School, Dance, and Zoo

I have a correction to make and I owe Seth an apology.  A memory popped up from my Facebook news feed from the year we went sailing in Galveston with Ryan and Aimee, in which I mentioned that we were in Baton Rouge.  I previously thought that Evie had not been to Louisiana, and Seth and I debated this last year when we were on our long road trip to Yellowstone and he was certain Evie had been to one more state than I was counting, because he was certain she'd been through Louisiana.  Turns out he was right and Evie has been to 29 states, not 28 as I said last week.

So with that out of the way...

Last Sunday Evie lost another tooth, this one a molar on the upper left side.  That makes lost tooth #14!

After church on Sunday, we went to Kathy and Rickie's house to have lunch together as a family, like  we used to before the pandemic.  Evie enjoyed playing with the cats and also involved Rickie in an elaborate scheme to get the cats to catch something she was dangling from the upstairs landing.

Then after lunch, we went to Sasha's house for Sasha, McKinley, and Evie to play together.  They played pretend most of the day and also worked with Dmitri to build a seesaw.

Tuesday of this week, at ballet rehearsal, they did a demo for the parents and also gave out recognition  ribbons for the number of years each girl had been dancing with the studio.  Evie got a four year ribbon and you would have thought it was gilded with gold.  She was so proud, she could talk of nothing else on the drive to Granna and Grannadaddy's house for dinner.

Evie on the left and her teacher, Ms. Alyssa behind

On Friday of this week, Evie had to go to school in person for the first time she went home early on the half day on Thursday, March 12, 2020.  Some of the kids in our school district have been back in person since March 2021, but Seth and I were not keen on sending her, and she was not keen on the idea of going.  We had planned to keep her virtual for the rest of the school year, and then we learned that they wanted all students, regardless of their in person vs. virtual status, to come in to the school to take the state standardized test.  I could launch into my tirade against standardized testing, especially of elementary school students, but I won't.  I will just say that I hope our governor will be held personally responsible for any spreading of COVID that happens while these kids are all coming back in person for testing, because he has decided to base the funding for each school district on the percentage of students who come to take the test.

Anyway, point being.... I dropped Evie off on Friday after 413 days out of the classroom.  I bought her an N95 mask to wear at school for the testing days, which made all of us feel better.  I got a lump in my throat as I hugged her goodbye...  I missed her happy little voice and the pounding of her feet as they run (she cannot simply walk) through the house during the day.

I picked her up Friday afternoon and her friend Allyson came over to us to ask if we could play on the playground like they used to do a few times a week.  We did so and the girls really enjoyed catching up with each other and swinging together.  Then I took Evie out for ice cream and then we came home to get ready for tap class.

At tap, they had a parent demo and I was quite impressed with Evie's skills, especially this number:

And also this video where she is following whatever move her teacher calls out to them to do, no practice or warning, just listen and follow:

Today, we went to the Zoo for quite some time.  We renewed our membership and purchase their "Zoo It All" package which got us in to see the kangaroo walk about exhibit, feed giraffes, ride camels, and pet the sting rays.

Evie decided she really wanted to ride one by herself