Reflections on a sleepover

This past weekend Audrey had her 9th birthday party with friends.

She wanted a sleepover. 

{shiver}

But I made a plan, and we went forward with it.

Step 1:  Send Chad & the kids to my parents' house for the night so as to cut down on chaos.

Step 2:  Enlist a few friends to help out (again, so as to cut down on chaos).

Step 3:  Plan plenty of fun activities to keep girls busy and expending their energy in a purposeful direction (again.....so as to cut down on chaos)!

Audrey & I decided to make it a "spa" party.

My friends and I gave the girls facials, hand massages, manicures & pedicures. 

Goody bags included mini-manicure sets, eye masks, body lotion, nail polish & flip flops.

The girls really seemed to enjoy it all!

Success!

We started out with pizza on the deck.

Not very spa-like but hey.

 My friend Kathleen used to own a spa and she came and gave the girls mini-facials.  While they were getting facials, I gave them hand massages.

 We even put cucumber slices on their eyes!

 Ahh, relaxation.  This was the quietest they were all night.

Well, until they fell asleep!

 After facials we played a game that Katie made up.

We had them wear their eye masks and then we had them all smell different lotions and try to "guess the scent".

Next up was manicures & pedicures but we were so busy painting 140 nails that I really don't have any good pics.

Suffice it to say, they soaked their feet in foot spas, and Katie scrubbed all those dirty feet and painted all the toes.

Then I painted all the fingers.

Thank heavens Katie really enjoys doing pedicures, because in general....feet gross me out.

And let's just say - some of those feet were pretty dirty.  :)

After this was cake & presents.

 Which I probably should have done earlier in the evening because I got them all good & sugared up right in time for bedtime.

 In fact, this girl finished up all the leftover cake from everyone else....

Then Audrey opened presents.

Her friend made her this pet rock!

And she got a bunch of gift cards among other fun things...she is so excited to go pick out some new stuff!

So off we go to the mall tomorrow....

At bedtime, the girls took awhile to settle down but I went down to where they were "sleeping" around 11pm and did a final lights out.  

They went right to sleep!

The next morning I gave them breakfast and then actually....it was a pleasant morning. 

They hung around and played....and I sat with a cup of coffee and hung out in peace!  

It was fun....but I'm glad it's over now!

First Day for Chloe

This morning Chloe FINALLY got to go to her first day of preschool.  She was really excited!

 She hopped right up on the step, grabbed her sign, and started smiling. 

She knew just what to do!

I could tell she was so proud of herself.

 This was taken right outside her preschool.

She went in with no problems and didn't even look back.

 She came  home with a cute little report about her first day.

But apparently her teacher forgot how to spell "Chloe"...  :)

 We decided to go out to Petrucci's to celebrate her first day.

On the way there, Audrey & Carter sang "Happy 1st Day to You" (to the tune of Happy Birthday).

Chloe was beaming.

"Best Day Ever!!!!!!" 

I think she will be happy to go back Friday.

And hopefully, she won't be crying when she realizes that tomorrow is NOT Friday....

First day in photos

Today Audrey started 3rd grade and Carter started kindergarten.

So proud of both of them!

 Whole neighborhood gang set for the morning departure....

 I love her expression in this one!

 Round 2 - afternoon kindergarten departure

 Look at all those blue eyes!

 Off to the bus stop

 So excited to go and proud of himself for being old enough to ride the bus!

 Can he smile any harder?

 See ya Mom & Dad!

Back home again.

A little older than when he left

And a lot more tired! :)

Everyone came off the bus with smiles.  It was a great first day!

Franklin Institute

Earlier this summer Audrey participated in a "Science in the Summer" program through our local library.  It was a 4 day program and this summer the focus was on chemistry (which initially, I thought - Yuck!  Chemistry! but of course I did not say that to HER...)  She was a little reluctant to go at first but ended up having a great time and even better - a friend of hers from church was in her class. 

On the last day of the program, the kids were given a certificate and an opportunity to visit the Franklin Institute on August 25th for free (and siblings were free too.)  So of course my husband the scientist (and myself hearing the word "free") decided it would be great to go!

We also decided it would be a fun adventure to take the train to Philly.  The kids loved it!  And it really didn't cost much more than it would have cost us to PARK if we drove.  And even more - no traffic!

