a few videos

(if you're getting this by e-mail, you'll need to go the website to view the videos)
one for daddy:

and one for uncle pete:

love the video on my new camera!

cherry blossoms

[warning: excessive numbers of pictures below ;-)]

the cherry blossoms around the tidal basin must be of the natural wonders of the DC area.  the richness and sheer quantity of the blooms, set amidst the massive stone emblems of our nation make for a tableau worthy of the crowds.

the girls and i went at the peak of the blossoms, on a beautiful friday morning, and it felt like a national holiday.  the metro was full of people heading in, offering advice to out-of-towners, and some kind passerby gave us their map when we emerged from the metro rather befuddled.  at the tidal basin, the throngs of cameras - i mean people - were so thick it was hard to get through.  easy to see why though, with the luminescent canopy overhead and the sweet fragrance in the air. 

we were even interviewed by some local TV station, who targeted the cute little girls in the double stroller ;-)  no, i didn't get to see it on air =)

i'm sure there is no shortage of pictures the iconic jefferson and washington monuments at this time of year, but here's my contribution:

the path runs right along the water for much of the tidal basin.  once we got away from the metro, the crowds thinned out a bit, and the girls had a ball throwing sticks and pebbles into the water.   can't tell you how many people felt compelled to tell me to keep them away from the water though =p 

somewhere around the franklin d. roosevelt memorial, we parked in a corner for a minute and the wind sent the petals swirling up around us.  the picture doesn't capture it, but it was so cool =)

the girls' favorite part was a wall over by the new martin luther king jr. memorial.  wish i'd gotten a picture of l muscling her way up the top of the wall, fingers clinging to the edges.  i had more than one person gasp as she slid down the steep wall =p  here they are at the other end:

a few from the walk back to the metro:

 having experienced the glory of the tidal basin blossoms, we realized that we had quite a few in our own backyard:

view from our balcony

the scooter was her requested birthday present

can't walk in mud without getting dirty.. can't scoot in cherry blossoms without getting petally ;-)

and finally, we rounded out the experience with a craft, of course ;-)  this came from pinterest:

if she looks grumpy, it's because she was =p  she was not happy about the paint dripping where she didn't put it, and almost gave up the craft because of it.  perfectionist, anyone?

good memories seen and made!

bookmark tutorial

back around christmas, the girls and i made bunches of picture bookmarks as gifts.  we're making a new batch to take to taiwan, so i thought i'd post the idea.  it's one of those crafts that can be cute, personal, made with materials on hand, and yet functional and polished - a winner in my book =)

personalized photo bookmarks
small photos (see below)
wide packing tape (i used 1 3/4")
colorful cardstock or spare greeting cards
glue stick
single hole punch
ribbons

1) make collage prints of the photos you want to use.  i used snapfish, but i'm sure most photo providers offer them.  eight pictures to a 4x6 worked well for me.

2) cut cardstock slightly narrower than your tape.  for the christmas batch, i used the armfuls of cards we got in the mail from charities and dressed up some with wide ribbons wound around.

fold in half and glue if using cardstock

3) stick on your pictures, leaving a space at the top for a hole punch.  this is a great cooperative craft for your preschoolers.  the girls and i had an assembly line going with a picture-gluer, a sticker-adder, and a tape-applier (me, see below).  if your kids are anything like mine, they love seeing their own pictures and reminiscing about each scene

4) cover it all in with a piece of packing tape slightly longer than the bookmark.  repeat on the other side.  now it's nicely laminated =)

 

5) punch a hole at the top, trim up the tape, tie on a pretty ribbon, and voila!

the party

c has been four for three weeks now, as she will take every opportunity to remind you.  that seems to mean that she alternates between acting about six and acting about two, but i digress.. ;-) 

since our home is unsuitable in many ways to a gaggle of kids, we had a party for her at a friend's house.  this in itself is quite remarkable.  just six months ago, i was wondering to myself who we would know to invite to a party, hardly dreaming we'd have friends willing to host one on our behalf.  and believe me, it was quite an undertaking!  we are very thankful.  many of these pictures came from the gracious hostess as well.

