The Last Week of March

 So sweet.  I love moments like this.  Kate is such a sweet girl, always ready with a kiss and a hug.

Kate pushes her baby in the stroller all around the house, barreling through anyone and anything that gets in her way.

 Reagan is always listening to music and dancing; it's just what she does!

New sneakers.

Pretty girl.

Colored by Kate.  She is always coloring lately.  I have never seen a one year old color as often or for as long as she does every day.

I love this picture of Kate; it reminds me of ET.  The trundle under Reagan's bed was out, and Kate climbed up onto the bed and got right in the middle of the stuffed animals.  Every time she sees that hat, she puts it on, and it just made the picture.

 Kate and Collin used contact paper and tissue paper to make Easter egg decorations today.

 Kate's egg.

Collin's egg.
Reagan went to work with Dad this morning, so she didn't make a tissue paper suncatcher egg, but it sounds like she had a lot of fun at the office!

In the evening, Collin and Reagan worked on decorating some real eggs.  They used three different techniques:

crayon on hot eggs (this is my favorite; I love the way the crayon melts and looks so bright),

food dye in the egg twirling machine,

and painting with food dye and cotton swabs.

Reagan - Love Notes and School Work

George Washington

A Case of the Peace Signs

American Girl

I had a fantastic time with Reagan today.  Last night I told Reagan we were going to do something special today, but I didn't give her any details.  She begged and pleaded, but I kept it a secret.  Even today, when I told her to bring her doll (she brought McKenna) she didn't guess that we were going to American Girl.  This store is in the Natick Mall, and when we were in the parking lot, she spotted the store and screamed, "I know where we are going!!!".  She was SO excited!

We arrived around 1:00 and walked around the store for a bit.  Reagan saw a lot of things she liked, but she settled on matching sweatshirts for her and her doll and a book.


We had a 2:00 reservation for lunch at the American Girl Bistro.  This was our first time there; Reagan didn't even know there was a place to eat in the store.  We went up the escalator to the bistro and found more items for sale upstairs.  The whole time we were downstairs, Reagan was looking for the dog, Honey, but we didn't see it until we got upstairs.  She has been asking for this dog for over a year, so I knew we were buying it,  but I told her we would get it after lunch.

The bistro is very pretty and very pink.  Everyone was very friendly, and Reagan was given royal treatment.

When our names were called, Reagan grabbed a seat for her doll and we went to our table.

You can see the book that Reagan bought in this picture; it's a geography puzzle book.  I was so excited that she chose it, and I promise I had absolutely nothing to do with her choice!!!!!!

The waitress gave us conversation starters, and Reagan was very into the game.  We asked each other the questions until the waitress came to take our order.

I purchased a birthday package, so Reagan got a crown for her and a crown for her doll, a birthday tee shirt for her doll, a balloon for her doll, a book,

and we also got two appetizers, our beverages, entrees, a cake, and ice cream.  It was a great package!

For appetizers, Reagan had chicken noodle soup and I had warm pretzel bites.  Reagan also ate spaghetti and meatballs, and I had a salad.

After we ate, the staff arrived with Reagan's cake and sang Happy Birthday to her.

I think the expression on Reagan's face in the above photo is funny because she doesn't like cake and I can see her thinking that she has no intentions of eating it!  She enjoyed the ice cream though, and we brought the cake home for everyone else to enjoy (I had a piece at the bistro; I felt obligated!!!).

While we were eating lunch, Reagan pointed out a yellow car on Route 9 that she thought looked funny; it was a VW Beetle, so I told her about Punch Buggy.  A little later, she spotted a white one and ran over to punch me on the arm.  She is laughing in this picture because she thought the whole thing was just so funny.  I LOVE this picture; it's just HONEST CHILDHOOD FUN and I love to see that and be able to capture it!!

Reagan could not wait to leave the bistro.  Don't get me wrong, she was having a GREAT TIME, but she really wanted to go buy Honey and she was very concerned they would sell out!!  So, we bought Honey.  Then, as we were leaving, she spotted Honey's bed.  She didn't even ask, but I saw it on her face and I couldn't leave the store without the bed.

Here she is, as we were leaving, with McKenna and Honey.

It was a great time, and Reagan told me she had a lot of fun.  When I asked her what her favorite part of the day was, she said, "buying Honey"!  I hope she remembers this day for a long time; I know I will!  I loved spending time alone with her, we need to do that more often!

Collin's Piano Evaluation

A few weeks ago, Collin had a piano evaluation.  This was done at the piano school he attends by an independent evaluator not affiliated with the school.  We arrived at 12:00 for a 12:15 evaluation time, but the evaluations were about an hour behind schedule so we had to wait.  Collin was cool as could be, not the least bit worried, but I was nervous for him.  He amazes me because he never seems to get nervous for things like this; I wish I could be like that!

Just after 1:00, Collin went into the evaluation room and played two pieces by Beethoven (Fur Elise and Turkish March).  He did SO well!  He conducted himself in a very mature manner and played his best.  I was SO proud of him.

He received twelve scores.  Ten of the scores were ones (superior) and two of the scores were twos (excellent).

Collin's piano teacher invited Collin to play in an upcoming honors concert for the whole district.  I'm not sure how large the district is, but the teacher could only invite two or three students and one of them is Collin!!!

We are so proud of his piano playing and hope he will always play!