If you spent a year being interviewed about your life, would it go to your head?  If someone wrote your biography, would it make you feel pretty good?  We got to find out this month, as Anna wrapped up her yearlong study of her grandma Mary.

One of the big projects in third grade for each of our kids has been a long study of our family history, including profiles of some family members. Nick is still remembered around the family for telling his elders that some of their life stories were not very interesting. Anna’s class spent all of their time looking into the life story of one relative.

The program was very sweet. We made and brought in a family recipe – Alyssa Chicken was Anna’s choice – and all of the families sampled each other’s favorite foods. The kids also took turns reading from the biographies they’d written of their relatives. We learned that Mary started cooking when she was working at a restaurant at the age of 16, and that she’s been having fun cooking ever since.

We were all very impressed with the portrait of Mary that Anna created:

Happy Friday!

We had Chelsea’s mom, Mary, visiting with us for the last two weeks.  She just flew home yesterday.  Here is the dynamic duo at one of Anna’s soccer games during the Memorial Day tournament:

Mary was the star attraction at Anna’s Family Connections night at school. More on that tomorrow.

Nick got hold of Anna’s purple sunglasses the other day, with hilarious results:

I like that these kids don’t take themselves too seriously.

When we get to the end of the year, it’s time for the kids and their teachers to tie up loose ends at school.  Close out their business, so to speak.  Just before Memorial Day weekend, we sat for the Middle School Concert, which included both instrumental and choral music.  Miss Maria has decided to be a songbird in the chorus, and her group makes a lovely sound indeed.

This girl is an all-singing, all-dancing presence on stage. She didn’t try out for the school play this year, but we figure that she’s bound to start acting at some point. Perhaps we’ll see her on Broadway some day.

Memorial Day weekend was a soccer-o-rama for us.  Nick and Anna were playing in a tournament, and Sunday evening, Anna’s team organized an outing to the match between the women’s national teams of the US and China.  The match took place before a sellout crowd at PPL Park.  We got there a couple hours early and tailgated with Anna’s team.

The girls played bean bag toss, and Anna was her usual cooperative self when it came to photos:

As for the game itself, the US women overcame an early 1-0 deficit to prevail over the Chinese, 4-1. The weather was hot and steamy at the beginning of the match, but with sunset and a cooling breeze from the river, the evening turned out to be most pleasant.

The match was a fun way to end the all-soccer weekend.

Another summer Friday rolls around, and our minds wander toward warm breezes, friendly conversation, and maybe a little beer.  Chelsea and I got to enjoy all three last weekend.  We went out to Frankford Hall, a German-style biergarten that has opened in Northern Liberties in Philadelphia.  We were joined by our dear friends the Lesters, and a couple that they know well from their town.  It was a lovely evening all around.

You see the smile on Chelsea’s face?  That’s the smile of a ballet mom who gets to take the night off.  As you can guess, the kids were not invited to this feierabend social:

Happy Friday!