Sunday–part 1

We had a very busy Sunday – it started with brunch at Andy’s house with our preschool crew. Then off to church where it was “blessing of the animals” and then it ended with an afternoon birthday party for twins at a bouncy-house paradise.

Here are the pictures from brunch.

Stella, Ally, Nicky, Erik, Andy, Violet & Charlotte –enjoying yummy breakfast food.

After eating the kids played outside in Andy’s yard for a while, then when all 4 pop rockets got stuck on the roof they asked to go to the park. Before I knew it I was chaperoning all 7 children to the park by myself! I got a little nervous when we got there and they all ran towards the giant slide. I quickly texted for adult reinforcements.

The slide at this park is always a blast. The kids said it “hurt their butts” after a couple of rides down so then it was off to other equipment.

Almost a pile up at the bottom. Violet & Nicky are such good friends!

 

4 friends for 4 years now! More than half their young lives. Erik, Stella, Ally & Andy all met during their first year of preschool as Purple Fish.

Time sure does fly!

Celebrating another birthday

Ally’s friend Willow had a birthday the same day and time as Andy’s party. Since the girls are such good friends we had a special play date to celebrate together. I took the girls to our local “paint your own pottery” place and they had a blast painting away the afternoon.

It was super hot in the store, so I had to put Ally’s hair back. The girls were concentrating pretty hard and were very focused.

Willow painted a snowman mug and a box, and Ally did an owl mug and a box.

Eating their lollipops after a fun afternoon painting.

Misc. Pictures

None of these really merit its own post so here is a mish mash of stuff:

 

After Church we’ve been going out to lunch at P.arena. One day Becky bought us a cookie to share and it was as big as Ally’s head!

Ally has new bunk beds!

Ally made a cake of her own creation – here we are tasting it. Much better than her muffin creations in August. We went out to dinner at the mall and Ally wanted to go try on clothes. Its kind of a tradition – she tries on clothes and demands that Becky take pictures of her in the dressing room. sadly this dress was not on sale and did not come home with us.

Ally had the sniffles and a low grade fever on Sunday. We stayed home from church, and I ran some errands while Becky spent the morning with Ally. Ally was tired and looking for comfort, so they broke out the ergo carrier. Ally read a book and snuggled in. Becky said it was not too uncomfortable, but she sure felt funny with an almost 7 year old in the carrier. It is rated up to 45 pounds so we joked she could probably carry Ally in it was she was 8 years old. Talk about getting our money’s worth out of that piece of baby equipment. How many people can use their carrier for 7 years?

Ally has been loving on the cats lately. She really enjoys cuddling up to them.

Apple Picking with Aunt Beth

Aunt Beth came this weekend and of course we went apple picking. Yes that is two weekends in a row of apple picking. Same orchard. Last week Ally wanted to do the hedge mazes. I refused. A few years ago Ally and I attempted the small maze while Beth and Becky picked apples. It was a hot day and it was a nightmare. Ally and I wandered and could never find the middle. So I told her she could do the mazes this week with Mama and Aunt Beth.

Turns out Beth has a fear of hedge mazes. So that left Becky to accompany Ally. Great choice. They made it out of the small maze in 10 minutes!

Then we picked apples. Empires and Royal Gala and Cortland this week.

I was Ally’s ladder this week. She was “saving her legs for the monster maze”. Becky carried all the apples back to the car. I carried Ally on my shoulders.

That is an aerial shot of the Monster Maze. The advertise it as the “largest hedge maze in North America”. It is apparently 1 1/2 miles long and they tell you to expect it to take about an hour!

Photo op with the sign and studying the map before entering the maze.

In they go!

They found the middle! And made it out in 20 minutes! One of the employees told me Ally had a big smile on her face the entire time. This girl really likes her challenges.

Before we left Ally and Beth got their picture with the orchard mascot “Henry Bear”.

Birthday Party

Last weekend we went to Andy’s 7th birthday party. It’s the 4th year in a row we’ve attended his party and we wouldn’t miss it. This year it was held at a local children’s farm and garden.

They got to touch chicken, and went on a scavenger hunt looking for things around the farm.

My favorite part was watching Ally and her friends taste new things. The farmers picked different herbs for them to try; marjoram, chives, basil, cilantro. Then lettuce and nasturtium flowers. Ally was a good sport and tasted everything!

Then they picked eggplant and squash.

Sliced up the veggies and then cooked them up for snack.

It was a fun party. Ally even ate her whole piece of carrot cake!

After the birthday party we went to a BBQ at Charlie and Gwei’s house. Ally was the only little kid there so she spent most of the evening inside the warm house watching TV on my iPhone.

But the highlight of the whole day was that Lauren skyped us from Hawaii. Ally was thrilled to talk to Lauren and see where she lives. Everyday since then she has asked “what time is it in Hawaii”.