Happy Easter everyone! We had a great day complete with a cousin's sleepover and an egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Gregory and the bunny in Dedham
Speaking of egg hunts, Cousin Karen Mitropolis and I took Gregory to the annual Dedham egg hunt yesterday. The kids cleared a soccer field loaded with eggs in about 90 seconds flat, reminiscent of a cloud of locusts. Gregory managed to collect 11 eggs, however when he noticed a smaller boy without any eggs, Gregory put three of his eggs in the boy's basket. Way to go Gregory!
After the egg hunt we visited the Blue Bunny bookstore owned by children's author/illustrator (and childhood friend of Karen's) Peter Reynolds. When we ran into Mr. Reynolds at the store, Karen told him about Gregory's Easter egg donation, he drew this picture for the little guy:
A good egg
Thank you to Peter Reynold's for a special gift to Gregory - I couldn't agree more!
Rebecca rocked a horse show Saturday at Integrity Equestrian Center in Holden. She rode Tippy and anyone who knows anything about Miss Tippy Toes knows she is famous for navigating through cones on her own and being very stubborn when it's time to kick it up from walking to trotting. Despite this latter trait and the fact that Tippy gives a bouncy ride as she loves to run on her tip toes (hence the name), Rebecca won a first and second place ribbon. My baby has made a ton of progress in the past year.
Here is Rebecca and Tippy strutting their stuff:
(I'm having some technical troubles embedding the video. If you see a black square instead of my precious offspring riding a white pony, click here)
Thank you to cousin Karen for inviting us to a gingerbread house making family night. The kids had lots of fun eating pizza and building their house, even if the end result proves that they are better artists than engineers.
Here's the proof that at one point the house was standing:
Unfortunately, it didn't survive the car ride quite so well. Here's what it looked like by the time we got it home:
Oh well. On the plus side, in the its present state it's harder to tell that I've been stealing all the gumdrops off the house.
It's amazing what you find when you have kids. Today I grabbed a notebook and turned to a random page to jot something down and I found this drawing. I'm not sure when it was made, but it's definitely Rebecca's handiwork and it made me laugh.
With two weeks of kindergarten under his belt, Gregory is settling in to taking the bus with his big sister and practicing his letters. His favorite school event is snack time and every morning he wants to pack his own snack. He did smuggle a toy in his backpack one morning (a little 'inja' figure) about which he proudly told me his teacher told him 'never do it again', but overall I'm taking the 'so far so good' attitude. Still, I would love to be a fly on the wall in his classroom.
Here's what he had to say after his first day of school:
Brushing Bunnies Just goes to show, Gregory will touch anything. Mom and I took advantage of Evan and Nora's visit to Boxborough to get the cousins together at Davis Farmland. We had a fun day of hayrides, bouncy houses, and way too many goats. The girl's brushed bunnies and played in the pretend vet clinic while the boys wrestled and ran wild. More highlights include the many different versions of 'The Bouncing Eyeball' told in line for the hayride and Pablo (the Mexican milk snake, who the staff described as 'very friendly').
No - we don't have a new pet fish - we have Gregory. Gregory started swimming the end of last summer, but this year his swimming has really taken off. Here he is jumping off the diving board into 12 foot deep water.
I can't believe it's been 8 years since I became a Mom for the first time. Rebecca celebrated her birthday with a party at a local roller skating rink which stirred up memories of days (long) ago when I used to skate at the long since closed Granite Rollo. The day consisted of MJ songs, Carvel ice cream cake, and lots of litte girls falling on their tushies. Good times - Happy Birthday Rebecca!
In a desperate attempt to get out of the house I let the kids pick where they wanted to go today. They decided on the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester. I'd never been there before but it was pretty neat. Turns out it was Viking day so we got to see a bunch of guys dressed up like Vikings having Viking 'fights' and playing Viking games. Lots of cool suits of armor. Gregory was especially disturbed by the suit that was missing its helmet, which he expressed by yelling "Oh my God! Look at that poor knight! That's disgusting!"
