More Spring Vacation

Here are a few more random pictures of the girls during school vacation week:

Playing in the yard.

A tasty treat at Cold Stone.

Being silly.

Sleeping in the car (she did a lot of this, after skipping a few naps).

Getting crafty. These butterflies are now hanging from the ceiling in their bedroom.

Watching the Princess and the Frog for the first of many, many times.

ImagineNation

The last day of school of vacation, Lee and the girls came to visit me at work.  We had lunch at the company cafeteria and then went to ImagineNation, yet another children's museum.  Lee is a saint - during the course of the week, he took them to three museums, a farm and swimming at the Y - amazingly, he still has his sanity!  The girls had a good time at ImagineNation, although the adults were a bit underwhelmed, to say the least.  Here are some pictures from our afternoon.

Making huge art.

Not to be outdone by her sister....

The beginnings of Emily's really cool design.  Some very lucky aunties should be receiving these in the mail soon!

Painting with water.

Inside of a bubble.

Fishing (her favorite!).

Climbing the rock wall.

Emily was there - she was just really, really tired - too many skipped naps this week!!

Month of the Young Child

April is the Month of the Young Child (actually, isn't every month?) and as part of the celebration, Emily's preschool displayed some of its artwork at our city library.  During school vacation, Lee took the girls to check out the artwork - Emily was very proud and so are we!!

Emily with her artwork.

A close up of Emily's masterpiece.

Kenda

One of the coolest things about the EcoTarium is Kenda, the polar bear.  She is more than 25 years old and in excellent health - and according to everything that I've read, very well taken care of!  She seems quite content and even responds to her name.  We got the chance to see her play and swim the other day and we were truly fascinated by her, once again.

Playing in the water with her toys.

Stretching.

Rubbing her eyes.

Scratching her back (you can see the tufts of fur that came off).

Pausing after a nice, refreshing drink.

Going for a walk.

Heading back to her "cave" for food.

Thank You!

The 2010 Strong Kids Campaign officially ends today, although the Y will continue to take donations for the rest of the year (click here if you would like to make a donation).  Together, Lee and I raised more than $3500 and we couldn't have done it without support from YOU!!  Please know that your donations - large and small - truly make a difference and that you have touched the lives of children in our very own community.  Thank you very much.

Thank you also for your more than generous donations to Jump Rope for Heart.  This past Monday, Elizabeth learned how to jump rope in her gym class and she did a great job.  She far exceeded expectations with respect to fundraising - each child was asked to raise $100; we bumped up that number to $150 because we are over-achievers :-) and in the end, Elizabeth raised $220 for the American Heart Association.  Thank you!  Thank you!  We love that she took her commitment to jumping rope and raising money so seriously!!

More of the Same

Last week was school vacation week and Lee spent almost every day visiting a children's museum with the girls.  I took Wednesday off from work and we headed back to the EcoTarium in Worcester.  The girls really loved the place when we visited in January and it was nice to return when the weather was a bit more balmy - high 60's, as opposed to the numbingly-close-to-0-degrees.  We got to see a bunch of animals that we didn't notice the first time around and the girls enjoyed being in a familiar place.

Hawk

We spent a bit more time outside this visit.

Elizabeth loved this exhibit last time and got a kick out of it this time as well.

One of many, many turtles.

Scarlet Macaw

Bald eagles

While I really loved the opportunity to see these animals, I was also completely saddened that so many majestic creatures (birds in particular) were in captivity.  I have since learned that almost every animal at the EcoTarium was rescued - for example, neither of these eagles can fly, they were both injured in the wild.  That makes me feel a little bit better.

At the playground.

   

Birthday List

In eager anticipation of her birthday, which is THREE months away, Elizabeth made a list for us of all of the items that she wants us to get for her.

Among the many winning ideas: a mop and a broom (so that she can help out around the house), a bag of peanut M&Ms, steak for daddy to cook on the grill, a jewel for her pandora bracelet, and a real-live goldfish (as if having two dogs and a cat wasn't enough!).

One small victory:  We gave Elizabeth the choice between having a birthday party and spending a day in New York City.  Happily, she chose New York City.  Thank you Lord.

Lollipop Run

The second Saturday in April, Elizabeth and I each ran our second race of the season.  We participated in the Essex April Fool's Run, which supports the Literacy Volunteers Shore Line.  Elizabeth ran the Lollipop Run, which is the largest and longest race that she's ever done.  There were more than 25 children running and the loop was around a large children's park.  Based on her performance, we think that she has the makings for a great middle distance runner - she ran well the whole race, passed a lot of kids on the back stretch and finished strong.  Best of all, she got a huge lollipop when she finished!

Ready to run!

Emily is still not interested in running the kids race and usually cries when the 5K starts (poor Lee).

At the start.

This the back stretch, where she made her move.

Finishing strong.

The lollipop!!

I ran the 5K and was moderately pleased with my time, which was equivalent to my first 5K of 2009.  I finished 20th out of 57 total runners, third in the 30-39 age group.

At the finish.  I'm really looking forward to a warm weather race.  It was cold and windy again!

My Name

Lee and I are the first to admit that sometimes, Emily gets lost in the shuffle.  She is so busy trying to grow up as fast as her sister that sometimes we forget that she is only three.  We are not as hyper-vigilant about her school progress as we were with Elizabeth, in part because Elizabeth made such tremendous progress during her second year of preschool that we can hardly remember what she learned during her first year.  The other day, Emily drew a picture for me to hang up at work - and then she wrote her name on it - no prompting, no hints about how to spell her name, she just wrote it.  It was the first time that either Lee or I have seen her make letters of any kind, and we were quite proud, so much so that I immediately took a picture with my cell phone.

Margot and Tristan are One!

Last weekend, Margot and Tristan, the twins of our good friends Nicole and Dave, turned one!  It hardly seems possibly that a year ago, they were little, tiny babies in the NICU and one year later, they are robust, hearty toddlers!  They had a low key birthday party for them, which the twins really seemed to enjoy!

Margot.

The happy birthday girl!

Tristan enjoying his birthday cake!!

Tent City

Everyone knows that Aunt Denise gives the best gifts - in part, because she's good at it and in part, because she just can't help herself.  The tent/tunnel combination that she gave the girls for Easter is just a small piece of evidence of her genius - she wrangled it (free) out of the Scholastic Book guy that frequents her school.  Seriously - who else could do that??  As one might imagine, it was a huge hit with the girls, so much so that they demanded that we set it up as soon as we got back from New Hampshire last Sunday - despite the fact that they (and us) were exhausted and despite the fact that it was past their bedtime.  Lee, ever patient, complied and the girls were delighted, to say the least!!

Eagerly anticipating the finished product.

Entering the tunnel together.

Emily goes through first.

Elizabeth in the tent.

It's not as big as we thought that it would be, but it still takes up a lot of room.

Emily.

Jump Rope for Heart

During the week of April 19th, Elizabeth and her classmates will participate in Jump Rope for Heart, joining millions of other children across the country in an opportunity to learn and help others.  She will learn how her heart works and how to take care of heart through proper nutrition and physical activity and she will learn about children who have been affected by heart disease and how she can help.  Please consider making a donation to her jump roping effort by clicking here or on the Jump Rope for Heart link on the right side of the page.