Allia and Mariana went on a teen retreat with our parish this weekend. They have been looking forward to it since it was cancelled last summer. They had a great weekend, and we are so thankful our parish has opportunities like this for the youth. Everything about the retreat is very secretive except for the closing mass which our family attended to welcome them back!
We have been considering this for a bit since we never had problems with rodents when we had Ginger the kitty around, but have had lots of problems in the shed and even some in the garage since. It just so happens that the Humane Society had $10 adoption fees this month including vaccinations and microchipping. So we let Anastasia pick out a kitty (she is the most helpful around the house and the best at taking care of Emmie and has money saved up to buy the supplies!). She is still working on a name, but here he is...
We were so blessed to have a visit from our friends that moved away to Japan last summer. It was only 24 hours, but we packed in as much fun and good memories as we could!
Mariana and Gloria auditioned for Lil Wranglers this weekend and both made the teams! Mariana will be on the Maroon team (level 4) with her partner. Gloria tried out as an alternate since she didn't have a partner and made White team (level 3). We are so excited for them. It will be a wild year adjusting to this new activity but hopefully lots of fun.
It was a wild one, but we all enjoyed it. What a feat to get 8 of the 9 of us fed, dressed and out the door by 8:15 every morning. It was totally worth it though!
My "Kinder" girl and her 4th grade sis (Cecilia was really pre-K but I co-led the Kinder group so she was with me since they didn't have pre-K this year.)
Our city library was remodeled last year, and they greatly improved the children's section. The younger crew enjoys it.
We hosted a teen night at our pool, and the kids had a great time! Somehow they ended up having an arm wrestling match too.
Gloria and Mariana finished their 5 weeks of dance classes with Little Wranglers and have both decided to attend the boot camp to audition. They really like the dancing, and it looks like so much fun!
We headed to Lito and Litas for a nice day with the family.
Mariana and Gloria attended an etiquette and ballroom dance camp this week with tons of their friends. It was an amazing group of young people, and it was wonderful to see them enjoying themselves while learning such great life skills!
A photographer from the local newspaper came, and this photo of Mariana made the front page of the paper!
The finale of the week was a 4 course banquet dinner and dance. So much fun!
Much to our surprise, there were awards given out. Mariana and her friend were the first two awards announced, and each winning 2nd place in "Best First Impression" in their gender division. They celebrated with a cute little fist bump!
