A Father's Day Celebration

I do so enjoy Father's Day.

It's an important day for us to honor Dave who we love so much :)

I gotta say, I am usually good at cooking breakfast.  I don't usually burn it (as I burn at least one dinner per month), and usually it tastes pretty good.  Breakfast, yum.

Dave prefers his breakfast au suite on Father's Day, so when the kids wake up, we cook together (I cook, they bother me) and then we take the food upstairs, wish him a Happy Father's Day, and then let him eat in peace while he either watches Netflix or the morning news.

This morning was no different except for the fact that I blew the fuse in the kitchen and didn't realize it and therefore everything I cooked was soggy and a little underdone.

He still ate it anyway, with a smile, as he always does.

After breakfast we brought him his Father's Day gifts.

 I took the kids to a local pottery place and we made this platter for him.  It says Daddy is king of the grill.  It has the kids' hand prints in the shape of a lion head.

 Then we also gave him the standard kid questionnaire.  The answers are always hilarious.  This year Charlotte got so mad when I asked her questions she didn't know the answer to.  After she'd guess, she'd ask what the true answer is, and then begged me to change her answers to correct ones.

Boy does she hate being wrong.

 The kids also spent about two weeks working on hand made cards for him, and they were so adorable.

Here's my little family :)

 Later that day I sent Dave off to church with a hollyhock boutineer and started up some ribs in the slow cooker.  (Thankfully Dave fixed the problem (remember the blown fuse?)--I thought my crock pot was broken).  And the ribs were delicious.  Here they are atop the kids' plate before we slathered those puppies in bbq sauce and finished them up on the grill.  I want to say I finished off our yummy meal with a great dessert, but I just don't remember.

The important thing is that Dave had a great day and felt very loved.  That's all that matters to me.

I know I've said it before, but I really hit the jackpot with this guy.  He's nice, kind and loyal.  He can very literally fix anything.  He's determined and always wants to be better.  If that weren't enough, he makes it his life mission to make me happy.  Including indulging almost every whim I have.  "Hey Dave, how bout we do a project today"--"Sure, what do you have in mind?".  "Hey Dave let's buy everyone bicycles so we can go biking as a family!" Two months later our entire family (and car) is outfitted for bicycle excursions.  We're lucky to have him.

We love Daddy!

Charlotte's last day

Last day of 1st grade.

What a milestone!

Unfortunately it was the "worst day" of Charlotte's life.  Someone took her bag of last day goodies for her classmates which had a present for one of her class aids and a phone number of a child in her class who wanted a summer play date.

Very sad.  But she survived, and she made the honor roll.  Her Honor roll certificate is now proudly hanging where her Preschool diploma used to hang (next to Dave's diploma, and where mine will hang one day when I get it framed.....

And next to Oliver's PK diploma when I get it framed.....

Anyway, here is my big girl (and she's wearing her jump rope for hearts t-shirt.  Thanks again to everyone who supported her!)

Changes during the year happen so gradually I don't notice, but doesn't she look so much bigger!

PK Graduation Time

Our little Oliver graduated from PK this year.

My little snuggle bug is going in to Kinder this fall!

One of my favorite things about PAP is their adorable pre-school graduation.  Here's little Oliver marching down the center on his way to the stage.  He's right in the middle in that striped shirt.  He's pretty much camouflaged.

 Here he is on the stage

 Accepting his 'diploma' from Ms. Marie.

 Ms. Judy, one of Olls' teachers.

 Ms Carol.  aka, the nicest woman alive (and another of Oliver's teachers)

 Ms Marie, teacher extraordinaire. (plus an added boy trying to puncture a capri-sun)

 Ollie at his post-graduation celebration.  Complete with graduation hat and diploma.

 Our party was no biggie, just cupcakes he chose himself, with some party hats and we sang "For he's a jolly good fellow".

We're proud of this little fella and all he has become,

and everything he has yet to be!

Vestiges of Spring

Spring is such a magical time in New Jersey.

I already miss it.

Truthfully, our summer has been quite awesome this year.  Low temps, relatively low humidity, and lots of rain.  I've watered my garden approximately five times this season!  I know!

While the weather warmed up we gradually took the great out doors (without our coats!)

Gabriel learned how to mow the lawn with bubbles.