c surprised me by agreeing to wear her 'fancy dress' and wanting her hair braided:

the kids (and a few adults ;-) ) caught 'fish' (wrapped candies with paper clips attached) with their 'poles' (tomato stakes with strings and magnets attached):

we had a craft station where the kids could decorate pages with a space for their pictures, which i put in page protectors and tied together with ribbons to make a birthday book:

these don't do justice to the amount of glitter glue used ;-)

c gratified me by paging through this for an hour the next day and declaring it her 'favorite book' (at least for the day ;-))

the weather was gorgeous, perfect for bubbles and balloons =)

of course, there was food:

yum yum, but it will be at least a year before i attempt these again =p

knox fruit juice jigglers cut into stars

beautifully done by a sweet friend.  c had 3 more of these that afternoon!

c specifically requested a strawberry cake for weeks in advance, but of course on the party day, there were many more exciting things, so i'm not sure she even tasted it.  i, however, decided it's my all-time favorite cake =)  recipe here

as you can see, c was just thrilled to pieces that this was her special day with all of her friends and family.  it was so fun to see.  but wait, there are still.. presents!

these are used multiple times a day

the mailbox kit was a huge hit.  it sits outside their door, and daddy leaves a note every day now before leaving for work

all in all, the day was everything i could have hoped.  c still talks about it: how all the friends we invited were able to come, how she wore her fancy dress, how they used these stickers in her birthday book...

someday i hope she will look back and see how very well loved she was at the ripe old age of four =)

antidote

the girls were making me crazy tonight.  i think l is still fighting off a cold, which is making her sleep like a log and wake up like a bear, a mad one =p  when she's all the way awake and well-rested, i get my tender-hearted snuggler back, but boy can she fight and yell and cry until then.  this is something new from her, and just in time for a 22-hour international trip.. =p

anyways, i guess the antidote to crazy is laughter.  i happened across these pictures from a few months ago (my backlog is only getting longer), and they just made me smile =)

that's a bo-luo bao (chinese pineapple bun)

did you know she levitates? ;-)

now back to our regularly scheduled tax preparation.. ;-)

precious moments

scene 1
little buddy sits munching her cereal.  i'm cutting up some fruit, subconsciously counting the minutes.. ahh, here we go:  'can i sit in lappie?'  just a minute, let me finish this.  i pull my stool up to the little table, and she crawls up.  there's no sound but crunching for awhile (we are not morning people around here), and i try to get up.  protests.  my to-do list stares me in the face, tempting me to say, 'i can't hold you all day, lu.  i need to do some stuff.'  sometimes i give in, sometimes i don't.  but when i don't, i'm rewarded by snuggles and grins and the warmth of a little heart that really wants nothing more than to be close to me.  stuff can wait =)

scene 2
since turning four, c has joined the four and five-year-old routine at our church.  instead of going straight to their classes, they stay with us in the service till the offering, then go to children's church.  it's been three weeks now, but when i take hold of her hand, standing on a chair between us during worship, i still tear up.  both of the girls have been with us on various occasions, so it's not that, but before it was always temporary.   now she is here to stay.  yes, this is what it's all about - your children, still young but growing, with you, taking their place beside you in praise of our great God.  they're not meant to always be relegated to childcare so that you can concentrate, though i'm thankful for those wonderful servants.   may the Lord grant that each of our precious ones becomes wholly a part of the family of faith.

arts and letters

wow, i'm very behind on our activities.. it's been a busy month!  i'll start with something simple:  a reading/writing/drawing update...

c has come so close to reading lately that i keep expecting it all to click all of the sudden.  she can pick out most of the consonants that she hears in words, though she has a harder time with vowels.  she can make all the sounds to read words when prompted, but she still has a hard time stringing together 'duh-ah-guh' by herself.  she does do a pretty good job of spelling out words though, so it can only be a matter of time -



she also loves to write.  this might have been her first unassisted note:

the final product read 'I LOVE LUCY FROM CHLOE'

we've also worked a bit on reading music.  she can label notes on the staff by working out their relative position to notes that she knows, then play it back on the piano or violin (in a limited range of course).  i find it interesting that she prefers to actually 'read' the music (the letters anyways), i.e. following along note by note, as opposed to memorizing.

one of the most fun things though, has been the evolution of her drawing skills.  she's always loved to color, but in the past six months or so, she's started drawing on her own.  her favorite subjects are generally people, and they're quite charming =)  here's one from last august:

one from december that she put in her present to Jesus box:

we moved from egg to insect around february:

with a stop in surfer-land:

i think this is my all-time favorite to date.  the artist describes it as 'mommy and daddy when they got married, and that's lucy watching in the corner':

a rare non-portrait of 'a building with lots of different bunk beds and a window.'  reminds me of madeline =)

and finally, we have the 'family on a path by the river', marker on packing paper ;-)