Joy Ride

Finally, a FULL week of elementary school, no days off. Lily continues to love kindergarten, taking the bus, and all of the "specials" - art, science, P.E., and library. She checked out her first book last week, Snow White, and this week she checked out a book which she was allowed to bring home - she was excited about the responsibility of having to return the book in good condition.

Jack also had a busy week at school, he is taking Spanish and sign language. He has started to make more detailed art projects, we hope to display a few in the coming weeks. He is also making some progress in the potty training although we won't delve into specific details! Today at school, one of his classmates brought in a prickly pod that she found on the playground and the kids were asked to describe the pod - Jack's description was: "It feels like a pinecone. It's spikey. It's a pinecone or a nest." For being one of the younger ones in his class, his description was pretty detailed! He is talking up a storm and constantly asks questions - his latest is "Remember when..." and then he goes into a long winded story about something that may have happened days or weeks ago, it is very cute. It is very fortunate that he can be cute, because he is also exhibiting some terrible 2's behavior, with lots of demands and temper tantrums - tonight's temper tantrum was "I WANT CANDY!" and he rolled all over the floor yelling that he wanted candy. We don't give him that much candy so we aren't really sure why he was focused on candy, other than we did just buy some candy corn in anticipation of Halloween.

With regard to the weekend, we went to the National Book Festival in D.C. on the Mall on Saturday, it was a little warm but lots of fun (especially b/c we got a fabulous parking spot). PBS Kids had a huge display and we got to see the creator/author of Martha Speaks show us how she created the characters and she read one of the books. (We knew cousin Stephanie would appreciate this as she used to do work for the television series.) Lily also got to meet lots of PBS Kids characters as you will see in the pics below - she was a little shy at first but then was running from character to character, Jack preferred to hang in the stroller and watch from afar.

On Sunday, Lily went out on her bike again and we had major progress with her biking about 10 to 20 feet by herself. Tonight she wanted to try biking again and managed to make her way most of the way down our street - she just needs a little practice braking with the pedals instead of her feet on the ground and then she will be off. The best part is that she is actually excited about riding her bike, whereas before it seemed like more of a chore. With regard to Jack, he is doing a great job picking up the scooter and we suspect he will soon be riding along next to Lily!

Enjoy the pics, very Lily heavy this week, we will try to have more of Jack next week!


Marcy and Lily with duck from WordWorld.


WIth another character.


With a dino from the dino train.


The Cat in the Hat.


Clifford.


A little bike riding.

Where Do We Go From Here

Beautiful weather has arrived and we have been busy here!

Lily had a four day week @ school due to election day. She is definitely adjusted to school and having a great time learning from her teacher and classmates. She has her special classes - art, music, science, and p.e. - once per week. She also has library time on Monday. The only issue so far seems to be whether or not she has enough time to finish her lunch.

Jack is also doing well at school. He is making new friends and learning lots of things. Hopefully, he will learn more about the potty soon!

Over the weekend we were busy with two birthday parties for Lily. Her friend Margaret had her Build-a-Bear party on Saturday. Lily brought home Frankie the puppy. On Sunday was friend Hayley's party at a local moon bounce/jump zone place. A good time was had by all.

On Saturday morning, Jack and Marcy went to the airport to welcome to town a group of World War II veterans visiting from North Carolina. Jack had a good time and was a hit with the crowd. On Sunday, Marcy took Lily and Jack on a bike ride to the local park to ride the carousel and train. They had a great time playing around.

We spent lots of time working on two wheel bike riding this weekend and wee amounts of progress were made. We will continue until Lily gets this figured out or we send her off to the orphanage!

On the pics ..


At the airport with the welcoming crew.


Lily hitting up the ice cream man.


The look of determination ... or fear.


Riding the carousel ...


on a zebra.


Playing in the sprinkler.


Working on a science experiment with Aunt Kelly.

Now Get Busy

Sorry for the late post, but Stuart was under the weather and six years later I still need instruction on how to load the pictures!

We have lots to report, most importantly that Lily turned 6 on Friday September 10! She started out the morning with a donut with candles and Mom, Dad and Jack sang happy birthday to her. She brought cookies shaped as cupcakes in to her school to celebrate her birthday - and no I did not make them, only store bought treats allowed (I'm off the hook for baking!).

