Spring Break Staycation Day #2

After church we enjoyed a fun play date with our friends, Lauren and Anna! For lunch we enjoyed McDonald's chicken nuggets and fries. After lunch we went right to the art cabinet. The girls decided to make I Phones. Yes, I Phones. What does that say about young children today. (Or, what does that say about MY children?) Seriously, the girls drew a You Tube icon on their phones, texting options, phone book lists, then they "texted" each other (by writing out little notes on paper and passing them around the table). Crazy.

Then the girls played in the playroom for a while. Once I had cleaned up from lunch and I Phone creations, we put on play clothes and headed down the street to the park. It was a nice day.

Once back, the girls immediately went to their dress up clothes and put on play makeup!

For dinner each girl made her own pizzas with English muffins .

I wanted to get Lauren and Anna all cleaned up before I brought them home. We managed to fit all four girls into the tub. We added a color tablet and they had a pink bath! They all described the bath as "squishy!"

Vacation, Staycation, Nocation

Spring Break has hit us quickly! Arthur has a ton of work to do. Between framing, new photographers and school, money, and a few other reasons going on a vacation was out of the question. So, instead, we did a lot of fun activities. We went on a staycation.

It's a word that McKenna and Ella quickly assimilated into their lexicons.

I planned a few activities and made "tickets" for the girls. Each morning will bring a new ticket with a new activity. This also allows me to change things up a bit midstream, if I need to.

So, read on if you care to!


Spring Break Staycation Day #1
Today we went to the Mall of America and rode several rides at Nickelodeon Universe. We met the characters from The Wonder Pets. McKenna rode the "grown up" roller coaster and the Log Chute (where we got much wetter than we anticipated)! We enjoyed meeting Mammy and Papa at the food court for lunch. The girls also had a blast building things at Lego Land.

Lunch at the food court.

You can't really tell, but we are somewhat wet here. We had just got off of the log chute. Ella was with her Mammy and Papa.

Building at Lego Land

Waiting in line to meet Lenny and Ming Ming of The Wonder Pets.

Ella wouldn't really hug them or greet them. She just observed and that was enough for her. Though, she did say that Ming Ming was pretty soft. Lenny? Not so much.

The Things They Say

McKenna often tries to "mother" her sister (or anyone else within a stone's throw). She'll repeat my words with a "mother" tone in her voice. She'll quickly remind Ella of what she should or shouldn't be doing. Generally, my response is this, "McKenna, you are not her mother. You are not in charge."

Today McKenna responded with this, "I wish I were in charge, for just one day."

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to my grandmother and uncle! I pray you have a blessed birthday and find the joy that God has given you.

Some more of the things they say

McKenna has been asking lots of questions about Native Americans. Here 's a sample of one of our cnversations:

1. Mom, how do Native Americans go potty?

My response: Just like we do, of course. In a toilet in their bathroom.

2. Mom, (looking at me like I am stupid, stressing and elongating each syllable) they live in tee pees, ya know. They don't have bathrooms.

The things they say....

I was upstairs and the girls were downstairs with Daddy. I heard some yelling from Ella, "You messed it up!"

So, I walked down and found Ella in the bathroom, looking in the mirror rubbing water on her hair. She looked very perturbed.

"Ella, are you fixing your hair?" I asked.

"Yes!"

She walked out of the bathroom saying, "I want to look beautiful and I don't want anyone to mess it up!"

Wordless Wednesday

Get your green on!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Here are some ways that we will celebrate today:
wearing green
putting green in our hair
having a Shamrock shake
eating green cookies (we made them yesterday)
eating an Irish dinner of slow cooked corned beef, potatoes, cabbage and carrots with Rye bread

How do you celebrate? You at least wear green don't you?

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I have added more to Ella's birthday posts!

The Things They Say....

The weather here has been pretty random over the past 2 weeks. Most days it is between 32 degrees and 45 degrees, dropping lower at night. It has been a bit more on the sunny side. There are small, teeny-tiny, signs that Spring is coming. However, today was a different story. Windchills below zero and actual temperature resting at a big ZERO degrees. It's March!!!!

This morning we ran to the van. Once we were all settled I said, "BUURRRR! IT'S TOO COLD!"

"I thought the coldest days of winter were over mommy?" McKenna needed to interject her 2 cents.

"Well, Spring is a big trick, if you ask me. One day it's warm and the next day it's cold."

Ella looked out the van window casually and said, "I fink (think) da (the) Devil did it."

Happy Birthday Sara!!

Today is my sister's birthday! Happy Birthday to Sara. To see some awesome pictures of her click here.

A few words about my lil' sis:

Hard working
Loves Jesus
Smart
Clever
Caring
Discerning
Likes the last word (she probably won't appreciate this!)

A fond memory: She totally mortified our Nana by putting panties on her head. And now, I have published it on the internet! It was sooooo funny! Happy Birthday Sara!

An interview with my children:

A few things you should know before reading this:

Ella was playing dress up while answering this.

McKenna over thought each answer. Our family's word for cuddle is "snoogle."

