Grant Wishes

ramping up for good, clean fun

Birthdays are meant to be celebrated over the course of the week (month) leading up to it, through the actual birthday, and even then sometimes in the weeks (months) afterward.  Cole's been eagerly anticipating his birthday, has a full range of birthday plans on the horizon, and today was the first official kickoff to birthday weekend.

It all began when Sawyer Nursery School officially celebrated his birthday today, the last day of school before the big event.  The almost 4 year old came out of school grinning with a birthday crown, sticker, certificate and spiffy new froggie cup.  His class and teachers even sang to him at snack!  The cup was put right to use at lunchtime and works perfectly for his milk.

Cole with all his birthday goodies from Sawyer

Of course, if you are going to celebrate your birthday at school, you have to wear your fabulous new birthday shirt from Mim & Pop.  Cole was a fan as he thought it looked like a sports jersey.

While Cole had the "fun" piece of this wrapped up, Declan got to work on the "clean" part:Cinderdeclan

Once the floors were spic and span, Declan got his own private dunk.  When Cole & Quinn are at swimming, Declan gets a special treat of bathing in the kitchen sink with his buddy the rubber ducky.nakey!

I would like you to stop snapping pictures and put me in there, please.

clean, happy boy!

seriously silly

While folding laundry, the bucket brothers decided to camp out and get cozy.Raffi, Soft Blue Blanket & Ocho helped "hide" them

Once I found them, the boys were all (silly) smiles

The small rubbermaid reemerged before dinner when the big guys decided they would take turns pushing Declan across the kitchen in it, while the other raced the bucket/pusher duo.  Quite hilarious to watch!  And Declan loved taking part in the fast rides!

hugs all around

With the exception of Cole's brand new double conjunctivitis outbreak, most of the sickies seem to be subsiding.  (Fingers crossed that everyone's on the mend!)  But even with the germs, that didn't stop anyone from freely giving out hugs today...

After school Quinn thought it would be hilarious to hop into Declan's high chair and snap on the tray...until he couldn't get out!  Someone's getting a wee bit big...

meet Bobby Bear

We had a visitor today after school - Quinn brought home Bobby Bear to spend the afternoon with us and have a sleepover!  Bobby is the kindergarten class' bear and he's been lucky enough to go home with each student and have fun adventures.  Today was Quinn's turn to show Bobby around.

Quinn gathered the troops for a group hug.  Bobby got to meet Hershey Bear, Woof and Buzz!

Next up, we played some of Bobby Bear's favorite games, including Top It (a number version of War) and a phonics game.

Today was Bobby's lucky day as we had a special afternoon planned with a visit to Kidcasso for a Valentine's theme craft afternoon.  Bobby got set up with his own stool and art supplies.  He was a very well-behaved bear.

After all of the crafting was done, the artists got to switch to shaving cream art!

Bobby and artists admire the finished festive projects

At the end of the day, Quinn got to write in Bobby's adventure book to share with the class.  Quinn composed a sentence about what he and Bobby had done, and we printed out pictures to glue to his page.  In addition, we made sure to brush Bobby's teeth, just like a good little bear!  Bobby has been such a wonderful houseguest (bear.)

flying home, but first more food...

I finally got to check out the French Quarter last evening when we walked over to our farewell dinner at Muriel's Jackson Square, where we ate and ate and ate and I got to check out the creepy seance room in the back of the restaurant.  Spooky, with a ghost story to boot!  Completely stuffed after dinner, I of course had to meander over to Cafe Du Monde.  How could my trip to New Orleans be complete without scarfing down some beignets?  They were definitely yummy but I have to say they were basically individually-sized fried dough with a bucket of powdered sugar on top.  Hot out of the fryer, they were melt in your mouth delish.  Even more than the treats, I enjoyed watching the outdoor market restaurant and all of the hustle and bustle.  What an amazing business plan to only serve fried dough, coffee and beverages!

While I was working hard with the EC and eating like a queen, I was happy to get reports that my homestead was being kept up by young workers.  Emails were flying to me with subjects such as "child labor laws" and "Cinderquinn, Cindercole, Cinderdeclan..."  Cutie cleaning crew!

The house wasn't the only thing getting cleaned.  We are serious about our oral hygiene too.
Team toothbrushing!

Tom so graciously held down the fort in my absence and I'm extremely grateful, especially since it wasn't the easiest few days for the crew.  Everyone got sick as soon as I left -- bad coughs, cold, vomit, you name it - and Tom had to deal with it all on his own.  I was happy to return tonight to bestow Dad of the Year honors on my favorite big guy!

These hugs were what I was waiting for all weekend!