Pinkalicious!!!

One of the girls' favorite books is Pinkalicious - we've had it for a few years now and it is one that they often go back to at night when we read to them.  When the Hartford Children's Theatre announced the shows for the 2011-2012 season, Pinkalicious was one of them so I knew that I had to get tickets.  The entire run sold out in no time and I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to see it last weekend.  The audience was filled with little girls dressed in pink who, like Elizabeth and Emily, knew the story by heart.  It was a fun time and they really loved it!

Our program.

Waiting for the show to begin - dressed in pink from head to toe.

Pinkalicious! 

Meeting Pinkalicious after the show (and yes, Elizabeth Cole was with us). 

The girls each got pink cupcakes when the show was over.

Cloverisms

- "What do you love more Elizabeth?  Pork or that book?"  Emily, trying to get her sister to put into perspective just how much she loved the book that she was reading, as pork is Elizabeth's favorite food on earth.
- "Haven't you heard of a CAR?!?!"  This gem came from Emily, her way of letting me know that she was sick of the walk to and from the beach every day during our vacation.  Life is tough when you are five.
- "I know that Auntie Kathy thinks that I am going to be a doctor, but I'm not.  I do not want to make little kids cry."  Elizabeth's perspective of doctors has to do with receiving shots during her annual physicals.
- "Aren't I clever?!" Elizabeth observed.  A bit too clever if you ask me.
- As many of you know, Lee and I have not had a night away from the girls since they were born; if one of us has to be away, the other one is with the girls.  We are coming up on our ten year anniversary, so we asked the girls if they would mind if we went away for an overnight and they could stay with someone in the family, and we gave them several options.  Elizabeth's response: "No thank you."  Emily's response: "They won't know how to take care of us like you do."
- "How deep is the water here?" asked Elizabeth.  "It's pretty deep.  It's over Mommy and Daddy's heads," I replied.  "Right, but is it over a tall person's head?"  Touche.
- "Emily, we don't waste food in this house."  "Right, " said Elizabeth.  "We give it to Daddy."  Lee, the human garbage disposal.
- "When I grow up, I'm going to be a dentist.  And if people are good when I clean their teeth, when I'm done, I'll paint their face."  And that, my friends, is how Emily plans to juggle the dueling careers of dentist and face painter.
 - "And a girl's boobies shake and a boy's boobies don't."  What, exactly, does one say in response to such a comment?
- "I don't think that's appropriate."  So said Elizabeth after seeing the Naked Cowboy in Times Square.
- "Don't they know that it's hard to wait?"  So said Emily, when she was told that the first day of school had been pushed back two days due to the storm damage.
- "I love you so much Mama.  Someday, I'm going to make you a valentine."  Sweet Emily.
- "I made a 3 instead of an S.  I'm very good at making 3's but not so good at making S's."  Hopefully, kindergarten will cure that!
- "I don't like having power.  It was so much to shower at the Y."
- "Can you get my sweatshirt for me?  Oh, that's right - you are not my maid."  Do you think that Emily has heard that phrase over and over?
- "I'm going to have a GREAT first day of school!!"  Emily was so excited to go to kindergarten that I didn't even cry.
- "I don't like it when people visit us, because we always cry when they leave."
- "I wish that my poop was magic.  If it was, I would just sit on the toilet and it would come right out.  No waiting."  Clearly, Emily is frustrated with pooping.
-  "Mummy, there are a lot of things that I want to be when I grow up.  A face painter-dentist, a runner, a soccer coach and a face painter.  Do you think that I can do all of that?"  Absolutely Emily!
- "I wish we had a maid," said Emily.  "Or a housekeeper," said Elizabeth.  "We should have servants."  I completely agree, we should!
- "Do you have a meeting this morning?" "Why?" "Because usually, you say "'Good morning Emily' in a very friendly voice but today you just said it in a voice."  There's nothing like a little guilt from a 5 year to slow things down on a busy morning.

More Fairies

A few weeks ago, I did a post about the fairies "living" in our backyard.  Well, after Irene, the girls became convinced that the only reason why there was no damage in our yard was because the fairies protected it.  And who knows, maybe they did.  Anyway, the idea that the fairies protected our home and yard resulted in a frenzy of building in the yard, as well as the leaving of several notes for the fairies.  The building became an all consuming task that even interested several other neighborhood kids.  Below are some shots of all the interesting things that the girls made for their fairies.

