Celebrations

Cherry season! Ruby is a surprisingly dedicated cherry picker

One morning last week Sapphire gave me a hug and kiss and wished me a "happy Mother's Day." This seemed so sweet, I saw no need to correct her. Later that morning she said that she wanted Mother's Day to be "perfect," and going out to lunch would make it perfect. I wasn't too against this idea, so we tried to figure out if we could pull her daddy away from his weed-wacking project to go to Roburitos. This wouldn't do for Sapphire. She was sure Mother's Day (Part II) would be better if we went to the Chinese buffet.  In the end we tried it her way. I didn't mind the extra attention, though I started to see a pattern when she wished me "Happy Mother's Day" the very next morning.

The Black Jack team in a huddle.

For Father's Day we cheered their daddy on through two Ultimate Frisbee games, then we enjoyed some frozen yogurt at Sweet Frog.  This had been Pearl's plan all along.

This month has tons of celebratory importance in our house. We were able to celebrate Daniel's birthday with his parents, who also surprised the girls with an Easter egg hunt. With moving, we haven't all been in Chester County much lately to visit, but the girls thoroughly enjoyed their late Easter treats.

Finally, our little orange belt was promoted and received her first stripe this past Saturday.

We discovered a leak in the pond yesterday, and the water level has dropped a bit. The ducks don't seem to mind, but I wish they would figure out how to plug the leak. It is beyond me. 

Pearl's Birthday Season

Stage one of Pearl's birthday season--a cherry picking party.  We picked far more cherries than I thought we could eat, but since we only get them these two weeks out of the year, we might as well go cherry crazy.










Stage two of Pearl's birthday season: birthday party with friends.  The Greek mythology theme worked out well, but wasn't I thrilled when Pearl said she wanted chocolate icing and I could give up fretting over what Greek god I was going to have to draw in frosting.  The boys are trying to create togas.

We had our birthday Olympics, a myth themed scavenger hunt for Pandora's box, lessons on Greek letters, and some time to just play (the kids used it to choose Greek god roles and there was much debate over who was more powerful). I thought our educational theme might fall flat, but it really was a hit.

Birthday fun stage 3: head to the beach.

With so many little ones to watch, Jasper's sand castles have been toned down, but he still manages to throw something together.

This was Ruby's first beach encounter, and she just stepped into the sand as if she had done it all before. We held hands a lot the first night we walked on the beach, but soon she was lugging her little sand bucket around all by herself.

Pearl wanted to bike ride every day, so we made time to do that and wound our way around Cape Henlopen's trails. The two little ones munched snacks in the 'princess' carriage behind my bike.

Nana came for a night and Pearl's birthday dinner at a Mexican restaurant.The next night we went to a Chinese buffet, which suits our wiggly children well. Here Ruby contemplates how to consume this crayfish. Her daddy helped her figure it out.

We climbed the WWII watch tower as well. Pearl counted all 114 steps. The weather was great for the beach, though it was also pretty good for the biting flies for two days. The last day the flies had evacuated, and we played on a playground then made a late afternoon beach visit that lasted into the evening. A perfect beach day.