Happy 4th of July!

We spent the fourth at Mamma's house for a family cookout. Here's a picture of the girls decked out in their patriotic clothing :)

Happy Birthday Time: Amanda 2007

It's the beginning of birthday season here at our house with June, July and August birthdays all within about a month and a half of each other.

The First Birthday Girl! Amanda turns 5.

She wanted a Build A Bear Party. Here are the kids gathered at the front of the store, unstuffed bears in hand.

They make a lot of noise singing and then march to the stuffing machine.

Then they each pick two hearts from the heart box...

... and they make a wish with the hearts. Each guest put one heart in Amanda's bear with a special wish for the birthday girl and then they put one in their own bears.

After their bears are closed up they go to the fluff and brush station for proper grooming.

And then they pick out clothing and dress their bears.

They even had boy bears! Devin made this cool Army dog.

Then we came back to our house for cake and presents.

Audrey's Awards 6/13/07

Audrey had her end of the year awards ceremony yesterday and here she is with all of her second semester achievements. She had more awards than anyone in her class: Principal's Honor Roll, Honor Roll, Rising Star, Perfect Attendance, Personal Best (French Award) and the PE award for 4 out of 4 categories. We're so proud!

I added a link in the sidebar to Amanda's Birthday Wishlist. Amanda's favorite toys are My Little Pony's and she loves to play outside. She wears a size 5 in clothes and a size 9 in shoes. If the sidebar link doesn't work click here:

Jamestown Field Trip 5/10/2007

Yesterday I went on the big 4th grade field trip with Audrey to Jamestown. What a fun day! I had never been to Jamestown and this year everything is decked out for the big 400th Anniversary Celebration. They were getting ready for the big anniversary party weekend (May 11-13) and had so much going on.

We boarded the tour buses at the school at 7am and arrived at Jamestown at 10:30. Then we had a guided tour until 1, lunch and then we had free time to see all the things we didn't get to on the tour. There was a lot to see! They had just opened a new museum with lots of interactive exhibits, there was the indian villiage, the ships and all of Jamestown fort. There were authentically dressed guides all over to tell you about the different boats and exhibits.

Audrey and I both had a great time and it was a nice break from my schedule of child care. Jeff took the day off from work to handle Daddy duty while I was gone. :)

The Jamestown Tower, dedicated at the 350th anniversary.

The giant map--- one of the first things we saw.

The path to the boat dock, Jamestown fort on the left.

The Susan Constant, the largest of the three boats.

Me and Audrey in front of the James River.

Jamestown Fort

Inside Jamestown Fort, in front of the church.

A display on gunmanship (Audrey and I were lucky we got a private showing!)

Also at the park is a replica of a Powhatan Indian villiage. Here is Audrey in front of an indian long house.
In front of the museum (no photos allowed in the museum) was this fountain and flags from all 50 states.


Audrey on the bus next to her friend Sarah.

Ava's Easter Dress 4/6/07

This morning I made Ava a dress. It's McCall's Easy pattern M5364. Ava doesn't mind that it's not perfect, she loves it!

We've planned our first official family vacation for mid-August. We're going here. Yes, camping. We already got a great big tent. The campsite we have is #49, right next to the ocean so that part should be neat as long as there are no hurricanes!

Lost Teeth 2/17/07

Ava lost her first tooth a couple weeks ago and Alyssa lost her first one on Friday. Here are their toothy grins :D

Manassas St. Patricks Day Parade 2/17/07

We thought maybe the parade would get snowed out, but no such luck! It was FREEZING! And by freezing I mean it was 31 degrees with a wind chill that made it feel 19. After an hour, it was not much fun at all.

Amanda before the parade started.

Ava with her backpack she brought to collect candy in :)

Huddling to stay warm.

Here's Audrey and her Girl Scouts marching. Audrey is in the middle of the picture waving.

Yes, that's her with the glasses.

Here's one I haven't seen in the other parades: This is the Turkey Hill Ice Cream Cow. The cow was really big--- Amanda thought the pink swirly cow was funny. They passed out cups of ice cream.

Lots of Irish dancing.