And this year we had a few more friends joining us for our last day of school pictures - The Feather and Suich families. Since we are all moving a few days after the end of the school year, we had moved into the local hotel just down the street. That last week of school, we spent our days with the packers and ran errands to help finalize the move but we spent our nights at the restaurant letting our kids play in the grass while we enjoyed a bit of adult time (and maybe some wine). In the mornings we had breakfast together before walking the kids to school. It helped immensely having people around that knew exactly what we were going through, having kids that were dealing with the same emotions and struggles, and having a friend just down the hall, literally. Who would have thought that our local hotel/burger bar/bowling alley would be the place I would find comfort during this move?
And on the final day of school, one that we knew would be hard for all of us we put a plan in place to make the transition just a little bit easier. After the tears had all been dried and we said our final goodbyes at ISP, we threw a bowling party at the restaurant for the kids and their friends and then we had our usual dinner. And it wasn't over yet - because afterward - (and this was probably the best part) - we had a giant sleepover party. Stinkerbell and her best buddy S were in our room, MadHatter and L-M (one of her very first friends here in Prague were in N's room just two doors down) and the mom's pulled their chairs up in the hall, clad in their comfy clothes and slippers and stayed up too late and drank too much wine. And had too much fun!
Back in April we were at the Mall of Dubai and Stinkerbell saw an advertisement outside of a bakery and stopped in her tracks. She declared at that moment that this, this was the cake she would have for her birthday party and that the theme would be rainbows. Who am I to argue? So I did a bit of research and found that the cake just looked difficult and I could, in fact, do it myself...the invitation she picked, on the other hand, looked simple but took me a lot more time (but they were really cute...)
With the theme and cake decided upon, and the invitations cut and pasted, we just had to decide on the location. Stinkerbell kept going back and forth between doing a spa party, a painting party and a "crazy" party at the trampoline park. But mostly she wanted to have her party at Beckiland like every other kid in Prague (including her sister). But the site closed late last year. Thankfully, it opened again, under new management and a new name, Toboga, the month before her party! Invitations - check. Cake - check. Location - check.
Let the Rainbow party commence...
Gift bags - a blank canvas, paint pallets , rainbow Twizzlers and a gold chocolate coin. Because no rainbow is complete without a pot of gold at its base...
J and Stinkerbell ready to attack all that Toboga has to offer.
A couple of hours into the celebrations we wrangled them to eat...
The food was good but they didn't really want to sit still...so she proved she ate
And then we sent them off to play again...Until it was time to dig into the cake that started it all...
Pre - frosting. Layered and ready to go...this monster would take an entire four cans of frosting to cover! But it was exactly what the birthday girl ordered and that made all of us smile!
We lit the candle. Or rather the sparkler and her face say it all...
And after singing to her we tried to blow it out, but it was just had to burn itself t
This may be one of my favorite pictures ever. Not because it is perfect or because the lighting is just right or because Stinkerbell looks beautiful (though she does) but because of what it represents.
This is a picture of fierce determination. Of setting a long term goal and then working hard, sometimes harder than you thought you would have to, and still keeping at it - even on vacations and when you are sick or when it just doesn't sound like much fun.
It is a picture of pride in oneself and of pure giddiness at achieveing a goal. A goal that wasn't given to you but set by you. A goal that may have seemed unachievable just a short time ago. And a goal that was set with an end date not so far away...
Congratulations Stinkerbell at reading 100 different books titles in just over 118 days.
You Rock!
The first graders don't get a formal concert like the bigger kids do but they do get to show off their skills, in a much more intimate and less structured way, which suits them just fine. A few weeks after coming back from break, we were treated to an interactive demonstration in their music class. Here are a few looks at what we were invited to see...
Like many little girls, my two love to flip, turn, jump and dance. Unfortunately, they like to do it at home, in my living room. So I was thrilled when we found the gymnastics program at GoldLife . I immediately signed the girls up and for the past few months they have been taking lessons with a few of their friends after school. MadHatter is at a small gym right down the street from us and practices with a group of about 10 girls; Stinkerbell opted for private lessons with her friend S, and they practice at the Czech gymnastics center that trains the Olympic team (and those hoping to make it). Because they are at different gyms at different times, I do a bit of running around and not a lot of actually getting to watch what they are learning. Though, every once in awhile they will show me a new trick (roundoffs, one handed cartwheels, the splits) back in the living room.
But this past Saturday we got to see what they had been working so hard to learn these past three months. Their program put on a private "competition" at the gym that Stinkerbell trains at. Each gymnast had learned a routine for the beam, vault, bars and floor and would perform it for the judges. And though it was scored and they were being leveled for the next semester, it was really just a way to gather all the kids together and cheer them on for all the hard work they had done.
I was lucky enough to have access to the floor to take pictures of all the kids and B was able to capture videos of our two (as I was sometimes photographing one, while the other was somewhere else doing another routine). All in all - it was a great time and I loved seeing the girls take such pride in their accomplishments. Both of them completed level II and will be moving to level III when we start again in January! So proud of them both.
Warming up before the competition starts.
The Triplets - Bente, Asha and MadHatter.
May, Lia, Arianna, Kamma, MadHatter and Bente ready to go.
Sarah and Stinkerbell - these two work so wonderfully together.
The group teacher, Tomas, telling them how the competition will run.
The Judges - Stinkerbell's instructor Vicki is on the left.
Stinkerbell's floor routine. Unfortunately, we didn't get an video but she did so great!
MadHatter on vault. Again, no video but I love the pictures...
MadHatter doing her floor routine.
Stinkerbell and her unusual vaulting style. I think she was supposed to land on her feet, but she still got a great vault score so I guess she got points for originality. Heck, I would do that too, if only I wouldn't pull every muscle in my body.
Bar routine - again, I was off taking photos and B accidentally didn't get the video but I think they did pretty well...
