Gymnastic Birthday Parties

Gym birthday parties are the best...except that Clara has decided her 6th will now be at a gym...

Scooter Babes

Music Lessons with Misters Eric and Matt

Girls loving a music lesson with Misters Eric and Matt — with Kate McKnight Dryden at Studio Joyeux.

Mr. Eric has been a mainstay of our music lives at library story time and birthday party gigs. He teamed up with Matt for a group music lesson at Matt's newly formed Studio Joyeux in Raleigh's Boylan Heights.

Though it was for Clara, Hattie tagged along to absorb all the lessons on rhythm and melody. 

Arts Together Art Walk 2014 - Clara the Artist

Each year Arts Together hosts a gallery to showcase the work of its budding artists (pronounced "r-teests"). This year it comes on the heels of a display they did at Zoe's Kitchen down the road.

The Stars showcased their "Chameleon Crawl" project, using the tempera/watercolor medium.

Here is her cut-out painting of herself (Kate outlined Clara on butcher paper the first day of school last year, and they work on the painting over the year). Clara seemed intent on matching her outfit with her art work...

Here is Clara's display at Zoe's Kitchen. The piece's theme is "What makes you happy?" Clara's medium was crayon followed by watercolors on a fancy canvas. She drew each member of her family taking in a beautiful, starry sky at night.

Finally, a look at last year's Art Crawl (the post is here). Note Clara's description of herself. Last year she told her biographer she wanted to be "a princess and go to the ball." This year Clara was less sure of her aspirations. But she frequently tells us she wants to be a psychologist who helps kids, just like her mama.

Family's First Ever Breakfast Out, and Hattie Fixates on Robin Hood

North Hills just opened a breakfast restaurant, and it occurred to us this morning - when we were in no particular mood to cook the morning meal ourselves - that we've never gone out to breakfast as a family. So, during the brief break in winter weather, we hiked up the hill for tasty outing.

Through the whole outing (indeed for the full weekend), Hattie referred to herself first as "Baby John" - later revising the name to "Little John." Daddy was Robin Hood, Clara Maid Marian, and Mama a Rooster. She did not break character for over 24 hours. Each time we tried to call her Hattie, she corrected us:

"My not Hattie. My Little John!"

The latest movie in rotation is the lesser known Disney classic, Robin Hood. Here it is playing in the background...

Dryden Girl Picture/Video Montage

Asheville Weekend

First Presbyterian Church had its annual retreat in Montreat this weekend, and the Drydens trekked west to the North Carolina mountains to attend. Our good friends, the Bakers, provided a crash pad for us and the Ryan family.

We made it to two church activities and otherwise took in the beautiful mountain weather on a spring day.

We had the best intentions of doing a group shot with all the kids, but a late-evening session of couch bouncing led to one of the five-year-olds (Davis) spending the better part of the night in a local emergency room with his dad. We lost steam for the picture after that, but Davis is sporting a gnarly line of stitches keeping his upper lip together. He'll be sporting a sexy scar for the ladies...

Toothless Clara - 2nd Tooth Gone

The first to come in (in July 2009) are the first to go. We think Clara so enjoyed the initial visit from the Tooth Fairy that she's wiggling even the sturdier chompers in hopes of scoring more dough.

Adah's Farmhouse Birthday Party

Adah is Clara's oldest friend. Kate and Debra were preggers together, and the two girls popped out less than a week apart from one another. We don't see Adah as much as we did when we were in the old hood, but it's always a fun reunion when we do.

Adah's uncle has a farm and was kind enough to host a farm-themed party at his place for her 5th birthday. Below are some scenes from that, complete with a tractor ride, feeding the chickens, and riding the horse.