so jack's not left out...

Some pics from the bday party at the Holyoke Children's Museum. He loves the water play area. Note to self - next time bring a change of clothes. He loves the construction thing too. But not having his picture taken while operating it. Jack takes construction seriously...

memory lane...

Previous post sparked a memory of a cute pic I remember taking the first day of their 2nd year of preschool. The girls were 4. Sniff, sniff...

school vacation week

This is the first year with both kids home at the same time. (Jack went to the MHC lab preschool for 2 years and was on the college schedule.) So far, so good. We've already had a bday party, a sleepover and a playdate. Lots more later this week - it's totally going to fly by. I took the week off too. And I am so not sad about it.

A few pics from today. Em had J over, a friend from preschool. She lives in a different town, so the girls don't get to spend too much time together now that they're both big 3rd graders. They always pick right up where they left off though. Two of a kind...

Today was fairy/troll house building day. Jack helped for a bit but got cold (and bored.) The girls were totally caught up in their little world for hours.

These 2 girls could not be any more different physically - bear in mind Emma is bending her knees and J is standing slightly up hill.
They never seem to notice though.

one of the houses - with things to entice trolls

my new house

This is my plan du jour. It is small by new house standards, just over 2000 square feet. But I like the layout. And 2000 square feet is way bigger than what we have now. I would get rid of the tub in the study bathroom. I'd put the washer and dryer in there instead (keeping the toilet and sink.) The study will double as a guest room. I guess overnight guests could use the kids' shower. Not that we expect to have a whole ton of overnight guests anyway. The rationale behind moving the washer/dryer is that we need a coat, shoe, backpack, karate stuff, swim bag, etc. area. So the current utility room would be a mudroom with lockers, a bench, hooks and a maybe a small closet.

front and back

busy day...

Today Emma swam in her final meet of the season - the championships, though I'm not really clear on what (if anything) that means. There were a ton of kids from a ton of towns. It was very chaotic. Emma just rolls with it though. She has great team spirit and cheered very loudly for her teammates. She loves swimming in the relays. The picture is her waiting for her turn to swim the 2nd leg of the 100 medley relay. The coaches are in Hawaiian shirts - makes them easy to find.

Right after the meet Emma worked her shift at the GS Cookie booth our troop set up outside of Friendly's. It was pretty chilly. The girls were tough cookies and didn't complain. They sold 8 cases (80 boxes, I think) in 3 hours or so. (Emma's shift was only 45 minutes) The next booth sale is at a Bingo night at the K of C - inside. I'm thinking they will sell a lot of cookies there.

favorite smoothie

Emma and Jack have been loving smoothies lately. Our newest fav is a recipe off the back off the Teddy Graham box. Blend well:

• 24 cinnamon Teddy Grahams
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup ice

They like to float a few loose teddies on top too. It's actually pretty yummy...

snowman from when it felt like winter...

I should take a picture of how pathetic and melty he is now.

Um, that nose is possibly a little disturbing. It's a plastic carrot that came with the Christmas Tree Shops snowman kit. I swear.