Colorful Carnival

Ellie is five years old!!! I can hardly believe it. Our first-born has already passed through infancy, babyhood, toddlerdom, preschool, and is entering school-age. I'm so glad there are a few years until pre-teen!

Of course Ellie was the first one awake this morning. She was very patient though and waited until everyone was awake before opening presents.



Rowan and Ellie love her new keyboard! Now she can join cousin Bryson's rock band :)



Rowan and I went to Trader Joe's for some party supplies while Jason took Ellie for a walk. After a lot of preparation, it was finally party time! Ellie went inside to change into her beautiful dress she insisted on wearing.



Jason and I brought out the colorful food (fruit, veggies, tortilla chips and salsa).



Then the activities begun! We had face painting,



games of twister,



hyper dash (until it broke),



and personal pinatas that each child decorated and then destroyed to find the goodies inside.



Except to break open his pinata, Rowan didn't stray far from the food.





Especially when Ellie's rainbow cake came out!





We all sang happy birthday to Ellie and she tried to blow out the candles :)






I was relieved to see that the cake looked awesome when we cut into it.




With our wonderful friends and neighbors, the party was a big success. Parents were helping every chance they could, which made everything work so well. Thank you everyone for coming and making Ellie's day so special!!

Professional photos

Our professional photographs are posted for all to see!

Here are the directions from the photographer:

Please enter my website. do this by clicking on website or proofing at the bottom of the page

http://www.maureencassidyphotography.com/

click on proofing again at the bottom(once you are inside the site)

This will direct you to submit a password:

your password/gallery name is Kirsten

A slide show will automatically load. These are your pictures. Sit back and enjoy. When you are ready to start proofing bring your cursor to the bottom of the screen and you will see your pictures and a little cart icon. Click on this and it will bring you to your proofing site.

*NOTE THAT THE SLIDESHOW IS JUST OF MY FAVS, IN THE "PROOFING THERE IS 2 FOLDERS, favs and therest on the left side of the screen.
Make sure you view them both, "therest" folder has more than the favs.

When in your proofing site note the little thumbnail pictures on the left of the screen.

Click on these to preview your picture bigger.
You can click on the thumbnail and drag the picture to the bottom bar.
This is your favorites palliate.

Once you have chosen your favorites then click on Continue to cart.
This will bring you to where you can purchase photos.

You can select packages or add each or all photos then with the drop down menu.
Then you can choose which size and quantity PLUS you can choose if you want the pic to be in Black and White or Sepia.

If you order in the next 2 days your prints will get to you in time for mother's day.
Plus I will give you a free 8x12 if you place your order by May 1st and you have a purchase over $60. (YOU DO THIS BY ADDING IT TO YOUR CART)

Click Checkout

Choose to pay online through paypal or off line by check, but I can not place your order without a check so this will be slower.
My address is
Maureen Cassidy
2072 Spring Rose Rd
Verona, WI 53593

LAST THING! Your gallery will expire on MAY 10.





Note from Kirsten: This photographer's website is not very user-friendly, in my opinion, especially if you are trying to order prints. It took me forever to get the prints I wanted, in the sizes I wanted. And when viewing these pictures, please remember that the camera adds 10 pounds to pregnant women (and it's all in the face) :)

Fun with videos

Here is a great blog post for those of you who find yourself bored on a Sunday night :)

This video is the best video we have to show how a usual afternoon is spent. Complete chaos at it's finest. Thank you Jason for this lovely bit of cinematography.



Here is Rowan talking about his baby sister:



And Rowan and Ellie with their "Rusty Steed" LOL

All About Baby

There is definitely a baby in there!



After being sick for 4 months, I am finally starting to gain weight! My belly popped in the past month to prove it :) My doctor told me that I should be gaining more weight because I don't have a net weight gain, until I reminded her that I lost weight the first couple months. Then she looked again and noted that I had gained 8 pounds in the past month, so I'm getting back on track!

We had our big ultrasound a couple weeks ago, and the baby checked out to be perfectly healthy. We had the ultrasound technician write down the baby's gender and put it in an envelope. We then gave the envelope to our neighbor and waited ALL DAY to find out that night if it was a boy or a girl. We invited over all the neighbors to share in the excitement. Paty walked in with a very impressive cake revealing a baby girl :) The kids didn't quite get it then, but by now they understand that a new baby sister will be joining us this summer. And they are so excited!

Here is the little girl we are so excited to meet!



