3!!!

Harper turned three on Friday, a day she has been (quite literally) counting down for weeks.  She woke up jumping up and down, not at all able to contain her excitement.  She had cinnamon rolls for her birhday breakfast, wore one of her new birthday gifts from Grandma and Pops - a kitty cat shirt and Gramzie was here so we went to Mt. Vernon, Harper's choice, to see the animals and walk the grounds and have lunch.  She opened a few presents every hour or so and was thrilled with each and every one, even clothes (that's my girl!) 
Harper has been asking for a teddy bear for months so to surprise her, we went "on a bear hunt" and ended up at Build A Bear where she made a very colorful teddy bear complete with a pink satin dress and hot pink jelly sandals. We then went out to dinner where she and Graham could watch the boats on the river.  We ended the night with ice cream and more presents. 
Saturday was a day of relative rest in order to ready her for Sunday's big birthday party.  While it didn't rain for the party, it had all night long so we moved her "purple horse" party inside until the sun came out and we were able to do a few stick pony races in the front yard.  My favorite parts of her party were seeing Graham play musical chairs like a big boy, seeing Harper's friend, Rachel, put her tiny little arm around Harper's waist when the cupcakes were coming out, and seeing Harper and her friends distance themselves from the bigger and littler kids and hang out together by the slide.  She really has a friends now and they are so cute together!
I can't believe this little peanut is 3!  She acts older, but is still so tiny.  It's sort of nice though.  We get this grown up girl in such a tiny package, it makes watching her grow up a little bit easier.
Her favorite gifts were a cd player, which she plays nonstop, whether playing music or stories, a Ken doll, her teddy bear, a bubble machine, a cd of stories, a Repunzel tiara and necklace, Tangled the movie, a lego set, and a new baby doll stroller which she uses daily to take her babies for a walk.  She also got a new basket and bell for her tricycle, which she is now able to ride by peddling only! 3 brings on so many new adventures.

Karaoke at Bon Bon and Grandpa's and Fishing with Pops

Karaoke at Bon Bon and Granpa's

Lucy with the larakeets at the zoo:

The kids went fishing with Pops while in Kentucky, here are some of their catches.



Trial Run

Harper did a test run at her future preschool last week and it was a huge success.  She skipped in, with her lunch box in hand, ladybug backpack on back and a huge grin on her face.  No looking back, no tears, no fears, she was in PRESCHOOL, for a day anyway.  And the scene was much the same on her return, so many smiles, stories and love for her teachers, new friends and classroom fun.  Now she's looking forward to next year's fulltime schedule of preschool love!

Kentucky in April

I'm a month late and don't even remember the stories since we have had a zillion things going on since our return from Kentucky.  I do know the highlights: tea party with the Derby princesses, Bon Bon and my little princesses; Easter bunny train ride with Gramzie, Pop Pop, and Parker; fishing with Pops at Uncle Mark's house; a 30 inch pizza; sleepovers with Bon Bon and then Grandma; lots of tornado watches and warnings; breakfast at Keeneland the morning of the Bluegrass Stakes; bowling with Max and Molly; lunch with Nanny and Pa and lots of ice cream making with Gramzie.

Firework

My kids love Katy Perry's song"firework" but each sings it in his or her own way. Here is my interpretation of each of their renditions.
Lucy- "Baby you're a firework! C'mon show me what your worth!" complete with dramatic hand gestures and a lot of explosive jumping during the chorus.
Harper- "Baby you a fiiiiiyawok c'mon show me where you work!" she also dies some jumping but also twirls and some subtle hand gestures.
Graham- "Baby you a sighawik". His is usually stopped short by one of his sisters mocking him for the way he says firework.
Either way you sing it, we enjoy it word for word!

Quite a week!