Another foot of snow today so school was canceled for the 3rd time in 2 weeks. What else is there to do on a snow day but make pancakes? The kids and I mixed up a batch and succeeded in not setting off the fire alarm like we usually do, which always traumatizes poor Gregory. Yay us!
Here's the video from Rebecca's snow concert. Although there was no snow on the ground, it did flurry for the event. Rebecca is in the front row in the gray sweater, white shirt, and purple plaid skirt. Too bad she's so camera shy (not!).
All that effort for this Holden held the annual girlscout caroling, Santa arrival, and tree lighting event tonight. Rebecca was a trooper who sang enthusiastically and then waited patiently in line to see Santa. Gregory, on the other hand, had a bit of trouble. He was cold (give me a break - this year it was a balmy 34 degrees - I still remember 3 years ago when the temp topped out at 13 degrees), he wanted to sit in the car, he needed to use the bathroom, etc. With a combination of holding him, encouraging him and wrestling him, I managed to string him along until he and Rebecca got a chance to sit with Santa. My motive? To get a Santa picture so I don't have to shell out $30 at the mall this year for one. When they finally made it to Santa's lap I snapped a quick picture from the side. Then I moved into the prime photo spot right in front of the big man, at which point my camera battery died. My comment to Santa: Are you friggin kidding me?
Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween. What did the kids dress up as? Rebecca was a fairy princess with battery powered LED lights embedded in her skirt and Gregory was War Machine. That's right, I let my 4 year old dress up as War Machine (for those of you who are not in the know, War Machine is the silver Iron Man type guy from Iron Man 2). I'm not even sure if he's good or bad, although I believe he was played by Mickey Rourke? At any rate, we didn't set out to Target for a War Machine costume. Gregory originally wanted to be a tiger. He wanted to wear his favorite tiger 'costume', an old dress up dress of Rebecca's with black and white leopard spot trim. He's convinced it's a tiger costume and he puts it on and runs around the house attacking people. So you can imagine why I encouraged him to go to Target for a 'real' costume. Well, as soon as he saw the 'silver Iron Man' costume, the tiger idea went out the window. It was love at first sight. At the time I didn't know the difference between the silver and red Iron Man, so I agreed. Before we checked out I had figured out that the costume he had picked was called War Machine, but he was so happy with it I didn't have the heart to make him put it back. I must be getting soft in my old age.
So Gregory's nursery school had a costume parade Friday. They requested no violent superhero costumes so I figured they probably wouldn't appreciate War Machine. Somehow I managed to talk Gregory into wearing last year's Yoda costume. Saturday was pumpkin carving and I was quite proud that Rebecca managed to scoop out and carve her 'challenging' pattern all by herself (and it came out better than the one I did for Gregory!). And of course, trick-or-treating on Sunday night. Greg and I were impressed by the Dad who was trick-or-treating with his kids and simultaneously watching the Patriot's game on his phone. All in all, a successful Halloween. Now I just have to figure out how to stop raiding the kid's candy.
The family made the trek up to Freeport Maine this past weekend for a wild and fun weekend. Friday night Greg and I, along with Jif, Chris, Kenny, Amy, and friends, all had tickets to see My Morning Jacket open the State Theater in Portland. Mom and Dad generously offered their babysitting services for all 4 grandkids so we could all see the show. Jim James has an awesome voice and stage presence and according to him, MMJ had some revenge to take on the State Theater on account of their bass player who became extremely ill last time they played the venue after eating bad shellfish. Go figure. At any rate, revenge was found in the form of loud music and high energy which made for a great show. Here's their final encore. I'm in the center of the back of the floor in a white tee-shirt. And no, I couldn't find myself.
On Saturday Greg and I took Rebecca, Gregory, and cousin Evan up to Camden with a side trip to the Marshall Point lighthouse in Port Clyde. We experienced some wild, windy weather to the point where the kiddies were somewhat worried about being "blown away" on the walkway to the lighthouse (they later decided the wind was "cool"). We hit up Cappy's Chowder House in Camden for lunch where I ate some extremely good shellfish, before retreating back to Freeport.
