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.

Snow...And Lots of It!

The Philadelphia area does not tend to get much snow. Some winters we don't get anything at all. Last week, much to our children's delight, we got over a foot. Some places near us got up to 2 feet! All the kids wanted to do was play in it. So, every day until it melted they spent an hour or so enjoying it. I, on the other hand, watched from the kitchen window! Growing up in Western New York and then living in the Pocono Mountains, I think I've seen a lifetime of snow already! haha

Our friend Josh helped the kids build a snow fort.
A few days later, they were able to dig a hole in the bottom
which they then lightly covered declaring
that it was their fort's secret emergency exit.
I kept seeing Daniel rolling around in the snow!

Here's Jay taking a flying leap into the snow in our backyard.
Needless to say, he was a little bit excited!

After the storm was over, the entire area was blanketed by a beautiful snow. I thought our house looked pretty surrounded by the snow and the blue sky.

Julia's Birthday Part 3 of 3

Today Julia had a Prince/Princess Birthday Lunch. She invited her 3 and 4 year old friends to a Prince/Princess Lunch. They were to come dressed up and have lunch with her in celebration of her birthday. Pictured: Sir Ben, the Knight, Grumpy Dwarf (aka Daniel), Princess Laura, Princess Darby,
Sir Zeke, the Knight, Snow White (aka Julia), and Cinderella (aka Ella Kate).

For lunch we had:

Ariel's Mac & Cheese Shells

Sleeping Beauty's PB&J Spinning Wheels

Cinderella's Magic Wands (Pretzels Sticks with Mini Marshmallows on top)
Snow White's Non-poisonous Apples
Belle's Royal Punch
Tinkerbelle's Mini-cupcakes with Fairy Dust

Then we did a finger puppet theater craft...Princess-themed of course!

They had such fun!

Julia's Birthday Parts 1 & 2 of 3

Yesterday was Julia's birthday. She's now four. She had quite line-up of
birthday celebrations.

First, on Saturday, we went to a friends' house to celebrate both Julia and Ella's birthdays. Ella is 364 days younger than Julia. After lunch, we went to Chuck E. Cheese. So, that was part one.

Part 2 was yesterday. We went to Chick-fil-a at her request and then came back
and she opened her presents.

She got an "American Girl" (or maybe it's a good replica of) named Amanda.
Now she can play with Hannah and her Samantha. :)

Here she is with the presents from her Nanie and PopPop. They left them here
for her when they were here for Thanksgiving.

Her Daddy burned her a cd with all her favorite songs on it.

She was so excited that she had her very own cd!

The Way a Kid Brain Thinks

Check out the question I was asked yesterday after Daniel (almost 6) and Julia (will be 4 next week) had this conversation:

Julia: "Daniel, I saw birds flying the shape of an "S"!"

Daniel: "Cool! Mom, what does it mean when birds fly in an "S"?"

Me: "What?"

Daniel: "I know what it means when they fly in a "V", and when they fly in an "O" that means something is dead, so what does it mean when they fly in an "S"?"

I love moments when you get to see how a Kid's brain is working.

Is This Normal?

After arriving home following Bible study tonight, I sent the kids upstairs to get ready for bed. "Please do it efficiently," I said, "I'm tired and would like you to get to bed quickly." Some shuffling and other kid noises followed as they began to get ready for bed.
A few moments later, the boys came charging downstairs with the following news...Jay: "Mom, I punched out Daniel's tooth!" Daniel: "He did! See?" They were both thrilled.
Now, Daniel's tooth had been loose, but really, was the punching necessary? I don't know I just had a sister growing up...

The reenactment...Jay showing the punch and Daniel showing his newly lost tooth.

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. It is by far my favorite holiday of the year.

Here are a few highlights of the tradition...

This is at my Uncle Kevin and Aunt Patrice's house. We meet here each year for dessert, football watching and Christmas carol singing. The two favorite songs are "Silver Bells" and "12 Days of Christmas." Aunt Patrice always directs the mayhem.
Oh, and I think I counted 44 people. There are 3 sets of original couples (my Mom and two of her brothers); myself and 8 cousins (and some spouses);
and 21 second cousins (I think that's what they're considered).

This is my "Uncle" Joe (long time friends of the family). He has always entertained the kids (used to be my sister and I, now it's our kids) with his expansive train sets. I love watching the kids' faces and seeing it bring joy to Uncle Joe.

The cousins have such fun together. Our kids are the "big" cousins
and they take their role very seriously. :)

Daniel and my Dad

Julia and my Aunt Linda

Hannah and my Mom

And so the countdown begins for next year...

A Few Fall Crafts

There is a book called, Leaf Man, where the author/artist creates pictures of different things using various types of leaves. It is so creative and interesting to look at, that we decided to collect leaves and make Leaf Turkeys. It was fun to look at leaves and try and figure out
what part of the turkey they could be. The kids had a blast walking around our
neighborhood and picking up leaves.
The first picture is Hannah's. She made several different turkeys, some of which are facing to the side. I was impressed with her creativity.
The second picture is Julia's. With a little assistance, she did a great job!

( I tried ironing them between wax paper but was quite disappointed in how they turned out...apparently wax paper isn't as waxy as it once was. The leaves move around inside if they aren't carried just right.)

Daniel had to "dress" Curious George for a costume party as a Kindergarten project.
Daniel LOVES Donovan McNabb (from the Philadelphia Eagles),
so he had fun dressing George like him.

This was a school project as well. Jay had to decorate the turkey so that the turkey could "hide" at Thanksgiving time. We chose to make the turkey look like a cow.

Halloween

So, this year is brought to you by a Chef, a Kitty, the Thing (from Fantastic4), and a Ninja.

This was our first year trick or treating in our neighborhood...it's a jackpot! We actually quit when the kids were having a hard time managing their buckets! What fun!