St. Patrick's Day

The kids had picked out all the green that they were going to wear today. They also made sure to wear green pajamas so they wouldn't be pinched when they first woke up.
The Leprachaun made a mess of breakfast. He brought us Lucky Charm cereal and got all our kid cups and bowls out and made a mess.

We set a trap for Mr. Leprachaun but he gnawed his way out. Tricky tricky. Siena had placed that star toy to prop it up and it would knock over when he went in. Inside it had a celery stick and a clover. Siena was so thoughful. Both Siena and Ben were scared to look in the trap in the morning just in case a Leprachaun would jump out at them. Ben finally checked it.

Then the Leprachaun made it's way to the bathroom where the toilet water was green and then made his way out the window. So sneaky. The kids thought this was so funny.

Siena came home from school Friday so excited for the Leprachaun to come to our house. I guess they celebrated at school all day. I don't ever remember celebrating St. Patrick's day at school or at home growing up but I they have made it into a fun holiday around here. They have made the leprachaun naughty. While the kids were at lunch he came in and made their classroom a mess and made footprints all over the class windows. He did leave them some erasers and gold coins. She told me that a little boy she sits next to and her were talking about how they could catch a Leprachaun in a trap. As soon as she came home from school she made a note for the Leprachaun and went out to find a trap to trap him that night. I was just glad that I had prepared enough that I had something for the Leprachaun to leave them.

The trap looking all nice and comfy for the Leprachaun.

Dear Leprachaun. Please leave some of the things that you left me at school. The Meilstrups. So thoughtful to include us all. She put it at the bottom of the front door because Leprachauns are very small.

making the trap while Claire serenades them.

Siena getting her craft on

Siena got hooked up from her birthday. There are so many cute little girl crafts out there and she got some fun ones. Besides doing multiple shrinky dinks each day she has bracelets to make, collages to make and play mats to keep her entertained. I have never seen these collages before. You put sparkly stickers on the number to make the picture. She loves them so much.

Here is a playmat of all the Tinkerbell fairies. The mat is as big as our kitchen table. Ben and her were entertained for quite a while.

Kennedy gave Siena these cute books all put together and you add stickers and pop outs. She thought these were the best things. I don't completely understand the whole plot of the story but it shows her point of view and thought process.

She really does enjoy all these crafts and I am grateful we have a whole other table/craft area that she can take over and we don't have to clean it up every time we have to eat.
Here is her first book dedicated to Dad. Things our whole Family likes.

Our family likes to ride bikes.

We like big and get things ( I am not really sure what she is trying to say here.) look at the cute family. We love each other.

Our family crosses a bridge. The bridge is a pop-out in the fold of the book. How funny.

And the whold family will sing to Claire.

My family counted to 10.

What a cool frog. (the frog is the pop out in the binding of the book)

It had been a good day. We had Claires birthday and had a walk we had cake what a wonderful day.

Here is the second book she made.

Things I like

Ding ding ding the school bell rings. It was time for school. It's time for sisters school too.

The heart is cute. You might like it.

Look look it's a friend to play with. I have a friend too.

At home big sister and little sister colored. Or the dog will be crazy.

I'm going to fly our kite just so you know where I am.

I'll be playing outside. So I'll be with you.

We will be sisters forever. (O my gosh so cute.)

dedicated to Mom. LOVE IT!

enjoying the sun

We have a lot of yard work to get done at the beginning of Spring. It's fun at first but it gets overwhelming very quickly and I realize how much work our big yard needs. I have big dreams for it someday. I can't really get a lot of work done without Dave. I got the kids all out nicely playing they had food and I found our beach shade for Claire. By the time I got all that done I was tired and ready to back inside. I accomplished a little bit of the weeds and preparing for the garden. I guess little by little I will get there, I just hope our garden will be successful this year.

Claire enjoying her shade.

Give Claire her blanket and her baby and she is happy.

