A Birthday Party

After we got back from the creek, our friends left and the kids changed clothes so we could walk down the street to our friend Nate's birthday party.  He turned eight.  Kelley managed to avoid mingling with adults by sticking her camera in kids' faces.  That worked out well.

Owen and Chloe were both close to the action, singing loudly and helping blow out the candles.  They had an insane amount of fun all day long.

They were disappointed when it was time to leave (shortly after the cake was consumed) because they didn't see anyone else leaving and the majority of the kids were all still there.  But both kids walked back home nicely without complaining, arguing or crying.  And they were praised to high heaven for that, too.  :)

An Afternoon at the Creek

After karate, some of our friends from Tae Kwon Do came over to hang out.  Our kids were thrilled to have a new playmate for the afternoon and loved getting to lead the way on our nature trail.

Chloe and I had been here the week before, but this was Owen's first time.

The kids were excited to go wading in the water where our small creek met up with a much larger one.

Chloe and Kara climbed up on this log and had fun swinging their legs.

All of the kids had fun throwing the tennis ball for Duke to fetch.

And Duke had fun bringing it back for us each time.

The water was pretty clear and easy to see to the bottom, even though it doesn't look like it much in this picture.

Kara was a total water bug and was wet from head-to-toe, swimming around next to Chloe as Chloe waded through the water up to her shoulders (because she was squatting as she walked).

These girls were starting to get a little cold (because the water wasn't the warmest), but they had so much fun!

When they got too cold, they both got out to sit in the sun and warm up.  Kara is ten years old, but there didn't seem to be any age difference between these girls as they played together.

This boy just had fun, being in the middle of everyone and playing with Duke.  This was later said to be one of the best days of his life.

Morning Out with Chloe

We had gone out the night before for dinner and there was some form of inequality that resulted in the hurt feelings of the girl child.  There were discussions on sharing which fell on deaf ears.  There were tears.  And there were promises of making everything right the next morning.

While the boys were still sleeping, I swept Chloe out of the house and told her she could pick any place she wanted for breakfast.  I was hoping for Waffle House, but would have been happy with IHOP.  First she said she wanted to go to Dunkin Donuts, but then settled on Publix for their doughnuts and juice.  She was excited to pick out her own doughnuts and changed her mind from eating at the gazebo in downtown Woodstock to eating inside Publix.  Because that's what my Bean does.  She routinely changes her mind.

After pulling out her first doughnut, she had to stand and stare at employees while they worked.

She would have been content to eat her whole breakfast standing and watching.

 I asked her to come sit with me and she used her listening ears and good manners.  Yay for good manners!

She kept watch over the parking lot.

And she enjoyed her chocolaty doughnut.

After breakfast, we ran to Trader Joe's for groceries and stopped at another Publix on the way home so she could pick out a special balloon (the main reason why there were tears the night before).  She was thrilled to find a Hannah Montana balloon that was almost bigger than herself.

This balloon has since been transported back and forth, between the house and soccer fields.  It has lived in her bedroom and her tent.  Three weeks later, it is still afloat.

Belt Testing

Time for the kids to test up for the next belt level!

They warmed up with jumping jacks.

Then they clapped as the judges and instructors walked into the room.

They started off with forms.  Owen was testing to move up to his first camouflage belt.

Chloe was testing to move up to her yellow belt.

They were tested on their nunchuk abilities.

And also on sparring.

Chloe has some serious high kicks!

Afterwards, we headed over to Taco Mac for dinner.  Someone has pretty blue eyes.

We have a silly boy.

And because they have been behaving so great, after dinner we headed to Bruster's for a special ice cream treat.

Some of us do better at getting the ice cream in our mouths and not on our faces.  ;)

After School Fashion Show

The kids had been practicing their skills on the cat walk in their afterschool program at Discovery Point and were excited to show off several outfits to the parents on this evening.

She looks like a girl on a mission, doesn't she?

All business, this girl.

Owen came out with his hair slicked over to one side.  He's so hip.

Second outfit was a sports outfit. 

Chloe rocked her karate uniform.  Look at all of those black Lifeskills stripes on her orange belt!  She has been working hard to earn her High Fives at Tae Kwon Do with discipline in class and bringing in high test scores from school.  Go Chloe!

Owen wore his soccer uniform and even turned a cartwheel for the audience.

The last outfit was a bit dressier.  Owen wore his clothes from our previous photo shoot and escorted another girl down the cat walk.

At the end, they all lined up for a bow.

Easter Exploration

In the afternoon, the girl child and I went on a walk.  She on her scooter and I on my feet.

She scooted fast!

We left the scooter behind at the steps leading down to the nature trail and kept our eyes open.  We saw a grasshopper.

And bees checking out flowers.

She crossed the bridge and then made a hasty retreat back to me when she noticed a little swarm of bees.

But we braved on and found this tree farther along down the path.  It looked like it would fall over if we touched it.

We saw trees with funky bark.

And others covered in moss.

When we got to the creek, we saw big animal tracks with some pretty long toe nails.

Chloe took off her shoes to wade into the creek and said it wasn't TOO too cold.

Although she didn't venture much deeper than her ankles.

On the way home, we saw some baby mushrooms.

Shortly after our adventure, we headed up to the Mexican restaurant for dinner with the Grandmas.  Perfect ending to a wonderful day!