Mattie wasn't quite on the news!

This is a really cool thing that happened towards the end of the school year in May. Mattie's friend Hannah came up with the great idea of collecting funds to send to help Japan with their earthquake/tsunami disaster. She and Mattie made encouraging announcements over the intercom and the kids at the school all collected change. The girls presented their plan at a PTO meeting and convinced the PTO to match their contribution funds (they were happy to). The Marie Hughes students raised almost exactly $500 in change, which Hannah's mom took Mattie off to the bank to have counted. Then a representative from the Red Cross came to the school to pick up the checks in person, and a reporter from Channel 4 News also came and interviewed the girls and recorded the lady from the Red Cross thanking them. Unfortunately the segment was never aired, but fortunately I'd also recorded most of it with my camera.  (We were bummed - we watched a ton of news that day and the next morning, and we didn't think there was anything in particular that was important enough to have bumped our girls!)

Here the girls are just as the reporter was getting set up to interview them. (Then I switched to movie mode, no photos.)



And here is the segment that I think I can fit on the blog. The lady from the Red Cross was very nice and appreciative - I think the whole thing left a very positive impression on the girls, hopefully other students too, and on the school as well.

Zoe's preschool program

This is also from last month. Zoe's preschool does such fabulous programs twice a year! This was her "graduation" program - I guess she graduated from three-year-old preschool. :) She was a mermaid in a play called something like "Hunt for the Missing Triceratops" - a dramatic thriller! It was very cute, as always.

Here they are lining up to come on stage.  Aren't these the cutest mermaid costumes?  Can you believe the preschool provides all these costumes???  They were a good-bye gift for the kids this year.


Here they are onstage.


Zoe's big line was coming up! 



Here she is saying her line: "I am a girl mermaid. I swim in California with my brother and sister and my mom and dad." 

I have some other videos but evidently there is a size limit here... I guess that makes sense... anyway it was a really fun night!  She got the "Loves Preschool" award, which is totally true - she loved every day of preschool and was never a bit sad about going.  We all love her school and appreciate all they do for the kids.  I'm so glad she has one more year!

This picture was in Old Town on a portrait shoot for someone else. The girls came with me because Matt and Pierce were on the father & son campout - a highly anticipated event every year. I usually end up with at least one cute shot of Zoe when she's along, and this is the one this time. :)

Little engineers

I need to keep reminding myself that it doesn't need to be a big deal to update this blog. :) I have plenty of fun pictures that should be posted! For instance, one day at least a month ago, I went into Pierce's room to see him and Mattie constructing this really fun ride for their toy hamsters. (We have a large and thriving family of toy hamsters!)  I'm not sure where they got the idea, but they made a carnival-type ride that eventually ended up holding all 8 hamsters (I think there are more now) and could spin them around without tipping.  Great engineering!  (Matt and I are naturally very proud.)


Oops, there they go!


Some repairs.








Hamsters tenderly placed.



They ended up taking it all apart and making a sturdier base, and then the whole thing worked perfectly. But in these videos you can see even before modifications, it worked pretty well!

The preparation:

Here it is actually running.