Graduation!

So girl graduated from preschool this week!! I tried to get a nice picture of the 2 kids. "Anna, please don't make such a silly face.."

"Please, please make a nice face honey"

"Good, hey Luke, could you.... forget it"

on a day that's 1000 degrees - Nanny trying to work Dan's new fancy phone - this is as good as its going to get... all in all, not so bad. But the boy doesn't really hide his true feelings about the weather.

How precious is this birthday going to get? I ask you?

ok- so its a hard to trasfer a Sally Field quote about a wedding into a 5 year old's birthday - but I think I did just fine!

The birthday starts off with cupcakes for school

Are they strawberries?

or are they watermelons?

I really don't know - you decide, I won't be offended either way.

but they were cute - and that's all that really matters.

Then moving to the party - with all the friends and family - too cute

the pinata is the only real picture I have of the big party right now

more when Nanny sends them to me - this is just going to have to hold you.

THE ACTUAL BIRTHDAY

Girl was quite pleased to have a day o' poses

5 at home

5 with the brother

at the park -

'wait? what is it mommy? oh! you want to take my picture? oh - ok'

5 at the park!

Last but not least - the final cake - on the actual birthday.

TA DA!! Girl saw that flower - and didn't care if it was iced with peanut butter -

she wanted that cake! *it was pretty delish

then- woe is me, a night in the tent.

The kids really had fun - but I think I need an air matress - or maybe a couch next time.

I'm still a little achy

This story incorporates everything Luke is terrified of:

skeletons that eat people

Girl's scary story - can't say that I haven't heard it before... but she used her scariest voice.

the video ends with girl cracking herself in the face with her flashlight.

the crack that almost saved my back.. but she got over it very quickly - and we were all back in the tent!

and the morning after..

Happy Birthday Girlie Bird!

CLASS TRIP!

Girl had a class trip - and I got to be one of the parents joining them! YAY!

Yeah right, it was fun until I realized we were walking around the woods looking at ... well, as you can see here - we're looking at this stick.

Less we not overlook the bugs we got to see,

or the tree stumps

or the mushrooms growing on tree stumps

or the spider webs

or the frogs

I feel robbed -I figured our trip would kick ass considering the last trip was to the pumpkin patch.

Because I don't really know any of the parents from girl's class - I don't know if they're the type of people that would freak out & sue me if I posted a picture of their kid on my blog -

so this is all you're going to get out of the class trip.

enthralling beginning to end

Son of a Beach

Memorial Day brings us our first trip to the beach!

YAY!!!!!!!

First night - OUT FOR PIZZA!

the kids were very patient waiting for the waitress to acknowledge us...

after about 20 minutes... they started to get a little silly

after another 25 minutes.. things were out of control.

So I flagged down a waitress - who cleaned our table - and told us they were out of pizza. So I called on the phone - ordered a pizza - and 10 minutes later walked 10 feet into the store to pick up our pizza. Yes, it confused me too.

Seeing how I was about to slap a waitress or two, we all thought it was a good idea to walk up to the boardwalk to eat. With the sun being down, and the waves 'kersplashing' quite rough - it got a little chilly. Luckily, it didn't slow the kids down much.

just happy to be at the beach! (and in the stroller)

Happy to see the boy still has his bunk-bed facination

next morning - STRAIGHT TO THE BEACH!

and we didn't forget to leave the buttcrack at home

I was thinking to myself - Saturday of Memorial Day weekend - and this is the crowd? EXCELLENT.

Yeah - it filled up in the next few hours.

Boy was quick to find a pack of kids to play with..

and girl was happy to find a comfy spot face down in the sand..

while girl splashed around - boy was very content to stay in his hole

Quick shower - then straight to the park

...where the children proceeded to scare the crap out of me

2011 water tower - and as usual - boy wanted to climb it

I let Auntie Cheryl do the heavy lifting

the poses have changed a bit over the last few years..

And back to the beach!!
End of the day on Monday - the kids got free ice pops

SCORE!

girl really knows how to show her gratitude

that's a little better -

a little more sarcastic - but better

aaaaaaand theres the crack

sadly - you can see the boy was starting to burn a little bit.. the shirt stayed on for the rest of the stay -but I'm sorry to say the boy sizzled a little on his last day

Last night - and Nanny thought it would be a fun treat to go out to eat RIGHT NEXT to Lucy the Elephant.

Does it get any better!??!

After dinner they got a chance to gawk at the big CLOSED sign.

but they were still pretty happy.

After dinner, we got home, the boy ripped off all his clothes, ran to the kitchen and found a wooden spoon and begged Nanny to spank him with it.

?

If they wanted spankings so badly- all they had to to was ask!

Five!!!

Easter!

Again - behind...

As with every other holiday - Easter is choc full o' arts & crafts..

Starting off with the yarn/cornstarch/cookie cutter crafts. These would have been great except for the fact that boy's little crafts were SO gooey - they got moldy before they dried. Live & Learn I 'spose.

backed up by a dinner of Easter Egg Meatloafs


aaaaaand not to be outdone -

EASTER EGGS!

and the final product..... (drumroll)

the spread left for the Easter Bunny.

and the spread left by the Easter Bunny

another Live & Learn...

If I ask the girl to run into the other room & find her shoes - it is a task that never takes less than 10 minutes. Not because she is lazy. Not because she finds a toy & gets distracted. Not because she drags her feet & waits for us to get them for her.

Because I have raised 2 of the absolute worst Look arounder's.

I now know that 10 eggs & 2 baskets are FAR MORE than these kids can handle on such an exciting morning. The 35+ eggs & 2 baskets took well into an hour for them to find.

Boy coming downstairs...

Now the girl

Once the baskets were finally found - they were MORE than please with all the new loot.

And they were just as happy to find all the eggs

Poppy stopped by for the sunday donut routine - and even he was rolling his eyes at the weak hunting skills.

new shades

Luckily (and thankfully) my kids have seen Charlotte's Web enough times to quote it.. and didn't really object when the day after Easter - they eggs got tossed. I explained to them that a lot of the eggs got cracks in them when we were coloring them - namely, the eggs Luke dropped. Then I explained how they will get rotten very quickly with the broken shells.

To which they informed me "A ROTTEN EGG IS A REGULAR STINK BOMB!"

Thank you barnyard goose!

Dan & I both wondered about the choice of first-bite-location on the big choco-bunnies.

Both tail & ears were the first to go.

and with choco-bunnies - comes unused energy - which in turn brings a carpeting of easter grass. *sigh*