Goodbye Uniform

Rose brought home a note from school today announcing that uniforms are not required for the rest of the school year, as long as the kids are participating in the silly dress-up theme for the day. Of course, she is thrilled to get to dress up. I think it will be fun too. It is weird, though, to realize that today was her last day in her cute little uniform, and I didn't even know. I feel like I should have taken a picture or something. Oh well. 'Till next year, uniform!

Cute Kids

Just some random shots of my goofy kids.

Bake Sale

John's pre-school had a bake sale, and Seth and I helped out for a bit. It was too hot to bake anything, so I cheated and brought watermelon instead. It turned out to be a very big hit, because of the aforementioned heat. Seth sure liked it. John knew it was a good chance to actually get a sweet treat, and went for the more traditional cupcake instead. I had a blueberry muffin. Yum!

Rose's Piano Recital

The kindergarteners at Rose's school get to take keyboard lessons as part of their "Music and the Brain" curriculum. Recently, they had a recital to show off the fact that they had learned all of the one-handed songs in the curriculum. Each child got to pick a song to play as a solo. Rose chose "Grasshopper." I asked her why she chose that particular song, and she replied "because it was the shortest." (Ahh, my little over-achiever!) It was short, but sweet. She did great.

Things You Don't See Every Day

Some unusual sights during our weekend with family here in NYC.

#1 A giant Hello Kitty statue

#2 Part of the Berlin Wall

#3 My kids eating treats from the ice cream man

Almost-Celebrity Sightings

New York City is crawling with celebrities, right? Well, not where I hang out. So far my only sighting has been almost sharing an elevator with Molly Shannon (of SNL fame), except that our strollers wouldn't both fit. John once had his nose tapped by Angela Landsbury in Whole Foods, but I was with Rose looking for dairy-free treats and missed it. That's it in the 5 years we have been here.

So I was a bit surprised that this Memorial Day was filled with almost-celebrity sightings (some celebrities I almost saw, and some people I saw that were almost celebrities). We had family in town, so we spent more time than usual in the more touristy parts of the city.

Almost sighting #1: While hanging out around Rockefeller Square we heard wild screaming, and saw people rushing back to a spot a block or so away. Apparently, the cast of Glee had just left the building, and people were very excited about it. I decided not to join the mob just to get a fuzzy picture of the back of someone's head (sorry, Suzie!).

Almost sighting #2: Walking through Central Park, my father-in-law watched someone walk past and said he was pretty sure it was David Archuletta (he didn't remember his name, but we figured it out from his description). Stephen thought it could be him too. I didn't see him, so I couldn't offer an opinion. Again, I didn't feel inclined to rush after him to get a shot of the back of his head. Later that day we saw a sign that he was performing nearby, so we are pretty sure it was indeed him. So it does count as a sighting for Stephen and his dad, but I missed it.

Almost Celebrity #1: I was sitting in a square in mid-town with the boys waiting while Rose and Grandma got their nails painted (so cute!). The guy who was the evil lady's secretary on Ugly Betty (can you tell I watch the show?) came and sat down at the table next to us. He was meeting with a director or an agent or something, talking about performing in what sounded like a very scandalous play. I wasn't sure it was him at first, but eventually he did make a reference to the show, so my suspicions were confirmed. Didn't feel like taking a picture of someone whose name I didn't even know, so I didn't. He did have a pretty cool fold-up bike, though.

Almost Celebrit(ies) #2: Stephen went to see the Green Day musical with his dad and his brother. Later we saw some of the cast members walking by. Since I hadn't seen the show, this didn't count for me, even though I actually saw them. Again, it does count for those who actually saw the show, but for me they were just almost-celebrities.

Field Day

Rose's school had a field day, and the boys and I helped out at the parachute event. We had a great time helping kids toss balls up in the air (and also had fun collecting them afterward). Rose went from station to station with her class. We did get to visit her while her class was doing the dress-up relay. (She is wearing one of my bright yellow rain boots). She said that her favorite event was when they got to get in the sandbox. Took me a bit, but I figured out that she meant the long jump. That's my little track and field star.