A Few From the Fourth

Note to us: Always charge your camera batteries before heading out to an event or activity. Always.

We got just a few shots before the camera conked out on us. One of the shots would have been really great. Sadly, however, our usually photogenic Miss Girl...blinked. I know Aunt T probably has much better photos of the two cousins together, but I'll put my lone, cropped photo of J here. It's really all I have.

We did recharge the batteries for the fireworks show that our neighbor puts on every year. Here are two that I thought were interesting. I include these because I'm sure you haven't seen enough pictures of fireworks just yet.

I call this one "Squiggles."

This one reminded me of a Weeping Willow. So, I named it...

Herman.

(What? "Willow" would have been too predictable!)

Easter and Birthday Celebrations

We decided to get one last picture of our six-year-old. He's snooze-city here with his favorite stuffed animals...er..characters, Mater and McQueen. (Humor us. We're old and he's our only child. We do things like this.)

The next day, our 7-year-old and his cousin were all dressed up for church. J was all spiffy and Miss Girl and her bunny were wearing matching dresses. A definite photo op.

After church, we returned for our combination holiday. The birthday theme was Cars. (As in the movie from Pixar.) I covered the dining table with a new plastic shower curtain. We put a picture of racing flags in the center and then J placed stickers of the Cars characters around and we wrote quotations from the movie for each. (The green print in the middle has "Mater" saying, "Let's go tractor tippin'!")

We set the table and laid out the feast. Only two individuals came prepared with bunny ears.

After dinner J chatted with his Aunt E while the daddies were outside hiding eggs.

It was 37 degrees. There was no snow, so we decided to go for it, even though Easter Egg Hunts in 37 degree weather is not what ANY of us grew up doing. We bundled everyone up. Miss Girl didn't want to change out of her Easter dress, so we got a pair of J's sweatpants and stuffed her dress into it. Either that or she had a little too much of the Easter dinner.

J, look over there. Over THERE!

See, right there.

We came inside to chip the ice off of the plastic eggs. To warm things up, we brought out the piñata. Originally it was just a generic police cruiser bought from the store.

That just wasn't good enough for Daddy. His creative side could not abide the inaccuracies. He spent a bit of time transforming the mundane police car into the Sheriff from the movie, complete with mustache grille.

After many whacks by both short people, it FINALLY broke and spilled out the candy.

It was time to eat cake. Aunt T has volunteered to be the Dessert Chef for all birthday occasions. J put in his request with written instructions and illustrations. Here is his spec form.

And here is the actual cake. Aunt T did a splendid job. I put in the request for cream cheese frosting. The cake was delicious.

Our homeschooling last week involved learning about Easter and Passover and birthday traditions from around the world. In Ireland (according to the worksheet):

"Children receive birthday "bumps" on their birthday. While being held upside down, they are gently bumped on the floor once for each year of age, and then one extra "bump" to grow on."

I jokingly suggested it. Daddy and Uncle were all for it. I couldn't believe J actually let them do it!

Breithlá shona duit

(That's "Happy Birthday" in Gaelic!)

The Christmas Experience

Thought I'd share our "Christmas Day."

At our house J was up at 4:00. We convinced him to stay in bed until 5:00. That's risin' time for him, so he was allowed to open his stocking. He played with those things for a while as we continued to drift in and out of consciousness. Finally we went downstairs to open the gifts.

His first job was to put on his Christmas Day socks with the gingerbread men on the backs:

For J, this was a "Cars" Christmas. (He watched the movie, "Cars" about 2 months ago and he's found a new passion.)

The "piece de resistance" was a new costume. J enjoys dressing as Superman, but really felt the need for a "Bizarro" costume. Bizarro, for the uninitiated, is the anti-Superman. He looks like Superman and dresses like him, but he's the enemy. His costume is comprised of all gray clothing with a purple-bordered Superman "S" on the front. Mama did her best and created a costume much to J's excitement. The gingerbread men socks were an addition.

At this point we were all the way up to 7:30. We still had 3 hours to go before heading over to Aunt T's house. J decided to get in a little reading.

Once we arrived at Aunt T's house, we got a quick picture before the mayhem began. Yes, Miss Girl is wearing HER gingerbread men socks:

During:

And after. All smiles, of course.

Happy New Year from our house to yours.