Killer Cookies

By the way, my sister Nicki and her husband Jason are awesome chefs and bakers. This is a unique gift for the special people in your life. Create your own cookies to be delivered individually wrapped. Like chocolate and nuts? OK! Like bacon and jalapeño? OK! Like ribs? Sorry, but they're too big to fit in a cookie.

Holiday Concert

We all know how Poppy and Olive love performances. All the other kids were singing. I checked. Thanks to Nonna and Papa for the cute outfits!

Poppy and Olive

There's Mommy!

Tickle, tickle!

Can we leave now?

Scissors

Poppy: I can't find the scissors.
Me: Where did you look?
Poppy: Nowhere.

Work Clothes

I wear dresses to work all the time. The girls usually wear play clothes--like most kids. Since the holidays are coming up, I bought the girls party dresses for Christmas and Hanukkah. Olive opened the box, held the dress up, and asked, "Are these work clothes for us?" Out of the mouths of babes!

Halloween 2012

I'm going for the Last Person to Post Halloween Pictures of Their Children Award given annually to the last person to post Halloween pictures of their children. Also, I haven't posted pictures in so long because 3 year olds are HARD! So far, it's the most challenging time. They actually have worse meltdowns than during the Terrible Two's, again reinforcing the Thirsty Three's where all I want to do is drink.

Halloween Parade at school

Poppy is the dinosaur and Olive is the witch.

Their class, along with two other classes, did a performance of 5 Halloween songs. I would post the video, but it is 7 minutes of my kids with blank stares. They did not perform.

Their teacher, Ms. Joy, is behind them trying to coax them to sing.

The weekend before Halloween, we went to Hockessin to trick-or-treat at small businesses.

Voting

After arriving at the polling place, Olive asked, "Where's the boat?"

Me and my girls!

You're funny.

Olive to Poppy: You're funny, Poppy.

Poppy to Olive: I know.

Pre-School!

A new chapter begins for Olive and Poppy. This morning was their first day of pre-school! They are attending on Tuesday mornings and Thursday from 9-2:30. Thursdays include lunch and a hands-on science class. Once a week, they will have swimming, tumbling, show and share, and Spanish. Once we got over a small bump, they both had no problems with being dropped off. Poppy was worried this morning about her first day. We read My First Day of Pre-school, and she was just fine. I think overall both Poppy and Olive were excited. On the other hand, I'm a little sad that my girls look so grown up in these pictures!

Insect Safari Week

Olive and Poppy learned about so many different insects at this camp. They learned about ladybugs, cicadas, butterflies, and dragonflies. Bugs is a serious passion of theirs, especially worms!

Poppy and a worm

Olive looking sneaky as always

Comparing bugs

In the butterfly house

I can't reach!

See the monarch?

It's so sunny.

Playing at Ashland

Pretending to be in a bird's nest

The Rest of the Animals

Old MacDonald Camp has come to a close. Every day was a race to tell me about the day's events. Each day focused on a different animal, as seen by the crafts.

Poppy and Olive with their cows

Peace, love, and cows

Piggies!

Chickens!

Old MacDonald!

They didn't want their pictures taken, but I got this one of Olive. They took a hay ride pulled by a tractor.

Insect Safari began today and will last a week. Here are Poppy and Olive with their bug jars. They are allowed to keep a bug in them each day until they are picked up.

Kinder Chef Camp

On July 2nd and 3rd, Poppy and Olive had Kinder Chef Camp at Coverdale Farm. This was a parent and child camp to warm them up to the idea of camp. I've since come to the realization that both Olive and Poppy do much better socially and behaviorally when they are without a parent. Anyway, I left my camera in my car the first day of camp, so you'll have to rely on my impressive recall and story telling abilities.

We made honey bee cookies the first day. We discussed where the ingredients came from, and then collected some from the animals. The kids got to pick eggs from the hen house, search for butter in the barn where the cows live, and see the bee colony that produced the honey!

The second day, we made pasta primavera, and the kids got to pick the grape tomatoes and harvest the garlic. Chopping, measuring, and cooking all this with kids is no easy task, but it sure was fun!

Poppy and a scarecrow

Poppy sampling a tomato

Olive and her tomato

Harvesting garlic

Carrying a tablecloth with new friends

My kids don't like sitting with strange kids.

Waiting patiently for our pasta

Camp Time!

These next two weeks are camp at the Delaware Nature Society.  This week is Old MacDonald Camp at Coverdale Farm, and next week is Insect Safari at Ashland Nature Center. I was nervous to leave them since they really have not had much experience alone with strangers. In the beginning of July, we had Kinder Chefs Camp for 2 days, but I was there with them. (My plan these next couple of days is to post many pictures, so the Kinder Chef pictures will be posted soon.)


Yesterday was Sheep Day as you can see from the crafts.

Poppy and Olive

They also fed the sheep, made popcorn (see the cobs in the picture), and listened to 2 stories. They were so excited to tell me everything they did that they could barely even speak in complete sentences!

Here is the schedule for the week:

"Each Day we will highlight a special animal on the farm.  We’ll hear special stories, nibble delicious snacks, visit the farm animals, and make special crafts.

Monday:  We’ll “baaa” with the sheep.  We will feed them, hear a story about them and make a wooly sheep of our own.

Tuesday:  We’ll “mooo” with the cows.  We’ll visit our dairy and beef cow and also the calf.  We’ll enjoy a delicious dairy snack too. 

Wednesday:  We’ll “oink”with the pigs.  We will enjoy a fruit and vegetable feast and feed the pigs our scraps (they love em!).

Thursday:  We’ll “cluck” with the chickens.  We’ll visit the hens and roosters, gather eggs, touch the baby chicks, and enjoy a scrambled egg snack.

Friday:  Today we’ll meet the farmer and go on a special hayride tour around the farm. We’ll top off our week with a rousing rendition of “Old McDonald”!"

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Olive and Poppy! This one really snuck up! As usual, I am at a loss for words. I think the 2's zoomed by because it was nonstop action. I'm sure I'll be saying the same thing about the 3's next year. Enjoy the recap!

2 Years and 1 Month

Olive and Poppy

2 Years and 2 Months

Olive has the crooked diaper.

2 Years and 3 Months

Poppy and Olive

2 Years and 4 Months

Poppy

Olive

2 Years and 5 Months

Poppy, Uncle Billy, and Olive

2 Years and 6 Months

2 Years and 7 Months

Olive and Poppy

2 Years and 8 Months

Olive

Poppy

2 Years and 9 Months

Poppy

Olive

2 Years and 10 Months

Poppy and Olive

2 Years and 11 Months

Poppy and Olive

3 Years Old

Poppy

Olive

Poppy

Olive