Learnin' in South Carolina

As all ten of you that are invited to read my blog know, my girls are one year apart in school.  When I used to blog regularly, there was something that bothered me so much one day when Amelia brought home her first grade reading book.  Then, I stopped blogging and didn't think about it again...until this last year when Mikayla was in first grade and came home with the same story in her reading book. 

It reminded me that I really wanted to blog about it back then, so I'll do it now!

Most children here know NOTHING about the Western part of the United States.  I would even dare say that most will never even visit the west in their lifetime...so when I saw how it was depicted in their first grade reading book, I was shocked!  Amelia had already PROUDLY announced to the class that she is FROM Utah, even though she only lived there until three days after her second birthday.  Well, the kids remembered that, and had LOTS of questions for her when this reading came up:

So now it's official:  every kid in Indian Land, SC (ironic name, I know) officially believes that everyone in New Mexico and Utah lives in clay homes and hogons.  And the craziest part about it is that my dear grandparents have a hogon much like this in front of their Red Canyon Indian Store (for fun), so Amelia got confused by it all and finally just told them that yes, they do indeed have hogons in Utah, and yes, people live in them.

I don't know why I don' t have a picture of it, but when they showed Las Vegas, it was a picture of a pink trailer with a hot pink flamingo in the front yard.  However, when they showed homes in the South, they were beautiful colonial homes...too funny.

Fish out of Water

Isn't it great when your kids pick up on a sport that the parents didn't participate in?  I think swim team is fabulous for the Marsh fam.  The girls are great and get better and better....but do you know what I like best????

When a random dad from the team catches the girls with SMILES like this!!!!

2010? What happened to 2009?

Okay y'all, I had every intention of keeping up on this thing, and then something got in the way...life!  Anyhow, I'm ready to update!  Are y'all ready for some Marsh Ramblings?

January 2010

Nothing exciting ever happens in January!  We flew back from Utah on New Year's Eve after watching my dearest little brother get married to perhaps the awesomest girl alive, so we couldn't even get mad that we had just flown the four of us there four months before for his homecoming.

And Amelia did turn 8 1/2....and when you have a summer birthday, that's kind of a big deal at school.

February 2010

The Marsh girls were ready to rock the night away at the big elementary school family dance.  They picked out their outfits and were ready to DANCE!  However, as soon as they saw their BFF's, the mom and dad were forgotten, and there was no "family dance" about it.

                                                                                

 March 2010

My dancers are making the BIG TIME....they audtioned for the talent show and MADE IT!  I forgot to take photos, but here are a couple of the girls I grabbed after the fact.

Okay, so I have no BFF's in SC, like I did these gals in ATL.  This was Jen's going away party...they are leaving the ATL for Amish country, PA.

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Toga Party for 8 year olds????

Of course not!  This is Thinking Day, and Troop 42 is presenting GREECE to y'all!  OPA!!!!

And seriously, the month wouldn't be complete if I didn't add the fact that I am able to accompany every field trip this year, since I moved all the dance classes to Tuesday nights, instead of a couple on Friday mornings.  This was the Columbia trip to Edventures....and it was totally Fab...just look at Mik's pose, and you know it's true! 

April 2010

The FAMILY photo!  

And yes, I did say "FAMILY."  Dave was so good at the Easter Bunny last year as the substitute, that it is forever his job....and who better to calm those kids who are scared to death???  And this year we surprised the stunned audience with a rendition of the Bunny Hop...the likes which had never been seen.

The Brownie troop was featured in the Fort Mill Times with this sunny/shady fabulous photo.

SPRING BREAK in CANCUN, baby.

The Mayan ruins were super cool   And here's to child #1 for tossing her cookies in the bus on the way there but still having a fabulous time!

Has it really been 17 years since I met this man.  Am I really that old?  We are celebrating 14 years in August...rock on!!!!

And Child #2 is just like her mom...sun and a good book, and life is good!

Mia made it all the way to Cancun when the girls were admonished to not bring any expensive items to Mexico...she was a stow-away in the luggage.

Jet ski fun on the Pacific...Mik was afraid, but was a trooper.

Marsh girls were FIRST on the dance floor....TANGO, baby.

Mikayla is 7, Baby!!!

7 years old, and a super cool pirate girl party with 16 friends.

And a super cool mom and dad....who can figure out how to do a "girly" pirate party when asked.

And when my dancers were invited to perform at the spring festival, I did not know they meant on the back of a TRUCK.  I just couldn't do it...and we settled for the road...even in Indian Land.

Giraffes Don't Dance...and Amelia's 2nd grade class is ready to rock that fact.

And Nancy IS Fancy in this 1st grade class...especially with the castle that you can't see in the background, but took lots of time on this mom's end...and very good driving skills for the dad involved who had to figure out how to transport it all.

This mom loved it when all my 1st grader really wanted to do was camp for her birthday...so we met the friends from Georgia half way and did just that...tornado warnings, down pours and all!

And the moms survived it all...maybe thanks to the stuff in the background....or maybe it was the circa 1990 sweatshirt I was wearing...who knows?

K and A are braving the rain, mud, and craziness of it all!

Or maybe it was preparing these girls for the beauty of UNPREDICTABILITY!!!! 

May 2010

And May brings dance recitals....and all that this new adventure brings!  Thank goodness for my mom and for 33 sweet girls that made the recital a GREAT success!

And this is me...pumping up my 33 dancers before the SHOW!  We're small, but oh, we're good!

And would any 1st grade school year really be complete without "CAREER DAY"?  M wants to be a make-up artist when she grows up, and so this mom had to be the person that the make up was put on.

And thank goodness for good friends that keep kids over long weekends so the parents can go to Charleston and party it up (on behalf of Tammy's birthday) with Dave's buddies since he was 10.

June 2010

And the Marsh girls are tearing it up in the pool...EAT MY BUBBLES!!!!!

And let's bring on the 2nd half...and hopefully a better blogging effort on this mom's part!