At school, her name was announced on the loudspeaker for having a birthday and she got to go to the front office for a "weeble" - which is actually just a weird small fuzzy creature. She also got a birthday bookmark and pencil from her teacher. Lily arrived home and opened gifts from Emilie (American Girl doll clothes), Stephanie (cookbook/apron), Donna & Stephen (game/science kit), Mom & Dad (explorer kit) and Jack (pillow pet - bumblebee) - I had shown Jack the bumblebee beforehand but told him he had to keep it a secret and he took that very seriously but when we went to get Lily from the bus he got really excited and could not hold it in - "I got you a bumblebee!" - fortunately Lily was not expecting a pillow pet so she didn't really know what to expect. After present opening, we went to Chick-fil-A for a Lily requested dinner.

Saturday was Lily's party with her friends, she had specifically requested a pretend sleepover party so the 7 girls showed up in their pajamas with pillows and dolls/stuffed animals. The girls created artwork on pillowcases (which was actually kind of a mess but they had fun); they played muscial pillows; ate pizza and cupcakes; and played in the basement and had a dance party. Lily had a fabulous time and was thoroughly exhausted by tht end of the night. Special thanks to Hayley's mom, Michelle, who stayed and helped through the chaos.

On Sunday, both sets of grandparents and Aunt Kelly came over for some cupcakes and homemade apple pie (my first attempt) - Lily opened some fabulous presents including shrinky dinks and funny tatoos from Kelly, game & sweater from Grandpa Maurice & Grandma Phyllis, and American Girl doll clothes from Grandpa Tom & Grandma Gail. She also opened a Wizards of Waverly Place doll & CD from Aunt Tracy, Uncle Stan, & Casey. Mom and Dad then headed to the Redskins game, and Aunt Kelly held down the fort.

Aunt Kelly ended up staying with us thru Tuesday afternoon so the kids enjoyed having her around. Overall Lily had a fabulous birthday weekend and wants to thank everyone for their generous gifts, including gift certificates from Great Uncle Simon and Great Aunt Ruby, and Great Uncle Jerry and Great Aunt Eve and cousins Derek and Graeme.

Earlier in the week, Lily started a new session of gymastics and we enjoyed a few visits from Aunt Tracy and Casey, including a trip to the orchard for apple picking.

Lily had her annual check-up yesterday and weighs 50 lbs and is 46 inches tall (approx 70% for both) - a clean bill of health - we assume at some point she will no longer want us reporting on her weight but for now we will share the deets.

Tonight was back to school night so Grandma Gail picked up Jack from school, took Lily to gymanstics, brought over dinner, and then stayed to babysit while we visited Lily's school - THANKS Grandma Gail! We got lots of materials from Lily's school and homework will begin in October - we love Lily's teacher and Lily still loves kindergarten!

We have to send out belated birthday wishes to cousin Stephanie who celebrated her birthday on Saturday!

Enjoy the pics!


Jack climbing on the hay.


Enjoying an apple at the farm.


Casey, Lily & Jack.


Jack and Casey enjoying some apples.


Birthday party time!


Musical pillows.


Six.

Stormy Weather

Still a bit under the weather but regular weekly posting will resume shortly.

Crazy Life

A wild week in the books here. A recap:

Monday - the first day of kindergarten for Lily.

Tuesday - The bus was late to pick up Lily but all worked out fine in the afternoon as Grandma Gail met Lily at the bus stop - our new Tuesday routine - and she and Grandpa Tom joined us for dinner.

Wednesday - a relatively normal day until the middle of the night when Marcy became very much under the weather. After spending most of the night sick ...

Thursday - the kids were rounded up and dropped off at school and neighbors while I took Marcy to the emergency room. Apparently the mix of prescription steroids that were supposed to battle poison ivy and a nasty stomach bug led to some heavy duty sickness and dehydration. After a couple of hours in the hospital Marcy began to perk back up and was sent home. Neighbor and fellow classmate Madeline's parents were kind enough to take Lily to a school picnic and Jack and I went out for a quick bite.

Friday - Marcy continued to recover while the kids were at school. Then, after dinner, we left for a weekend at the Lake with Grandma Gail, Grandpa Tom and Cousin Casey who is in town from Colorado.

The weekend was spent at the lake and after returning Sunday night we hung out around the house today. We finished up the long weekend with dinner with Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Maurice. We are all tired and the little ones are fast asleep by now!

Anyway, on to the pictures and video. Enjoy.


Jack eating some dinner.


Riding the jet ski with Grandpa Tom.


The three cousins ready for a pontoon ride.


Jack and Casey checking out the water.


Casey, Lily and I ready for a ride.


Jack doing a little lippy on the ski boat.


Lily trying to catch dinner.


Jack and Marcy canoeing. Well Marcy canoeing and Jack doing lippy.


Jack and Casey dueling in swings.


Jack as a man of action.