Pirate Peek-a-boo

In Pirate Peek-a-boo, you get to sneak a peek.

Oliver's Gone Vertical

Eli and Ollie were puttering around in the early morning hours while we all slept... The photos tell the whole story. Photo credits go to Eli. :)

I made it!

Now, where do I start...

Well, I've explored everything and thrown it all off the table. My mission is complete.

Uh-oh. I can't get down...

Eli! Put the camera down and help me!

Birthday Twins!

Lizzie is a Birthday Twin with her Grandma Vickie. How fun that they got to spend time together this year!

After properly celebrating,

including very cool presents for Lizzie of a Hedwig puppet owl (thanks G&G!), and a t-shirt that sums up her feelings about math precisely ("Dear Math, I am not a therapist. Solve your own problems."),

we went to the Phoenix Zoo.

We saw some exotic animals,

but the favorite of the day was a beautiful, friendly, white horse from the Petting Zoo.

The splash playground at the zoo was a hit!

We were so excited that Uncle Mark could come visit as well! He and Ivy got along swimmingly. Mark caught up on all uncle duties such as laughing every time Ivy said the word "stinkin'" and teaching her how to fake crack her nose and fake separate her thumb. She's now a walking carnival. Here they are in a rare calm moment, composing a silly letter to Adam, complete with 6 lines of exclamation points.

All good things must come to an end, and Ivy ended the visit by opening up a grocery store in the hallway. We all bought our plastic food obligingly, and Ivy was very good about bagging our groceries and giving us change. :)

Thank you for visiting, Vickie, Alan and Mark!!! What fun!

At the Playground

The weather is perfect. We must play!

Funny note: Oliver LOVES the slide, and HATES the swings. He really resists any form of restraint, from high chairs to car seats, and apparently even swings at the park! But he's got the Slide System down, you know? Climb the stairs, flip around, hurl little self down the slide, repeat.

Rain Day!

Not quite as fun as a Snow Day, but don't tell the Ollie and Ivy that! They love it!

Organizing the garage:

Let's see. We'll put Eli here, and I think Lizzie can fit here...we need easy access to Ollie so we'll put him down here and that leaves just enough room for Ivy right...here. Done!

Report Central

Ivy has had more homework this week than perhaps the entire previous Kindergarten homework combined: A farm animal report (Ivy chose to report on horses), and a Star Student report (all about Ivy). Do you see the 3-D nature of her Horse poster? I hope she gets extra credit for that. It also has googly eyes that are quite frightening.

Here's Ivy's Star Student Poster (the hardest part was printing out all these pictures! Hopefully by the time Oliver's a Star Kindergartner, I will be able to email all these pictures into the teacher.). If you're able to zoom in, the captions she wrote are completely worth the effort! (i.e. "Best Freds with Lizzie")

Go Ivy!

Overheard at the Dinner table tonight

Me: "Did you hear who won at the Grammy's last night?"

Kids: "What are the Grammy's?"

Lizzie: "Wait...is it awards for Grandmas or something?"

Happy Valentine's Day

One man, two beautiful dates. Is it polygamy? NO! It's the Daddy Daughter Dance!

For the first year, Ivy is old enough to attend. The night was danced away. Rugs were cut. Moves were busted. They got down. They grooved. They shimmied, they twisted, they rocked, and they rolled.

Hope you had a wonderful day with your loved ones too! :)