Wonder (Sleeping) Pets

Addie has recently become addicted to Wonder Pets- she can be heard singing "What's it gonna take? Team Work!" to Alden when trying to get him to do her bidding. Recently she earned a "treat" from Wal-Mart and she picked out these little Wonder Pets figurines. She loves them. She carries them to bed- or as I found this morning- she carried them to THEIR beds! I was told to whisper until they woke-up....

This is what I found this morning- Tuck (the turtle for you non Wonder Pets fans) on the left in the blue bed since he's the boy and he even has a pillow under his head and his own dresser. Next to him is Ming-Ming, a duck that has a speech impediment that drives me nuts, but Addie ADORES her. She, too, has a bed (pink because she's a girl), pillow and dresser. When I asked her why she was sleeping with Tuck, I was told that Tuck had had a bad dream and Ming-Ming had needed to help him feel safe.

In her own "wing" is Linny (who I always thought was a boy until just recently....). Once again, she's a girl so she has pink bed, her own pillow and dresser!

The entire scene.... Notice between the rooms she has 2 ottomans with a tray of food so they can have a snack when they wake-up.

I love how creative she is- and how her thoughtfulness is coming through in her imaginary play.

Dresses Galore!

Recently, Addie has become obessessed with dresses. Most days, that is what I'm greeted with in the morning, "Mommy, I would like to wear a dress, please!" And since she is growing like a weed these days, she was needing some new dresses, but I didn't want to buy her new dresses when she has bunches of short-shirt outfits that still would fit!

So....

I took these 3 shirts that I wish she would wear....

Added these pieces of material....

Together with my "helper" did some "magic" on my sewing machine....

And- wah-lah!! 1 Happy girl and 3 "new" dresses for only $3.14!!

Photographers!!

Addie LOVES to take pictures. Just about every day she can be heard snapping pictures - and yes, you can hear her, her little camera is pretty loud! Here are some pics that she snapped or I snapped of her in action! I love how artistic she is!!

Here she dragged Kierke up from the playroom, got her to sit in the chair, put the pink headband on her, crossed her paws, and then got her to look at the camera! Is she like her Momma or what?!? Kierke is also pretty amazing to go along with ALL her plans!

Photographer and her patient subject.

Addie took this of Alden- he was having a blast playing boat....

Self-portrait.... I was making her a dress (see a later post about that!) and she grabbed my camera and starting snapping pictures...

My machine

Her apprentice- I love how he likes to use the view window instead of the screen!

Workin' hard

Um- I think she may need to help him tweak his form....

Once again, a posed Kierke- is this dog amazing or what?!?

Poor Kierke- I think Addie is probably the cause of all the gray hairs!

I love how artistic my little Addie Rose P is! Who knows what she will do with this gift....

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For ICE CREAM!

We had to go to BJ's the other day- and it was hot, hot, hot. Solution? Ice cream!!!

Silly boy!

Sweet girl! Notice her new glasses- these are purple!!

My goofy-lovable-spunky-amazing kids!

He is SUCH a jokester!!

Showing off her lizard-lips (aka super long tongue)

It's days like this that I want to treasure- when a simple stop to get ice cream is fun and provides lots of laughs and happy memories. Life is simple and full of treasures for them- and I don't want to forget that! They can be SO sweet and loving- and I need to remember that as they have plenty of days that are NOT nice.... In the end, I am blessed, and am humbled that the Lord would give me 2 such amazing children!!

Preschool End of the Year Activities

This week Addie's preschool had 2 special events for the final week. Each was special and very different.

First there was a "Tea Party"- all the little girls got dressed up, parents came, and it was SO fun! I just love how organized and thoughtful this preschool is! Each children got a bucket and shovel with their name on it (all were the same color!). And there were "treasures" inside the buckets- a photo book full of pics of them in action in the classroom and playground and new book!

My pretty girl!

Addie and BFF, Molly! Can you believe Molly is a full year younger?

Addie's amazing teachers- Miss Ann and Miss Edith. They are amazing- Addie loves them and has learned SO much! I just hope they are ready for Alden next year....

And the next school day (Thur) they had a water day! There were wading pools to splash around in, water tables, squirt bottles, and buckets and paint brushes. SO much fun!! Here they are post-playing- popsicle time!!

