Satellite Radio

Ok. So we've had our Stratus for nearly 2 years. About 2 weeks ago, Tadj hit a button by accident on our radio and discovered we have satellite radio (I still don't know if it's XM or SIRIUS). GO figure. I'm not sure if we've been paying for it this whole time with our monthly car payment or if we're just getting it by accident. Either way... I'm LOVING it. I've discovered that my favorite channel is Broadway Showtunes. I'm just loving singing these classics in the car between patients. SOOOOO, since I'm in SUCH a broadway mood lately, I've got a new playlist for everyone to enjoy (or hate... depending on your preference) and would LOVE to add more. Unfortunately I couldn't find all the songs I wanted on playlist.com, but I got a really good start. Any suggestions??? Send 'em my way so I can add them too!!

Them Crazy Swedes!

On Saturday the 17th, Farmington, MI had their annual founders parade. Grandpa George's Swedish club entered their big Viking helmet float and Tadj, Sofia, and Grayson all got to ride on it. Grandpa George had made cute little folk costumes for the kids, but it was just WAY too hot to wear them. Instead, they got cute little yellow shirts and blue shorts to represent the colors on the Swedish flag. Scarlett and Mom watched the Parade (and got all the loot!) with Grandma Gay and Grandpa George. Above is Scarlett walking (and walking... and walking) with Grandpa after the parade.

Scarlett just looking cute of course.

Tadj and the kids on the float. It was a LONG, HOT morning and Sofia wasn't too happy.

(She's really good at being cute)

Decorating Grandpa George's Dalahast (or Dala Horse) for the float.

Grayson and Sofia on the float BEFORE the parade started... notice they're still smiling at this point.

My, how they've grown...

Grayson and Sofia both saw Dr. Kutskill today for their checkups:

Sofia is 52# and 50 inches... well on her way to 5'8".

Grayson is 42# and 44 inches... well on his way to 6'3". He's officially off the charts.

Haircuts

After recital again this year, Sofia decided to go short again. It was also time for Scarlett's first haircut. I do regret not having the camera with me at Borics (I just forgot it) but she was a great little customer and the old Polish stylist, Uma, said she could come back anytime.



A few weeks later, Mom got her hair cut into an angled bob just perfectly short for the Summer!

Uncle Gus Gets Hitched!

On June 19th, 2010 Gus married the beautiful Jessica. What a lucky guy! Tadj was Gus' best man and Heather was one of Jessica's Bridesmaids. What a good looking crew.

The girls got curlers in their hair for the occasion and Mom learned that Scarlett's hair doesn't hold a curl more than 10 minutes.

Sofia, Grayson, and Scarlett outside the temple

Morgan, Madeleine, Scarlett, and Sofia all in their beautiful matching dresses.

All the Hemingway cousins

Grandam Gay with Sofia and Morgan at the reception

Dad goofing around with Morgan and Scarlett snuggling up to Aunt Heather.

Goodbye Training Wheels

On Father's day Tadj decided to force Sofia into riding her little bike without the training wheels. She wasn't happy, but obliged after a while. By the next day she was zipping around no problem. By the end of the week she worked up to her awesome Schwinn that Dad restored a couple years ago and Grandma Hardie bought her a bubble exhaust to put on it as a reward. We're SO proud.

Oh, what a year!

Sofia had her last day of school today. What a year it's been! We've survived our family's first year of school! Sofia did an awesome job this year. She grew up SO much. Just look at these two pictures. The one above was taken just this morning and the one below was taken on September 7th, the first day of school. WOW! She is such a BIG KID now! She's reading somewhere around a 2nd/3rd grade level, writes full stories, is doing math that I wasn't even introduced to until late 1st or 2nd grade, can tell time (pretty much) on a clock face (notice her pretty watch she got for "graduation"), knows more about animal habitats than I ever cared about, knows and can spell the days of the week, has a good grasp of the concept of time (minutes, hours, days, year, etc), sketches GREAT pictures (usually of animals), and can sing AT LEAST 15 songs that I didn't even know existed. Can you tell I'm proud of her? We had a WONDERFUL Kindergarten teacher. We're going to miss her in 1st grade, but Grayson will have her in another year. Congratulations Sofia on a great 1st year of school!

The "FAB FOUR": Sofia, Mya, Olivia G., and Olivia C. at the Kindergarten Concert.
Sofia and Mrs. Zentz at "graduation" time. Sofia got a certificate and a book with a note written in it from Mrs. Zentz. What an awesome teacher.

Sofia and her portfolio.

Sofia and Mrs. Zentz again.

Sofia wrote this cute letter to Mrs. Zentz on the last week of school. I never even saw it until her teacher pointed it out during the class party. She said it made her laugh and cry at the same time. Sofia wrote that she would miss Mrs. Zentz very much but would still get to have lunch with her next year and that she "is pretty good for a teacher". Mrs. Zentz posted it on her board to stay there "forever".

Recital 2010

Sofia is just finishing up her 3rd year at The Turning Pointe. This year, she decided to take both ballet AND tap. She hasn't decided which one she really loves more. I think she likes her tap class because her friend Olivia is in it too, but she LOVES her ballet teacher, Ms. Anne A LOT. These pictures and movies are from her dress rehearsal yesterday. The actual recital is next Saturday, June 19th, but we're not allowed to video then. I'll probably add another post after the recital, but here she is in the top picture in her ballet costume for "Muppet Babies" and below in her tap costume for "Fraggle Rock". The theme this year is "The 80's" and the little dancers all dance to Saturday Morning cartoon themes. Kind of cute.

Little Ninjas

When Grayson turned 4, he was officially old enough to join Little Ninja's at PKSA Karate. Mom's been taking kickboxing classes there since February and really likes the programs and cousin Amandine has been loving it for a couple years now. So Grayson got his hand me down uniform from Amandine and began. Within a couple of weeks, his buddies David and Andrew joined in too. LOTS of fun, high energy, focus and discipline. Just what little man needed. These pics were from class on Friday June 11th.

Mr. Shaun in all his wisdom keeps pairing up Grayson and Andrew. They giggle more than they work I think. Here they are doing pad work... practicing their kicks.

Kick the pad, NOT Andrew, Grayson!!

The last exercise of the day was a tug of war between two teams in the class. They were pretty equally matched and each took one or two wins. Then Mr. Shaun decided to take on the entire class. He held his own for a bit...

... but was eventually defeated.

Kindergarten Zoo Trip

On June 11th, I got to chaperone Sofia's Kindergarten field trip to the Detroit Zoo. It was a HOT day as far as June goes, but we had a good time anyway. Since Koepsell Kindergarten has a very supportive parent base, my group only had Sofia and Laila. Laila's parent's were even there for a little while but had to leave early for their other daughter's Preschool graduation. So the 3 of us gals hung out all day.

This was a pretty cool looking tiger that I think was painted for a baseball celebration or something. I'm not too sure.
Sofia and Laila posed behind these little animal cut outs at the playground.

These water squirting frogs were right outside Amphibiville. Sofia decided to try and get a drink and got splashed in the face and chest instead. goofy girl.

Beautiful peacock strutting his stuff.

the girls could have spent all day in the prairie dog exhibit. VERY cool.