Grand jete anyone?

Last fall Eliza took gymnastics. Though she loved it, she really wanted to take ballet next. So we did, at real dance studio. Well, they sucked every penny from me and when they had picture day I just couldn't give another dime to dance stuff!! So I made myself feel better by taking lots of pictures on my own. And isn't she adorable. These are recital day except the last one was at dress rehearsal (less stage makeup).




Eliza was screaming-jumping-up-and-down-excited to perform at the recital. And she did great! Though she was just a little bashful she did the dance and loved being on stage!

Alphabet party!

When each of my kids was 3 or 4 and hadn't begun preschool, we did some kind of alphabet chart and "school time." Andrew's was large single letters we taped above our crown molding in our NYC apartment. Abby's was a poster, and Eliza's was done in a similar fashion. Eliza and I finished her poster just before summer! When we did, the kids kept asking, "Is she going to have an alphabet party!?" I don't know where they got the idea, but we went with it! I knew a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Stewart was fast approaching, so we whipped up this little alphabet party!
Eliza and Grandma preparing our treats ahead of time.

First we played freeze dance to my favorite alphabet CD (ok, our only), Here Come the ABC's by They Might Be Giants. Which I recommend if you want spunky quirky kids music.

Our decor and quiz question: Can you figure out what all these letters have in common?
Our next game was "Race to the alphabet puzzle pieces, grab one out of the bowl, race to the puzzle, put it in, tag the next person on your team, continue until puzzle is complete." Andrew and I used to race each other in this fashion (however non-relay with just us two) in our apartment when he was little and he had to burn some energy inside. We used to love it! And now it's a party game with our alphabet puzzle! Go Grandpa (the running ketchup bottle) and Grandma--they were tough!
(Oh heavens, is that Abby kicking her Daddy's tooshie in the background!?)

Ahem, moving on...Go Andrew!! Run Eliza!!
After the races we used our classic letter building blocks and divided in two teams. We raced to see who could put all their 12 blocks into words, with no leftover letters, first. A nice way to slow down the heart rates.

Time for a snack...with Jell-o jigglers!
And while you slurp up jell-o, decorate a few cookies! We did dip and drizzle icing for a change.







Every day should be alphabet party day!

Q and A

Andrew: Mom, are you going to have any more kids?

Abby: (Thoughtful) No, Andrew, I think she's too old.

P.S. Don't speak of this post, lately Abby gets annoyed when we "talk about her" (aka: share cute stories about our kids). This post will self-destruct in 5 seconds.

It's only natural.

Since the birth of spring, we have had some fun experiences with the nature around us.

Frogs and toads. I think we've only seen toads so far. They are so cute and quite small. Thus far they are only exciting and not pests. I did have to repeatedly watch for one while I was cutting the grass. (This is where I hear they become pests.)

Caterpillars of all kinds. We managed to fry two in a jar...someone forgot their mother's warning. But they are lots of fun.

Mini crawfish? We have some standing water (I know, great for mosquitoes) at the edge of the driveway by the road. Andrew caught some weird little crawfish things swimming around in there. They were the size of my ring fingernail and were a strange very light tan translucent color. We kept three in a jar for a few days and they ended up shedding their "skins". Someday I will have to find out what they were.

Of course we have seen of bunnies and squirrels. I love the Midwest and the rabbits around--so far I haven't had a garden out for them to ruin. (In Iowa ours was fenced in.) So we're still friends.

Birds! We've found two nests that are eye level or lower. How lucky! One has a single egg in it, but my fear is it won't hatch. It's been there a while. BUT, we have another nest that is on the ground among some flowers and it had five eggs. Now it has five baby birds. They are precious! So tiny and wow, can they open those beaks wide looking for a morsel from Mom. We frequently see her hopping through the flower bed to feed the babies.

The perennials coming up have been wonderful! I love having such a variety of plants and flowers! We pick them frequently and enjoy them inside. Of course the girls love this. I do, however, need an education on how to take care of all of them. And the trees too.

Speaking of trees, we have two evil ones. They literally have 2 inch spikes covering every branch. They all point somewhat downward--aiming directly at us. They are freaky and Daniel thinks they would be great in some scary fairytale. He's right.

Next time I get around to the camera I will try to get some related pictures up. But this is all I have energy for tonight!