Group wake up for Camille

The littles all piled in Camille's crib this morning. So cute, glad my camera was upstairs.

The great office clean out

Time to purge!

Too much stuff. How is it possible to pack so much stuff in one tiny room? 

ps that was embarrassing to post. 

Circus party ideas

I think a Three Ring circus would be perfect for a little girl's 3rd birthday...

 big top tent from Ikea

 hand puppets from Ikea

material for a Baba special birthday dress

The Circus

Circus with friends!

Thanks for our great friends Matt and Kelly we were able to watch 

The Greatest Show on Earth from box seats.

 and yet another amazing dress made by Baba. First one with pockets!

Happy Valentine's Day

The kids woke up this morning with a treat in their mailbox and a mini pillowpet.

Aiden's class party.

Arrow shaped fruit kabobs for dinner.

Aiden the Colonial brickmaker

Aiden has been studying Colonial Times in school and is getting ready for the job fair. He chose to be the brickmaker. After researching the wardrobe, and the process of how bricks were made we were on our way back in history...

He was most excited about the musket he found at the costume shop. 

The hat isn't what a brick maker would have worn but was typical for colonial days. 

He poured over youtube brickmaking videos, read through Colonial Williamsburg Brickyard on facebook, and any other information he could find on the web.

This is his shop.

He made his own brick mold with the help of a wonderful neighbor. Mixed some mortar for people to touch and it was also what he used to make his own brick. The "kilns" are made from boxes with red lamps inside for the fire. He painted examples of the different stages of bricks. We researched signage from that time and he designed the "wood" sign, I helped with the execution out of foamcore. The poster shows the steps of brick making. 

Here are the brick samples. A brick from a school in Augusta Ga. made by slaves. 

Aiden also painted a sample Green, Salmon,  regular and a clinker brick. 

a close up of the kiln opened

Setting up for the visitors

He throughly enjoyed telling everyone about the 

process. He came right out of his shell for this one!

He chose to tell his story from the point of view of a 9 yr old boy. The children and slaves are the ones that typically made the bricks. The "skilled" labor ran the kilns and built the brick structures.

A group shot of all the Colonial kids.

Camille's Valentine's Day Performance

This was super adorable and I was so impressed with Camille...I could even hear her voice! 

The boys both sat there kind of stunned for most of their 2 yr old pre-school performances. 

She is the only one in the family that seems to have any vocal ability.

 Doing the hand motions

 eating the apple... and mmmmm it was good!

Hurry, Hurry drive the firetruck...

 Yea! We just love our preschool!

 We bought her some flowers for after her performance and Gavin really wanted to give them to her.

 I think he made her feel like a princess. Gavin has his own camera he used to take photos of her performance. Looks like he is well on his way to recovery from his surgery yesterday.

 Her dress is another gorgeous Baba original. Her teachers said she looked like a cupcake.

Playing with her friend Matteaus, she had a great time being on stage!

Gavin having his adenoids removed

Gavin has had a hard time sleeping lately, always breathing with his mouth open. The Dr. said his tonsils look fine so thankfully only adenoids. I still vividly remember Aiden's recovery from his tonsillectomy, it was not a fun 2 weeks. 

 All ready and waiting. Geoff was there too, 

I guess I was too nervous to take any photos.

They let me go back with him while he drifted off to sleep. 

My sweet boy here with Piggy.

 After surgery he rested a bit then, woke up...and fell back asleep. 

He went back and forth into la la land for about 30 minutes

 The nurse came in and asked if he wanted juice or a popsicle, 

this question got him to wake up. The hospital also had a prize cabinet 

where they let the kids pick one thing to take home - huge hit! 

Wow, how things have changed from the sterile, serious environment I remember as a child. 

In less than 2 hours Gavin had his surgery and we were out the door. Gav opted to be escorted out via wheel chair! He was fine that evening ready to go outside and play he even asked when he gets to have surgery again (I hope not anytime soon!) because he had so much fun. Two thumbs up for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta!

Daddy Daughter Date Night

Camille had her first date...

at Chick-fil-a. They did it up for the night. Table cloths, servers, conversation starters, photo booth, 

ice cream (to share) and they even gave her a pink rose! She had the BEST time.

 I helped her get ready, we choose a dress with red because it is nearing Valentine's Day. She insisted on being accessorized - 2 necklaces, 2 bracelets and my wristlet (she wanted her pink striped bag but it just didn't coordinate so I suggested mommy's purse!)

 Complete with her first french twist up do! She was completely still through 8 bobby pins and a bow accent. Notice her dainty hands flared out.

She was the happiest 2 year old in the town!! Once they returned home, they finished off the night with a movie. She was dancing on the coffee table, doing some made up ballet moves and singing just being as cute as could be! One on one time was well needed.

 She loves her daddy so, and why shouldn't she - he is a wonderful daddy!

Groundhog Day Dinner

I love random holidays, I even have an app for weird holidays. 

Groundhog day is on the "real" calendar but still seems like an odd holiday to me!

For dinner tonight we had a potato and salad bar...themed of couse

I was looking for something other than a dessert, I'm kind of a stickler with the littles on eating too much sugar. But it seems like most of the fun things are laden with sugar, probably because the pieces stick together so well.

As I was digging around I found an adorable Groundhog Day snack 

made from fruit - from that our dinner idea was born!

 We used baked potatoes for the Groundhog, black beans for his burrow hole, peas (or salad) for the grass and his face was made from a cut up cheese stick and black beans skewered on a toothpick. I tried to stick them on with sourcream but that didn't work so well.

 It was fun to all decorate together, then the littles put "snow" 

which was parmesan cheese on their creation.

  They each had their own personality. 

How do you eat a baked potato groundhog?

any way you want!