We got the kids Fun Forts for their love of making forts from blankets and couch cushions, which never seem to stand up to their rough housing. Fun Forts are designed to be flexible and positioned/attached anywhere, so we made “tents” in the kids bedrooms, where they promptly entered, then demanded sleeping bags, a picnic lunch, and their flashlights.
Pretend racing at Monkey Joe’s, or as Marty calls it, Lord of the Flies.
Charley and his buddy from school, Lucien, at a play date at our house.
…”I would have glasses. I would have a wheelchair. I have gray hair and I would have dark eyes.” —Flora
Monday we went to Paster Fun Time with Lila and Raessler followed by lunch at Fudrucker’s and a visit from Charley’s Nanny, Didi.
Tuesday we went to a Puppet Show with Alice in Brookline followed by lunch at Zaftig’s, a romp at the playground, and more playing at Alice’s house.
Wednesday we had a Mommy-daughter Spa Day: pedis, lunch at Busy Bee Bakery, and a haircut.
Thursday we had a playdate at Maggie’s with her three little sisters, Mackenzie and her little brother, and Max and his little sister followed by lunch with Seneca at Polcari’s then a playdate back here at the house.
Friday we had a stay-at-home-in-jammies day and painted a kitchen wall with chalkboard paint.
View Flora’s “Plaster Fun Time” photos
View Flora’s “Puppet Playdate” photos
View Flora’s “Spa Day” photos
View Flora and Charley’s “Chalkboard Wall” photos
We celebrated Seneca’s seventh birthday party at One Stop Fun with lots of climbing, crawling, jumping, sliding, and of course cake and ice cream.
Yesterday morning…
Me (to Flora): “I know you’re tired honey, I’ll help you get dressed.”
Flora: “OWWW! You keep hurting me! I hate that skirt! Stupid pants! I’m not going to wear those!”
Me: “I’m trying to help you. If you keep yelling at me, you can get yourself dressed.”
Five minutes later…
Me: “Can you lean forward so I can brush your hair?”
Flora: “Why would I cooperate with you? You’ve been yelling at me ALL morning!”
Flora grabbed Charley’s guitar this weekend and spent an afternoon strumming along to some original tunes. Highlights included, “You’re waitin’ for me at the hotel and I’m wicked late” and my personal favorite, “It’s summertime and where do I begin…ice cream sundaes and cherry soda dripping down your chin.”
Packing a punch and topping her all-time stats at 48.25″ tall (92nd percentile) and 49 pounds heavy (71st percentile), it took two nurses plus me just to hold Flora down to get her flu shot. Let’s just say she was not a big fan of that part of her checkup :)
Watched a 1967 episode of Spiderman with Charley this morning. I said it was the Spiderman I used to watch when I was little. Charley asked if he was a Spiderboy back then :)
My favorite Christmas present, made by Amma.
Flora’s final birthday celebration was a “Pumpjama” party at Pump It Up. The kids wore cute jammies and crazy hairstyles and cooky socks, jumped and bounced ’til their hearts content, and chowed down on pizza and owl-shaped birthday cake.
Charley’s best girlfriends, Elsie and Madison, came over for a weekend playdate. All four kids had a great time playing dress-up, veterinarian, dentist, and doctor!
…but not in potty training. Charley is officially wearing big boy underwear and has been for several weeks with no accidents. Yay, Charley! Since it is his last thing left from babyhood, we haven’t asked him to give up the binky, though he’s more than ready. I’m such a sucker for his binky face — I’m the one that can’t give it up!
Saturday morning Flora went for out for donuts with Daddy for breakfast, Saturday afternoon we all went to Peacuddy’s for lunch (now closed, sniff sniff), and Saturday evening we all went to Rang Indian Bistro (her pick) for dinner followed by a Peacuddy cupcake for dessert back at home.
The birthday girl in her birthday chair — my how she has grown! At 6, Flora’s reading and writing have taken off since the start of kindergarten — she loves to read to us at bedtime to show off her skills and works hard to sound out new words. Flora is still an avid fan of art and all art and craft projects. She loves to draw the most and add details to her pictures to make them more interesting. Definitely a girlie girl, she’s a sucker for anything cute (like kittens) and anything prissy (like dresses). She’s very tall at nearly 50 inches, and packs a punch at nearly 50 pounds. She enjoys her days at kindergarten with her friends and has settled into her new routine. She loves her family, near and far, and sometimes you can catch her being very sweet to her little brother, but you have to be quick. Her favorite “people” in the house are Finn (the cat) and Rusty (her stuffed dog) — usually where there is one there is the other. Flora has grown into a creative, imaginative, and funny kid who still loves to snuggle.
It’s a Batchip, Batman.
Enjoying lemon popsicles from the new Zoku popsicle maker. Homemade popsicles in just 10 minutes!
Strong National Museum of Play
Opening presents on New Year’s Eve with cousin Josh.
Flora and Rusty’s namesake, the “real” Rusty.
Christmas Eve dinner at Taiwan Cafe.
Evidence that Santa and his reindeer were here.
The tree, minus a few ornaments.
The stockings.
Christmas morning loot.
Unwrapping presents.
The aftermath.
Christmas Dinner table. Flora filled out the seating cards and decided where everyone would sit.
Flora and her American Girl doll, Lizzy (short for Flora).
Charley getting steamy with Amma in the hotel hot tub.
Flora dunking her head in the hotel pool.
Christmas shopping on Mass Ave. It was really, really cold.
