Proud Mommy Moment: A New Reader!!!

Turning 5 has been magical...Annabel believes she can do so many things now that she's five and reading is one of them!!! The very night she turned 5, she wanted to read to me...because "I'm five now and I can read!" She sure can, she sure can. Wow!

So...this a familiar sight around here lately...Annabel's nose in a book.
I. LOVE. IT!!!!!

Annabel even read to her preschool class, when I went in for her birthday celebration day. It had also happened to be Annabel's turn for show & tell that day and she'd brought in the book she just learned to read. Mrs. Sandercock took the time to let Annabel show off her reading to the class! I was so pleased Mrs. Sandercock did this, and I think Annabel was a little stunned but given no choice really. She did GREAT! I was SO proud of her! Talk about a proud momma moment!

And another proud mommy moment- Annabel showed off her amazing reading skills to everybody at her family birthday party! She sure wowed them all! Grandma Cheryl thought it was Bella reading, but nope- it was Annabel! So awesome!

Annabel is just SO proud of being able to read so much more now- she really believes it's because she turned five and now possesses all these new skills. Her first official book (not counting the countless sight word books and Bob books she's read): Fancy Nancy: Spectacular Spectacles. Awesome! Way to go, Annabel!

Birthday Fun at Preschool!

As part of all the birthday fun we had with Birthday #5, I went to school with Annabel that Friday after her birthday and we had a wonderful time together. We played outside, shoveling rocks into a bucket. We even hiked in the forest behind her school, looking for signs of Spring and listening for woodpeckers. Annabel and her friend, Pearl, were twins, since they coordinated wearing their new Fancy Nancy shirts together that day- oh it was so cute to see the girls' delighted faces and their sweet hugs for each other. Annabel and I played all sorts of games and with all sorts of little toys during our work times, while also completing a few land & water forms coloring sheets. It was Annabel's turn for Show & Tell that day and she did a great job sharing her favorite game- Uno, her favorite book- a Fancy Nancy book, and a disappearing coin magic trick which she demonstrated over and over for the kids to their delight! We brought in her birthday treat- Birthday Cake Oreos! We read a story to the class, too- A Birthday For Bear. The kids sang some cute songs and did the oh-so-adorable Boa Constrictor poem by Shel Silverstein, too. And it was also Annabel's turn to do her favorite job- the backpack team! A great morning at school all around! I'm so glad I had the chance to go again- I always love my mornings there. (We'll just ignore the little fact that this was my last time visiting that preschool...since I have a, sniff sniff, Kindergartner now!!)

Playground rock shoveling fun!

Annabel will go down this slide over and over again!!

Twins!

Letter box guessing game! A fave- just like last year!

Linking toys!

Patterns with clothespins!

Show & Tell: Disappearing Coin Magic!

Birthday Girl!

I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor...

oh fiddle, he's up to my middle!

 Oh heck, he's up to my neck!

Oh dread, he's up to mpfmmmfmm!

Backpack team!

STEM Night at School!

The new committee at school that I've joined (I was actually invited by the school principal to join; it was SO nice to be asked!), School Family Community Partnership, had been hard at work planning our school's STEM Night, which was a couple weeks ago. So of course we all went to enjoy a night of fun science, tech, engineering and math activities. I came into the planning process pretty late, having just joined in February, but was able to help streamline a few things and make a few suggestions, and then of course I helped run things that night. It was a successful night all around and everybody seemed to have a great time, my family included!

I'm looking forward to working with this committee more next year. It's fun to be back in my stomping grounds so to speak, and I love that this is a committee that's right up my alley, planning family events, connecting the school to families, connecting families to educational activities, ideas, and concepts, and connecting families to each other by providing opportunities to meet socially. It's fun to work behind the scenes and get to know the staff a little more, too. Perfect little spot for me, along with my library volunteering, as I figure out my next step, with both kids in school full time this Fall!

Making Lego cars to race!

Using Lego motors to make spin art- that was fun!

Spring Break Fun

Spring Break (yes, I'm catching up...it was at the end of March!) was pretty low key around here. We really just need a bunch of days unscheduled to just play, just be, and just do what we wanted. I knew April was going to be a full month, with birthdays and parties and soccer starting and such, so Spring Break was a great relaxing prelude to all of April's craziness.

We adventured with a picnic lunch to Knoch Knolls Nature Center, we played outside in our yard, the kids drew amazing pictures on our driveway with chalk, we had a couple play dates, Annabel and I had a cooking class, Daniel slept over at Grandma Cheryl's house, and we played and played.

One awesome hit during break: on that Saturday before break ended, the boys went to check out a plane building event at the little local airport. I'd seen signs around town inviting the general public to come help build a plane, "all invited" the sign said- it sounded too good to be true, and too fun to pass up. This sounded right up Ben's alley, so I told him about it and of course he was interested. Daniel was keen to check it out, too, so off the boys went that morning around 10ish. They were gone a loooong time- I never saw them again until it was over at 1:00! I was amazed they lasted that long- they must be having a great time, I kept thinking. And sure enough- they LOVED it! They are indeed actually helping to build a real kit plane. I guess this has been happening for quite some time- I was bummed we didn't know about it sooner, but you can bet the boys are going back again next month! Apparently they are working on the plane every other week all year long. My calendar is already marked for the boys! Anyway, Daniel got to practice the skills needed for building by making a name tag- so cool! They had coloring sheets of planes for the kids to color, too, and one of them was a picture of the plane they are building, so that is hanging on our wall of art by the garage. Such a fun, cool activity to be a party of. What an awesome memory Daniel will have from his childhood- I hope!