Frying Pan Park

We decided to go out and enjoy the beautiful Spring day on the farm with our friends. It was so nice, it was almost hot and the kids got a little too much sun. The kids have been falling asleep so early this week because we have been out so much enjoying the weather. At this farm there were new babies. There were tons of new pigs just a week old and new lambs. They were so tiny and so little. Ben seemed a little scared of them all. I guess they cut the tails off the lambs when they are born so they were all bloody on the back of them, it was a little ugly. We had so much fun at the farm and I felt bad that Siena was stuck in school. She doesn't seem to miss all the adventures we go on because she loves school so much. Ben being such a good big brother tickling Claire for a good picture.

This was the kids favorite part. It was a little playground that had 5 little kid size tractors.

Watching the big sheep...from a distance. They were too scared to get any closer.

The kids wanted to eat outside on the porch so they enjoyed dinner out there while I ate quietly inside by myself.

Whos who?

I thought it would be harder than it is. I guess my two girls don't really look alike.

I love this outfit.

Siena has more hair than Claire does at this age and Siena could walk. I always thought Claire had a lot of hair.

Build a Bear Party

Siena has wanted a Build A Bear party since she turned 5. She convinced me to have one this year and it was lots of fun. We went over the bridge to Maryland in the National Harbor. We celebrated with lots of friends. Siena was so excited and said she had a good time.
Allison, Haley, Piper and Kaitlyn. I thought it was cute almost all the little girls were dressed up in their party dresses except Siena. That is actually unusual. It was really cold and windy that day.
Siena stuffing her bear.

So first you pick your bear and before you stuff it you put a little heart in it. Each girl got a extra heart to make a wish and put in Siena's bear. Then you stuff the bear and sew up the back. At other places you give your bear a little bath with air blowing on it and then comb it but they didn't have that here.

Ben so proud that he got to get a bear.

Waiting patiently for all the kids to stuff their bears. They had a choice of three bears and they all got the green St. Patricks day one except Maire. Ben even chose a name that Kaitlyn picked for her bear. Bens is called Clover and Siena's is Greenie. So happy with her bear.
At the end of the party she got another stuffed bear that all her friends signed. I was impressed with the kids. There is so much stuff that you can buy for these bears. No one threw a fit that they didn't get to accessorize their bears with all the build a bear gear.

All the kids.

Haley, Piper, Kaitlyn, Maire and Sarah
Allison, Siena, Ben and Kennedy.

We couldn't have the cake part of the party inside the store so we went out to the harbor but it was so cold. I felt bad for the kids. It looked really nice but it was windy and probably in the high 40's. We sat out there and had cupcakes but I couldn't light the candle because it was too windy so we just sang and Siena looked at me like I was crazy when I told her to pretend to blow out the candle that wouldn't light.

Then the kids forgot about how cold it was and went down to the beach part and played in the sand and climbed on the weird statue they have down there. They had a great time eventhough it was cold.

I have to say I have been to two other build a bear parties and it seemed like each store was a little different. I wasn't overly impressed with this store but Siena had fun and it was everything she wanted so it worked. The people at the store told me it would last about an hour and a half and we were done in 40 minutes. I didn't really know what I was supposed to do to fill time. Happy Birthday Siena you can add your bear Greenie to the huge pile of stuffed animals on your bed.

Sarah and Siena playing

We got a dog...

and this is how Siena feels about it...
just kidding. It was fun but we realized we are NOT ready for a dog. Atleast not this dog. This is Cooper and we watched him for a friend from Saturday till Monday night. It was a little chaotic. Claire was terrified of little Cooper. I can see how, they are the exact same size. Claire would not be put down for the whole 3 days. Cooper would stay under the table and wait for Claire to drop her food, or just jump up on the chair and take it from her. Ben ran around in circles around poor Cooper. He was just so hyper. Poor Cooper didn't like the kids I think and followed Dave and I around all weekend. The kids wanted to play with him but he only wanted to play with us. The first night he ended up in our bedroom in his bed and then the second night he wined and wined but stayed down in the family room. Dave kept reminding me that we were not getting a dog... EVER. Going outside late at night for potty runs and worrying that he was going to run under our fence and run away was not fun. The hair that he shed all over our main floor was not fun. I did clean our floors really well the day after he left. But we are happy to be a dog free house now. Lesson learned I don't think there is any way of convincing Dave of ever getting a dog.