And her perfect little foot:



Last weekend Madison had a huge children's consignment sale, and I gathered up some odds and ends to sell there. I still don't know how much I made yet, but I'm hoping it's more than what I spent at the sale :) In between that sale and our incredibly generous neighbors, we are set with all the basics for this baby, even though we had given away everything baby except for the crib that Rowan is still currently sleeping in. Even so, I've had fun making a baby registry at a website for a store here in Madison. It's been fun looking at all the cute odds and ends that we could buy for this little girl :) No clothes on the list though, because our adorable neighbor Coraline has provided enough clothes to keep this baby in style for sure. We probably even have enough in case twin girls happen to pop out ;D

Easter

Easter! I think this is the first year that it was not freezing cold in Madison for Easter. This year, our Easter celebrations were spread out over a week, and the entire week was wonderful weather. Our building (plus some other wonderful neighbors) had a huge Easter egg hunt the weekend before Easter. Almost 400 plastic eggs were scattered around our yard for the 19 kids to find. I think just a couple days ago someone found two eggs that had been still hiding all week :)

A couple days after that egg hunt, we went to a farm close to Madison that has over 20 chickens. Time to find some real eggs! Our neighbor organized another mini egg hunt at the farm. But the most exciting part for the kids was chasing the chickens. I don't think Rowan ever caught a chicken, but Ellie did!

Then this past Saturday we dyed our own Easter eggs. How come I don't remember the process only taking less than a minute when I was a kid? It seems like it took 10 times as long to get everything ready than it took to actually dye the eggs. Well, at least it was another photo opportunity. Although Ellie was in a bit of a sassy mood for pictures.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been working on a special project to give the kids for Easter. I found the idea on a blog, and itstead of paying for someone else to make everything for me, I looked at her pictures and made it myself (well, except for the leaf beds and pillows, one of our many friendly neighbors sewed them all and her daughter cut them out). I am so proud of the way they turned out!

And the kids seemed to like them too :)

They also received two movies, The Princess and the Frog and Toy Story 2. They didn't get to open their presents until afternoon, since I had to work that morning, but they were able to squeeze in a movie before heading to church that afternoon. Dinner at Perkins ended our fun Easter celebrations!

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Kids say the darndest things

Rowan: Puts his arm around me and says, "Mommy, you're my best fwend"

Ellie: Insists, even though I've corrected her many times, that she likes to drink "soil" milk (soy milk) and eat "almints" (almonds). No amount of arguing will convince her of the correct pronounciation (but I'm pretty sure she's just saying it wrong on purpose now).

Rowan: At a music playgroup, a friend (and neighbor) leads the group. She asked Ellie her favorite food (macaroni)and we included that in the song. Rowan was next, so our friend asked him his favorite food. He answered, and my friend and I looked at each other thinking, "Did he just say ...?" So she asked again and he said again, "Barf." Yum Rowan.

Ellie: Our friend's daughter was at our place doing her homework and asked me what the word "cautious" meant. I said, "Hmm, well.." and I couldn't figure out right away how to explain it. So Ellie said, "Cautious means very careful." Thank you Ellie, for showing that you are smarter than your mom already.

Rowan: At a neighborhood potluck, Rowan flung his arm across the table to be silly and knocked a cup of milk on me. I faced him toward me and sternly said, "Rowan, look at me. You just spilled your milk on me. That was not nice. What do you say to me?" Rowan smiled and said, "You're welcome!" Not exactly what I was hinting at...

Both: Their new trick now to avoid getting in trouble is to say something like, "But that's what it says in my story! It says 'Ellie does not pick up her toys.'" Those of you who watch PBS kids Super Why know where that comes from.


Ooh, a bonus video! This is what happens when parents run out of ideas to entertain the kids. We were doing this for a while before remembering to film it to embarrass ourselves.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Ellie's new skills (and other random pictures)

Ellie has been taking a tumbling class, which she really likes. I like it too, because it is really the only class that she has taken, besides swimming, that actually teaches the kids skills instead of just playing games. The soccer class she took? Never once did she actually play soccer.

Tonight was her last class for this season. Usually for the last class the teachers let the family come in to see what all they learned. The girls who taught this class are young; great teachers, but they didn't seem to know that parents usually come in for the last class. I tried to explain to them how it is usually done (I guess I am one of THOSE moms), but I don't think they understood how important it was for parents to take pictures of their little munchkins showing off new skills.

I managed to sneak in some pictures through a little window in the door ;)

Since it was the last class, the entire family came to watch Ellie. Since we didn't get to watch, how did we entertain Rowan? By taking silly face pictures, of course!

Yes, I realize his bangs are totally in his eyes :)

Another skill Ellie loves to show off is her new interest in drawing things and then cutting them out. Here are some examples:

And she wanted me to take a video so she could explain what everything is.