Anyway, enjoy our Spring Break pictures!

Fun at Knoch Knolls Nature Center!

Annabel still LOVES swinging!

Daniel looks so happy here- I love this captured moment!

Daniel drew this pirate ship- complete with sails, a crow's nest, captain's quarters, and canons (the squares with the circle holes- so clever!). He later added water for the ship to sail on, and then a treasure chest at the bottom of the ocean, along with a scuba diver finding the treasure. Awesome drawing!

 

 

Annabel drew a row of houses- this was just the start of her long row!

Then she drew our house- complete with house and roof, garage (the grid you see on the left) and then our bushes and basketball hoop (on the right)- I loved the way she portrayed all the little details just the way she processes them in her five year old mind. So cute!

Cooking class with Annabel!

We made "Bunny Tails" (coconut balls) and Pretzel Flowers. We had a great time!

Annabel's dollhouse family portrait.

Here's Daniel and the part of the plane he worked on!

Daniel shows off the name tag he made at the plane building event!

A Fancy Family Birthday Party, Too!

This past weekend, we celebrated Annabel's 5th Birthday with our family party! Annabel was thrilled to have all her grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and cousins here to celebrate. She was also quite delighted with the prospect of another party, although she was convinced she was turning 5 and a half for this party...because of course, she was already five, since her birthday was last week, so now she must be older. It was cute how she processed all this!

I set the party up pretty much the same way as the friends party in terms of decorations, except that some things moved into the kitchen, family room, and even outside since it was a glorious 80 degrees for this party! The kids also had fun putting their own touches on decorations. Daniel made a hanging number five, which was so sweet. He was also inspired to spell Annabel's name with streamers, which of course Annabel wanted to try doing, too. It was interesting to watch the two of them figure it out on their own, just feet apart in our front hallway. Daniel tired out by the time he did A-N-N, but I made him finish what he started- he wasn't getting away with just those three letters! Annabel, on the other hand, totally powered through and got all the letters done all on her own with absolutely no pauses- you go, girl! Anyway, such a fun personal touch made by the kids- I loved it.

This time the treat was cookies (it was parfaits for the friends party). That's what the birthday girl wanted. At sorta the last minute (Saturday afternoon, the party was Sunday)- I came up with the idea to make a giant cookie cake with our number 5 cake pan. I was just glad I remembered that I had this pan! So, we had a giant cookie 5 and several dozen cookies...all to Annabel's delight!

Annabel got her number one party wish- to open her presents outside! She was too funny- back at the beginning of April, it was still about 30 degrees outside and Annabel was quite indignant, "Daniel got to open presents outside. I want to open presents outside, too, but it's TOO cold. It's NOT FAIR!!!!" Classic little sister. But who could blame her? I asked if she'd rather celebrate in June instead when we could more likely guarantee warmer weather- she said no that was too far away. So when the party day rolled around and it was indeed super warm, we had the happiest five year old around...we couldn't have been luckier to have such gorgeous weather! (Although at one point she did say it was too hot! She even moved into the shade to do presents at one point...aiyiyi. Can't win!)

We had a really nice party- the kids all ran off and played, we did presents, we ate cookies and snacks, we played a couple of the new games Annabel got (Twister was so fun to watch!), and we all just had a great time celebrating this amazing five year old!

Annabel sure loves all her new presents, and again, we've spent a lot of time enjoying them and playing with them every day this week so far! Thank you all for coming and celebrating with us!

 Annabel looks so big and grown-up here- I simply can't believe she is FIVE!!!

Annabel picked these colors out for her cookie cake- Ben decorated it. I wished I had pink, though...still, it turned out GREAT!

Annabel's hallway streamer name!
(Those are lowercase n's on the top)

Daniel's hallway streamer "Annabel" decoration!

Welcome to the party!

We're all decorated and ready to celebrate!

We had our family sign the book with the feather pen, too!

Josie signs the book with Amelia!

Ready to open presents outside! So fun!

Annabel LOVES her new doll from Aunt Christina. This was Christina's American Girl doll when she was little and Annabel is just delighted to have her own American Girl doll now (we get the catalogs all the time, so she knows about these dolls- and this momma will NOT be paying full price for any of that; it's rather torturous to get the catalogs). Thank you, Aunt Christina, for such a special doll! Felicity- or rather Charity, as Annabel has renamed her ("but I might change my mind and name her something else later")- has basically not left Annabel's side since Sunday! She loves to brush the doll's hair and change (or rather, have me change) the doll's clothes.

Such determination in changing the doll's clothes...and no wonder, I can barely do it, too! Still, it is fun! (And I'm getting better at it!)

FIVE candles on that cake- what??? HOW did that happen?!?!

My darling girl was just so so happy!

Play time!