Snake!!!!!!

We had a very exciting visitor in our backyard just a couple of days before school got out.  Aubrey found this guy when she was about to jump over the fence to grab a water bottle.  She came running inside crying and screaming.  She was scared since the only other snake she had ever seen in the wild was a rattle snake at my parent's house.  I went outside and I wasn't sure what kind it was and I tried looking up poisonous snakes in New Jersey.  It was a skinny snake so I didn't think it could be that dangerous, but I thought I was told something about snakes that had black next to red were dangerous.  And since that snake was in the color red family I didn't want to touch it.  I considered getting a shovel from the garage and cutting it's head off and throwing it in the garbage.  But my neighbor came out and on the East Coast people tend not to want to kill stuff.  We decided to try calling animal control, and looked into pest control, but neither dealt with snakes, so we called the police.  Of course we called the non emergency line.  An office came over and was able to catch it with one of those lasso sticks, but we couldn't get it into a box.  Another office came and put a glove on and grabbed it and got it in the box.  We put lots of duct tape around the box to make sure it couldn't get out.  Right after they got the snake in the box another office showed up and he was certain that it was a baby copperhead snake, very poisonous.  They took the snake and left us worried that there was a mommy copperhead snake out looking for a baby.  After posting pictures on line my friend Cassi put my mind at ease by showing her Dad.  He said it was not a copperhead snake (he knew what those looked like since they were regular visitors in their backyard) it was a lake milk snake.  Not at all poisonous!  I should mention that Brian also said it was a lake milk snake, but I didn't feel he had the same credentials as Cassi's Dad.
Another funny side note, Kay said that her and our neighbor Will (who's fence the snake was lurking around) were very popular in their class the next day.  Everyone wanted to hear all about the snake.

Audrey Hepburn

Almost forgot!  For Kay's 4th grade wax museum project she chose to learn more about and dress up like Audrey Hepburn.  Of course the was museum ended up being while we were in Hawaii, but it worked out for the best since Aunt Sarah could do Kay's hair.  Aunt Sarah is also a huge Audrey Hepburn fan, so it was fun for her too.  Like usual Kay took the project head and read books about Audrey Hepburn and wrote her report and her speech all by herself.  I just had to do some online shopping for her outfit.  Good job Kay!!

Just in case you can't hear what she's saying:

"My name is Audrey Hepburn.  I was born May 4, 1929, in Brussels, Belgium.  My father was an Irish banker.  My mother was a baroness someone that works for the government.  I had two big brothers.  I an and Alex.  They were my mother's children from a different marriage.

When I was about ten World War II started.  Living near Germany I was sent to a boarding school in London.  By then my parent's relationship was falling apart.  When things became serious in the war I lived in a small house with my mother and several other people.  We had little supplies.

My childhood was very dangerous.  I carried messages in my shoes to help people hide from Nazi's.  It taught me to be a good person.  In my later years I fulfilled my dream to help people and I owe it all to my dangerous, scary, vicious childhood.

I had 4 jobs.  Some were at the same time.  I was an actress.  I was a model.  I worked with Unicef and I was a mother.  I am probably best known for my acting.  I had several roles.  My most famous movies are probably, Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany's, an Sabrina.  In Roman Holiday I played Princess Anne, Gregory Peck was my co-star.  In Breakfast at Tiffany's I played Holly Golightly.  In Sabrina I played Sabrina. I won several awards.  I won 5 Academy Awards.  I won a Tony for being the best Broadway actress.  I also won several other awards

I was a model.  I created a look called the "Audrey Look".  Even though I died in 1993, people kept the look alive.  If you look around you might see it.

I was a mother.  I got married twice.  In each marriage I had a child.  They were boys, Sean and Luca. I loved them dearly.

My last job was working with Unicef.  They help people around the world.  I was pleased to help people.  I especially loved to help children.

I'm glad I could have so many interesting careers.

I had so many accomplishments.  I am remembered for my kindness, grace, beauty, and elegance.  Even if it was inside.  I would never admit it.

I faced problems.  Paparazzi swarmed me when I wanted a normal life.  I had trouble with my relationships.  But I kept my chin up.

Because of me the U.S. is trying to be kind.  People try to act like me.  They want to look and be as kind as I was.  In other words I as a role model.

I died in the winter of 1993. I died from a disease I was only 63.  People mourned around the world I am still remembered."

Gymnastics

Claire and I got to observe Sadie's gymnastics class.

Once again Claire ended up using my phone to entertain herself.  Once again I didn't get as much footage and pictures of Sadie doing her thing as I would have liked.  Oh but look at that cute picture Claire took of her self. Totally worth it.

