Birthday Parties and Pony Rides

The girls were invited to a birthday party today. The parents had decided to rent ponies for the kids to ride. Alexa felt she should dress the part and was really excited to wear her boots. They were a hand me down gift from a co-worker of mine. She spent half the summer wearing them with sundresses, so I think she was really excited to wear them for riding.

It turned there was one pony, Rosie and one donkey, Stevie. The girls had a great time riding them. They both got to ride a lot as a lot of the other kids were only interested in one or two rides. Alexa was very partial to Stevie. He was small and she fit on him quite well. She even got to the point where she could get herself right up into the saddle.

Chloe rode on Rosie often, and I was excited to see that she remembered how to get herself into the saddle from her horseback riding lessons last summer.

Happy trails!

Art Wall

I took on a project today that I have been putting off for some time, cleaning off the art wall. I have devoted one of the walls in my kitchen as the place to hang the kids art work that comes home from school. The wall has actually been there since before school entered our lives. I returned home from the hospital after giving birth to Alexa to find that cute little three year old Chloe had hung pictures all over the house.

I do mean ALL over the house. Removing them was done over a series of weeks and also removed a fair amount of paint and wallpaper pieces from said walls. I decided then and there that Chloe's love of all things art should be fostered, but possibly we could direct it to just one area of the house. I typed up a very official looking sign and hung it on the kitchen wall. I figure that way the wall damage is directed to one place in the house. For the most part this has worked quite well, except of course for their bedroom walls. A few years back I divided the wall in half and add a sign for Alexa's art as well. I have been mentioning to the girls for a few weeks now that I would need to take down the art from this past school year to make room for the new things that would start coming home. I made today that day. This is what it looked like before I began...

I had become a type of art collage. As I unstuck the layers I was reminded of some of this years highlights.

Chloe's map of the world.

Alexa trying her hand at Chinese characters in honor of Chinese New Year.

Alexa's Hanukkah and Kwanza creations.

Her preschool even had a unit on famous artists and art styles. This is Alexa's attempt at pointalism.

And you have to have a hand turkey in there somewhere.

Chloe made this really cool chain of three dimensional shapes in her math class.

It looks a little bare right now. The wallpaper has sustained a bit of damage. I am completely OK with that as I feel our house has that lived in look that will never qualify us for a photo shoot in a decorating magazine. Besides I hate that wallpaper anyhow. I am just far to busy to change it. Some day I will take it all down and put up something else, or just sell the house and let someone new deal with it. Either way we are all cleared off and ready for as whole new school year of art to start coming home.

Pet Sitting

We have a guest at our house for the next few months. A small furry guest named Lucy. Lucy's dad, Jason,  has to travel a lot for work over the next few months and need a place for Lucy to stay. He brought her up from Philadelphia over Labor Day weekend and stayed for a few days to help her adjust. Cabbie and Lucy are getting along quite well, although he is a bit of an attention hog. They are quite a lap-ful when they sit on you together.

Cabbie makes a point to be wherever anyone might be dishing out a few pats.

We do try to make sure that she gets a little attention all to herself.

I mean sometimes you just want someone to lay in a sunny spot with you and show you all the cool toys in the toy catalog.

First Day of Second Grade

Well, despite being so excited she had a hard time getting to sleep last night Miss Chloe was up bright and early for her first day of school today. She was ready a full hour before she had to leave. Here she is chomping at the bit to head out.

It was a stifling 92 degrees today, but she endured it. She arrived home with nothing but positive stories.

The Wind Up

Birthday Bowling

The girls were invited to a birthday party today. It was at the bowling alley. They both insisted on really dressing up for the event.

The dresses, party hats, and bowling shoes made for quite a look.

Preschool Day Two

Alexa was much less nervous today to head to preschool. Ah, what a difference a day makes. Before it was even time to leave she was wandering around the living room like this...

Of course this afternoon she was wandering around the yard like this...

I present Alexa the bug catcher.

That is one heck of a tool belt.