Irish tap dancing ballerina

Monica is pretty convinced she belongs on stage as a tap-dancing ballerina, so this year she is taking tap... and ballet... and Irish dance. It's possible she just likes all the shiny shoes. Honestly, we put her in a beginning Irish dance class mostly as babysitting while Catherine was in her class... and here we are on the eve of her very first feis! Little Monica, fierce competitor!

Here is a video of her dancing the reel.

Of course, Monica has benefitted greatly from the greatest of all teachers... her big sister. :)

The Skip-Its

We've been adding some strange words to the Lorelle vocabulary list lately, among them words like "cruegar" and "back-cross double." These, in case you happen not to know, are the language of jump rope tricks.

The latest Lorelle news is that all three kids made the Skip-Its jump rope team. This is a great team that focuses on virtues and character development as well as athletic achievement. The kids practice twice a week (yay, more driving!) while Monica and I absolutely do NOT go get Chick-fil-A milkshakes (cookies and cream, please!).

Anyway, we are super happy that the kids were selected for the team. To try out, they had to prove mastery of a variety of tricks, including the parade routine (yes, they'll be in parades!) as well as a certain number of double-unders and regular jumps. Now they work to progress through the different skill levels. Every time they come home from practice they are so enthused about having crossed off more items on their red level list.

Here is Dominic's parade routine video. Keep in mind that a year ago he couldn't even do one jump!

And here is the routine Vincent made up himself. It had to contain a certain number of tricks based on difficulty level.

Tuesdays at the museum

Our school year is off to a busy start, and Tuesday mornings are a big reason why. Every Tuesday we have to be at the science museum in Durham by 9 a.m., which means we are fighting rush-hour traffic. It also means I have to pack five lunches, and since no two children want the exact same sandwich, it is not an easy task.

The reason for our early departure is a good one: Catherine is taking a genetics course that focuses on the museum's red wolf family (red wolves are endangered -- their numbers hover around 50, and four were just born at this museum). It's a great class and is reminding me about all I don't know regarding genetics. Alleles and phenotypes, anyone?

It's also great because it means that the other four kiddos get to hang out doing cool stuff at the museum, so it's like an adventure morning. So far we have visited all the animal exhibits, dug for shark teeth, ran away from dinosaurs, gotten soaked in the mist exhibit, caught flying seeds, sailed toy boats across a pond, rode the train, danced through lasers, and a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting. Here are some pictures from our latest visit: