The worm has turned

I borrowed both the scarf and lip gloss from Sylvie for dinner out tonight. 

Getting stronger already!

Sylvie is still in training for next month's Jingle Bell Run, which she's doing in support of her friend Georgia!


Melissa and I are excited to have a new little running partner some time sooner than we expected!

Another construction project

Grammy and Grampy sent Sylvie an early Halloween present: A haunted mansion construction set that consisted of roughly a million foam pieces and this extremely rudimentary set of instructions:

Personally, even at age 42 - never mind 7 and three quarters - I would take a pass. Sylvie, however, buckled down and spent the better part of the day putting the thing together. 

The finished product is pretty impressive, and now sits proudly on the mantel as the centerpiece of our seasonal decorations (to come).

More evidence...

that Sophie is really a cat!  She has taken to snoozing on the back of the couch. 

Picture Day

Our first family 5k

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Sylvie is running her first 5k in November. The run is to raise money for juvenile diabetes, and we signed up because one of Dan's work colleagues' daughters has a severe form of the disease. If you'd like to donate for Sylvie's run, you can do so at this website:

http://www.jbr.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=1138435&team=6468692

Absolutely no pressure (this is Melissa, not Dan--haha)--I mention it only because mom asked me about it, and it occurred to me that some others might also be interested.

athena family picnic

Always a Sylvie favorite, this year made better by the presence of Daddy's assistant, Donna, who is always willing to play. 

Legos

She gets this focus from her mom, clearly. Hours. 

In training

No, Dan is not doing another crazy race. This time it's Sylvie training!  The whole family signed up for a 5k in November, and Sylvie and I just went out for her first training run. She walked about 50% of it, but we did go for a mile and a half. Go Sylvie!

Drawings, of course

Sylvie's teacher has been easing the kids back into French ("it's sooo easy Mom," followed by an eye roll). Sylvie has been taking advantage of the slower pace to work on her drawings. She was annoyed by the cats (ran out of time), but otherwise was pleased with this worksheet. 

Next week Sylvie starts real drawing classes once a week. We'll see how it goes...she doesn't love being told what to do!