Library

On a few Saturday mornings in the fall I took Rachel to the mall down the street where they have free kid's cooking classes.  I can't remember where Jake was (actually, I'm pretty sure it was a bike ride ;) and managing these kiddos with lots of energy was a hopeless task.  Here they were pretending to be mannequins.

One Saturday we ventured into New York City to see this children's exhibit at that Public Library- The ABC of it: Why Children's Books Matter.  It was fabulous!  Here they are in the "great green room"

Max, the king of all wild things

Phantom Tollbooth (one of Rachel's favorite books)

The original Winnie the Pooh animals

Mary Poppins umbrella

We were also there for a birthday party at Bryant Park

A love the joy a carousel can bring

Unexpected downpour...good thinking Tommy

Every day Katelyn wanted to "playcation."  We would pack up, sit on the rug (car), go up the "moving" stairs and then color on the "airplane."  This girl was born to travel

Local library

Great way to get to the playground

We go to a story time on Fridays up on Princeton campus.  The library is really fun with a tree house you can climb up into.  The crafts they do at this story time blow me away...every time!  This lady is so creative!

Rachel takes really good care of this little one.

Four!

This girl was pretty easy to please.  Her birthday requests were Cinderella, cinnamon squares for breakfast, and pasta for dinner.  My favorite part of the day was how many different dresses and shirts she wore throughout the day.

We were watching our friend's little girl that day, which ended up working out well with the big kids back at school

I decided to invite her other friend over to make it a special birthday day

She was cute helping out her friends

Painting pumpkins...to become a golden carriage

Present time

Lots of princess stuff

Let it go!

Facts about my Fun, Fantastic, Fabulous Four year old:

·      She has a fun, beautiful head of curls, and we get lots of comments about them

·      And I love her light blue/gray eyes and dimple to go with it

·      Her smile can light up the room

·      She is my shyest girl, but at home she’s full of spunk.  She loves being silly and laughing.

·      She’s one tough cookie!  Not only did she handle her broken arm like a champ but I’m always amazed with how much she handles when her and Tommy are horsing around and wrestling...she loves it.

·      She loves Daddy’s funny monster game!

·      She love water, more than juice, soda, milk…and she needs it ALL the time

·      Her favorite snacks are probably “mola” bars

·      Loves dance class

·      Is great with imaginative play, whether it’s her doll house, princesses, cooking in her play kitchen…she can entertain herself a good long while.

·      She loves her siblings!  Almost too much with Lily sometimes

·      She enjoys coloring and is pretty good about trying to stay in the lines.  I love her little stick people and animals.

·      She loves Candyland!

·      Every night at bedtime she gives me a squeezy hug and a squeezy kiss

Goodbye Summer

I asked the kids what they wanted to do on their last day of summer.  Without much hesitation Rachel replied, "the beach!"  I wasn't really expecting that, but I thought, "why not?"

School supplies!  Almost as good as her birthday.  I was nervous getting them so late (just days before school started) but this was the first year I got it all in one store at one time.  Thank you Target!

Labor day, last day of the pool.  Perfect day for it too, it was HOT

A first grader and a fourth grader.  Now in different schools.  Rachel now goes to an "upper elementary."  Jake and I both have a lot of memories from fourth grade and we both had our first girlfriend/boyfriend in fourth grade.  Yikes!

The first day of school happened to be Kate's birthday as well, which is why she is dressed as Cinderella (next blog post).  We were at the bus stop for an hour that morning.  Rachel's bus was late and then Tommy's never showed up!

 I ended up driving him to school.

 And so begins the endless papers

And while the kids do school, Kate keeps busy with our own little co-op preschool, playdates, dance class and trips to the library.  She asked all summer long when she could go to dance class.  She does not care that she is the only one pink.