Bowlin Beige

This week's educational video is conducted in Spanish. Ainsley has Spanish class twice a week with Senora Blanco and absolutely loves it. She especially loves all the songs they learn (you know how much she loves to sing).  This week they made puppets to represent a whole family and sang a version of 'Where is Thumbkin.'

Do you see this??  This is how many miles I've put on my 4Runner. Almost 200,000 (now at 199,457).  I bought her new in September 2006, which means I've driven an average of 1,936 miles per month for the past 103 months. Kinda crazy when you think about it. I'd like to take a few moments to show my appreciation for this vehicle, which has driven me safely around the East Coast for the past 8 1/2 years.  When I bought her she was just transporting me, my DH, and our 110 lb dog, Duke.  When it was time for my Jeep Grand Cherokee to go into retirement, we decided we needed more space for our big furry baby. A few years later we added a car seat in the back for Ainsley, and a few years after that we added another car seat for Parker. Dixie, being half the size of Duke, has all sorts of room to stretch out in the back.  Do you know what makes this car great?  This. Everything in this picture came out of my center console. I've posted before abo...

This week Ainsley's class is learning about Africa. Since my DH is traveling again, she decided to share her knowledge with him on the way home from school. Little smarty pants...

While the rest of us were skiing, Parker got to stay at home and have some quality time with Nana and Papa. As the second child, he doesn't get much opportunity to be the center of attention. He loves the chance to have special time with grandparents when he gets to choose what to play with, what to watch, where to go, what to read... He was a little disappointed when we returned from our trip and he had to share the spotlight with his sister again.  Saturday morning he started his first swim lessons. He spent a lot of time in the pool and lake last year, but he hasn't had any lessons yet. We decided this was the perfect time to start. He'll have lessons from now through the middle of June so he will be ready to show off his skills when the neighborhood pool opens! Nana and Papa took him to the YMCA and he was eager to start his lessons in the pool.  After a fun morning swimming, Nana and Papa took him to the Virginia Aviation Museum at the airport. A colleague told ...

We made our 2nd annual trip to Snowshoe, WV this week for some family skiing (minus Parker, who had a fun time at home with Nana and Papa). We had great weather and enjoyed getting out on the slopes!  Last year my little bug got car sick on the way home from the windy roads. This year we got some children's Dramamine and it worked like a charm. It knocked her out just long enough to get from the interstate through the mountains.  We arrived on Saturday and went tubing while we waited to get checked into our room. Ainsley had a blast, although she was very competitive about getting down the hill first. I wonder where she gets that from... It's hard to hold the video while doing this, but you can kinda get a glimpse of Ainsley in the lane next to me, and Eric on the other side of her.  It's so much FUN! We got up early on Sunday and got Ainsley ready for ski school. She did a great job last year, but it had been a whole year so she really did...

This winter Ainsley decided that she wanted to try cheerleading. The church offers cheerleading (and basketball) through Upward. She made friends with some new girls and had fun learning the dances and cheers. They had practice one night a week, and then they cheered at two games each Saturday. Here are some videos of her cheers and dances over the past two months.  She's on the far right in the front row. She's on the far left in the front row. She's on the right in the back row.

Each year the kindergarten classes put on a play in the school's BlackBox Theatre. The kids spend 6 weeks in theater class and put on a small production for the parents. This year's play was an adaptation of several nursery rhymes. Ainsley played the 'star' from Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. She remembered all of her lines (and those of everyone else as well!) Here are a few video clips - she's the bright yellow star! And here we are with our proud girl during the cast party afterwards.