Wye Mountain Daffodil Festival

This is my new favorite picture of Conall

"Na Na, look at my flowers"

Our sweetie with her flowers

The kids running through the daffodils

Conall counting his flowers

Na Na, Caitlin, Conall, Po Po

Po Po carrying Caitlin's flowers for her

Mommy, I'm Muddy!

Caitlin and Conall were playing outside this afternoon in our freshly tilled "garden". Our next door neighbor was kind enough to till Conall's vegetable garden area when he had the tiller out before all of the rain this weekend. The kids have had a ton of fun playing in the dirt ever since.

Caitlin got some water and made it a little muddy this afternoon. She, of course, got muddy playing in it. Conall was quite disturbed that she had done this and upset that she was going to mess up his garden. I thought it was funny -- she giggled and looked at me with a huge smile and said "Mommy, I'm muddy!". I had her repeat it for the camera.

My muddy little tomboy

I'm Spider-Man!

Conall's reading group presented a play for the class today (unfortunately, family was not invited). They have been reading fairy tales for the last few weeks and his group is doing a play of  "The Spider and the Beehive". And, of course, Conall is the spider.

We had to come up with the costume on our own. The teacher was sure to tell us that it was "something fun, not stressful" yet called it a "costume contest". Uh, right! At first the play was to be Thursday because school had originally been out today. But, they had to make up a snow day, so school is in today. Thus, we needed two costumes -- one for fairy tale dress up day yesterday (he wore his old knight Halloween costume) and then the spider for the play today.

Conall is an adorable spider and is so excited about his part in the play. The teacher sent home a script earlier in the week and not only does he have his entire part memorized, he can read it as well. Our only hope is that he makes it until the play before the costume gets messed up. It is made of stuffed black socks pinned to a spider t-shirt and attached to each other by fishing line. Conall could not stop messing with it this morning, nor complaining about it being uncomfortable, even though he loved looking like a spider.

He put the costume on and told us that he wanted to be Spider-Man when he grows up. Then he said "Is Spider-Man good?" once we told him that, yes, he is, Conall proclaimed loudly "I'm Spider-Man!".

"I'm Spider-Man"

Caitlin LOVES Her Aunt Mimi

My best friend, Amy, is Caitlin's godmother and they have been close since Caitlin was an infant. Caitlin used to call her "Mimi" because she couldn't say Aunt Amy. She has since changed the name to "Aunt Mimi". She loves spending time with Aunt Amy, going on girl shopping and dinner dates, getting her toenails painted, rubber stamping, etc.

This morning, I called Amy to double-check that everything was okay with her and her house after last night's storms (we talked to her briefly earlier in the night after the tornado warning/watches). I told Caitlin, who had been worried about Aunt Mimi, that I had just talked to Aunt Mimi and she was fine.

Caitlin looked at me and said "Is she coming over tonight?" I told her no, I didn't think so. Tearing up, she said "Why not?" I told her I thought Aunt Mimi had other plans. Really tearing up, pouting and giving me angry looks, Caitlin said "Why not? I miss her!" I tried to console her and was met with "Mommy don't say that!" and then she stomped down the hall to her room and slammed the door.

I tried not to bust out laughing ...

Caitlin came out of her room long enough to yell at me "Mommy, Aunt Mimi come over tonight, come every day!"

Later, when I thought she had gotten over it Caitlin said "Mommy, it isn't fair."
Me -- "What isn't fair?"
Caitlin -- "That you are here and not Aunt Mimi."

I told her tough, she was stuck with me. A few minutes later, after thinking it over, Caitlin looked at me and said "Mommy?" (I was wondering what was coming this time.) "I LOVE you!"

What a funny morning!

Happy Birthday Na Na!

We got together with Na Na and Po Po on Saturday to celebrate Na Na's birthday. The kids had a ball -- they went to the park with Na Na and Po Po and when they got back they got to play with cousin Kate. They also enjoyed helping Na Na blow out her candles.

Happy Birthday Na Na!

Helping Na Na blow out her candles

Waiting for the "Hogwarts candles" to relight

Green Eggs and Ham

It has been Dr. Seuss Week at Conall's school this week. To finish it off, their "Fun Friday" activity today was making green eggs and ham. Conall told me that he had eaten the green eggs and ham at school and requested them for dinner tonight. I told him if he still wanted them at dinner, I would make them for him. I still wasn't sure I believed that he'd eaten them.

