Last day of Pre-K

And there goes another school year. Cliche - it feels like the first day of school was just yesterday. Anna's class marked the end of their preschool careers with a "moving up" ceremony during which they perfomed several songs. The teachers then presented each student with a certificate that assigned each of them a trait the teacher's felt best described the student. Anna's trait was Gentleness - "A deep love for god and is without any stain of bitterness, resentment, or hostility." Always wonderful to hear people speak of your child in such terms (even though Anna often demonstrates resentment at having to clean up her room...).  Next stop, Kindergarten!
 

Receiving her certificate

With her awesome teachers Ms. Marycarol and Ms. Sharon

And Ms. Marta - love her!

Pledge of allegiance

Sheens!

James is obsessed with "sheens" - (or machines, to the lay person).  He particularly likes trains ("woo woos") and construction vehicles. I never thought I would know so much about various types of construction equipment and trucks, but James keeps me on my toes.  When in the car, James has an eagle eye and shouts out every type of vehicle he sees.  A 10 minute ride is filled with shouts of "Mama, school bus!", "Mama, look, dump truck!", "Wow, big rig!", and his favorite, "EXCAVATOR!"  It really is quite endearing.

We even discovered Mighty Machines, a TV show that fuels his passion.  Each 20-minute episode focuses on a different type of "sheen" and the boy watches with rapt attention.  Thank goodness for Netflix!

A funny, cute side effect of the truck obsession is that James says he is "beeping" anytime he walks backwards or sees a car, animal, truck, etc., in reverse.  It's very cute.

What's better than playing trains?  Seeing them in person!

James gets his hick on when describing what a dump truck does.

He even wears them on his arm!

Hey, Tope, want to play?  Trucks are fun!

TRASH TRUCK!  A rapt audience watching the disposal activities.

Excavator scoops dirt into the dump truck.

Don't touch my construction vehicles...

Fantasy Island

One night in January Jason and I were talking and realized we had not been on a vacation alone for more than two nights in five years (hmm, what could have caused that, I wonder?).  Between work and kids and a cat and responsibilities and blah blah blah, we decided it was high time to treat ourselves to a "grown up" vacation.  Almost on a whim (we did make sure Gramma could watch the kids), we booked a trip, just the two of us, for a full week.  Fantasy!

Fast forward to April and in a bit of disbelief we actually found ourselves headed to the airport, boarding a plane and arriving in Grand Cayman.  The week was reminiscent of a verse out from Kokomo...tropical drinks melting in our hand, sun, sand, delicious food, sleeping in - the place to go to get away from it all.

We can't wait for the next trip - hopefully it won't take another five years!

Parenting in 2013

Don't really need a post for this pic.  Needless to say, my kids can work a phone.  But they insist on being within touching distance (or sitting on top of me) even while absorbed in a game or video.  As long as they don't spill my wine! :)

Rainbow cake

For a few weeks Anna was on a mission to bake a cake.  Every few days she would ask if we could make one.  I finally acquiesced and decided that if we were to make a cake, we would go big.  Enter the rainbow cake.  I had seen a picture online of a multi-layer cake with colors swirled throughout and decided that we would tackle it.  Anna settled on five different batter colors and we swirled them together.  I think the end result was pretty neat, a tad more "tie dye" than "rainbow", but everyone who saw the cake was amazed nonetheless.  James, especially was a big fan, as the video below shows.  He sings a bar of Happy Birthday to You that will make you chuckle.

Serious about decorating.

Proud baker.

Groovy.

Bundled up at Burke

We decided to bundle up and head to Vermont to see Grammy and Fafa and celebrate James turning two.  Jason was eager to ski, Anna was excited to play with Grammy, James was looking forward to "go on airplane!" and I was just happy to get away.  

Unfortunately a stomach bug knocked Anna down for the count most of the trip, but she did rally each morning and head out skiing (the resiliency of youth).  Before the trip we talked to Anna about going to ski school for lessons.  She freaked out at the prospect and when I dug a little deeper, she told me she didn't know how she would do her school work while skiing.  Nothing we could say would convince her it was only a ski lesson.

James tried skiing (not successfully), loved the snow, hated sledding, and made himself at home at the mid-Burke lodge each afternoon when we met Jason and Fafa.

Of course the time went too fast, but it was well worth the trip.  Next year we will go for longer!
 

Ready to go.

All bundled up.

Snow pals.

Ski bunny.

Not sure about the snow.

Poor girl barely made it in the door when we got home.  She was SO sick.

James is TWO!

James.  Jamesers.  Jamesy.  Jimmy.  Yimmy.  Whatever you call him, he's two years old now (although he will tell you he's 6!).  Happy birthday sweet, silly, funny boy.  We love you!  (And fingers crossed the "terrible" part of this year never appears).

First morning as a 2 year old!

Party boy!