One final shot with Miss Edith- she just adored Addie!

Miss Ann was awesome- Alden already loves her- whew!

Photo Time!

Once a year we have a family photo taken. Here is what we walked away with today. It isn't the greatest of me, but everyone is pretty good!! I'm so thankful to have such a beautiful family!!

Riverrock!

There seems to always be some sort of festival on Brown Island in the heart of Richmond. Since the weather was nice, and the list of event was pretty neat, we decided to try Riverrock out- and we are SO glad we did!

The 1st attraction was this- The Canal Crashers. Kayaks would go down the while slide, flip, twist, etc, and then land in the pool. It was pretty amazing what they could do! We did see a guy hurt his leg and need to be carried out of the pool and up the hill- but it just helped us teach the kids that they would never do it =-)

That evening was a 5K Mud Run. The weather was perfect for the run- but the last part was just nasty- there were 2 large mud pits that everyone had to crawl through! Addie took this picture while sitting on my shoulders!

A favorite of the kids were the leaping dogs. Anyone could enter their dog the night we went- the finalists competed the following evening. It was fun watching some dogs go hog-wild jumping into the water, and others run to the end and just balk. This is a pretty bad pic- but the guy is throwing a stick for his dog to jump in and get.

An added bonus was this exhibit- where the kids got to "plant" a dogwood sapling- Alden LOVED the dirt!!

We ended the evening watching bike tricks. The guys were amazing- flipping, twisting, and even falling- Alden was always worried when they fell and Addie always told him that they would be ok- so sweet!

It was a ton of fun- and certainly something that we will try again with the 2 kids and the jogging stroller!

A Visit From Nate (Jen and Frank, too)

On the way to FL, Cousin Nate stopped by for a little visit. Yes, he did bring his parents, but Nate was the main attraction! The kids were inseparable and had a blast together- Alden referred to Nate as "My Nate."

They arrived late Wed night- so Thur morning, the playing began in earnest! Frank and Al took off for a quick motorcycle drive - fun for the guys! After a quick trip to the Dr's office for Alden (he had croup- ugh!), we headed to the mall to play on the indoor playground and then meet our good friend Karen and Hannah at the food court for lunch. Addie was in heaven that Nate and her friend Hannah, could actually meet!

After a little nap that was needed by all, this was the scene- playing on the playground. Jen was kind enough to keep an eye on them as I have become freakishly tasty to mosquitoes....

The Dad's returned- and the kids were SO happy to see them- and so were Jen and I....

Digging in! We put MarMar's table to good us as well as the camping chair! Even though Alden was sick, it didn't affect his appetite! After dinner, the Dad's took over and Jen and I got to do some shopping, get a coffee at Starbucks, and enjoy some adult conversation- ahhhhh!

This is what I saw in the morning- Frank raising the future Mac-Lovers! Here they are all watching "Up" on his iPad.

After breakfast, we decided at the last minute to go to Belle Isle for the kids to play on the rocks. The bridge TO Belle Isle is always a hit- and this time was no exception!

Twins? What can I say? Great minds think alike? Actually, Alden is heavier than Nate- and Nate only has about 1" or 2" on Alden- they had so much fun together!

Working on emptying the James River- what's it gonna take? Team Work!

Al helped them climb a few more rocks to get a better look at some of the rapids- or as Addie called them, "the waterfalls."

A double stroller that can totally be a triple stroller!

Before Nate left, all 3 of them were loving his iPod touch and could totally navigate around on it- even my kids- it was that easy to learn!

Everyone was sad to see them leave- but we were glad to have had some time with them!

Random Happiness!

Al works SO much- so when he IS home, the kids just go bonkers playing with him, telling him all about their adventures, and just loving on him. This is what I walked in on the other day- so sweet! I like to think of it as a Love Sandwich!

Hannah is a special friend to both Addie and Alden- and we are lucky enough to spend lots of time with her each week as her Mommy goes to weekly OB doctor's appointments.

Bubble Buddies!

Ring-Around-The-Rosie!

Our first real bike ride! Addie peddled most of the way- with only random pushes- and Alden didn't to shabbily, either! Yay!!

Giving bike riding a thumbs-up! Now that she's mastered it, she rides her bike ALL the time!