White House Easter Egg Roll

This was the girls THIRD Easter egg roll.  Lucky ladies have been each year of their life except in 2009 when they were just 16 days old!   Evelyn wanted absolutely nothing to do with the characters, but they were both excited to roll the eggs, do crafts, and hunt for eggs.  Sylvia really liked the characters, but didn't want to wait to take their pictures.  She actually remembered Fairy Twinkletoes from last year.  Super cute.

April Newsletter From School

Dear Three’s Parents,

               I hope that you and your family had a wonderful spring break. It is hard to believe that we only have two months of school left. The year has flown by and Becky and I have certainly enjoyed being with your children throughout this year.

               March was a very busy month with lots of messy activities from the sensory table being filled with rice, some new manipulative activities, to drawing under the table for “U” day, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter activities. The children still enjoy our Friday movement class and this month they enjoyed the scooters. Many thanks to the Elling and Olson families for the delicious Easter snack and treats.

               We have been working on Mat Man almost weekly and the children have certainly enjoyed drawing him. In the coming month we will be adding a new aspect of the Handwriting Without Tears program which includes Aim and Scribble which allows the child to learn to “steer” the crayon. This approach allows for a gradual development in making deliberate single strokes with control. These pre-stroke activities are fun and give lots of practice to moving the crayon. There are songs such as the “Ant, the Bug, and the Bee” that accompany the activities so you might hear your child singing such songs. We will also encourage the children to become familiar with the parts of the letters – long and short lines, big and little curves (all part of Mat Man) - which will lead to the beginning ability to form letters, ideally the first letter of their own name.

               This month we are focusing on Spring – how things grow and replenish, taking care of our environment through Earth Day activities and what the seasons mean. We will continue to learn the days of the week and how they relate to their own lives. We will count and group objects up to five and learn more about “first” and “last”. We will be looking at the last few letters of the alphabet – “W”, “X”, “Y” and “Z” and then we will have an Alphabet “Party” – celebrating all the letters! But more importantly, we will enjoy being outside as much as possible including exploring the world around us, doing art projects, reading and snack all outside. Wednesday, April 10^th will be an All School Event day focusing on one of Eric Carle’s books and that Friday, April 12^th dentist Dr. Tom Roberts will visit the school ad talk with the children about dental health in a child friendly manner. The following Friday, April 19^th the Kindergarten Class will present to the entire school their absolutely delightful circus.

               With the warm weather arriving and your children having grown over the past months, I would appreciate it if you would send in a change of clothes for spring. As I receive the change of clothes I will return the ones we currently have at the school. Believe me, the change of clothes do come in handy especially if we are outside playing with water.

               Also if your child isn’t already, encourage your child to walk into school in the morning by themselves or with a buddy. Once they do it they truly feel a sense of accomplishment, independence and of being a “big kid” and ready for the Four Year Old class next year. I realize that some parents enjoy the chance to walk their child into the building and I certainly respect your wishes. [note - not included in newsletter - evelyn and sylvia have been doing this for months!]

               Be on the lookout for information regarding the Annual School Olympics on Saturday afternoon, April 27^th at 3pm and plan ahead to attend the Annual Art Show and Ice Cream Social on Friday evening, May 3^rd.

                              As always if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, do not hesitate to call or email me.

               Mary Olivia

               Becky

UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:

               Wednesday, April 10^th – All School Event – Eric Carle Day

               Saturday, April 27^th – St. Aidan’s School Olympics, School grounds, 3pm

               Friday, May 3^rd  -- ANNUAL ART SHOW AND ICE CREAM SOCIAL     

Children's Museum

A visit to the Children's Museum at the National Harbor is a regular occurrence.  Today, they got to touch a real pig heart!

Easter

Well, Easter was FUN!  We had just returned from a week in Aspen (pictures to come).

The girls made easter cookies, dyed eggs, attended two easter hunts, and attending the White House Easter Egg Roll.  I only have one picture right now!

Easter Basket Hunt

Here are some videos from our Easter basket hunt ages ago!

Easter Pictures

Returned and quickly hustled to get Easter together, even hosted an easter egg hunt with our neighbors.

Spring Is Here

And the trampoline is together for bouncing!

Pictures from Daddy's Trip

A few pictures from Daddy's trip.  Last month (I think), he was in Paris...see picture in front of Notre Dame.  The other pictures are from the trip he's on now.  Where he looks warm he's in Bilbao Spain, the snow is in Frankfurt where he was delayed nearly 2 days!  He loves the old and new architecture in Spain! 

Update

We've been having fun!  The snowstorm never really came, but the girls had a day off from school!

Daddy went to Poland to meet with the Ministry of Defense for a few days, then back for 2 nights and then flew out again on Saturday.  This time he's in Bilbao, Frankfurt and Brussels.  Right now, he's stranded in Frankfurt because of the massive amounts of snow!  This trip he's away 10 nights!

We were happy Daddy took Friday off too goof off.  We played outside, had a fire, enjoyed smores and then a picnic movie (*Tangled*).  They were thrilled to have their Daddy home.  We even let them sleep together in Sylvia's new bed (good prep for Aspen next week!).  Saturday we went to brunch and then said good-bye to Daddy.  They napped together Saturday too.  Afterward, Mommy watched 4 kids at once (neighbhor broke her foot!) for about 2 hours.  A friend came to visit around dinner, so it was good to have some adult time.

Sunday, the girls woke at 8:40am (*RECORD*) due to the time change.  We had breakfast and played outside all morning.   In the afternoon, we went to a community theatre production of Pinocchio. They loved it.

Let's hope Daddy is safe on his journeys.  Mommy has a busy week planned, including lots of play dates, an Easter egg hunt, and two babysitters for a half marathon in the AM and friends birthday party PM.

9 days until Aspen!  Girls are so excited!

Roller Skating

Thanks for our roller skates and cool pads, Grammommy and Gramps! 

Sylvia Can Make her Own Ponytails!

Check it out.  She did this all by herself.  She was soooo proud!

Evelyn Can Whistle!

You can't really hear it in the video because she didn't really want to do it, but she definitely can whistle.

Cute & Silly Pictures

The pictures taken with me in them were taken by either Evelyn or Sylvia.  It was spirit day at school.  Evelyn refused to wear her school t-shirt.  She wanted the polo dress!

Fun Weekend

Another fun weekend!  Friday we had a fun playdate with Wyatt and Finn from our old 'hood.  We still get together all the time!  Saturday, we had the Smith's over for afternoon turned evening snacking, dinner, drinking and movie.  Their kids are 4 and 2.  Super fun to catch up with them.  Sunday, we went to Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum and saw an IMAX on the Hubble Telescope and then spent some time checking out the space shuttle Discovery and all the other cool suits and satellites!  Monday was President's day and the girls had fun at the Children's Museum and playing in the back yard/riding bikes after nap!  Good times!

Trip to DC Children's Museum

They've been 3 times!