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.