to go back!