Easter School Party

Abby's school Easter party was this Thursday, kicking off the beginning of spring break!

It began with top-your-own ice cream sundaes.

It was a LOT of sugar! :)

Abby had a few of her mama's white chocolate M&M's, and a slice of strawberry, and maybe 2 bites of ice cream, then she was done, lol.


Lilly loved her ice cream!

There were lots of fun activities to do before the egg hunt - a bunny beanbag toss...

... A "Jellybean Prayer"...

(Abby did this activity all by herself, needing no help from me!)

"Pin The Tail On The Bunny"

Then it was time for the egg hunt!

Imagine the most chaotic scene you can imagine... then double it... and you will have some small idea of what the egg hunt was like. Luckily, once we were outside in the open air, the noise and chaos seemed to bother Abby less than when we were inside with it. :)

It did not take Abby long to "hunt" twelve eggs - I was SURE we'd come home with twelve blue eggs, but "I like colorful eggs" she told me. :)

Bean and I tried to get the girls to sit STILL for some Easter pictures, to no avail. Sugar dance!

I think they had fun. :)

Puzzled

The last two weeks have been all about puzzles - especially these three Melissa & Doug wooden puzzles that have recently come to stay. One is horsey-themed (from Grandma), one is fishing-themed, and the other one has "a tricky jaguar" (jungle theme).

The "tricky jaguar" seems to be Abby's favorite and we usually put it together several times, one right after the other, every morning. One morning this week after several repetitions I started naming each of the animals, and when I got to the alligator, Abby began VERY STRENUOUSLY telling me something. About the alligator. And the fishie. Clearly it was VERY IMPORTANT that I understand it.

I had her repeat it several times, and this was the gist of what she was saying:

"See that alligator, and see that fishie? It may LOOK like the alligator is chasing the fishie, and you might THINK that the alligator is going to catch the fish and EAT IT, BUT -" she stressed this with a little shake of her head, " - BUT, it only LOOKS that way. REALLY, the fishie and the alligator are PLAYING together, so even if the alligator CATCHES the fishie, it's okay, because they're ONLY PLAYING, and the alligator is NOT GOING TO EAT HIM!!!"

When I finally realized what she was saying, I nearly died laughing. I have no idea if this was an idea that she came up with to reconcile her love of both alligators and fishies, or whether this is a story her mommy or daddy told her to reconcile the imminent danger the fishie faces, but either way, problem solved. :)

She never puts that puzzle together without telling me happily that putting that puzzle together with Mommy is her "favorite thing". :)

Feeding The Birds

We love our seagulls! :) Recently we got to take Abby's cousin Lilly and her mama with us to feed the birdies.

We actually had a bit of a hard time attracting them - can you believe it? But pretty soon they were all around us, so we decided to seek shelter under the gazebo to protect our heads. :)

The benches were the perfect size for the girls to stand on and still be able to see the birds.

Lilly generously lent Abigail her sunglasses (it was BRIGHT out!).


Pretty birds!

Thanks for coming with us, ladies! We'll have to do it again soon! :)

Field Trip!

Abby's preschool class met at a local pizzeria this week to take a field trip and make their own pizzas! The theme was "using our senses" so the kids got to touch, smell, see, and taste lots of different stuff (the only thing we heard was a crazily loud kitchen, lol!).

The management kindly provided coloring sheets and crayons for while the kids waited, as they went back in small groups of five.

Abby and Lilly knew they were gonna make pizza... but I think they were more hyper about being reunited after a long absence of 24 hours! :)

Eventually they did settle down and do some coloring, but pretty soon it was time to go back into the kitchen - but first, a stop to wash hands.


The first thing we got to touch was a giant bowl of pizza dough. Pretty squishy!

The lady who helped the kids was AMAZING - thanks again, Kelly!

Abby and her schoolmate Emilie got to make their pizzas first!

First was the sauce...

Then the cheese (Abby wanted to "sprinkle" it at first)...

... Til Kelly showed her how to grab a big handful and spread it around.

Emilie got into the act, too!

Kelly helped Abby spread everything into place.

Then it was Lilly's turn!

Spreading sauce.

Just about ready for cheese!

Smelling some stuff - sweet pineapple.

And some anchovies, cuz like Kelly said, "Some silly people like to put fishies on their pizza." :)

Our pizzas came out of the oven nice and bubbly!

Enjoying the fruit of our labors. :)

Yummy, yummy!

Happy, hungry cousins. :)

Big Slide

Abigail -

You have a love/hate relationship with the Chick-fil-a playset. On the one hand, nothing gives you more pleasure than to climb up and play in the tunnels, but on the other, very little terrifies you more than the thought of climbing back down. Each time we go, you beg to go play, and each time I patiently explain to you over and over again that if you go up, you must eventually climb down, and I can't come up and get you. And each time, I end up on the ground, coaxing you down, and you stretch your toes experimentally towards the next step, wailing "I can't dooooooo it!" Once you were rescued by a nice little girl a few years older, who took pity on you and held your hand as you climbed down; another time I sent Lilly up to come back down with you.

It must not be as traumatic as it seems from my point of view, however, because by the next time we come you're begging again to go play.

I've suggested many, many times - "Why don't you take the slide down?" but this suggestion has always been met with "NOooooo... The slide is TOO BIG for me!"

Today there were other children on the playground, and I watched you strike up a friendship with another little girl. You climbed higher than you ever had before, so high that I had to walk around towards the opening of the slide to see you, and this is what I heard.

Little girl: "I'm going down the slide! Are you coming down the slide?"
You: "No, I'm too scared. (sigh)"
Little girl: "I'll hold your hand!"
You: "Okay!"

A second later you were at my feet, flushed with excitement, gripping the hand of your new friend with a mix of terror and delight. You jumped up, gave me a big hug, and - beaming from ear to ear - exclaimed, "SARAH!!! I WENT DOWN THE BIIIIG SLIDE!"

A little bit later, Lilly ended up at the top of the slide, frozen in fright, wanting to go down the slide but unhappily too afraid to do so. I suggested that you go help, and you scrambled up to the top to hold your cousin's hand so she could slide down with you.

I'm so proud of you. :)

(However, part of me looks a little smugly forward to a time when you might have your own children, and they climb to the tippy-top of the playset... or the jumpyard fixture... and refuse to come down. I hope you feel the tiniest bit ridiculous, but I also hope that you realize what a treasure it is to have someone in your life that you love enough to look ridiculous for.)

Love you always,

Sarah

Snow Day!

"Sarah... Sarah, I can't see. There is something wrong with this hood..." :)