The last weeks of school

May 31st, Oma Pake arrived. Such an excitement for the kids. Miss N went with P to pick them up from the airport. As usual, she was napping in the car when they arrived. According to P, she woke up, saw her grand parents, stared without any expression for a while and then the little lips started trembling, followed by a big cry. Now, she's a fan of Oma Pake.

The girls had their little piano recital. Both did very well. Miss A practiced the last weeks pretty often and her songs improved tremendously. I don't have to say anything about Miss F's piano, she's always practicing.

The school play, "the Gloaming" was last Friday. It was, again, so beautiful and amazing. Chapeau for all the hard work. Miss F was an element, one of the 'Sun's'. She did two cartwheels and a hand stand on the stage. she knows most of the songs by heart and I catch myself singing them with or without her.

We now officially have summer school. The last big event is Miss A's ballet recital next weekend. It's going to be busy.

Yesterday, we biked to school. We ran into Sara, Hetty and Fleury. Hetty and Miss F took off, followed by Sara. It took Miss A a long time to bike. She has her little four wheeler and the bike is just way too small for her. She made it though! On the way back, it was sticky hot and the road seemed more uphill. Poor little girl wanted to give up a million times but she went on, her cheeks red, her hair sticking to her wet with sweat forehead. Miss F got off her bike and pushed her many times, just so that she could climb yet another hill. She was so nice to her little sis. Love, love love these kids! We're now looking for a new bike for Miss A. I hope she'll get on two wheels soon.

We went to the open house at Ragdale. It was the same day as the piano recital. I had no idea how beautiful the Ragdale property is. Behind the house is a whole nature area, with studios scattered around. The kids did some art activities and we visited the renovated house. So gorgeous! Oma pake were very impressed as well. I ran into Hester Hershenhorn there. I didn't know she was teaching creative writing there before she moved to the city. I felt like 12 talking to her, meeting one of my teachers that I admire so much. She still remembered my 'Hawk' story and gave me some advise in two seconds. Since I talked to her, I've been more proactive about finding a critique group. Since my writing is not going so well and I'm still waiting to hear from this one critique group, I just started a new tennis drill. I'm supposed to be game ready in six lessons. We do it with Katy. It's a lot of fun. Every now and then I take some kind of lessons, but I still didn't get to playing regularly. I see it as an investment for the future!? Or am I just keeping myself busy so that I don't have to worry too much about my writing!

Last Sunday was Pastor Debby's last day at P's church. He was pretty emotional. I joined him at the church and said goodbye to the Pastor and her husband. I'm glad I got to know them.

We stopped with Miss F's swimming for the moment - it's enough, she's already so much better than me! Of course the real reason was schedule problems. Now Miss A's taking lessons. She's doing very well. I wish I could start Miss N with swimming lessons, too.

Now, after all the 'did this did that', let's see what Miss N is doing. She comes down often enough with a cute hairdo and a nice dress, all Miss F's creations. She's OK about it, keeps all the stuff in her hair. She loves shoes, like Miss F loved when she was little - oh well, she still loves them! She'll wear a pair from someone and walk around the house. It's hilarious. Last week, she decided she will climb to the top of the big slide in our backyard. The steps are thin round stocks and the distance between them is about 40cm. The climb is already life threatening, but on top of the landing, two sides are open. She runs from one side to another and escapes a big fall just by luck. She gave me an almost heart attack the other day. I couldn't reach her, she went running away from me, from one side to another, thinking it was a game. Pake had the same with her. She's still a water baby. She walks into the water whenever she can, another cause for heart attack. The only thing that stops her is cold, she won't swim in cold water. I cannot leave the shower door open, she'll just walk in - she's still taking standing showers - and she discovered -yuck!- the toilet pot. She's still calling everything Momma or Mommy, but sometimes some word comes out of her little mouth and we all think it sounded like something. It's unbelievable though how much she understands. I tell her to get a cookie, and she walks to the pantry. I ask her to bring me something and she does it. The amazing part is how she seems to understand all three languages, even English. What's going on in that little head? Wouldn't it be nice to know?