Giggle Time

We went and played at Noni, Oma and Grandpa's over the weekend.  It was a wonderfully relaxing time.  I've got more pictures to put up, but wanted to get this video shared.

One 3-year old kiddie pool - $30
One Butterfly Sprinkles - $15
Tupperware Cups and Bowls - $5
One Inflatable Rolly-thingie - $20

Hours of two total giggle monsters -- completely priceless.

A Visit With The Queen

Last weekend we met up with some friends and headed off to the VA Renaissance Faire.  This is pretty small in comparison to the one we go to in MD.  But it's size also lends it to being a little more personal.  There are a lot of activities that are geared towards kids, so they always have a really great time.

Both Erin and Jeff got dressed up for the faire.  Jeff insisted on wearing his knight costume (even though it was in the mid-90s).  Erin had a few other options and chose a little butterfly/fairy costume with wings.  Then she added her flower crown and was the belle of the ball. 

One of the first things we did when we got there was attend a privateering course.  The kids learned what it took to be privateers on the high seas.  At the end of the talk they got to work together to a sea chanty and pull "Sir Frances Drake" to safety on a big heavy wooden sled.  It was great to see them work together on something so simple.

Then we stumbled across a roaming magician.  There weren't a lot of other folks around so he did some special tricks just for the kids.  He used each of them as assistants as well.  Jeffrey was immediately taken with him.  As we know, the boy makes friends very quickly.  This magician soon became Jeffrey's best friend.  Every time we'd bump into him throughout the day he'd ask the magician to do a special trick.  Jeff also made sure we didn't miss his stage show where....you guessed it...Jeffrey was chosen to be on stage for a trick.  He had coins coming out of his ears!!!

Erin really enjoyed the children's area.  She got to meet the queen and participate in a fashion show.  There was some bubbles to blow, games and dress-up clothes, and even a woman helping teach how to make a rag doll.  The highlight of Erin's day was getting her hair braided.  She really wanted her face painted, but the face painter wasn't there that day.  So she got a beautiful headband braid put into her hair.  It lasted almost a week before we decided to take it out. 

All in all it was a great day with special friends.  We hope we'll be able to go back next year.  And Mr. Magician had better be there as well...

Free Willy

Erin has always been my little bug girl.  They don't seem to freak her out (too much at least).  She loves picking up caterpillars or worms outside.  Catching fireflies is one of her favorite things to do on summer evenings.  She'll even pick up and carry little toads around.

Over the weekend we stopped at a few yard sales.  The kids were each allowed to bring $5 from their piggy banks to spend at the sales.  Erin was having a really hard time picking out what she wanted.   As we were leaving one sale, she saw a little "Bug box" on the ground.  "Mommy mommy! I want that.  I can put bugs in it!!"  Since it was her money we let her make her choice.

Yesterday morning, while I was in the shower, Erin can running into the bathroom.  "Mommy! There's a spider downstairs!"  "OK honey.  Don't worry about it.  Or you can squish it if you want."  2 minutes later.  "Mommy, I killed it.  What should I do?"  "Just leave it, or put a box over it.  Or pick it up with some Kleenex."  2 minutes more follow.  "I put it in my box.  It's not dead!  I'm going to name him Willy.  Like the whale!"

Now when we bought the box I assumed that we'd been having some visitors.  I expected fireflies, or caterpillars.  Maybe a toad.  Nope.  We've got a little spider.  She's named it Willy. 

Willy is now living in a box on Erin's desk.  I'm really hoping I can convince her in the next day or so that spiders would rather be outside.  Because I'm certainly NOT going to go looking for food for Willy. 

So someone help me convince my daughter to Free Willy.

5 Cute Kiddos

Here are some pictures from Aunt Robyn's great idea for a photo shoot.  We went down to a little park right on the Erie Canal.  As you can expect it's pretty difficult to get 5 sets of eyes looking at you all at the same time, but we certainly did get some adorable shots of 5 beautiful kids.

New York Trip

No, not NYC, but western NY to see family and celebrate Grandma's retirement after 20+ years working in the school district.  The kids were very excited to see everyone, especially all their cousins.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and stayed with Aunt Katie, Uncle Bill and Will.  We were the first folks to stay in their new guest room, and the kids got to have a sleepover with Will.  Thursday night we went to Grandma's retirement dinner while the kids hung out at the house with some friends of Aunt Katie.  Erin, being the oldest, was a big helper with the rest of the cousins.

