Steve's thumb trick

Steve is famous at Ducks Nest amongst Sophia's friends because of his magic thumb trick. Ella and Hazel are especially impressed. Here you can see Sophia's friend, Ella. When its just me picking up the girls Ella and Hazel run up to me with big eyes telling me all about Steve's thumb trick.

Our day today

We had a lovely day today. It started with breakfast together and then I took the girls with me to our first outing of the day: Sophia's broadway class. They are working on "The Sound of Music" and the girls are so cute. (Thalia cannot wait until she is old enough:3 to enroll in this class and ballet.) Sophia's friend from preschool, Ella, and her neighbor, Alexis, are in this broadway class. I also see other friends that I know who are waiting in the lobby for the ballet class that starts right after the broadway class ends. Toscana and Siena are in this class.

After class we drove over to the Elmwood Cafe in Rockridge to meet with Greta and her mom, Lauren, who I met in Sophia's drama class.

Then we drove home, had lunch with Steve, and took a walk on Solano - the day was beautiful out! While Thalia napped I took Sophia to her ballet class and then we all had dinner at the Cheese Board and watched Hank play. Sophia loves Hank and ran up to him and gave him a big hug. She also danced to his music.

Now we are home and the girls are getting ready for bed, watching a movie (Frances) and Sophia is coloring.

Both girls are generally very happy and friendly and play with each other but they are also difficult at times. Thalia has been grumpy, too. And Sophia storms out of the room when she doesn't get her way (which is often). And she yells at me and tells me I am a bad mom when I don't give her sweets. Then she apologizes. For the most part she is sweet.

And at night when it is time for her to go to bed she wants me to sleep with her and she tells me how much she loves me.

Sophia's words:

"I'm smarter than the other grown-ups and kids. You don't know what I know. You don't understand."

"I wish I could be two again."

Violin Class

Sophia had a very good violin class today. She is working on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star using the Suzuki method and she made a lot of progress today and did a great job paying attention to Robert, her teacher. She stands up while she plays but here in these photos she is sitting down. Robert commented on her learning style. He says some kids learn gradually and she is "like a rocketship". Last week he commented that she experiments a lot, that she experiments and "bounces the bow" more than other kids her age that he works with.

This past weekend we took her to see a trio play with a fiddler. She seemed very intrigued watching the fiddler play (and the piano dulcimer). There was also a cello.

Firetruck

Sophia climbed on to a firetruck today. Thalia was too scared.

Ballet Class

These photos were actually taken this summer. I had to sneak these photos as parents aren't allowed in the studio. I came across again just now and wanted to make sure these made it onto the blog. I am hoping to do some shots of the class this spring. Her teacher, Paula, is opening her own studio in March in the gourmet ghetto and she has give me her blessing for me to take photos and I am hoping she can hang some up in her new lobby.

In addition to taking ballet with Paula, Sophia also takes Broadway class on Saturday mornings. They are working on "The Sound of Music". I rented the movie this past weekend and the girls love the part where Maria sings "Raindrops on Roses" and "Doe a Deer". Thalia announces that Maria is "singing my song!"