1. What is something I always say to you?

E:I love you

M:

2. What makes me happy?

E:McKenna and Me

M:your favorite candy

3. What makes me sad?

E: when you don't have us

M:when we don't listen

4. How do I make you laugh?

E: do silly faces and give us the "look"

M:tell me jokes and tickling

5. What do you think I was like as a child?

E:I bet you would have a summer dress and straight hair and walk through the apple orchard

M:I don't know

6. How old am I?

E:7

M: 31

7. How tall am I?

E: you don't look so tall

M:I don't know how many inches

8. What is my favorite thing to do?

E:clean

M:go to WI Dells and visit with your friends

9. What do I do when you're not around?

E:sad

M:visit with your friends

10. If I become famous, what will it be for?

E:being graceful

M:jumping

11. What am I really good at?

E:teaching us

M:snoogling

12. What am I not really good at?

E:going under the table

M:don't know

13. What is my job?

E:to clean up

M:teaching

14. What is my favorite food?

E: vegetables and fruit

M: fruit, vegetables, potatoes, tacos

15. What makes you proud of me?

E:I don't know

M:I don't know

16. If I were a cartoon character, who would I be?

E: Jessica

M: Isa the Iguana

17. What do you and I do together?

E: hug and snoogle

M: color and play games

18. How are we the same?

E: we have brown hair and we both have skin;

M: we both have blue eyes

19. How are you and I different?

E: we don't have the same underwear

M: you are big and I am small

20. How do you know that I love you?

E: I'm naked....because I'm special

M: because we snoogle together

21. Where is my favorite place to go?

E: stores

M: shopping

Ella's Thankyous

I am posting this simply because I want to remember how cute they are. I also want Ella to see them years from now and laugh.

I believe this thank you picture was for Nanny and Poppy. She drew herself with an umbrella. She chose green because the rain outfit she got was green. You will see the blue rain and lots of hearts because she loves her grandparents. She also drew "one fat heart." It's funny how kids learn the word "fat" so early.

This says, "To Cioci Thanks." She drew a Polly Pocket because her Cioci got her a Polly Pocket pool party. You will notice the hearts again. She also drew a pink princess with a tiara. Her cioci also got her a little tiara clip for her hair.

Oh yes. This is Ella's thank you for her grandparents. She drew her Mammy as a little girl with a lollipop and an umbrella. There are clouds and rain. It says, "I heart you. From Ella."

There are a few more thank you pictures we need to write. Hopefully, none were forgotten. Ella is very specific about what she draws. There are details in her pictures that I NEED for her to explain to me. When she does they become so endearing.

She has really come a long way with her letters. We have been working some on them during "Ella's School Time." This is when McKenna is at school and we are home. I sit down with her and we work on something. We try to be purposeful parents on most days! =)

Party like a princess!

Even though today is Ella's birthday, we had this party last week. I just didn't want to post it until after her actual birthday. Thanks for your patience.

Remember Ella's third birthday? If not, click here. Want to see the other princess party we had and compare the two? Please do. Click here.

Ella's fourth birthday party was all princess. Here are the little girls posing for a princess portrait.

The cake was not easy for me to make. I love birthday parties and planning fun activities. The cake part? Not my thing. But, I try. If only my mom lived nearby. I would have her creating and decorating all sorts of cakes.

Ella wanted a crown cake. I went to several stores looking for pink, edible glitter. Finally, I found it at the last store I could think of, Michael's. Go figure!

We colored white chocolate, dipped pretzel sticks in it and sprinkled them with decorating sprinkles and sugars. Voila! Edible, magic, princess wands.

A sample of all the tulle that was draped through the house to help create the ambiance of a ballroom, or something like that. The menu: pink lemonade, heart shaped sandwiches, bugles, jeweled salad (cherry is ruby, green cherry is emerald, blueberries, strawberries, etc). I should mention that our friend/babysitter did a lot of the decorating (if not most of it) the night before. Arthur and I went out on a date and she did some party prep for us! Thanks SO MUCH Katie!

The table. Each girl took home a star wand filled with candy (in the vase) and a princess goblet!

As the royal guests arrived, they were given the opportunity to freshen up! A friend supplied me with Mary Kay samples. I set out some q-tips and cotton balls and some other play makeup. They loved it! It was messy and not applied properly. It was great. And yes, that is me in the Snow White costume.

While putting on makeup, each girl put on lipstick and kissed a purple, heart shaped post it note. This was for a game, Pin the Kiss on the Frog. I had them kiss the post it note rather than letting them blindly attempt kissing a frog and getting my wall instead!

Arthur drew the frog. Isn't it great? Do you see all of the little lips? A few of the girls didn't get the concept of kissing a frog to turn it into a handsome prince. Matter of fact, Ella's friend Lily said, "Are you sure about that?" when I explained why we were playing the game.

Ella...


Selma...


Aleigha...

McKenna...

After the frog game we tapped into our crafty and artsy sides. Each princess created a bookmark with foam princess stickers (some of which were sparkly!).

Thanks to Sarah for helping out!

Ipods are so much fun. Have you played with one lately? I have grown dependent on them during birthday parties. I purchased a few downloads from Itunes and we played a Guess the Princess Song game. It may have possibly been the favored game. All of the girls loved this one. A few of the girls could guess the song one bar into it. I was amazed.

Princess music calls for a little dancing, as well.

There aren't necessarily pictures to prove it but we did read a few princess stories and we did have lunch and cake!

A few of the guests....

Selma and Ella

Cora and Ella (or Chris and Arthur)

Meg

Our sweet princess!