Outside the Franklin Institute.

 I remember being a bit freaked out by this walk-through heart when I came here as a little girl.  But my kids wanted to go through it twice!

 Carter had fun trying out this soccer game.  You try to score goals by shooting at a virtual goalie.

 Audrey tried it too!  

So did Chloe but I didn't get a picture of that!

 If anyone knows Carter, you know that we pretty much had to drag him away from this ball maze.  He would have stayed here all day watching the balls zig-zag around.

And yes, there he is doing his signature arm flapping. :)

There were a ton of other really fun things to do. 
Carter is really into the solar system and planets so he really liked the planetarium show and the space displays.

Audrey really liked all the hands-on exhibits, the heart, and the optical illusion section of the museum.

And Chloe really got into helping make her own paper...as well as doing whatever Audrey & Carter were doing. :)

 In front of the Swann Memorial Fountain, across from the Franklin Institute.  (Thank you Wikipedia for providing me with the name of this fountain! haha)

Sharing some giggles on the train ride home.

We ended the day with a stop at a local pizza shop, and everyone fell into bed tired. 

Including the parents. :)

So, school starts Monday, and my kids have already had an educational field trip.

I'd say that is starting the school year off right!  :)

Mini-Vacay

At the end of last week, we had a little "last hurrah" of the summer in Ocean City, NJ.  We didn't go for our usual week at the shore this year....because in a few months we are headed to Disney!  But a summer would not be complete without a little beach time.  So we spent 2 days "down the shore." Fun!

 Traditional lifeguard stand pic

  

Carter had SO MUCH FUN in the water, but it was a little scary because he just had no fear.  Jumping in (and under) the waves, going out as deep as his small self could go....but boy did he have a great time!

 

 Our own little mermaid

Bathing beauty

 Of course we made a bunch of drippy castles and sandcastles

And more sandcastles

 Searching for little clams in the surf

 Found some!

 We had a great time on the boardwalk at "the rides" (which Carter talked about for days before and all the livelong day until we finally went in the evening!)

This was the first ride the kids went on....all looking excited.

Chloe went on the carousel again at the very end of the evening....now looking a bit more tired and zoned out!

 The next day we spent some more time at the beach (with Chloe trying out the boogie board).

After lunch Chad, Audrey & Carter went to play mini-golf.

We took Chloe mini-golfing a month or so ago and I decided I did not want to replicate that experience with her (not ideal having a 3 year old with a club, if you know what I mean)

 So we went for a snack..  She chose blue cotton candy.  (Yuck!)

 It was a fun trip but the kids were pretty worn out!  On the way home, Chloe promptly fell fast asleep, Carter zoned out watching all the road signs go by, and Audrey got busy creating a little work of art.  

This is a picture of us at the beach with some friends of ours that we met up with while we were there.

Oh, and in related news, we also came home with another hermit crab! 

Audrey named him?her? Rainbow Dash!

Our newest little buddy

Some close friends of ours recently had their first baby.... little Owen.

 

Isn't he cute?  

Someday he is going to love that his mama put all these stuffed animals around his head and we took pictures....

He has come to our house a few times now, and each of the kids is fascinated by him.  They all want to hold/feed/take care of him.  It is very sweet.

 Audrey is already quite good at holding him and today she got to feed him too.

 She will be a great babysitter someday!

Carter was just the cutest with him.

The first time they came over he didn't have any interest in holding him.

But today he spent quite a long time holding him...and he kept saying "I think he likes me!"

I think Owen likes you too, Carter.

Chloe (and her blue popsicle mouth) thinks she is the big cheese holding the baby.

(For once, she is NOT the "baby"!)

She got to feed him too....so proud of herself.

After they left Chloe spent the rest of the day carrying around her baby doll.

The funniest thing is she would carry around the doll with its diaper bag, then lay down the doll and say "I need to change her diaper, it is poopy, and that's gwoss!"

 

 And of course I had to hold him awhile and get my baby fix.  

And Chloe took this picture!  Not too shabby for a 3 year old!

Thanks for sharing Baby Owen with us!

A couple weeks ago, Audrey asked if we could have another baby.

I said "Oh  honey, that's so sweet....but I don't think so."

They're going to have to settle for a surrogate brother!