A Birthday Party

Celeste and Penelope

I love all the chewing going on in this picture.

Violet chowing on pizza.

Kids eating pizza.

Deagan blowing out his candle.

Cake

Pen loves this horse.

Birthday Boy

Violet loved this ride the best.

The girls went to their cousin, Deagan's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheeze on the weekend. Penelope had been waiting for this party with so much excitement. Violet was a little overwhelmed at first, but decided she liked it too soon enough. They played games, ate pizza, drank lemomade, and had cake.

It was fun to see everybody. I can't believe how quickly all these kids are growing up. Little Deagan is six already, it doesn't seem like that can be true. It seems like he was as small as Violet just a little while, and he was... when Pen was a tiny baby. And now she is 4 1/2. Time flies by so fast!

What We Did This Week, The Letter O

We got to the playground a lot this week.

Vi trying to push Pen.

Drawing the letter O in the sand.

Playing tic tac toe to practice Os.

Ocean

Baby in shells.

Penelope singing a periwinkle out of it's shell.

Looking for crabs and other creatures.

Obstacle course at yoga class.

 

Violet got caught eating a pepper I was going to use for dinner.

We did a lot of our letter O learning outside this week because the weather was nice. We spent a morning at the beach (Ocean) and we drew Os in the sand with our feet and with sticks. We played tic tac toe, which Pen loved. We attempted to visit the otter at the zoo, but it was naptime and they wouldn't come out and play. I was going to make an obstacle course for the girls, but their yoga teacher had one for them already. I still might make one though. On Friday we dropped our car off for an Oil change and on the walk back home we had an O hunt. There are Os everywhere, in stop signs and signs on buildings and street signs, of course, but also car tires, manholes, and we even found some O shaped windows.

We went to the playground several times this week. Penelope had a playdate with her friend Kimberly at the playground too. And Pen has been riding her bike around town again. We saw daffodils blooming yesterday, which made us very happy. We are so happy to be able to get outside again!

This Moment, March 9, 2011

 {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

What We Did This Week, The Letter N

Using her Nose to guess what different things she could smell.

Gluing Noodles on an N

Making a Nest with old bits of yarn and glue.

Play-Doh Nest with Bird Eggs

Play-Doh Nest with Dinosaur Egg

Bird on Nest

Violet's Bird on Nest

The Ugly Duckling Family

Acting out the Ugly Duckling

Happy with Her Own Ducks

Her Own Ducks

Nothing to do with the letter N, I just love it when she makes a stage and gets lost in her shows.

We worked with the letter N this week. We read about so many different types of nests that different animals build, some are really amazing. We watched the beavers at the zoo work on their nests, and we have been observing the squirrels and birds in our yard gathering materials for their nests.

We made a nest from old yarn, we'll use it on our nature table for a spring decoration when it finally dries (she really used a lot of glue). We also made a lot of play-doh nests and Penelope played with her ugly duckling family for a long time. She was really fascinated with the story, which we read this week and it was cute to see her acting it out. Violet was thrilled with her mama and baby ducks and played with them so happily, though she kept breaking their heads off and I had to keep fixing them.

Penelope used her nose to guess what I held up for her to smell. She guessed right at peanut butter, coffee, an orange, ketchup, mint, and rose. She guessed the baby shampoo was body lotion, body oil, and moisturizer, which were all close, and she guessed the thyme was "something we like to cook in soup, I think" which was also pretty good. She didn't know onion, which surprised me.

We are really appreciating the beautiful, functional art that nests truly are, and we plan to put some various fibers out in our yard and see if any of them show up in some of the nests that are currently being built around us.

This Moment, March 2, 2012

 {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Chocolate Dance

You can tell from this video that my kids are deprived. They are actually breathing heavy as they attempt to inhale the chocolate cake batter. And when the sugar hits Penelope's blood stream and she does her chocolate dance Violet copies her quite seriously, as if this is a normal part of chocolate cake batter eating.

We were making a cake for my brother Charles, whose birthday was last Saturday. I didn't remember it, but last year on his birthday, we had to bring him home before his party, on our way to the hospital to get Penelope stitches. Of course I remember the hospital, but in my mind it isn't just a year ago, it seems like 3 or 4 years ago to me. And I'd forgotten that it was on Charles' birthday. Penelope remembered. The day before his birthday she asked me if she could call him. I said sure, and while I listened to her talk to him I realized why she wanted to call  him. She was telling him not to worry, that what happened last year would not be happening again this year. She was not going to spoil his party by going to the hospital. "I just didn't want you to worry about it Charles!" she said as she ended her conversation. And we did have a nice party for him, with no trips to the hospital at all. Just the chinese takeout he requested and the peanut butter and chocolate cake he always wants me to make. And lots of dancing to his new c.d.s.

What We Did This Week

It was M week and we learned about the phases of the moon.

We made the phases of the moon with cookies.

And then Penelope ate the moons.

We also made moisturizer. It starts with M, but was completely necessary whether it was M week or not. Our skin has been so dry!

Penelope tried a free yoga class, and LOVED it!

It was warm enough to eat our lunch outside at the zoo.

Cute

The girls with their babies in their baby carriers.

New boots were bought and tried out.

Splash!