We had another whirlwind type of weekend.  Caroline and I, along with our friends Mia and Jaclyn went to the ballet to see The Wizard of OZ.  Once again the girls loved the  performance and are already planning another "Girls Day Out" to go back and see The Nutcracker.  I love being able to do these fun days with my special girl!  

Connor got some brand new wheels!  He has been asking for rollerblades for a few weeks now so Chris took him to pick out a pair (and some knee pads!)...he practiced in the garage all day yesterday and today he was out playing street hockey with the neighborhood crew :)  I LOVE that we have active boys on the street!  And, I love that these boys let anyone play (even kids that just got skates yesterday) and that they can be overheard encouraging each other and cheering for one another.  Thank God for good sportsmanship.

Caroline convinced Dad the she really needed a hula hoop.  She also convinced him that she needed the expensive one that lights up...

The other day my pretty little love asked me to take some pictures of her because Nana and Papa probably needed a new one.  She was also pretty sure that Papa would like something new for on his desk at work.  We had fun doing this "photoshoot"; the "posing" made me laugh!

 Just something that I want to remember.  I wrote Caroline a note and drew a little picture for her first day of kindergarten.  I didn't realise that it would then be expected that she get a note/picture EVERY DAY....here is one from last week and one of her favorite doodles :)

I've already dropped some hints that come first grade it might only be a little love note each day~it's kind of hard to come up with a new doodle every day! 

Happy Birthday Connor!

11 years ago today our lives changed forever....we were no longer just Ali and Chris...we were blessed to receive our new names...Mom and Dad.  I remember the first time I looked down upon this sweet face and when I remember how much I loved this child in that instant it still amazes me. What I didn't know is that I would continue to love him more and more each day.

I was telling Connor about his first birthday this morning and confessed that I cried while buying him balloons for his party. I was so sad that I didn't have a baby anymore!  Can you believe that I also cried (a bit) this morning watching him walk out the door with his boxes of donuts?  It hit me that this will be the last time that we do the birthday treat ritual for school.  How did 11 years go by so fast? 

Happy Birthday Connor!

We love you so much and hope you have a wonderful, joyful and healthy year ahead.

xoxo

I spent the day trying to make today special.  (This is about the extent of my cake decorating skills; thank goodness he appreciated the effort!)

I also treated him to a batch of his favorite cookies.  "Nana cookies!" 

Caroline was my big helper and placed the candles in the cake.  

"Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear Connor, Happy Birthday to YOU!!"

And this is what he bought with Dad tonight at Best Buy! It took all his birthday money, but he was

thrilled when he came home!



 An unrelated picture but one I wanted to share nevertheless. This is how Caroline has been spending

most of her free time....with her nose buried in books!  Makes my heart flutter~I love that she is a bookworm like her mama :)

Happy Birthday Nana!

Happy Birthday Mom!  We love you so much and hope you had a wonderful day celebrating!  Even though you just left us on Wednesday we already miss you can't wait until our next visit!

I love my mother as the trees love water and sunshine - she helps me grow, prosper, and reach great heights. ~Terri Guillemets

Easter Sunday

We hosted Easter dinner this year and had a wonderful day enjoying the company of family.  I really tried to relax and pay a bit more attention to the "magic" of the holiday because I have a sneaking suspicion that this is probably the last year that Caroline believes in the Easter Bunny.  She started asking lots of questions like, "Mom....how does ONE bunny deliver candy to every kid in just one night?"  I was caught a little off guard but got good laugh when I tried to deflect the question by asking her, "well...how does Santa do it?"  and she replied, "Uh, Mom...he has flying reindeer." She also mentioned more than once that she thought that I put the candy in the basket so we'll see. 

Thankfully this year she still wanted to leave out some carrots and thankfully Connor volunteered to nibble on them!

A sweet picture that she drew of the Easter Bunny. (At the last minute she decided that we shouldn't leave this out....what happens of he came looking for her to say thank you???)



Caroline's basket





Connor's basket



Caroline and Jack Brooks getting ready to hunt some eggs! Thank you Connor for hiding the eggs in the front and back yard...couldn't have done it without you sweetie :)



Of course there was some trampoline jumping :)  I love watching JB on the trampoline~pure joy!



We also celebrated some birthdays!  Happy Birthday Grammy, Jack Brooks and Connor.



Sweet treats made by Ali! 



Such a fun filled day.  The kiddos go back to school tomorrow and we celebrate Connor's birthday on Wednesday so more pictures to come!

March is National Reading Month and just for fun our school is encouraging the kids to wear clothing with words on them.

Caroline thought that her Dick and Jane skirt was the perfect choice

to wear to school today!



This and That

We've been busy with school projects.  Caroline had to do a 100th Day of School Project.

We started with a big bowl of this :)

And counted out 100 pieces.

And of course, no project would be complete without a little razzle dazzle!

Here is her finished project...she was so excited to bring it to school the next day.

Connor was assigned a project to do for Valentine's Day. Everyone had to build a castle to hold their Valentine's Day cards.  First time using a glue gun!  He did great, except we had a few times where the glue hardened before he attached the next piece.  Time is of the essence when working with hot glue!!

Hours later, after endless sticks of hot glue and Caroline stepping in to assist we were finally done! 

Each week Caroline's class gets to visit the school's library and pick out a book to bring home.  She was so excited to hop off the bus and tell me that she FINALLY got a Clifford book!  She ran right in, unpacked her backpack and cracked the book wide open.  "Ummm, Mom....I need some help. I can't read this book." I was washing up some dishes and told her to start sounding out the words or at least try to find some sight words. "I don't know ANY of these words!"  Once I came over to help and noticed the problem I got a good laugh.....unfortunately Caroline did not find this funny. Not funny at all.....the entire book is in spanish.

I had to put these next two pictures in here because I think they are just too sweet.  Caroline is doing a March of Dimes read-a-thon to help "all the sick babies that were born too soon."  She wanted to call and ask Nana if she would sponsor her but once she got on the phone she got flustered and forgot what she was supposed to say.  Poor girl turned into a crying mess :(  Afterwards she was feeling badly that she didn't talk with Nana so she asked if she could send her an e-mail. 

Typing (or pecking) her very first e-mail.

Hi Nana. This is Caroline. I love you so much, I am sorry I didn't talk to you.  See you soon.

She did this completely unassisted and I have to say I was quite impressed!

Miss Mary Mack

Caroline came home singing "Miss Mary Mack" yesterday and couldn't believe that I

knew ALL the words!  I have to say that hearing this little song brought back a lot of memories of my time in elementary school!