Jillian as Kesha

Thanks for the iPods Auntie Alison and Uncle Greg! The girls are really enjoying them. :)

Lightning Bugs!!

After a night of catching lightning bugs at our neighbors house, we went out and bought a deluxe bug home so we could catch our own. Madeline and Meredith had a great time catching fireflies the first night and getting them into their new home. Here's a video after the first night of collecting.

Unfortunately, the fireflies didn't survive (they were left in the hot sun yesterday) so we went out in search of more bugs last night. Jillian was able to join in the fun too, and is very good at spotting and catching lightning bugs. Meredith calls them all "little buddy." There were a few casualties during the capturing process, but they had at least 30 bugs in the home last night. We let them all go free before going to bed to ensure they'd all live another day.

It's Show Time!

Meredith got two new outfits for Kit Kittredge using the money she got for her birthday (thanks!) and was nice enough to share with Madeline so the girls could put on a show in the living room this morning. Kit did a fabulous ice skating routine while Morgan did a beautiful tap dance. For the encore, Morgan danced on the stage while Kit skated around her doing all sorts of jumps. :)

Oh to be five years old again...

Meredith had her two best friends over to play the other day and they had so much fun. They each dressed up in their favorite dress-up dress and pretended to be superheros. I'm not sure what super powers a cheerleader or snow white has, but they were determined to save the world.

I just love watching the way they play. They didn't need anything except their costumes and their imaginations. :) Here are a couple if pictures, including one action shot.

Madeline's Flamingo from Build-a-Bear

Madeline's Daisy troop went to the Build-a-Bear workshop for their end of the year party. It was their prize for selling Girl Scout cookies. We had never been, so she was so excited! She picked a big pink flamingo and dressed her in a white tank top with sequins, denim skirt and black converse sneakers. As soon as we got home, she ran upstairs to change into her own white tank top, denim skirt and black converse. She just got a pair of converse last week from our next door neighbor that are at least a size too big but she doesn't care. She absolutely loves them. :)

She had so much fun making her new friend. She was so proud of what she picked and how Mady (that's the flamingo's name) looked in her digs, she just kept giggling. What a great experience.

Madeline's Author Party

We went to Madeline's school to celebrate Mrs. Anspach's authentic authors last week. It was an event to celebrate the class' achievements in reading and writing. Her class read plays to the parents - Madeline's group read "The Three Little Pigs" - and then shared the books they wrote throughout the school year. Madeline wrote 13 books! They were so much fun to read. Madeline is definitely a talented author and illustrator.

Mrs. Anspach has been a great 1st grade teacher for Madeline. Madeline loves her so much that she wants to be a 1st grade teacher when she grows up. :) Thanks Mrs. Anspach! I can't believe Madeline will be done with 1st grade next week...

Meredith's Preschool "Graduation" Picnic

Meredith had her preschool graduation picnic at the park yesterday! Everyone (well, almost everyone) in the class wore t-shirts that they made in class with each child's hand-print. They sang songs to the parents (the pics you see are of a song and dance called the tooty-ta) and exchanged gifts with their teachers. Meredith did such a great job. It was no surprise that she was one of the most animated dancers. :)

She had such a great year of preschool. She really loves her preschool friends and learned so much from Miss Alissa and Miss Kim. She is definitely ready for Kindergarten next year!

Great American Ballpark

We took the girls in to Cincinnati and stopped by the Reds baseball stadium to say hello to the player statues. The girls had a great time playing with the statues - of course Meredith couldn't resist touching them in naughty places and laughing hysterically.

We are hoping to take them to a game with the Marini's when they visit over 4th of July.

Nemo's New Bed

Jillian loves to make beds for her stuffed animals out of things laying around the house. Last weekend, she made a home for Nemo in one of Erik's sneakers. She was so cute, trying to tie to laces to tuck him in.

Tornado Warning

Well, we had our first Tornado Warning tonight, which caused a lot of excitement for the girls. We had just sat down to dinner when the siren went off and had to decide whether to quickly eat or carry our plates down to the basement. We decided that it was better to be safe, so we had dinner in the basement. It was kind of cute actually. The girls sat around their little wood table and talked about all the big storms and tornado warnings we've experienced since moving to Ohio. Luckily, the storm was not that bad and there wasn't a tornado. Here's hoping the rest of the night is uneventful...

Saturday Picnic

Jillian had been begging us to set up the Dora canopy since she first spotted it in the garage earlier this spring. I kept saying no because we had lost the directions and I wasn't sure that I'd be able to get it up. I decided to take the challenge this weekend and it was actually very easy. I should have done it a long time ago. The girls had loads of fun with the canopy yesterday. They set up a blanket and chairs and brought their dolls out to have a picnic lunch. At the end of the day, all of the neighborhood girls were crowded under this canopy on little chairs. Wish I had gotten a picture of that....

Meeting Dora & Diego!

We took the girls to the zoo on Mother's Day and were surprised to learn that Dora and Diego were there! Jillian LOVES Dora so she absolutely wanted to wait in line so she could see her up close. She was so excited. It was over in about 30 seconds and I really don't know what they thought about the giant stuffed versions of Dora and Diego. I don't think this is what they were expecting, but they seemed happy enough to meet them.

Kit's First Sleepover

Yesterday Kit Kittredge had two "friends" sleep over - Fancy Nancy and Strawberry Shortcake. Meredith got them all in their PJs and borrowed and extra bed from Morgan (Madeline's American Girl doll.)

Every day is a Giesler Girl Dance Party

This is my attempt to share the daily (maybe) adventures of the Giesler Girls with our extended family in MA and CA. Although the girls do not get to experience life's moments with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, I hope that these stories will give you all a glimpse into our lives in OH as the girls quickly (and I mean quickly!) grow up before my eyes.