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.