braces

Before:

After:

During one of Erin's routine check-ups on her head gear and expanders the orthodontist announced, "I think we'll do braces today," much to my and Erin's surprise. We knew braces would be coming but I hoped that they might come after some of the rest of the hardware in her mouth was taken out. She now has so much metal on, behind, around her teeth it's borderline impossible for her to brush her teeth adequately, which got her in trouble with the dentist at her check up there last week. The good news: if she wears her head gear diligently she will be done with it in mid- to late summer. Yippee!

May: spring music

Erin's school band held their spring concert, which also marked the end of her time in beginning band. As a fifth grader next year she'll be able to join the intermediate band and she can't wait.

Also this month she had her recital at the music school where she takes private lessons, and as in her last recital she played a duet with her teacher.

She'll continue lessons over the summer and we'll be returning this rental also sax she's been playing because I finally purchased her own instrument (used, VERY used and rather ugly at $200 because I'm not prepared to shell out $1300 for a new one. In fact I need to get some work done on it before it's ready for her). If she continues with it I'll look for an upgrade in a couple of more years.

april: dance

Dancing continues. So far this year the girls competed in January, performed in an easter parade along with many other dancers from their school, and had their second competition of the year in April. Thankfully, there were so many dancers at this event that they divided the beginners into two age classes: under 9, and 9 and up, so Kate and Erin were not competing against each other, and against Kate's this new younger set of competitors, she did very well, receiving a medal or ribbon in 4 or her 5 dances.

Erin did tremendously well also and has now placed very high in 4 competitions in a row, each result earning her a stamp on her dancer registration card. Once a dancer has 6 stamps they move up to the next skill level, and for Erin that could happen by the end of the summer.

Kate received her first stamp.

march and april: softball

Some of the the twins' brownie troop formed a softball together and both were happy to join the team.

They moved up to a higher age division than they played with last year so some of the girls really looked big compared to ours.

The is the first division where the girls learn to pitch.

Though Allison was really better a catcher. Kate was one of the team's most reliable hitters and was the first one to get a hit in their first game. Allison was the most reliable at striking out, but about half way through the season she found her groove, and became a power hitter as well.

In the playoff tournament at the end of the season our team didn't do well. We were a small team of only 8 girls, most others had 10 or more, and that makes a big difference when fielding. But the girls had fun and the team as a whole improved a ton from the beginning of the season to the end, and there are plans for this team to stay together next year.

time to play catch up: february

About the time I should have updated my blog after the last entry, we had to pack away our coputer as part of emptying out and redoing our home office in order to get our house ready to sell. We haven't had the desktop computer unpacked and set up again until recently, so I m going to finally add in some brief details about what the kids have been up to since January. Another ski season has come and gone. As usual, we made a trip up to Oregon and we also skied for several days closer to home. We encountered some really rough weather while in Oregon which hampered our skiing and my ability to have my camera out for many photos or video.

The twins got to try out poles for the first time and they really liked having them. John and I liked not having to pull them up to the ski lifts once we reached the bottom of the hill also. After our Oregon trip I decided that Kate's ski jacket, which had been passed down from Erin to Allison to her, was finally a little small and needed to go, so she got a new jacket at a super sale price for the next trip.

Allison has overtaken Erin in the speed department by a long shot. In fact, she's about ready to overtake me. Erin likes to get down the hill without falling and doesn't care about getting there quickly. Kate isn't interested in speed either, but Allison likes to go fast and get everywhere first.

We didn't have harsh weather to blame but I still didn't do well in the photo or video department later in the ski season. The kids are skiing faster and on rougher terrain and it's just hard to ski with my gloves off and holding a camera in one hand all the time. John suggested I get one of those helmet-mounted cameras, and ya know, I just might do that for next year.