If you were a fairy, you would want to live here. 

After a couple of days, the girls got curious about the fairies and started to leave them notes. 

The patience of Elizabeth. 

Emily was so excited to see that the fairies answered  her question. 

This is some serious engineering. 

One night, a fairy left a self-portrait. 

"Welcome to Fairy Town" 

Nice awning. 

One Sunday afternoon, Elizabeth constructed the Butterfly's Diner, complete with awnings and umbrellas. 

Soccer Star

Okay, so maybe the title of this post is a bit of an oversell...but I have to say, we were shocked by Emily's performance in her first ever soccer game, which was also her first time playing soccer (their only scheduled practice was cancelled because of ridiculous rain).  Emily ran hard, was aggressive, made contact with the ball - all things that really took us by surprise!  I would have assumed that she would have been one of those kids that hangs out on the fringes of the action, but she was right there in the thick of things.  In fact, she played so hard that she never game out of the game for a rest. At one point, she told her coach that she needed some water - the coach grabbed Emily's water bottle, poured some water down her throat, tossed the bottle back on the sidelines and told Emily to get back out there!  This, in contrast to some of her teammates who refused to play at all, or who could only play for a minute or two before dropping from exhaustion.  Lee and I were so unbelievably proud of how hard she played and how tough she was!  Looking forward to a good soccer season for Emily as well!

Playing the waiting game. 

Go Team Ireland! 

Mixing it up with the rest of the kids. 

Outta my way boys! 

Water break. 

Soccer Begins

Last week, Elizabeth started her second season of soccer.  Many of her teammates returned and although they won only one game last season, they are a whole new team, at least in our eyes.  They are taller, stronger and faster and that, as well as the addition of a few new players, has made them so much better and so much more confident.  Saturday was the jamboree and they played two games - the first game was a tie, the second they lost 3-2.  Lee and I loved seeing that Elizabeth is so much more aggressive this year - she had scraps and dirt all over her by the end of the first game.  And boy, she can run!  She hardly ever came out of the game, she just has so much stamina and loves to play.  We are really looking forward to a fun season!

Elizabeth and her besties since pre-school - Sarah and Megan. 

Elizabeth and Connor - another friend that she's had, almost since birth!  Connor scored the two goals in their second game. 

Go Team! 

 Goal kick.

Haddam Neck Fair 2011

Last weekend, we went to the Haddam Neck Fair, which is a popular local fair.  It was definitely less festive this year than in years past, but that may have been because so many people in the area were still recovering from Hurricane Irene (in fact, many in the area still did not have electricity, and we saw caravans of line trucks on our way to and from the fair grounds).  We still had a nice time and the animals were definitely the girls' favorite part.

Petting the goats. 

As you can probably imagine, Emily loved petting the lambs and sheep and we had to visit this area several times during the our time at the fair. 

Some of you may remember that last year, Elizabeth made a special friend named Clarice.  As soon as we arrived, she wanted to visit the cow barn to see if Clarice was there again this year - and she was!  The woman from the O-K Corral was so excited that Elizabeth remembered Clarice from last year and had come back to visit her again.  This is Clarice's last year at the Haddam Neck Fair, as she is soon going to a large diary farm.

Visiting with Clarice, who was still resting.  She had a big year this year at the fair and won a huge trophy (which I, of course, forgot to take a picture of). 

Oxen pull - or, as Lee called it, Bovine Powerlifting. 

Once again, the "American Go Round" (as Emily called it), was a huge hit. 

This time, they fed all of the animals (gross.....) 

Emily loved the feel of their tongues on her hand! 

They were fascinated by this goat that was being milked.

Mystic

On the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, the girls and I spent the afternoon at the Mystic Aquarium.  Although it was completely jammed with people, Mystic is still one of our favorite places to go.  I love how much they have learned about the marine animals in the last couple of years - they recognize so many animals and fish by name now, it's amazing.  While we were there, we got to see the Birds of Prey exhibit, which was very cool!

They love the beluga whales. 

The sting ray touch tank is still Elizabeth's favorite place! 

This guy was definitely new - and HUGE! 

The girls were in the front row for the Bird of Prey exhibit. 

Sparrow Falcon 

Barred Owl 

Just a little skittish. 

Red Tailed Hawk 

There were frogs everywhere in the marsh area.  The girls loved finding them and pointing them out.