Dinner came around and Conall wanted green eggs, ham, and toast with "yellow" butter on it. After much instructing me in how to make his meal, Conall ate almost every bite of eggs, a little bit of the ham, and two slices of toast with honey on it. If I hadn't seen it (and taken pictures) I wouldn't believe it!

Green eggs, ham, and toast

The proof

More proof

Homemade Pizza

Conall's reward for helping mommy clean his room tonight was getting to make homemade pizza. He was so excited that he was c-r-a-z-y. Anyway, I think the kids liked the pizza as much as they liked making it.

Eating their pizza -- Conall thinks he looks like he has a mustache in this picture.

They were so excited about eating the pizza that I almost forgot to get a photo of the pizza -- there was only half left here. I'm not sure you can tell -- Blogger has done something weird to the photo.

Rice Krispie Treats

Caitlin and I made Rice Krispie treats this morning. We had so much fun!

Recovering From Strep and Making Trucks

Conall got sick Thursday night and spent most of the night complaining of a sore throat and puking. We went to the doctor Friday and they tested him for strep throat, which turns out he had. Funny thing is, he never really ran a fever. Luckily, the doctor wanted him to have an antibiotic shot rather than oral antibiotics, since he had been puking so much. He was full of pent up energy and ready for school on Monday.

While recuperating, Conall made a truck for Caitlin out of some boxes that I had set aside to recycle. He taped everything together and drew pictures for the interior. They both were really proud of it and it was lots of fun until they started fighting over it. Needless to say, it went out with the recycling this morning. I'm waiting on the fit one or both of them throws when they realize it is gone.

Conall's Harry Potter Birthday Party -- Lots of Pictures!

We had to reschedule Conall's birthday party for a week later than its original date because of ice and snow. Conall handled it much better than I expected, but after a week of "my party this and my party that" we were ready to have the party and get it over.

Conall wanted a Harry Potter birthday party, so we did our best to make it so. He was allowed to invited 10 friends, which considering the size of our house, probably was too many! Ten loud boys excited about Harry Potter is quite a sight!

We decorated the house in Harry Potterish items and in crimson and gold for Gryffindor House. We used our miniature Sorting Hat to sort the kids as they came in the door. They colored Harry Potter coloring sheets and then we moved on to the exciting part -- Stu as Dumbledore leading the boys in potion making. The boy who guessed the right number of jelly beans in the "Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans" jar got to keep the jar of jelly beans. The dry ice potion told the winner -- Conall's friend Anthony.

My friend Mandy Shoptaw has started her own photography, print and video design, and event management business. She took the photos at Conall's birthday party. If you get a chance, check out Mandy's web site.

The cake Conall asked Aunt Amy to make

Conall's cake -- chocolate frogs jumping out the Hogwarts Express window

Decorations, cauldron, and potion ingredients

The Hogsmeade banner from Conall's Mary Godmother

Waiting on Dumbledore

Calming the boys down with Harry Potter coloring sheets

Conall and his Hedwig picture

Listening to "Dumbledore"

Stu as Dumbledore

Conall and Kanton -- Kanton's birthday is a week from Conall's and he has lived next door to us since the boys were 1. Since we had to reschedule Conall's party due to the ice, his party was actually on Kanton's birthday. We had Kanton's parents bring Kanton's cake to Conall's party so we could celebrate both boys' birthdays at Conall's party.

Potions class with Dumbledore

Potions

Dumbledore putting liquid "gold" into the potion

Caitlin looking totally bored with the boys

The "potion" bubbling over

The potion bubbling with dry ice

Conall getting ready to blow out his candles

Conall climbing onto the table to blow out his candles

Conall with one of his chocolate frogs

Butterbeer (rootbeer floats)

Cheers!

Getting rid of some energy by playing outside in our yard and Kanton's

Snow Days

Conall catching snow on his tongue

Caitlin "cheesing" as she calls it

Caitlin making a snowball

Conall, Kanton and August working on Conall's "snow penguin"

Conall and Kanton working on Conall's "snow penguin"

Conall playing at the back playground at his school -- he's carrying what the boys were calling a "shatterbomb"

Mommy, Caitlin, and Kanton at the back playground

Caitlin telling Daddy to look at her "pawprints" in the snow on the walking track at school