Guatemala Girls (late March 2013)

 

Julie and Rosa hosted our Guat Girls play date on Saturday. The girls were so thrilled to all be together – its been a while since all 5 of them were present. Julie and Rosa had Easter baskets for each of them, and we did an egg hunt!

I got them all to pose for a group picture, before the egg hunt chaos.

Then again with the spoils of their hunt! (from left to right; Ally, Alice, Rosa, Gabi & Roxie.)

The loudest squeals came when the 5 of them found the plate of pink bunny peeps! Ally loves peeps.

Turns out all of them love peeps!

After dessert it was braid time. The moms commented on Ally’s cool braid – Aunt Beth did it that morning before she left for Nantucket. So Gabi’s mom Kim demonstrated how to do what she called a “head band French braid” on me.

Ally and I with matching hair-dos!

Mama of the Year

Becky is officially Mama of the Year.

The last skating session of the year was family skate. Free skate rental for parents to skate along with their children. Since the last time I was on ice skates was 22 years ago, I fell, hit my head and they called 911 “head injury at the ice rink” and the paramedics came to check me out. It was embarrassing and enough to make me stay off the ice for the rest of my life. So Becky got to participate in family skate.

Can you tell how excited she was about it? Becky was a little hesitant when she got on the ice.

Ally went right on out and skated towards the middle. They soon met up and skated holding hands for the rest of the time.

Ally was thrilled, she got a medal for her efforts.

Afterschool Fun

Every Wednesday Lauren (and her dog Pilot) pick Ally up at school, they might go for a walk, the park but always end up at our house until Becky and I get home around 6pm. Last week we came home to a HUMUNGOUS fort in our living room:

It was so big we had to take a picture

Yes that is Ally airborne in the background! She leapt from the couch to our easy chair just as Becky snapped the picture.

 

I think its clear Ally loves dogs.

We keep talking about getting a dog – Ally and I want a pug. But Becky and I agreed a long time ago we would wait until we only had 1 cat. But it is getting hard to wait.

3 Visits With Aunt Beth

Aunt Beth arrived on Wednesday 3 weeks ago – she had a conference on Thursday but there was snow predicted so she came a day early. Ally as usual was thrilled to have Beth here (Becky and I too!) Then Beth came the next two weekends as well!

First Visit:

The 3 of them played a long game of monopoly – it lasted for 3 days! In the end Becky won. The game ended when Beth ran out of money. Sorry Beth.

As always when Becky and Beth are together sewing and fabric are part of the conversation. Ally asked for some and then proceeded to make her own purse – using tape!

With 12+ inches of snow that is due to melt by tomorrow I suggested they go sledding. There is a hill just a few blocks away and Becky, Beth and Ally headed out around 9AM and had the whole place to themselves – fresh, unsullied sledding!

 

It was a great weekend, and so were the following weekends, but I failed to get any pictures of those! Except for the one below of the quilt Becky is working on for our “guest bed” Beth helped her on it while Ally and I were at gymnastics.

Monopoly with Mama

Ally and Becky play monopoly all the time. Becky is amazing. I don’t like monopoly so I have been refusing to play, but Becky is so good and will basically play anytime. They have devised a system of multi-day games, where they take a picture of the board and put all their money and properties in Ziploc bags so they can play for 20 minutes at a time over a week.

Listening to them is so much fun for me. I just had to document one Sunday morning.

Above – is Ally with her money on the left and Becky with her money on the right. It looks like Ally is winning.

Mama ran out of money – and that is Ally’s victory face!

Yes the final score Ally $5870.00 Mama $0.00

Guatemala Girls Go Bowling

We had a great time candlepin bowling with the Guatemala Girls last weekend. Roxie and Gabi were sick and could not come, but Ally, Alice and Rosa had a blast.

The lane had gutter guards up so the girls’ never got a gutter ball.

Julie (Rosa’s mom) and Becky really got into it!

Ally had so much fun – she was thrilled to get all the pins down – a strike! a couple of times. Alice had a blast – even if her face in the picture below does not show it.

Moms and daughters!

Selling Girl Scout Cookies 2013

It was a cold March night for the annual Girl Scout Cookie sale. Becky stayed and helped by being the cashier. She reported they did a brick business – sold just over 40 boxes in an hour!

Ally bundled up with her Daisy pinafore on top.

The group / troop!

Had to add in this picture Ally drew of herself selling cookies. That is mama on the right - in her black winter coat, and Ally in her snow pants behind the table. I love the colorful boxes - so true to life!