 Charlotte practiced making sand pies, and then trying her best to convince everyone to eat one.

 We broke out the fire pit, and in true white trash fashion, used it to flame up the papers in our "to shred" pile.

 We also had our first outdoor bbq, complete with hot dogs and mallows toasted by the embers of junk mail.

 Chillin' out max 'n relaxin' all cool.

How I heart good weather.

And green grass!

Dye-ing eggs and other Easter fun

Dyeing eggs is always one of my favorite Easter activities.  Well, that and watching Dave look for his Easter basket.

This year we decided to dye while Gabe was with us.  Usually we just wait for nap time.  He spent most of the time in Mommy Jail.  That means he was locked onto my lap and couldn't leave.  

 Believe it or not, out of that entire flat of eggs, we only got about half.  The rest broke in casualties of coloring.

 Mommy Jail isn't so bad.  We put stickers on eggs :)

 The kids all lined up the night before Easter with empty baskets prepped with their choice grass and the eggs they colored ready for hiding.

 This pic of Charlotte just cracks me up.

Oliver found his basket on Easter morning.  It was hidden behind the piano.  I think good 'ol EB hid it there last year.  Good thing Ollie didn't remember.

Gabriel basically had to be shown his basket behind the couch.  He didn't get the whole "search and find" thing, but he sure was happy to get that ball!

 Just as Olls was happy to get them Legos.  Because the sun rises and sets on Legos.  And the sun is also made of Legos.

 Gabe has discovered his candy!  And every picture I take after this one, he has something in his mouth...hummm.....

 Charlotte finally found her basket after we played the hot/cold game with her.  EB suspended her basket on the curtain rod this year.  We made it visible through the curtain, but she never looked above ground level.

Ammo for next year ;)

 Later in the afternoon we had a look outside to see if EB hid our eggs out there.

 This year's hunt was much smoother.  That means they didn't whine and cry about not getting equal amounts and embarrass me.

 Found them all!  At least I think.  Anything not found was left to the local vermin.

 Then they came inside only to have Easter take two with boxes from Grandama/Pa P.

I'd say this Easter was pretty profitable for the littles.

Picky Eaters

A few weeks ago my friend J texted me in the morning.

"Cherry picking open right now. 230 at the farm"

"What about the rain?" I text back

"If it rains, we won't go."

Very well.  The weather reporters here are nothing short of imbecilic and frankly always wrong, so in the mid afternoon we drove South to a farm we haven't yet been to in hopes of picking cherries (and raspberries!).

All Gabe wanted to do was tow this little wagon.  And he refused any sort of help.  Since there was a lot of walking involved, it ended up taking us forever to walk from one place to the other.  Notice those menacing clouds there?

After picking cherries (which Gabe so dutifully towed for us in his wagon), we walked past the blueberries (not quite ripe yet)--pictured in the back ground) and walked over to the raspberry patch.

 C and O had a great time berry picking.  They each had a tiny bucket and picked all the way down the line.

And we watched the clouds that had rolled in turn an even darker shade of grey.

 At this point, huge drops of water began pelting us, at first one by one, and then in a massive down pour.

We made a run for it ......all......the.......way......back......to......the......car.......

Gabe was mad I carried him and wouldn't let him tow the wagon, plus he hates rain and was mad he didn't have a hood.

Charlotte tried to find shelter in the cherry trees by running under them until a branch managed to thwack her on the face and even under her glasses giving her a welted scratch for four days.

Oliver screamed like a psycho all the way back to the car which, to this day, I still don't know if it was a freaked out scream, or an "I'm having the time of my life" scream.

The rest of us stood in the rain while the guy in the tiny shanty weighed our fruits for purchase.  We collected ours in paper boxes which probably made our fruit purchase twice what it should have been.

I probably sound cranky, but by golly this is such a happy memory for me.  My kids screaming at the first onslaught of rain, my friend J giving Charlotte an ostrich ride back to the car after the branch hit her in the face making Charlotte laugh again, my other friend's nanny who told us she always takes changes of clothes on this job because she always needs them....

Them's good times.  I'm glad I didn't let the weather freak me, and that we went anyway.  The littles love these excursions, and I do too.

If not at the time, then definitely when I look back on it a few weeks later :)