Roller derby

Yesterday we went to an old school roller rink for a birthday party. Lily said she thinks ice skating is easier. Even Andy and I got up on skates. Aside from the song selection, it totally threw me back to grade school, complete with disco lights and the Hokey Pokey. Gotta love muscle memory.

 Amalia made it around the rink once and then decided she'd rather hang out at the tables with the pizza (it even tasted the same as I remembered) and the balloons.

 Micah Brown and Lily.

Micah's sister, Nina, the birthday girl.

Let It Go x8

Last night was the long-awaited Bagby Elementary 2014 Variety Show. Eight, yes eight, kids sang Let It Go. Other than that, it was a fantastic evening.

 Lily auditioned and made it into the show. This time playing Henry Purcell's "Rigaudon."

She did a wonderful job, only running into some minor bow management issues.

Yes, I was literally a stage mom, helping all the kids on and off the stage. (The hazards of having a hard time saying "no.")

Herding musical cats

Yesterday was Lily's school music recital. It was held in the gym at the middle school up the street. It was standing room only, and these are just the 2nd and 3rd graders. The 4th and 5th grade classes had their recital right after ours.

 A gaggle of kindergarten siblings (Amalia and her friends, Caroline and Gwyn).

It took a while for the teachers to get the classes settled and in position.

That's the music teacher, Mr. Golden, walking in front of Lily's class. He did a masterful job of trying to keep the singing, dancing, recorder-playing and percussion-ing in some semblance of recognizable rhythm.

"Little Silver Moon Boat"

Bunnies and nudibranchs

 My parents joined us for Easter, which meant we got an ice cream bunny cake.

 The Easter Bunny had to find new places to hid the baskets in our new house.

 But the girls were up to the basket-finding challenge.

We then took a drive up to Half Moon Bay to go early morning tidepooling with some other Stanford alums.

 Low tide.

 The gorgeous and ever-elusive nudibranch.

 Iridescent algae is also pretty--and very slippery.

 The girls had a great time exploring the tide pools.

 We're not sure how, but we think this anemone is eating a crab.

 Tiny sea star.

On our way out. All limbs intact and no one too drenched. A lovely morning.

Off and running

Lily's drawing of the mustang from a movie we watched a couple of months ago. Horses are hard.

Good eggs

While I was in DC last weekend visiting the cherry blossoms,

and seeing my friend Emily off to wedded bliss, 

Andy took the girls to hunt for Easter eggs at Camp Kennolyn in the Santa Cruz mountains.

I wonder where Lily gets her scowl.

Hanging with camp director Andrew. (Not really. She was just walking by, but I like to think they were shooting the breeze.)

The gorgeous Giant Sequoias. 

And my little chipmunk.

Apparently some of the eggs were hidden amongst the poison oak. See how Amalia is directing her sister into the brush?

Packing pockets.

Good thing she wore cargo pants. She's a planner, that one. 

Emptying the candy and returning the plastic eggs so they can be used again next year. 

Ode to joy

Yesterday Lily had her first violin recital since moving to California. Here she is intently waiting for her turn.

 Taking the stage with Chris, the owner of the SJG School of Music.

 Lily played Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."

She was the only violinist of the day and one of the few who did not use sheet music.

 Celebratory flowers courtesy of Grandma Kathy, Grandpa Colin and Cousin Chase.

 Yesterday was not Amalia's day.

 Though she did convince Grandpa to take her out to the playground during part of the recital.

 The cousins hanging out after the show.

Spring training

Amalia's kindergarten class had "Baseball Day" on Friday. For weeks we heard about what position she was going to play--from the announcer to the guy who sweeps home plate. My favorite was when she told me that it was fun to play in the "wayback," because the ball never goes there and you can  just sit down and have fun. 

The lineup announcement had a few pauses for disciplinary action. Baseball players can be so unruly.

Amalia ended up playing third base. I was going to have her listen to the whole Abbott & Costello routine, but figured I can save that for when she's older. 

These kids know the national anthem better than some I've seen. I'm sorry I didn't catch any of the actual game on my phone. But needless to say everyone was a winner and we all got to celebrate afterward with popcorn and cupcakes. 

April Fools

 Girls, there's a huge spider on your bathroom mirror! Oh, wait. It's just rainbow wrapping paper.

 Lily was not impressed, I admit. My last-minute creativity is limited at 5:30 in the morning.