Friday morning we headed off to the zoo.  I always love visiting a zoo.  The kids just get so excited about all the animals.  We got to see the elephant getting his morning bath which was really cool.  The tiger was also about and running around.  We took a few minutes at one of the play areas to let the kids climb around and wade in the stream.

That afternoon grandma and grandpa watched the kids while the moms and dads drove out to do some wine tasting.  It was a gorgeous afternoon and we all enjoyed a little adult time break.  And when we got back Grandma and Grandpa weren't even tied up.

On Saturday we celebrated Cousin Avery's 3rd birthday by the pool.  She was so cute opening all her special Toy Story gifts.  We spent the rest of the afternoon splashing around the pool since it was simply a gorgeous day.  Erin and Jeffrey even got a special visit from their Uncle Jonathan who had recently moved from DC to NY.

Aunt Robyn came up with the awesome idea of getting a family picture of all the cousins.  It has been quite a while since all 5 of them were together.  Erin is the oldest at 7, and Will is currently the youngest (about 2 1/2).  So you can imagine the fun of getting 5 sets of eyes looking at you all at once.  Even so we certainly got some adorable pictures of the kids.  Great idea Aunt Robyn.  I'm going to make another post that has some of my favorite photos from that little "shoot".

We spent the rest of Sunday outside at the pool.  That's just where Erin and Jeffrey wanted to be.  Swimming is probably their favorite thing to do.

Most importantly over the weekend we all got to spend some very special family time.  The kids got to play with their cousins and hang out with Aunts, Uncles and Grandma and Grandpa.  Tom and I got to visit with family.  We'll get some more time with them later this summer at Cousin Rylie's birthday.  Can't wait to see you all again soon.

Will and Jeffrey Engrossed in Star Wars

Erin and Rylie -- Besties.

Jeffrey Giving Avery A Ride

Uncle Tom Reading Bedtime Stories to Will, Erin and Rylie

Erin and Will Watching Lion King

The Girls Playing What They Do Best - Princess.

A Beautiful Afternoon

With only 1 more day left of school, and early release today, summer is quickly approaching.  We've already had some sweltering days here in VA, but the past 2 days have been simply gorgeous.  Today Erin was done with school at 1.  We picked her up from the bus and headed to the library.  Each kiddo picked out 5 or 6 new books for home.  We got home and set up on the back deck.  Erin started reading some of her new books and I read a few to Jeffrey.  He then wanted to play inside, so to encourage him to stay outside I set up his train tent on the deck.  Erin hopped in with a pillow, blanket and stack of books.  A few minutes later Jeffrey dragged his own books, pillow and blanket.  It got a little too cramped for Erin after a  bit and she moved out to the deck.  Jeff took that advantage to spread out.  Next thing Erin and I knew, he was sound asleep in his tent.  Fingers in his mouth snoring away.  He slept there for about 2 hours.  Erin and I spent that time reading together (each our own book), looking at birds (we have a pair of woodpeckers), checking on the garden, and making cards for her teachers to hand out tomorrow. 

This will be one of those perfect afternoons that we won't be able to recreate.  So I'm going to treasure it while I can.

We're Off To See The Wizard

We all had a great time being part of the Wizard of Oz this May.  It's such a treat for the whole family to be involved in the shows these days.  This time we had:

Tom as Scarecrow and Uncle Henry (depending on which show you saw)
Erin as a Munchkin in the Lullabye League and a Snowflake during the Poppy Scene
Jeffrey made the prefect Flying Monkey
Mommy as Mrs. Gultch and and Oz Woman.

Erin and Tom had tons of fun with the singing and dancing.  We decided that the Scarecrow role is probably more demanding than Hook was last year so was probably the most demanding role Tom has had so far.  He did an awesome job with it.  Jeffrey was the perfect flying monkey screaming and screeching and  running around like crazy. 

I'm so excited that both the kids really love being in the shows.  Not many families get the opportunity to do something like this as an entire family.

So here are some pictures from the shows.