Field Trips

One of the nice things of staying at home with the kids is being able to go on field trips. This spring has seen three field trips, with one more big one (the zoo!) to come with Hayden's class. I have really enjoyed getting to see the girls in the school habitats, talk with other kids in their classes, and just generally learn a little bit more about life at school.

Hayden - Museum of Life and Science - late March

Hayden and her class walked to the museum for a visit - I met them there after dropping E off at school. Molly wasn't really supposed to come, but she did great as a monkey on my back most of the time.  I got a group of 5 kids (including Hayden) to walk around the museum with. We could do whatever we want. The kids did great cooperating on where to go next and staying fairly close. It was fun!

It was our first time to see the alpacas, recent additions to the museum farm yard.

alpacas are strange looking but kind of cute! I'm realizing that this one (Retro) is pregnant in this picture. We just saw the babies this past week, and the sign said the baby had been born in April.

Hayden thought the alpaca fur was soft enough to rub her cheek against, much softer than the sheep wool next to it!

digging for fossils. All the kids found something.  H was VERY proud of the shark tooth she found.

swarming the climbing dinosaur.

my group of kids and the giant dinosaur

climbing in the caboose - there's probably a picture of me doing this years and years ago!

Molly was really happy to take a break on the bench and eat goldfish.

cooperative construction. (FYI on our recent visit, the noodle-like pieces were gone. too many sword fights maybe?)

Molly tries to help with the building

lunch time on the sidewalk. I had to say goodbye during lunch to go pick up Eliza. I had a great time though!

Eliza - Spence's Farm - April 

Right after spring break, I went with Eliza to visit Spence's Farm while Molly hung out with Grandma (thanks Grandma!). Eliza had a great time riding with her classmates in the party car (three moms and three kids in one minivan. We learned all about how the farm worked and got hands-on experience with weeding, chickens and horses.

Weeding the garden - and then the weeds get used as chicken feed!

E being brave and feeding the chickens.

Maybe you'd like to try some chickweed.

checking out the diminutive (yet noisy) rooster

the turkey!

waiting with best bud Hailey for their turn on a horse

up in the saddle

E astride Angel - she wasn't sure she wanted to ride but she overcame her fears and did great!

just horsin' around. (ha!)

Eliza - Jean's Berry Patch - early May

Then finally, just this week, Molly and I went with Eliza's class to pick strawberries. We had to postpone a week b/c the weather has been so cool and the berries weren't ready. As it was, the fields were really muddy from a lot of rain but we still found lots of YUMMY berries!

Molly is READY to go pick!  (She really was ready, she jumped right into picking and eating without any hesitation.)

notice the juice dribbling down her chin

this place is great! strawberries to eat as far as the eye can see!

Eliza works hard to fill her container

Her eyes are asking "can I eat this one?" but her mouth is already going for it.

strawberry smile

one last berry before heading to check out. (look who's trying to steal our basket!)

Molly dressed for the occasion.

strawberry face, not quite the strawberry coma of E (see next pic) but only b/c we didn't stay very long

E's strawberry coma face, 2 years ago...

Next week we head to the zoo with Hayden's class for one last big field trip. The whole family is going, including Jason! It will be a long day but hopefully will be lots of fun. There'll be pictures sometime!

Toothless Wonder

If you could please send us your favorite smoothie and milkshake recipes, we are in dire need. Hayden has now lost SEVEN teeth, and eating is becoming challenging! :) She has 4 teeth missing along the top row, 2 new teeth and one gap on the bottom. Her mouth makes me laugh every time she smiles.

Dancing Darlings

We signed Hayden and Eliza up for dance class over the winter/spring session for 10 weeks. Last class was in March, and both classes had special parent viewings (and picture takings!) during the last class. Hayden's was organized more as a show, and all of us came to watch her show off her skills. She was great.

attentive during warm ups

I like how no one is really doing what the teacher is.

strike a pose - in leg warmers!

during her "solo" - she was one of the only kids to really use the space and show off lots of moves that corresponded to the music.

more from her solo

all lined up and walking gracefully

first position? plie? Regardless, she's great!

Eliza's class, with younger kids, just invited all the parents in to watch the entire class. I think Eliza was a little bit disappointed she didn't get to do a "performance" like Hayden, but she still did great showing off her moves.

chatting about dancing, there was a bit too much of this for my tastes but E did learn the word perseverance

I didn't take this pic, another mom did, but E looks so cute, if a bit spacey.

more pre-class chatting

lined up, waiting for the next moves

balancing on a star!

very serious discussion mid-class with her buddy from preschool

one foot balance!

 galloping and more!

They both enjoyed dance class, but it wasn't the best thing ever. Hayden's teacher was better than Eliza's, in my opinion, but they both had fun. However, Hayden claimed to have liked her teacher/class from her previous ballet class because she said she learned more specific ballet moves. (this class was more a general ballet/movement/explore type class.) They are signed up for gymnastics camp this summer,  and of course Jason and I are hoping for soccer players so who knows what they will do in the future!

Spring

Wow, it's been a while. Apparently we have been busy, busy, busy which means no blogging, blogging, blogging. Since the last post, we've had all of March and three-quarters of April. What have we been up to? Let's see if I can remember: we celebrated my birthday, we traveled to Florida, we had two visits from old college friends, we traveled to Georgia, we finished up dance classes, we've gone on two field trips, learned the word "hulabaloo", welcomed spring, welcomed summer, went back to winter, and are now solidly in spring. Plus some baking, some weeding, going to new parks, and lots of laundry. It's been crazy!

Here's a catchall of the random small moments/activities over the past month and a half - hopefully I can get blogs about the bigger activities/events up soon!

Okay, this is before V-day, but we made cupcakes for Eliza's class party.

Let this be the first of the "Molly is developing her own crazy personality and learning independence" photos. Notice the stool she brought over, and the hand reaching for the cupcake.

Birthday time! Love this picture!

Getting help reading my card, notice Molly being in the background.

My chocolate pudding chocolate frosted oreo crumbled lovingly decorated birthday cake! Baked by me, decorated by the girls and eaten by all!

We also tried making s'more whoopie pies. DELISH!

We also rearranged our dining room turned playroom and brought the giant kitchen back. It was fascinating for at least 15 minutes.

Hayden does service with a smile for her overzealous customers.

Molly learned "TOO LOUD" and does this when she hears lawn mowers and the like.

spring came - finally!

Don't we have beautiful flowers? (before the weeds took over in April)

even her "NAAAAH" cup couldn't make her smile pretty for me.

braved the slowly arriving spring to check out a new park

This park has been requested several times since so we'll have to go back soon.

Molly in Daddy's scarf and glove. because she can. and she tends to plop down like this whenever we try to take a photo.

We've done a lot of scootering this spring. There was one evening of wipeouts but generally they have gotten really good at it!

 Last, but not least....

I think there was a full moon! Did you see it? It was a rare mismatched boot full moon. Hardly ever seen, but VERY good for lifting the spirits.

Happy Spring!!!