Rebecca holds on for dear life
Mom and Dad generously offered to babysit again Saturday night and who are we to squash their dreams of watching all 4 grandchildren at once? So we headed out and hit 2 parties before crashing at Kenny's house at the ungodly hour of 4 AM. I haven't been out that late since college and with good reason - it took me 2 days just to start feeling normal again!
Thanks to Mom and Dad, Jif, Chris, Kenny, and Amy for babysitting, accomodations, and general fun. Love you guys!
Rebecca loves to create things. Her newest invention is her 'Girl's Club', which apparently includes all over her female cousins. Here are some materials she has created (I provide translations below each - her ideas are good but she still needs to work on her spelling. My comments are in italics.):
The Rules
Girls Club Rules
No Boys Allowed
No Spitting Possibly directed at her little brother
No Teasing
Have Fun
Club Book - She made one for each of her cousins. This one is for her cousin Sophia.
Meeting Schedule
Meeting
Recess
Make a map of your ?
Secret Handshake
And last, just in case you forget ... Go back home
Girl's Club Promise (slightly pilfered from the Girl Scouts)
I promise to protect girls from boys and to serve god and girls.
Today was Rebecca's first day of second grade and Gregory's first day of nursery school. Sorry to sound stereotypical, but Greg and I were like the quintessential parents dancing down the Staples' aisle to 'The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year'. By our calculations, we've been home alone in the house together once in the past seven years until today (Greg's on vacation this week). The two of us celebrated with a very nice lunch at the Sole Proprieter.
But enough about us. Both kids got out without a hitch. Gregory declared himself 'excited' for his first day of school, but wanted to know why he couldn't take the school bus. He wasn't sure what he was going to do when he got there, but he thought maybe it would include 'playing pirates'.
Mom, you're embarrassing me
Rebecca loves her new teacher who apparently is 'very useful because she knows how to turn on the fan'. I guess that is a useful skill when the first day of school turns out to be ninety-one degrees and high humidity. Rebecca also decided she wants to go to all the schools that I've been to so she can get 'three different colored hats'. Hey, if it motivates her to practice math problems, I'm all for it.
Rebecca capped off a busy summer with her week at Heifer Camp. This day camp is held at Overlook Farm in Rutland and is run by Heifer International, an organization dedicated to fighting hunger and poverty.
Rebecca and Aboo pose together.
Despite a rainy start, this was Rebecca's favorite week of camp. Apparently the highlight of the week was milking a goat. Other strong points: gathering chicken eggs, feeding the llamas, and getting butted in the back by a particularly ornery goat (fortunately not the one she was milking).
The kids also spent time working in the gardens, exploring the international village, and hanging out with Aboo the camel. We are very fortunate to live ten minutes from this remarkable farm (the Heifer Project only has 5 locations in the U.S., including Overlook Farm. If you are in the area, check them out!
Happy Birthday to my Rebecca who turned 7 on the 24th of July. This year we decided to skip the birthday party and take her somewhere she has been begging to go - the American Girl doll store.
We are lucky enough to live about half an hour from an American Girl store, so the day after Rebecca's birthday we headed to the Natick mall to check it out.
After spending an hour examining every doll in the store, Rebecca decided to go with the suitably named 'Rebecca' doll. Rebecca (the doll) has wavy brown hair and hazel eyes, just like my beautiful little Rebecca (the 7 year old), so we decided it was fate.
Once that was settled, it was time to pick out an outfit for Rebecca (the doll). Again Rebecca (the 7 year old) had to examine every outfit in the store before selecting a horseback riding ensemble for her new doll.
Lunch for 3
All this shopping made us hungry so we headed into the American Girl Bistro, where we had a reservation. They served us a nice three course meal and even put a little booster seat on the table for Rebecca (the doll).
All in all, a nice day. Here's a little equation I worked out. Warning: this is not for the faint of heart:
Priceless
1 American Girl doll + 1 American Girl doll outfit + 1 pair of American Girl doll shoes + 2 lunches at the American Girl Bistro = more $$ than a pool party for an entire kindergarten class.
