On Friday evening, Gramma and Grampa arrived from Maine in time for dinner. The girls were very excited to see them. Andy and I both got a surprise when our girls chose Gramma and Grampa to put them to bed instead of us! This was especially nice because Beth let Grampa put her to bed!
Saturday was a pretty busy day. We got up, I made pumpkin muffins with a little help from the kids, we ate breakfast and went to the Milford Pumpkin Festival. We always have a good time at the festival and Nora was really looking forward to it. We got there right as it opened and the first thing we did was paint a pumpkin. It's been fun to watch the progression over the years of Nora (and now Beth) painting the pumpkin. Nora is still a fan of the more, um, abstract art, so she put color on the entire pumpkin and enjoyed swirling the paint. It was quite the challenge for Andy to move the pumpkin to the drying table without getting covered in paint himself! Beth was a little more serious in her painting. We got to the festival early enough that the line for the Fire Truck was short, so the kids got to climb all over the inside of the Fire Truck. Nora was interested in the water hose and air tanks. Beth was interested in anything she could pull, tug or climb on. Both belted themselves in and wanted to go on a ride in the truck. Again, this was a big change from two years ago when Nora wanted nothing to do with a firetruck! From there, we wandered down over to the Storybook Walk, which is a very friendly walk through the woods put on by one of the local schools. They changed it this year, and while I missed Mother Martha and the pumpkin farmers from previous years the walk was pretty nice this year as well. Nora still talks about the ocean fairy who sang and helped them all cross the river with the stepping stones!
Painting pumpkins and being very serious about it!
Sitting together in the fire truck. I think this was one of their favorite parts of the festival!
Beth tested out every gadget in the truck. What does this do? Where does this go? How does this work?
Firefighter Nora buckled in and ready for action!
Photography by Cynthia. Nora in fire truck.
Photography by Cynthia.Friends enjoying the pumpkin festival.
Helping the farmer pick up the fallen apples to wake up the scarecrow during the Storybook Walk.
Photography by Cynthia.Friends enjoying the pumpkin festival.
Helping the farmer pick up the fallen apples to wake up the scarecrow during the Storybook Walk.
We made it home just in time to feed the kids and head out to an afternoon birthday party. Thankfully, my in-laws were able to stay home and help us prepare for Nora's party the next day. Don mowed the lawn and Cherie made the chocolate cupcakes for Nora's party. I had been getting worried that I would have to bake and decorate them that night. Nora had been invited to two birthday parties and had to choose one (they were not close enough together to attend both). We had a fun time at the pirate party, despite my kids refusal to put on any pirate garb (I had made them both a pirate hat to wear).
Sensory table at friends party with Insta-snow. My kids love that stuff!
Riding the double glider with a good friend. Little did she know she was getting one for her birthday the next day!
Following the treasure map with her partner.
We got home from the party, ate dinner and put the kids to bed. Long but fun day for them! Again, Gramma and Grampa were able to put both kids to bed. What a blessing that was! I started making the buttercream frosting (vanilla and chocolate) and making the monkey cupcakes for Nora's birthday. The cupcakes came out pretty cute. Not my best work, but I'm not really sure if anything will compare with the butterfly's from last year! While I was doing this Andy ran out to pick up balloons and put the two person glider together (and hang it on the swingset). It was our birthday gift to Nora and we opted to hang it on the swingset instead of trying to wrap it! Andy also put together the baked french toast for Sunday's breakfast and I sliced up some strawberries.
Cupcake Monkeys for Nora's birthday party. Not nearly as fancy as last year's butterflies, but still tasty!
We woke up on Sunday morning and Nora was pretty excited. She had a very fun little family party. We had baked french toast, pumpkin muffins, cranberry coffee cake (make by Cherie) and hard boiled quail eggs (these were mostly for Beth...but a number of people ate them). Nora and Beth wanted to play on the glider, so we went to the backyard and played on the swings for awhile. I don't think we could have asked for better weather! Nora also got a scooter for her birthday, so after some backyard play, we went out front to check out the scooter. She LOVES the scooter. Another blessing, since it means her sister can use the strider bike! She also got plenty of inside toys and games that we have spent rainy afternoons playing. I think I've now played buck buck moose and trouble about a million times. Luckily, Nora and Beth can play Ants in the Pants by themselves, so I don't have to play! Her Thomas train has a special place in the train village she has created and he even gets a blanket at night to sleep!
Happy 4th Birthday Nora!
testing out the new scooter and all the safety gear.
Nora, all smiles on her new scooter!
Not to be left out, Beth was super excited that Nora got a scooter. Now, she gets to ride the Strider bike whenever she wants!
After lunch, we said goodbye to many of our family and cleaned up a bit. Then, we were off to my hockey game. It was the first time of the year when the game was early enough for the kid to attend, and they were both very excited to watch me (and perhaps their aunt Danielle even more than me) play hockey. Sadly, it was our first loss of the season. We started off strong and just fell apart. I tried to turn too quickly and wiped out, and ended up with a swollen ankle to show for it! Nora promised when I got off the ice that she would take good care of me the next day.
On Monday (nope, birthday weekend is not over yet!), we had Nora's birthday playdate. Due to the hectic schedules, I decided to have an afternoon playdate for Nora on her birthday. Lucky for me, Cherie was able to stay Monday morning and she watched the kids while I got the house picked up. I was able to wipe down the bathrooms, sweep, vacuum, chop up some veggies, put dishes away and hose off the outdoor furniture before she left (and ice my ankle a few times). Nora invited a few friends over and we painted snakes (she originally wanted a snake party), ate cupcakes and ran around the backyard. I set up a few sensory stations - some water beads with measuring cups, and some other clear beads in blue and green in a bucket with some wild animals. I'm pretty sure the water beads ended up in the water table, but the kids had a blast and I think that's all that matters! Once the party ended, we took the kids to Shorty's for Nora's birthday. They even sang happy birthday to her (she was SOOOO excited). Once the kids were in bed, there was only one more thing for me to do. Make the apple muffins for Nora to bring to share with the class on Tuesday morning for her birthday celebration.
Nora and a friend playing with water beads.
Nora and her friends at her party. All enjoying their monkey (or puppy, according to some) cupcakes.
Nora's expression when she saw her dessert, complete with candle, heading toward the table with pretty much the entire restaurant singing to her!
Mmmm...Gummy worms!
Beth enjoying her dessert as well. I think she wore more of it than she ate!
No comments:
Post a Comment