Explorers extraordinaire

Sophia and Tessa love Fancy Nancy and one of the books they love in particular is Fancy Nancy, Explorer Extraordinaire. So when Auntie Pammy and Auntie Lindsay gave Sophia an assortment of explorer equipment for her birthday, she was ecstatic (that's a fancy word for excited). She immediately caught a worm (from Daddy's bait bucket) to put in the bug catcher and started an explorer journal (another birthday present from a friend). She filled pages with the kinds of insects she might see, animals she might find, words that have ph/sh/og/at in them, her family members' names, and anything else that she thought would be important to write about. She filled a bag with her journal, pencil, binoculars, flashlight, bug catcher, a snack, some sunscreen lip gloss, a few plastic bugs to encourage the real bugs to come and be "explored," and a net to catch things.

Then today, as a wonderful way to celebrate our 12th wedding anniverary, Chuckolate and I decided to take the girls to a lake, so he could fish while we went exploring and then we could all have a picnic together. It really was a great day. The weather was beautiful, though more shady trees were definitely needed. No fish were caught but plenty of fish were fed and some ducks, as well. One nibbled Sophia's finger but she said it didn't hurt and wasn't even upset. She just kept her fingers away afterwards. We also were able to free the snail that Sophia brought home from school in its newly created water bottle habitat. (A very sarcastic thank you to Sophia's teachers!) Somehow the girls did not argue and they both did sweet things, such as when Sophia gave her last few bread crumbs to a little toddler boy who was watching them feed the ducks and when Tessa carefully replaced the Dora toy she had found under some play equipment because it belonged to someone else.

Of course, it couldn't be a completely perfect day. It was quite an ordeal getting Tessa dressed in the morning. I had to reason, insist, persuade and finally tickle, distract, and entertain while casually sliding clothes on her. Luckily, Sophia remembered from her book that you are supposed to wear long pants to explore, and she remembered from her Mommy that you shouldn't wear your nicest clothes for exploring, so she picked out pants and t-shirts for each of them to wear. However, Tessa has recently agreed with Sophia's usual assertion that dresses are the best and has even taken it a step further with her fervent insistance on pink, as well. Does the girl wear pink dresses every day? Well, no. Mommy thinks that would be ridiculous. But there is an argument every single day that she doesn't. I have begun to consider the implications of filling a closet with all pink dresses, but then she would surely change her mind and only want purple pant suits.

Enjoy the show!

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Sophia's 6th Birthday Luau

My sweet 6 year old wanted a volcano themed birthday party, so I did my best to think of volcano ideas, but at some point in time asked her if a luau would be just as good. Fortunately, she loved the idea! They kids jumped on a jumper, played at the playground, climbed through a volcano, made their own mini volcanos and watched them erupt, played a volcano erupting/musical chairs game, and played pass the coconut. We all drank pina coladas and ate kalua pork, lomi lomi salmon, huli huli chicken, potato salad, fried rice, mango, pineapple, and hula girl cupcakes with ice cream! I think that she had a great time and I may even let her have another party...next year.

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Happy Mother's Day!

Tessa's preschool had a Mother's Day Tea and it was so nice. The teachers made a little snack for us and the kids gave us a little potted plant decorated with finger print insects and a card that they drew a picture in. Tessa really enjoyed having me there and running around with her friends.Tessa and ITessa with friends Aedan, Silas, Kaitlyn, and SashaTessa and Haley, best friendsTessa with Kaitlyn and SashaHaley with her Mom, Shanna

Kaitlyn with her Mom, Jennifer

Sophia made me a beautiful necklace in her art class for Mother's Day, along with two fabulous cards. The necklace is a self portrait and is really a very cool necklace. It is made out of the plastic that you can color and then shrink. I was unable to take a very good picture of it, but you can see it well enough in this one.

Sophia also helped her Daddy to make me breakfast and they all brought it to me in bed. Of course, she and Tessa ate most of it, but it was the thought that counts. Also, I received flowers from Chuckolate a few days before and (due to a mix-up) from my Dad the day after, which meant that I had nice flowers for over a week! All in all it was great day. I just wish I could have spent it with my Mom, too, but we will have plenty of special days together when she gets back from Turkey!