Finally, some random pictures.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Ergo carrier

An Ergo carrier is the one big thing that I really want for our new baby. Yes, we have a ring sling, that Ellie lived in as a baby/toddler. Her and I trekked all over Cairo, Egypt with that thing! With Rowan, I bought a mei tai made by a mom. I used that a lot when he was a baby to go on walks and play outside. With this baby, since we pretty much have all the required baby gear, all I really want is a nice baby carrier. I figure that I will be wearing this baby as long as possible, so that I will still have two hands free - one to hold on to Ellie and one to hold on to Rowan. I am starting to save up money to buy this carrier, since it is pretty pricey.

Well, lucky for me (hopefully I am lucky!) there is a giveaway for a brand new organic ergo carrier on this blog: http://clotheslinecontentment.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/my-first-giveaway/. If I win, I can use the money I'm saving to buy more pretty cloth diapers :) Feel free to sign up for the giveaway (as long as you are entering to give it to me)! ;D

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

What have we been doing lately?

We've been:

Trying to get a good picture for valentine's day cards

Playing city with our toys

Faking smiles for the camera

Creating valentine pictures

Playing house with our tiny dolls in a soda 12 pack box

Dancing to Glee music

Drinking emergen-C with crazy straws

Wow, gathering all these pictures from this last week really shows how much our kids run around in their underwear.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Trader Joe's

This post is long overdue and much anticipated, so here it goes. This is a list of everything we frequently buy at Trader Joe's (and the prices if I have them).

Veggie and Flaxseed Tortilla Chips $2.39
White Cheddar Popcorn $1.59
Pita Chips (lots of flavors) $1.99
Cheese Crunchies $1.59
Potato-lentil Crunchy Curl chips $2.69
Salsa Authentica $1.69
PB & J nut mix $4.69
Dried mango slices $2.99
Kettle corn popcorn $2.xx
Cinnamon almonds $4.99
Cereal Bars (like nutrigrain) $1.69
organic apple sauce $2.19
Organic yogurt 32oz $2.99
Whole wheat couscous ???
Whole wheat cinnamon-raisin english muffins $1.79
whole wheat tortillas $1.99
whole wheat pita bread $1.59
hummus (many flavors) $1.99
hummus white bean and basil $3.99
frozen whole wheat blueberry waffles $1.99
frozen sweet potato fries $2.xx
trader joe's fish sticks $4.99
Swiss beer fondue $5.99
frozen Chicken potstickers ???
frozen Buffalo burgers $5.xx

The items near the end of the list are occasional splurges, and we don't usually buy all of this at once. And we always leave with one new item to try, since there are so many good treats! I'll keep updating this as I think of other items we have tried and would recommend :)

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Snow Day

It snowed here overnight and lightly all day today. I'd guess maybe 3-4 inches total? Not enough to affect the normal day-to-day activities around here, but enough to cover the ground with a beautiful new coat of snow. There has been snow on the ground here since the beginning of November, but it had been over a month since new snow. So the dirty, icy, old snow is now covered with pretty snow :) I had been waiting for it too! Ever since I found a recipe for the kids to make ice cream with snow, I've been hoping for some new snow. Here is the recipe we used:

• 1/2 cup half and half (milk may be used in a pinch)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 4 cups crushed Ice
• 4 tablespoons salt
• 2 quart size zipper-seal bags 1 gallon size zipper-seal freezer bag

Fill a gallon freezer bag (halfway) with ice (or snow). Add 4 tablespoons salt. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into a quart-size bag. Seal tightly, squeezing out any extra air. Place this bag into another quart-size bag to make doubly sure no salt water gets into your ice cream (I skipped this and just risked the chance of leaking). Put the bag of milk into the larger ice bag, squeeze out the extra air from the gallon freezer bag, and seal tightly. Shake freezer bag for at least five minutes. You might want to wear gloves, because it gets really cold. Check ice cream, and if it's solid, dump into a bowl and eat!

The kids had fun with this and enjoyed the ice cream. It was pretty good! The kids also enjoyed making this creation outside with the neighbor kids:





It was recycling at it's greatest really. The giant balls used for the caterpillar were snowmen made weeks ago that had fallen apart. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the snowballs were almost higher than Rowan's shoulders. So after some heavy-duty pushing and shoveling from Nina and some helpers, they were able to pry the balls off the ground and put them in a line. Then I went upstairs and filled 5 spray bottles with water and red, green, blue, purple, and orange food coloring. The kids had a blast decorating it! And no one was harmed in the making of this caterpillar. Oh wait...



Rowan took a tumble during the construction phase and scraped his cheek on one of the giant snow balls. He went inside for about 2 minutes and then wanted back out to help decorate. What a trooper :)

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