Happy Birthday Jill

This year the kids made a huge fuss over their mother on her birthday.

There were balloons.

Evan insisted on making a balloon crown.

Presents of course.

and cake too!

But that wasn't all! We headed up to Grandma and Grandpas as well. And there was more cake...


and a gumdrop tree.   Guess who put on the gumdrops?


The kids got to hug Uncle Jeff goodbye as he is off to Switzerland for two years.

Happy birthday Jill!

Valentines Day Parties

Every year at Alexis's school they have Munchkins with Moms and Donuts with Dads.  This year Munchkins with Moms fell on Valentine's Day.  All the moms came in early for pick up.  The kids all sat in a circle and sang some songs.  Then we all had some Valentine's Day treats, including Munchkins.
As a side note- Alexis's preschool is the sweetest.  She loves her teacher and loves the kids in her class.  There are 4 girls and 8 boys.  She always says, "I am going to preschool to play with my girls and boys"  She says her and her girls play going to Grandmas which from what I can tell means they dress up, fill play purses with things and walk around the room.

I was in charge of bringing fruit for the kids.  I got this cute idea on Pinterest to make heart Valentines.  So cute but alot of work for someone who isn't naturally crafty.

Snack time


Evan's class also had a party.  I have been to several kindergarten parties now and they basically all follow the same schedule.  The kids start off on the carpet.  They are then broken up into 3 or 4 stations- crafts, bingo, pin the ___ on the ____ (depending on which holiday), and hot potato.  Afterwards they have a snack which consists of healthy food and one sweet treat.  I am always impressed how calm the parties are considering there are 28 kids in Evan's class.  Evan loves it when Seth or I volunteer.



Making his heart bag to hold his Valentines.


Sitting for snack

Valentine's Day and Disney on Ice

It was a fantastic Valentine's Day this year.

There were heart cupcakes.

Lots of cards were made.  Both Evan and Alexis really enjoyed making Valentines for their class this year.  Alexis chose scratch and sniff popsicle Valentines.  She put sticker hearts on each one.  She was very into choosing which classmate got which Valentine.  Evan chose Disney Valentines with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Pluto on them.  Of course Mr. Candy also insisted we staple a heart lollipop to each Valentine.  He did a nice job signing his name on all the Valentines.

Both kids were spoiled by us and their grandparents.  Grandma gave Alexis a new cat to add to her crew, which she named Millie.  I think if Grandma knew what a big hit Millie would be she would have chosen a sturdier stuffed animal.  Mini gave Evan the Cricket in Time Square book and tickets to go see it performed.   We are reading it now for a second time and Evan is excited to see the performance.  

On Valentine's Day night we took the kids to see Disney on Ice.   They have been obsessed with all things Disney since our trip to Disney World in December.

Alexis watched very intently most of the show.

Evan however was a bit scared and I couldn't get a good picture of him.  The show was great but very long and I think we were all relieved when it was finally over.  The good news for Evan was that we got to take the metro back home.

A visit from Finley and Fur

Aunt Fur and Uncle Finley came down to DC for the weekend to say hi.  We love having visitors and tried to show them a good time.  Jill went with Fur and Finely to the Newseum, which is a must see for anyone visiting DC.  We went out to dinner at a local place without the kids.  The next day we all headed down to the National Cathedral for their Sunday service.  It was really cool to have a church service in a fancy Cathedral and the kids did really good staying quiet during the service.

We miraculously got the kids to sit and take this picture.

Notice how much easier it is to get a good picture when its only adults.


The National Cathedral, which incidentally we learned is an Episcopalian church.