Can you say "winner"?!  Lucy has had the best week ever, at least in her eyes.  We started on Monday with an ice cream social where we invited another two Daisy troops to our meeting for ice cream, games, etc.  Lucy was so excited to have even more friends around and was beaming from ear to ear the whole time.  From Daisies, she went home with a friend and from there to her first track meet.  Yes, her first track meet.
Since this week began, I have had no less that 4 different people comment on how much energy Lucy has. She runs to school every morning.  She jumps up and down, climbs trees or engages her friends in a game of tag when we are standing outside of school.  She is ready for warm weather and being free to move around, a lot.  So we didn't know what to expect with her first track meet.  I actually missed her first event, the "women's 100 meter dash" (love the use of "women's") but Ian was there and reported a fine race, in which she stayed in her lane and finished third.
Her second event was the "women's 200 meter dash".  This one, not as successful.  No falling, no quitting, but not much speed either.  No worries, she can running off of the track happy as could be and said, "I didn't win, but I don't care, I just loved running."

Up next was the softball throw, known in older circles as shot put.  Lucy threw it a whole 13 feet.  We're not talking a far throw, but she thought it was phenomenal. 
She asked if she could stay around for another race.  She wanted to run the 400 meter.  Since we had two other extremely tired kiddos, we told her that she had to stop at her three events.  She moped and pleaded that next meet she be able to enter more events.  How can you disagree? 
Speedy, well, maybe not.  She doesn't really care about winning just yet, just being able to run made her happy as could be.

Next up, Tuesday.  Tuesday was Lucy's first science fair.  Only a handful of kindergarteners entered the science fair this year but there was no denying lu on this one.  She was excited from the day we got  the flyer describing the fair.  She decided to study the national zoo's baby lion cubs and took it upon herself to check books out from the library at school about lions.  She decided what facts to use in her presentation and then spent 4 hours one day putting it all together, writing out the facts, cutting and pasting on photos from magazines and really getting to know all she could about the pride.  She was so well rehearsed that when asked questions from a "scientist judge" last night, she answered very clearly and excitedly.  The judge came up to me afterwards and said, "Is that your daughter?  She did very well, she was very poised."  Lucy could not have been happier with the night.  She earned a ribbon for her project, learned about other's science projects and participated in a chemistry experiment in which she got to wear goggles- a highlight of the evening. In the car on the ride home she said, "Mom, I am so proud of myself."  And that's what it is all about.

Today, Lucy came out of school with a gaggle of girls following her since we were having three over for a playdate.  Lucy solemnly said, "I got moved today from my table.  I was chatting too much.  BUT, I got put at ELLA's table!"  I'm not sure this will stop the chatter, since Ella is a good friend, but we'll see.  In addition to her being corrected for talking too much (no surprise, really) she came home with her third quarter progress report.  Perfect.  No really, a perfect progress report.  She has "mastered" all kindergarten critera and has actually surpassed it in all areas.  Definitely my turn to be proud.  Not only does she do a great job at school, but she has been putting in a lot of time at home, on her own will, reading, writing stories, working on her science fair project, adding up coins, and teaching us all about what she has learned.  Yes, we don't actually know all about everything she is learning.  For instance, do you know what oviparous means?  Look it up, it will make you feel like you should have known it, but yet, still don't!

And this brings us to tomorrow.  We leave for Kentucky.  I think in Lucy and Harper's minds, the state of Kentucky is gilded in candy, folks hand you presents at every turn and there are always people around to serve you, fetch things for you, entertain you and give to your every whim.  Wait, that isn't just in their minds, that is an actuality.  So make that, quite a couple of weeks, because Kentucky, here we come!

Water!

After the cherry blossoms and a nap, the kids were ready to splash.  Beware of how Graham dunks the baby dolls head first over and over again. And yes, we had to go out and buy Graham his own water baby so that he too could wash a baby in the buckets.  The girls weren't sharing and I quickly tired of hearing him cry about it.  Lucy has been waiting for the day when they could run around with no shoes, splash in the water and enjoy the sunshine.  And here it was...