ViviCakes and OlyPants

We went for a quick weekend to Tacoma, to meet our new little niece, Vivian.  She's the best.  There was SOOOOOOO much snuggling.

We did a few other things too.  We went to the Junior Daffodil parade, which Oly loved.  Although, this is her "ecstatic and in deep concentration" face:

We walked down to the water to eat, throw stuff, and get sandy shoes.

We shared cereal:

But the highlight of Oly's experience were the dogs.  She sat outside with them for hours and hours and hours.  When she finished reciting the words from each page she lifted it up and showed them the illustrations.

Now we're home and we miss that baby SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hard.

Oly, Charlie, Pepper

Oly and Vivi

Show and Tell

Oly's class has been having weekly sharing times with the kids' families.  Wednesday was our day and we shared about Papa's travel.  We showed pictures he's taken of families and food and transportation that's different from ours (specifically in India because next semester is a school-wide focus on Indian culture). 

Then we showed them currency from all over the globe, which the kids found very cool.  And lastly, we gave every kid a pair of chopsticks and practiced eating noodles with them.  I was skeptical that the kids would be this adventurous, but EVERY SINGLE ONE asked for seconds! These are the only pictures that I took of the whole afternoon, but I think they're pretty cute.

Peter Pan Party!

It was a triple birthday party this morning for the Snedikers: Ruthie, Charlie and Amelia. Ruth is completely obsessed with Peter Pan so everyone was invited to dress up as their favorite character. 

Guess who Oly was?

I'm pretty proud of the first costume I've ever sewn, although the hat left a little to be desired. Oly was scandalized about the big line that ran along the front! The real Peter doesn't have a line on his hat, she insisted. Nope, there aren't seams in the book or movie- because they're cartoons. 

Here's Peter and little Wendy.

Smee and Peter!

Almost everyone dressed up, and there were almost no duplicates.  Nate is Hook, Benny has a shirt that says, "To err is human, to arr is pirate.", Ruth is Wendy, Michael is....baby Michael (with a musket?), Oly/Peter, Benjy is a fierce pirate, Ethan is a parrot, Mila is Tinkerbell and Sophia is a cutie-pie pirate.

Happy 3rd Birthday Ruthie!

Flyers

Doin' Science

I filled a big tray with Baking Soda and a few bowls with colored vinegar, gave Oly a squirter and let her go at it.  It took up about 45 minutes, which was an amazing feat.

This video shows how we are constantly role playing, usually as parent-child (but backwards) and we use no pronouns and she's completely bossy.



She's now pretending to be the Mother Gulp-a-Gator. An identity formed from having just read P.D. Eastman's classic, "Are You My Mother?" and watching a tv show about a toy that's just like Hungry, Hungry Hippos.  Are you following? Welcome to our world  It's E-X-H-A-U-S-T-I-N-G.

Dancing

For this one, make sure to watch at :30 seconds.

Rattlebox Nature Center

We went on a class field trip to a woman's house in Media who rescues all sorts of creatures.  Bunnies, turtles, snakes, miniature ponies, we pet them all.  I only managed to take these two pictures, of Oly and little super-model Scarlett with a Parakeet on their shoulders.

Easter Post #4

This last post is Spring activities we did at home as a family.  We dyed eggs:

(Bottom middle was green tea, and on the right second up from the bottom was with Turmeric. The rest were just food coloring)

And this year we asked the Easter Bunny to come during nap so we just finished up an egg hunt in the back yard.

Happy Spring!

Easter Post #3

Again this year, we went to our friends' Dane and Katie's house for breakfast and an egg hunt.  Again, most of my pictures are of Kenai.

And they're off!

A great haul!

Easter Post #2

Then a few days later we had another hunt at Lisa O.'s house.

Trying to corral a herd of children is always a hoot.

Here's just a fraction of the adults that it takes to get 18 kids to sit and smile at a camera.