planting the garden...

tomatoes and peppers

broccoli and cauliflower

pineapple sage was added to the herb section this year
it smells amazing

 

she didn't want to use a spoon to dig, she brought out a fork...

all planted and weed free
for now...

she loved the whole playing in the dirt part of this activity...

teeny tiny bunches of grapes

which hopefully will grow into bunches and bunches of yummy grapes

mother's day gifts

the daycare kids created these for their mom's for mothers day...
it seemed at times that we weren't going to complete them, but it all came
together and went out the door just in time for that big day.

summer baseball

he is playing on a summer league this year.
it is his first time...not sure who is most excited about this,
him, his father or his grandpa....
looking forward to a summer of watching baseball...

 

 

nail art...

yahaira received these as a birthday gift....
they were adorable ...and the little googly eyes were too cute.

8th birthday party

She wanted to go swimming for her birthday, so we booked her party at the local hotel.
She wanted a hawaiian theme and the guest list grew from 6 to 8 to a whole handful of kids
She declared it was the best birthday ever!
I rather enjoyed the simplicity of this  party where clean up was quick and easy

 

blowing out her candles...

swimming...

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday decorations....

Yahaira loved the flamingo picks for the fruit...so did all her friends

 

beautifully decorated cookies, they were the hit of the party and tasted amazing...
thanks to the very talented and creative Candace for creating these for the party.

her birthday cake, when yahara saw this she squealed and jumped up and down...
she loved that the little girl looked just like her..

ready for the party guests to arrive...

 

Farmer's Market

Our first visit this year..so good to re-acquaint ourselves  with fresh locally grown produce. To revisit some favorite booths to see just what they have In store for this season.  Exited to find a both selling whole wheat flour  the girls lovedd the mini lesson on wheat from field to flour. Looking forward to many more visits this summer and fall

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Festival of Nations

The Festival of Nations is held in St. Paul, at the RiverCentre
every year during May, this year was the 80th anniversary
of celebrating ethnic cultures in Minnesota

we arrived early (a good thing with little people) and browsed the food cafe, the bazaars, took in some entertainment and did the passport project

the kids were wowed by all the stunning costumes, at times they simply didn't know where to look next

Cassandra and I at the Italian booth
Anytime and activity requires traveling to the cities I know it's going to be a long day.
Mix in little people and one never quite knows how the day will turn out.  They did well, I think arriving early helped, but by mid afternoon it was time to call it quits, even a few of the adults were ready to leave
I managed to drive out of St. Paul without any side trips only to drive into a wicked storm system near the airport, sigh white knuckle driving for far longer than I care to ever drive in again (almost to St. Peter)
Cassandra pulled up the radar on my phone and her quiet murmur of "oh dear that doesn't look good" had me instantly alert, and bother it didn't look good.  Thankfully the kids were all asleep and thus didn't add their own blend of worry to that part of the trip.
It was a fun filled, full, exhausting, amazing day!

Passport project

 

 

 

 

an entire area devoted to getting to know each country.  we purchased passports for each of the kids and then traveled through the area learning about each country, some booths had an activity for the kids to do all the booths were filled with pictures and items from the country, and of course they could get their passport stamped.  A few of the booths even wrote their names in the native language.  Yahaira didn't think that was such a great thing, very few were able to transfer her name into their language.  I just told her that meant she had a totally unquie and wonderful name that made her one of a kind, she grinned.  Reyna loved the Mongolian Yurt.  What a fun filled activity, so much to see and learn.

entertainment

 

 

 

 

 

we decided to take a break and discovered this stage featuring childrens dance groups
Reyna was fascintaed by the music and costumes and dancing