Picking Strawberries

Last Friday the little girls and I went strawberry picking at Shlagel Farms.  It was quite nice.

We went with my friend, Kristen, her kiddos, and her playgroup.

Alaina and Ellie loved picking and eating strawberries (and for the most part they got the red ones).

Alaina just didn't like having her picture taken.

 

 Ellie didn't mind the camera.

Aladdin

A couple weeks ago Lizzie performed in her school musical, Aladin.  She was one of the "itty bitties," meaning third graders and under all of whom have non-speaking parts.  It was her first year in and she had a fabulous time.  Of course it was a lot of work with a couple months of bi-weekly practices, culminating in a week of long rehersals on the actual stage.  For my part I worked on the sets (just a little bit), chaperoned at practice, and sold tickets and concessions at all three shows.

Lainey was well behaved during the dress rehersals.  She spent a lot of the time just watching the practices.  Ellie, on the other had,was a handful.  I let her get away with a lot just to keep her quiet and stationary (I let her do the same thing with markers on our spring break flight).

Liz loved her costume and was delighted when she was allowed to keep it after the final show.  I'm guessing she'll wear it for Halloween this year.

Because Alaina was so much better behaved during the rehersal than her little sister, we got a sitter for Ellie and took Laines to opening night.  She enjoyed it, but got a little restless and would sometimes loudly respond to the actors on stage. At one point I coughed into my elbow and she held up hers and said, "now do mine."

 

Lizzie was in the full-cast opening and closing song and dance numbers and then one scene during the show (during which she and cohorts dances around the "bad guys" during a musical number).  She, and the other "evil spirits," had a lot of down time backstage so I sent games.  It was kind of funny to see them playing cards (Uno).  People joked that they looked like they were gambling for souls.

Lizzie was excited to have family, friends, classmates, and teachers attend her shows.  Below she pictured with her buddy, Taryn.

Lizzie was happy to be in the play with her friends, Jordan and Isabelle, though the following picture doesn't adequately show it (she was focusing on making an "evil looking" face).

The official cast party was on Sunday, but the cast also had a tradition of going to Pizzeria Uno after the Saturday night show.  Since Lizzie would not be attending the Sunday party I took her to the restuarant.  Initially she was upset, because she had assumed that even though it was 10 p.m. when we left the show we would go straight home and have our usual family movie night (the shot below was taken right after I told her that as soon as we got home she would have to go straight to bed).  In the end, wee went Uno's, Liz had fun, and didn't have another breakdown until the drive home.  We arrived at 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning which Andrew deemed highly inappropriate.

Lainey & Ellie

Ellie & Bridger

The Zoo with Cousins

Right before spring break we enjoyed a visit from my brother, Rob.  He was in town for business and brought his family along.  It was so fun!  My two youngest girls match up really well with his two boys: Alaina & Logan are only six weeks apart, while Bridger and Ellie are just three months apart.  We swam in their hotel pool, had them over for dinner, celebrated my SIL Lisa's birthday, and met up at the zoo.

Ellie & Bridger sharing a snack:

Logan and Alaina spent a lot of time examining these turtles and dividing them up amongst themselves:

The kids particularly enjoyed the play areas:

Group photo attempts (somehow it never occurred to me to get a shot of the grown-ups):

And then onto the silly faces:

And then, of course, kissing:

My b'day

I had a nice birthday this year.  It was pretty laid back which is just what I needed.  Andrew kept asking me what I wanted him to make me for breakfast and I just couldn't think of anything I wanted.  Finally, the night before it dawned on me.  I told him that for my birthday breakfast I wanted him to make breakfast for the kids (while I stayed upstairs) and he did it.  Ah, lovely.  It was a weekday so I had to "take care of" the children, but I kind of got around that by letting them watch a bunch of television while I listened to my DVD's of literary lectures.

In the evening we had Lizzie's soccer practice, but after that we went out to dinner and when we got back I was surprised to see a cake, flowers, and balloons waiting for me.  Apparently Andrew had made the cake while I was at soccer with Liz.  Andrew also bought me some shoes and cleaned the main floor the night before so that I wouldn't be bothered by any messes on my special day.  Perfect day, fabulous husband.  The only bummer is that now I have to use my new license with a very unflattering picture (Drew says I have "crazy eyes") instead of my old one in which I am young, tan, and thin.