Preschool Art Show and Ice Cream Social

We headed out to Ben’s Art Show at the end of April. He was so proud to show us his art and so excited to get to eat ice cream with his school buddies!

The kids with their friends Asher and Evan.

Ben was SO excited about his blue dinosaur egg.

Showing off some of his classroom.

Ben the astronaut. There was a theme with Ben’s artwork – he always used as much blue as possible.

With Miss Debbie and Miss Judy. While there we even ran into Miss Debbie’s son Sean who we had met many years ago through Campus House. But that’s just how Gainesville is. Everyone seems connected to everyone else.

Charlotte with her friend, Lydia.

The kids enjoyed their ice cream then made their way to the playground.

They played on this tire swing (or the vomit comet as they call it) with Caitlyn and Cameron for a long time.

We all had a great time. The next morning Ben asked again to go to his art show. We have been so blessed through the kids’ preschool and the friendships that they’ve made and that we’ve made with the parents.

Last Cold Night Fire Pit Dinner

Jonathan is such a great dad. He really knows what the kids will enjoy and one night he suggested doing hot dogs outside over the fire pit for dinner. The temperature was expected to drop into the 40’s that night (which is strange for late April) and we had some firewood left from the winter so we did it! I cooked the mac ‘n cheese and green beans inside, but the rest of the meal Jonathan and the kids did over the fire.

Rosemary and Jonathan cooked the hot dogs. We are a Nathan’s Hot Dogs family and we stock up whenever they’re BOGO at Publix. They’re the best as far as we’re concerned. Ben kept a very safe distance from the fire.

We just kept Charlotte at the table in her booster. She still seemed to enjoy eating outside even if she didn’t get to cook her own food.

Our chefs again.

Getting everyone’s plates ready. Sheep oversaw the process.

Getting ready to eat.

Enjoying his meal in his blue camp chair.

And what outside meal is complete without roasted marshmallows and s’mores? Somehow, every time we make s’mores we buy more stuff but still have the makings in the pantry from the last time we made them so we had plenty!

The kids thoroughly enjoyed this special night. I’m so thankful for Jonathan’s love of the outdoors. It really isn’t my thing but our kids absolutely love it and he makes sure that they get to enjoy it.

Chick-fil-a Mother Son Date Knight

In April, Ben and I went on a date to Chick-fil-a for their Mother Son Date Knight. It was a special event that the restaurant put together and we had to have reservations and put in our dinner orders ahead of time. Ben and I got dressed up (he requested to wear his vest from Easter) then headed out in the rain to Chick-fil-a.

A quick pic in the garage before making a quick dash to buckle into the car.

When we arrived, we had to wait a bit before being led to our assigned table. On our way to our seats, Ben picked out a flower for me and a knight’s tunic for himself. We were seated right in front of Ben’s friend, Grey, from school and Ben thought that was great. Our tables were covered with table cloths and we had a server bring us our food on plastic plates. We didn’t even have to get our own ketchup!

The Chick-fil-a cow did a quick tour through the area and knighted each of the boys.

(The next few pics were the ones that Chick-fil-a took during our time there).

Ben and Grey playing with their moms’ flowers.

Talking with his friend.

And the boys got to dress up in armor. Doesn’t Ben look fierce?

After our meal, we played in the play area with Ben’s friends Landon and Noah who were there with their moms for the next seating. We had a lovely evening out together. Ben’s a great date!

Titanic Illustrations

Last week, like a number of other families, we read a lot about the Titanic disaster. It started with me simply telling the kids the story. Then we picked up several books from the library and watched some online documentaries. Both Rosemary and Ben were fascinated, both with the sinking and with its discovery in 1985.

Well, today I was on the phone with my brother talking about the Titanic and during that time, Rosemary drew these pictures without looking at anything or any prompting. She did these completely on her own based on what she learned last week.

She numbered them. On the first two pages, the first picture is actually the bottom picture.

Picture 1 – The Titanic hitting the iceberg (note how a large portion of the iceberg is under the surface). We learned that instead of one long gash, there were actually six holes. She drew the six holes. She also drew the lookout in the crow’s nest.

Picture 2 – The first of the lifeboats are lowered.

Picture 3: More lifeboats are lowered.

Picture 4: She drew the ship in two pieces just before it slipped under the surface. In several things that we read and watched, survivors mentioned hearing and seeing the ship break into two pieces and seeing the propeller rising above the water.

Picture 5: (This one is a bit morbid, but we did talk about how many lost their lives). The next morning after “the cries had died away.” She showed those who jumped from the ship into the sea. One is floating on a door. I asked her if any of these people were still alive. She shook her head.

Picture 6: The Carpathia (notice the one funnel) arriving to rescue those in the lifeboats. (Interestingly, Ben likes to pretend that the Carpathia made it in time and rescued everyone on the Titanic).

Easter 2012

Since we were out of town the week before Easter, we had to condense the usual Easter week activities to just that weekend.

First, Rosemary and I went on a hunt for shoes to wear with her Easter dress. I thought it would be quick but four hours later we were finally on our way home. After dinner that night, we dyed Easter eggs. This was Ben’s first year that he was interested in being a part of things. (I don’t think we dyed eggs last year).

The kids’ finished project

We read the Easter story that night then the kids headed to bed.

Next morning, we got ready then the kids hunted for their Easter baskets. Rosemary found The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe DVD, Ben found a Cars 2 soundtrack, and Charlotte found Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton. We snapped some photos before heading to breakfast at church.

We sat in front of Ms Esther. Rosemary loves Ms Esther and searches for her every Sunday.

Taking pics of the three kids is always interesting

Who knows what is happening here?

Rosemary decided she wanted to be held too and we all almost fell over

While I finished getting lunch together, the kids had an egg hunt out in the front.

Ready to enjoy our food.22

Philadelphia Spring Break Trip-Day 5

We had a few things left to wrap up on our last day in Philadelphia.

Jonathan once again had early sessions so I finished up getting ready and packing then watched Becoming Jane. When he was done, we met up then took the subway a few stops south on Broad so that we could go to Pat’s King of Steaks where the Philly Cheesesteak was created.

I completely blew how I was supposed to order my steak and only because Jonathan said something quickly was I spared the onions. You’ve got to order fast and you don’t need to be polite at Pat’s. And you’ve got to have cash. Thank goodness Jonathan was there.

I got mine Wit-out, Whiz. (That’s without onions, with cheese whiz…doesn’t that sound awful?)

Jonathan’s was Wit, provolone, peppers, and mushrooms.

Thoroughly enjoying his Philly Cheesesteak…finally!

There’s Pat’s in the background, just a little place on the corner with only outdoor seating. We were there after the lunch rush and it was still very busy.

When we got back into Center City, we walked down Market to Declaration House. It’s a reconstruction of the house that Jefferson rented some rooms in when he wrote the Declaration.

From there, we stopped by a Philadelphia Museum. I had hoped to get to the Dream Garden mural, but we just ran out of time and I didn’t have the address with me the day I was over in that area. Otherwise, we pretty much packed as much of Philadelphia into those few days as we possibly could and saw all that we wanted to see.

We took a taxi back to the airport and were flying home right on time that night. Our kids were asleep when we got in, but it was great to see them in the morning! We were so thankful for Janice and Richard watching them so that we could go. We had such a fun time.