Pre-Easter activities

Why do only one egg hunt on Easter Sunday when you can do two more prior to Easter?  This past Saturday we joined a few friends at Deep Meadow Park for the annual Horsham Egg Hunt.  It was the first time we had gone and it was great fun.  It is for ages 8 and under and the areas are separated by age so you don't have 2 year olds being run over by 8 year olds.  Of course that meant I had to leave Lily with Megan and Mary so I could take Rowan to her age appropriate area.  There were a ton of eggs scattered on the fields.  They blew the horn and like packs of locusts the kids descended clearing every egg in their paths.  I swear the whole thing was over in less than a minute!

As soon as the egg hunt was over everyone left.  Except us.  My kids wanted to stay and play on the playground.

 We stayed long enough that eventually there was no line to see the Easter Bunny so we went and did that too.  While waiting however Lily informed me she was allergic to bunnies and would not be sitting with him/her.  Rowan did though.

Sunday Tina held her annual Easter potluck again and did another egg hunt.  This one is color coordinated.  Each kid draws for an egg color and they have to find all the eggs that are their color.  (very smart I think)  Rowan pulled a green camoflaged color egg - how hard do you think that was to find????  Eventually everyone found all 8 of their eggs though and all were happy.

All this week the girls have been staying at Joe and Diane's since Rowan's school has been closed for the Easter break.  We get them back tomorrow night and I cannot wait to see them again!  This year as well I will be making Easter dinner because Sharon has family committments that preclude her from hosting this year.  Still not sure what I am going to make....

Wee Irish Lassies

So St. Patrick's Day fell on a Sunday this year.  Didn't stop our girls from wearing their Irish green to school on Friday though.

That same Friday night Rowan went to Kenzie's house for a birthday party sleepover and Parker took Lily to see Oz, the Great and Powerful.  She really wanted to see it, I thought she might be scared during it but according to her and Parker she was not and it was a great movie!  I should have gone.  The birthday party theme was mustache's btw - maybe you figured that out ;)

 Sunday was officially St Patrick's Day and while the leprechaun does not visit our house as he does others I did do something special for the girls this year.  Saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it was awesome - a rainbow in a jar with a pot of gold at the end!  My only mistake, not realizing until the last minute that there are no blue skittles - oh well, we had a 5 color rainbow instead.

March 2013

Maybe if I just title the post as the month we are in it will seem like an all encompassing post, like this one is going to be....

Rowan played her final basketball game at the end of February.  I think she really enjoyed it and hopefully she will play again next year.  She chose not to sign up for softball this year breaking both Parker and I's hearts but she and Lily are both going to play soccer so that should keep us busy enough.

Megan came over for a play date on the 2nd so her parents could make final preparations for their Disney cruise they were leaving on the next day.  As always the girls had a blast and played with everything but this is my favourite picture of the day.  Not sure who is having more fun, Megan or Jazz.

On March 3 Jenna asked Lily and Rowan to join Grace and Ella and some old friends from Kindercare (that were in Ella's class) to go rock climbing again.  Jenna knows how much Rowan likes it and thought to involve her and we figured if Grace was going maybe Lily would give it a try too.  It was a fun couple of hours for both girls.  Parker worked on getting his belaying license during that time so he could take Rowan climbing anytime she wanted.  He did not get licensed yet because he feels he needs one more class to feel more confident.  Just another opportunity for Rowan to go climbing which we know she will not mind.

Swimming lessons started again at the Y a week ago.  Lily ended up being in a class by herself so after some careful rearranging she actually moved up a level to the Eel class! and ended up in class with Grace and one other girl with the best teacher at the Y, Miss Catherine.  Neither the Strengers (Grace's parents) nor Parker and I could be happier with the outcome.  Lily's confidence in the pool is soaring after just two lessons!

Last, but not least, for the time being, Friday the 8th was the Mother/Daughter tea at Crooked Billet.  Rowan and I have never gone before but this year we did, you are allowed to bring siblings as well so Lily came too.  Both girls put on their finest, grabbed their own teacups and off we went.  By all accounts they had a great time.  Lily got to decorate a hat which she loved and Rowan got to hang with the girls and get lots of pictures taken which is always fun.  

February Update

So either we have been very busy or very boring.  Maybe a combination of the both.  We told the kids this year that it was only going to be one activity per kid per session this year because it was so overwhelming last year running to 6 different things during the spring.  So far it has worked out well.  The girls are about to finish up the current sessions of gymnastics for Lily and basketball for Rowan and then they are both going to move back into swimming lessons starting the first weekend in March.  We will continue that until the pool opens for the summer and they will both play soccer in the spring.  Rowan did not want to play softball this year so that eliminates a huge time commitment.

Parker and I have been dieting and exercising religiously since the beginning of the year (how terribly cliche) but it is totally working for us and we are both down almost 20 pounds each and going strong.  We both have goals and are striving for them.  Mary Summer and I are doing this together as well and she suggested trying to train for a 5K so damn if we aren't doing that too.  That's right - I started running - who would ever have thought that would happen???  I even signed us up for a fun 5K at http://www.runordye.com/locations/Philadelphia-2013 and neither of us can wait for it to get here!

Things that have occurred over the last few weeks.  Lily went away from our house for her first sleepover ever.  She went to Megan's house and was so excited to go!

And here she was about 4 hours later back at our house in her jammies and wanting to sleep at home.  Maybe next time....

Last weekend Lily had a playdate at our house with a boy from her class!  We kept joking that she was having a date with him, his name is Dylan - and she was very quick to constantly point out it was a PLAYdate not a DATE!  She however felt the need to wear her Snow White dress while he was here ;)

This past weekend was the President's Day long weekend here.  Rowan got a climbing package for Christmas that she cashed in on Saturday night and took McKenzie with her too.  It was called Kids Night Out at Doylestown Rock Gym and it fed them pizza and let them climb for 3 hours.  She was in heaven.

Sunday some daycare parents and I and the kids and Rowan and Olivia went to Happy Tymes to spend some energy and some money!   They have another rock wall there so Rowan was all over that and when she was not trying that out she and Olivia were burning dollar bills in all the games!  Lily and her friends however were all over the place riding the few rides they have approximately 50 times each!

Monday I was off work and both girls schools were closed so we ran errands and they were both going to go to a doc appt with me but Gary stepped up and offered to take Lily bowling with him and his kids and another friend!  Score!

Apparently Lily was on quite a tear scoring multiple spares!

Last but not least...how cute is this??