 Sadie and her team getting their ribbons.

 Sadie did a really good job on the bars.  I was impressed with how straight she was able to get her legs.  Those orange things he feet are touching would magically get closer together as everyone else would do it.  Whenever it was her turn she would push them as far out as possible and flip upside down and do the splits.

A week later we went to Aubrey's "meet".   If things go as planned, this should be Aubrey's last pre-team meet.  As you can see, she did a great job.

Aubrey's floor routine

Aubrey on the beam

 Aubrey getting her award

Happy Birthday Mom!

I can't let today pass by without saying Happy Birthday to Karol Ann Gerber Chase, my wonderful mother.   If you haven't met her, you are missing out because she is amazing.   Love you Mom.

A family photo with her progeny (I'll upload a higher resolution version later)

A Busy Sunday

Kay wanted me to take a picture so she could see how her hair looked.

 Last year the weekend of Kay's dance recital was a little crazy!  Just to remind you she had her softball playoffs on Saturday and I had to drag her away early so she could get to her dress rehearsal.  Sadie had a dance recital on Saturday as well. We were able to leave Kay's dress rehearsal just in time to get to the place where Sadie's recital was and walk in just as Sadie went on stage!  And then we had Kay's dance recital on Sunday.  This year I was so hopefully for a less crazy busy weekend, but it didn't work out that way.

 This year Kay did not have a softball game, but Aubrey had a softball practice and a little end of season celebration.

Sadie having fun at her friend Archer's birthday party.
Sadie and Aubrey both had birthday parties and Kay had her dress rehearsal on Saturday.
We also had Sarah and Bryan in town.  Sarah was dropping Bryan off for his summer internship and that's another story for another post.  After a lot of juggling and dividing and conquering, Brian and I got the girls to all their stuff that day.

Sunday Kay had to perform in two different performances.  I left church during Sacrament Meeting with Kay, Sarah, and Bryan.  We got to her 1st performance with time to spare and Kay did a great job!  We then ended up leaving during intermission and Kay had to hang out until the 2nd performance.  Long story short there was not enough time in between performances to get home and come back.  Sarah had to head back to Virginia and we needed to feed her.

This was how we started our crazy Sunday, nothing like morning snuggles!
And then of course Brian and I had to more or less hand off the baton.  I had to take Aubrey to her art exhibit.  Her teacher had chosen one of Aubrey's art project to display at this town end of year art show.  It just happened to be on Sunday and during Kay's 2nd dance performance.  We then got in the car and drove back to Kay's recital and got there at intermission and I got to see Kay perform her 2nd dance.

Aubrey, Sadie and Claire were so moved by the dance performances that they were dancing in the aisles, luckily only during intermission.
I didn't get a picture of her in that costume, she tore it off before I got to her to take a picture.  A very busy and crazy weekend, but that's just how it goes in June.

Donut Day

This is how we feel about National Donut Day!

After school I loaded the girls in the car and we went on a quest for Donuts.

I should mention, that day at school the girls had an assembly called the Brain Show.

Sadie was asked to come up on stage and that's why she's holding that card.

 We went to the Dunkin' Donuts in Madison and they were out of donuts!  On National Donut day!!!!

So we went to the Dunkin' Donuts in the town over and they had plenty of donuts.  The deal was if you purchased a drink, you would then get a free donut.  I decided it was cheaper to just to buy the donuts than to get drinks for everyone (that they wouldn't finish).

 Kay's and her friend Natalie had a play date that day.  Lucky for Natalie she got to enjoy a donut with us.  And lucky for us we got to hang out with Natalie!

Music

 The end of the school year is always crazy, but when you add chorus and band (both for Kay)
it gets NUTS!

The school choir was asked to sing at the opening of the farmers market.

We had a fun time watching them sing and do a little dance.

Kay also had an outdoor band concert.  It was a very hot day after a very rainy day, so instead of being on the grass in the shade we were on the black top in the sun.  And the rainy day before caused some humidity.  They did a great job and I was very impressed with their progress.

 Then there was a band, orchestra and chorus concert that Brian went to since it started at 7:30!

Since I got to enjoy the other two performances I put the little girls to bed.

[Now Brian writing].  The concert was everything you would expect a 4th and 5th grade band, orchestra and choral concert to be.  Kay did great in the chorus and in the band.  I'm so proud of this girl who is so self motivated.  It was her decision to do both chorus and band and she stuck to both of them for the whole year even when it meant she had to wake up earlier than she wanted 2-3 days a week to get to the before school practices.