Bye Bye Olympics!

I let Kate stay up a little late tonight to watch some of the Olympics closing ceremony. She asked me, "are we gonna cry, Mommy?" We didn't, but we definitely were sad to say bye-bye to the London games. It's been a fun two weeks.

We kicked off the fun with our party for the opening ceremonies (pre-party post here). Matt was out of town, but we had a fun, girly night with Nancy and Becca, eating British food and doing Olympic crafts.

The girls dressed in their gymnastics leotards,

 Had a little tea party,

 And did some 'nastics on the couch.

 We did some Olympic rings art using paint and styrofoam cups.

And we made Olympic torches, which the girls decided made better weapons than symbols of spirit and unity. Kate continues to call it "my fire."

 Kate enjoyed the ring art so much, we were doing it again in our pajamas the following morning,

 and we started a mantle display with the art we'd created in just the first 14 hours after the opening ceremonies!

Over the course of the past two weeks, we've added a lot of coloring pages of flags, runners, gymnasts, footballers, and more, and Kate is sporting a very blingy gold medal, which she "wins" over and over again by standing up on a platform (her ring-toss base), hearing me sing the Olympic anthem (which I never remember, and usually do "Pomp and Circumstance" or the Star Wars theme instead) and give her the medal and a flower. 

We've had a great time watching gymnastics, swimming, beach volleyball, track, and "race walking." Kate has learned that some people are born without feet (the South African "blade runner"), and that all the different countries have different flags and anthems. It's been a lot of fun. It's hard to believe that when the winter Olympics come around, Kate will be turning five (and Claire will be two) and the next time we have summer Olympics, Kate will be SEVEN, Claire will be pushing five, and we'll probably have another toddler running around here! 

Go world!