Kindergarten Graduation

3 month old Daniel

Our kindergarten graduate

The tossing of the hats :)
(Daniel is on the far left)

Julia, the Professional Flower Girl

Julia was in a wedding on Saturday for dear friends. This was her 4th flower girl "gig." She was so excited for this one since both the Bride and Groom are people she adores. For days before she was dancing, skipping, and hopping around the house singing about the Bride and Groom and about how much longer before the wedding. She couldn't wait to wear her wedding dress and wedding shoes and drop (not throw) the flower petals (throwing is MUCH different than dropping).
The wedding did not disappoint...she was beautiful and did a great job, and had a fantastic time. I think this will be something she always remembers.

Featured Art Work

Julia picked an array of wild flowers and
showed them to me in a jumbled pile in her cute little hands.

Hannah then showed me the bouquet of wild flowers she had picked and
then tied with a piece of grass. It was a very pretty arrangement:

Julia then informed me that hers were in a pile because she was making a flower nest for the bird she was going to draw. She then asked me to turn on the basement light so that she could go downstairs and make her bird.
I found her later asleep on the family room floor, but when I went into the kitchen
I found her bird sitting in its nest.
I thought it was so cute that I had to take its picture:

Enjoying Spring

We have been really enjoying spring lately. The warmth of the sun is a welcome
change from the gray of winter.
As I sat outside watching the kids play, I was amused by the different ways they chose
to enjoy the warm air...

the girls chose to sit together and draw...

the boys are alternately riding their bikes
and hacking at sticks that fell from the tree across the street...

Ah, spring...

Jay's Scooby Party

Today is Jay's 8th birthday. We had a friend party for him last Friday. The theme was A Scooby Doo mystery. When the kids arrived, they were sent on a mystery hunt which included games and finding clues in order to solve the mystery of who stole the cake. They had a blast.I had fun dressing our four to look like Scooby characters.

(I figured they could use the costumes again for Halloween.)


Here is Jay taking a picture of me taking a picture of him with his birthday present...a camera!

Happy 90th Nana!

John's grandmother, affectionately known as Nana, turned 90 at the beginning of this month. So, we had a big blow-out party for her (haha).
Here she is blowing out the candles on her cake and with her 8 GREAT-grandchildren!

Philadelphia Art Museum

The kids had a random Wednesday off from school (teacher in-service), so we went to the Philadelphia Art Museum. We had a wonderful time!

Hannah loves VanGogh. Her favorite is Starry Night, but her second favorite is Sunflowers. She was so amazed to see this painting (it is one of 7). She stood looking at it for quite some time. Unfortunately for her, her siblings were getting antsy by that time which didn't allow her to sit and stare for as long as she would have liked.

By far, the kids' favorite area was the Coat of Arms Hall where they had
all kinds of different armor on display.

They are being statues :)

A Crazy Amount of Snow

February was record breaking in our area for amount of snow.
It got to the point where you just had to laugh...
I'm posting this because I know in a few months, when it's sweltering,
it will be fun to look at the house buried in snow.

Historic Philadelphia

A few weeks ago, my parents came for a visit. We decided to go down to Philadelphia for one of the days. We took a carriage ride around the city to start off our day.

The Liberty Bell. It has a long gallery of historic pieces and information prior to the Bell. As we strolled toward the Bell, Daniel kept asking me is that the Bell (referring to various artifacts throughout the hall). I kept responding, "No, Daniel, the Liberty Bell is big. You'll know it when you see it." When we finally got the the real thing, Daniel said, "That's not that big!" I think he missed the historical significance...

Inside Independence Hall. The chair all the way against the wall on the left side of the picture is the original chair used during the Revolutionary days.

Betsy Ross' house and the site where she made the first US flag.

In Elfreth's Alley which is the oldest residential neighborhood in America.

(I think this picture looks like a band's picture or an album cover.)

We went to the US Mint. I thought the kids, boys especially, would LOVE seeing money made, but unfortunately, nothing was in operation when we were there.

Posing on the lawn across from Independence Hall (you can see it in the distance behind them).

We had such a wonderful day. I enjoyed it immensely, and the kids still talk about it regularly.

Daniel's Birthday

January 10th was Daniel's 6th birthday.

Being that he LOVES all things sports, we had a football-themed lunch.

Daniel's birthday guests (several boys from his kindergarten class
and several friends from church)


Birthday cookies for my child who does not like cake.

Some of Daniel's cards and the football craft we made.