Plain Ol' Summer

School starts in three weeks, so I was thinking I should probably post some of our summer pictures. In all honesty, I've been horrible about taking pictures. Mostly it's because our adventures are usually playing in the sandbox, going to the park, swimming at the local pool, or riding bikes with the neighbors. Plus, when we have bigger adventures, I've usually got my hands full just keeping track of everyone.

One of our main attractions this year has been our garden. The girls love watching, picking, and eating everything we grow, meager harvest notwithstanding. This is the whole of our carrot crop, minus several that little mouths ate fresh from the soil, dirt and all.

We started some cosmos in little windowsill pots this spring. Now they're taller than any of us with pretty purple blossoms!

I sewed a couple of back-buttoned rompers as jammies to keep the girls from undressing during naptime and bedtime. They're mostly functional, but I do love the old-timey feel to them. They make me feel like we should be on a farm. 

I promise these are the best pictures I could get of these two. 

 Really, Anna? That's the fakest smile I've ever seen.

We've spent a decent amount of time at the swimming pool, but the only picture I have is one from swimming lessons:

And after talking about it all summer, we finally made it down to the zoo. Not that we have many pictures to prove it, because...twin toddlers at the zoo.

We spent the longest time watching the elephants eat hay and play in the water. The little girls still love to talk about seeing the elephants at the zoo. They are pretty cool.

 This frog statue was one of the few that was in the shade, so we stopped for a photo op.

Some were happier than others to be sitting on the frog.

 I don't know what this face means.

And...that's our show! Thanks for watching. Now I'm off to sell my liver to pay for school supplies. Kindergarten is expensive.

Five! Five! Five!

Paige turned five this week! She is so excited to be five. Of course, this meant party was in order. She's been inviting people to her birthday party since January. Monday, we had a cake, and presents from us and Grandmas: 

I promised her a quilt back in February. Just barely finished. I'm a slowpoke.

Can you tell she decorated it herself? She lined up the candles on the edge so the could run a race. 

Paints from Grandma Tucker!

Foot pillow from Grandma Cooper!

On Saturday, we invited some friends to the park for a bigger party. We went on a nature hunt with magnifying glasses and played duck-duck-goose, then broke our homemade pinata, opened presents, ate cupcakes, and played on the playground. It was a lot of fun. 

Pre-Op

Emma had eye surgery today. I was a bit of a wreck, but Boo was a doctor's dream come true. We took a couple scrubbed-up selfies to help kill time waiting for the OR nurse.

Everything went perfectly. Now we just have to wait through recovery. When we got home, she bragged to Daddy about getting popsicles, and showed Anna her funny hospital socks. What a sweetheart.

And Now, We Feast!

We picked one of our carrots to see how big they'd gotten.

We're pretty much pros.

Meanwhile, Back on the Farm...

We were going to go to the zoo on Saturday to celebrate the little girls' birthday, but we realized last minute that it was Memorial Day Weekend in DC and the whole city would be a zoo. So instead we went to a nearby county park that's a restored 1930's-style farm.
We saw a calf,

and some goats, along with chickens, ducks, pigs, and sheep!

They also had a huge playground.

Paige even got to ring an old wind-up doorbell!

It was a good day. And, we still made it home for naps!
For the girls' actual birthday, I made an Elmo cake using a pan I'd found at a church exchange.

Emma ate three big pieces!

Anna was a little more dainty.

One of the presents they got was a little shopping cart, with pretend veggies and cake. You know, basic needs.

Daddy gave train rides in a cardboard box it came in.

Paige spend a good half hour pretended to be Rapunzel with the packing paper.

 Yep, it was a good day.

Taco Tuesday

Sunday night, I was complaining to Jeff about how busy the month of May was going to be. So I decided to make a pinata for Cinco de Mayo. I'm pretty sure that's how my logic went. At any rate, instead of putting Paige to bed, we raided the recycling bin for newspapers and whipped up some paper mache. Monday we added a second layer of mache and asked some friends if they wanted to join us for Cinco de Mayo.

A couple layers of spray paint and some googly-eyes later, we had:

Sr. Penguino!

 I was a little bit afraid that Paige wouldn't want to hit the penguin after we'd spent the day building and painting him, but she couldn't wait for her turn to take a swing at it. Candy still wins over sentimentality, I guess.

 We went youngest to oldest. Emma could barely lift the sword.

 Anna gave it a couple good swings, but no dice.

We probably should have had the boys go last. Trae broke it open when we still had the two oldest girls to go. Because it was a fast project for a group of littles, it was a pretty thin pinata. One more layer of paper would have been a nice addition.

Even so, it was a good day. Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Who Wore It Better?

I was teaching a class on family history the other night, and printed off this gem to take as one of my displays:

I thought that Paige looked like me when I was little, but going back through my pictures, Anna definitely takes the cake.

Even better, this morning, Anna decided to dress herself while I did some chores. She's very proud of herself.

I guess we know where she gets her sense of fashion.