Today was Flora and Charley’s last day at the Y, and to say goodbye to our friends, we brought in FIFTY cupcakes to share! Flora requested pink, and Charley requested chocolate. On the 7th they will be starting at a new school with smaller class sizes and an emerging curriculum where the kids’ and teachers’ interests and passions determine what they learn and explore, rather than sticking to predetermined lesson plans. We’re very excited!
New Englanders consume more ice cream per capita than in any other part of the country, and I’m pretty sure Flora and Charley are helping maintain that statistic.
… from Flora’s garden. She put the T in my FLT (facon, lettuce and tomato).
Soc’s in Saugus has really good ice cream. Cherry Chocolate Chip for Flora, Brownie Sundae for Marty, and Oreo Cookie for Charley.
For Charley’s second birthday, I really wanted to make a cake in the shape of a Mexican sugar skull, and it determined the Mexican fiesta theme. Marty cut the shapes from round and square pieces, pieced them together, and I frosted and decorated. The whole time, Charley watched and said, “My cake, not Fwora!” and the whole time, Flora replied, “I don’t like that Charwey!”
More strawberries — we’re picking nearly a pint of these sweet berries from our garden each day, but we’re nearing the end of the season. We should have carrots and tomatoes soon!
The kids had a play date and an impromptu sleepover with cousin Seneca this weekend. Giant lollies courtesy of Aunt Hanna.
It’s been so long since we went to Kansas City that I have forgotten most of what we did! So here’s our ten day trip in short form: Papa took kids for ride in Amma’s new convertible. Spied turtle on dirt road in Kansas. Flora blew dandelions at family cemetery. Charley blew dandelions at family cemetery. Cows. Barn. Sign. Train. Ate Great Uncle Phil’s brisket. Explored green space. Climbed caterpillar. Rode bird. Hugged Great Grandma Eleanor. Looked for caterpillars with Kousin Kloey. Lunched with Gram Kaye at Winstead’s. Shared banana split. Dipped toes in horse fountain. Hugged Plaza penguin statue. Flew with Plaza penguin statue. Ate at Neighbor’s Cafe. Visited dinosaurs at Union Station. Played with Uncle Andrew at Loose Park. Traveled to Africa via the zoo. Visited Cooper and Elliot. Airplane rides. Hugged a tree. Painted at Kaleidescope. Mini golfed. Brunched on Mother’s Day. Ate Fruit Loops. And took a jacuzzi bath.
Because of the volcanic ash, our friends from London were stuck in the States for another week. But we didn’t mind, because we got another chance to visit with them. This time we played outside, ate dinner at Mexico Lindo, and went for ice cream at Soc’s. No one left disappointed!
The anticipation … and the satisfaction.
When I pack the kids’ lunch boxes, I try to use as many reusable containers as possible, but sometimes it’s impossible to avoid plastic wrap or the occasional plastic sandwich bag, which would just get tossed out at school. As an avid recycler, BPA-avoider, organic lover, water conserver, hand-me-down taker and giver, donater, compact fluorescent bulb and reusable shopping bag user, vegetarian, and anything else we can easily do in our day-to-day to lessen our family’s carbon footprint, this really bugged me. A quick google search later, I found snackTaxi — the cutest little reusable sandwich and snack bags! And what do you know, they even have a princess fabric, which I’m certain will only make Flora’s sandwiches taste better. I also found reusable bulk food/produce bags — recycling the plastic ones after every single shopping trip is such a waste, and I had been just putting loose fruit and veggies sans bags in my cart, but now I can coral them with these. Check out Nubius Organics for other “green” products and ideas. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
We’re a little burnt out on pizza, so we made Spaghetti and “Meat”balls (with Spinach) for dinner instead. The kids had fun slurping up the pasta and had super saucy faces by the end of the meal.
Marty made heart-shaped pancakes (and added chocolate chips for the kids) for breakfast this morning — yummy!
The kids missed out on their Valentine’s Day parties at school — Charley caught a tummy bug and had to stay home — but we still made cupcakes and valentines to share with friends. Flora picked the cupcake colors (pink cupcakes with pink and purple frosting), I picked the decorations (conversation hearts), and Charley just licked the frosting clean. And it will come as no surprise that Flora picked Disney Princess valentines with pencils and Charley picked Toy Story valentines with lollipops.
And since they had to miss out on the fruits of our labor, we made four special heart shaped cupcakes just for us.
This is how wide Charley opens his mouth when he wants a bite of something, or when he sees his medicine coming — loves the medicine.
Sugar Sprinkle Sparkle Donuts at Starbucks with a window seat for people watching and truck spotting.
We had a little girly dance party to officially celebrate Flora’s fourth birthday this weekend. Thank goodness her Aunt Tracy and Uncle Chuck came up from New Jersey to help with the festivities — even little parties are a lot of work! We transformed the play room into a dance floor — complete with a disco ball, lights, foil fringe curtains, and hanging decorations. Some of the kids rocked 80′s-inspired outfits, and they all cut a rug dancing to Flora’s Mix Birthday Soundtrack — twenty-one of her favorite songs. We ended the evening with homemade pizzas, cake, ice cream and presents. Flora chose to have an Ariel cake, which proved a little challenging for her parents, but we think we pulled it off. Here it is in the making.
Snowed in and looking to keep the kids busy, we decided to make Michelle’s grandmother’s Kris Kringle cutout cookies (see recipe in comments). They turned out delicious, although not as delicious as Grandma Dorothy’s. I think she used a little magic in hers.
After swimming all morning, we had a dim sum lunch at New China Pearl in Woburn — the dumplings and scallion pancakes were yum yum!
Some of the Swan clan made it up for Turkey Day to indulge in Marty’s Thanksgiving fare: roast turkey with 9-hour gravy, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, mushroom stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. When I asked Flora to tell what she was thankful for this Thanksgiving, she said, “turkey!” Charley didn’t answer, but he seemed pretty thankful for the pumpkin pie and ice cream for dessert. Happy turkey day everyone!
This morning we met friends Gina, David, Dobbin, and Kate for brunch at Full Moon Restaurant in Cambridge. It’s super kid-friendly with buckets of toys at the tables, drawing paper table cloths and crayons, and a play area with train table, kitchenette, books, and tons of toys. While waiting for our food, we ran into Jennifer and Violet of the Affleck-Garner family, and Flora played trains with Violet while I chatted up Jennifer (Ben sat at the table with baby Serafina.) Seriously. After eating, we played at the newly remodeled Cambridge Commons playground and waited for the Honk Festival parade to come by. The kids loved looking at all the costumes and dancing to the funky music.
Did you know that they make straws out of Oreo cookies? Flora and Charley certainly do.
Two satisfied customers, not to mention Mom and Dad. And to top off our breakfast of donuts in Medford, we had pizza at Santarpio’s in East Boston for dinner. Yum and yum!
