Fun Fest

Bea, Lily, Rowan, and Samm all "helped" during my 5-hour soda booth shift at the St. Joseph's annual carnival last weekend:

Bea was old enough to roam around and go on rides with her friends, though she was "cornered" by me at the soda booth on one side and Anthony at the chili cookoff on the other. She's at a great age to enjoy a taste of independence at this little fair.  She did come back looking like this at one point:

and then she talked her Dad into accepting a bag of free fish from one of the game booths that was shutting down.  She is enjoying Caramel, Henry, Lockette, Sukie, Sushi, and other names that keep changing daily:

and here's a couple pics from the day before when we headed to New Haven for the joyful trifecta of Tandoor Clay Oven, Atticus Books, and Ikea.  Fun weekend!!!

What do you wear to a Butterfly's funeral?/Annual "Up a Tree" photo

I sadly realized this week that our magnolia tree isn't going to blossom.  It went from buds to leaves, thanks to our warm March and cold April.  So sad that we can't get our annual photo of Bea in it, so this one taken earlier this month in our Japanese maple will have to suffice:

Bea came home Thursday all chatty about Samm's caterpillar never hatching and how they buried it near the cemetery on the playground and how she has to wear "blue, or something somber" to school Friday for its funeral.  It was all she could talk about, how sad it was that "it never got to fly and live its life."  Underneath this sweatshirt is a blue dress with leggings and she was ready to go. 

 Bea has been taking a pottery class downtown and loves it!  She brought home two items so far, including the bowl pictured here which she insists on eating every meal out of.  I love her sculptures and am so glad that we are able to give her this opportunity and that it's 1/2 mile away!

The other "what we're up to" right now is the book The Secret Garden.  She got it for Christmas a couple years ago and I tried it and after about 3 pages detailing cholera in India and the death of a little girl's parents and nanny, Bea remarked "I think this book is not really appropriate for children," so we put it away.  She remembered it though and we pulled it out again right after Lolo and Lola left, and are now nearly half way through reading it aloud every night.  She (and Anthony) absolutely loves it , adores the characters and how I read it with the Yorkshire accent, and goes around the house calling us "tha' "(you) and thee and herself a "lit' o' wench." The timing of year is perfect too since the birds are so noisy lately and everything is blooming in the gardens here.  There have been several books that have marked her childhood:  Charlotte's Web, the Little House series, Cricket in Times Square, Cats of Tanglewood Forest, and now this one.  This girl could sit and listen to books all day long. I wouldn't trade any of the hundreds of hours I've spent reading to her for the world!

All the Fuss

On May 4, Lolo and Lola arrived.  The cousins and Uncle Matt and Aunt Lucy  followed on Friday.  The girls played hard for 36 hours....pretend, dolls, board games, dress-up...

 time at the pool....

                                            Cataan, Sleeping Queens, and Mah Jong,

had a surprise visit from Elsa & Pocahontas, 

and then the morning of Mother's Day/First Communion arrived.

It was a wonderful way to spend Mother's Day!

Bea woke up so excited, counting the minutes until First Communion.  When I asked her what specifically she was most excited about, she said "the gifts."  I thought she meant presents, but, shame on me, she meant her role of bringing up the offertory gifts at mass:

After the main event we headed to a restaurant in RI with about 30 family/friends to celebrate the communion along with Bea's birthday and Mother's Day. The group included friends Sofia and Jillian, whom we don't see enough of!

Bea and Raina apparently snatched my phone for a minute while waiting for the food to arrive!

We all sang Happy Birthday and ate a delicious carrot cake that Bea had chosen from the bakery:

and got a group photo before everyone headed out....What a wonderful memory!

The next day, Bea went on a field trip to Southwick Zoo.  Here she is with her teacher and best buddy:

A couple days later we said goodbye to Lolo & Lola, who we'll see next in August:

(Random photo...my girl is into requesting specific hairdos each day...this day was her first fishbone/fishtail and she's so happy her hair is long enough for one of these!)

On Friday, Samm came over after school and I took the girls to see a local play of Cinderella.  Samm slept over and the next day they attended the Share-a-Day program at Sister Mary Kathleen's convent.  They had a blast and when they returned we went swimming and then home for more playing, pizza, and a movie. 

For some reason, Bea insisted she wanted to see this in black and white!

And here she is, bright and early on her birthday morning, an official 8-year-old. We had such a special moment while everyone was still sleeping, looking back on the past year and listing all the changes/accomplishments/exciting things that happened while she was 7.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings!

That night when Samm's mom picked her up, Bea shockingly announced that she was "tired of Samm" and it was time for her to go home.  We obviously followed up on this and she clarified that she was just wanted to be done with "all the fuss fuss." It's been a wild and wonderful and busy couple weeks, and our girl reminds us now and again that she's always ready to get back to our fairly simple, fairly quiet life as a family of three.

April, Come She will....

Bye by April.  Don't know where you went, but you are gone!  Looking back on my camera, some highlights of the month included a BAD KITTY book presentation,

Lily's birthday party,

a fun meet up with Rachel in Worcester, 

an artsy look with some funky McDonald's glasses,

lots of swim time,

 a fun vacation week, which included some time with Rowan,

(finally) painting the garage,

                                               and Star Wars day at the Worcester Art Museum!

We did some spring cleaning and said goodbye to some beloved childhood toys, dress-up clothes, and even her grocery cart, featured below, which was a $4 yard sale find from Weezy in 2011, came missing one wheel and left missing three, was present at many tea parties, pretend restaurants, and kitchens, got dumped way too many times, and hopefully will be enjoyed by some other tot out there, as it got picked up on the street just hours after being put out with a FREE sign taped on. 

Today the pre-First-Communion excitement starts with Lolo & Lola arriving tonight, the Dirksen family on Friday, and finally prep for our First Communion/8th Birthday/Mother's Day party with ~30 people on Sunday.  Busy, fun, and wonderful days ahead....