Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Rachel here. Yesterday was EG's 2nd birthday party. Just take that in for a second. :) We did a rainbow theme, and I'm so pleased with how everything turned out. I found this cute picture of a rainbow online... may have been ETSY. I knew I could get the job done, so I turned it into an adorable invitation... took me FOREVER... but OMG... so worth it.

There was a SERIOUS fear of rain. After the rain shenanigans last year, I knew I needed to be prepared to fit people in the house and keep them occupied. I dyed some rice and threw it into the water table (w/out water of course) and made a rice table. The kids LOVED it, and I now have rice all over my backyard... so it must have been fun. ;)Here's the array of rainbow colored food.

For favors I bought a silicone mold of the alphabet and made the children's names with melted crayons. They were a hit!Poor little Emma Grace... she didn't get a single thing for her birthday. ;)We are so thankful to have amazing friends and family who travel from all corners of the state (and beyond!). Each and every one of them continue to make our girls so happy... and perhaps Bryan and I as well. ;) I can't say thank you enough!

I'd also like to send out a huge shoutie to Mother Nature. It literally stormed all around us, and we didn't get a single drop. :)

Rescue 911

Wednesday I went on my VERY FIRST REAL LIFE FIELD TRIP! It was awesome! We went to the Blacksburg Fire Station downtown... literally 30 steps from our preschool door, but it was still quite the adventure. ;)
That's one of our subs Betsy... what a trooper.STOP DROP AND ROLL! Yeah that's me... I learned all about what to do if I'm ever on fire... I don't move very fast, but I know how to do it. :)

After modeling my awesome stop-drop-and rolling skills, I was given a sticker. SERIOUSLY? I'm pretty sure it was like the gold medal in sd and r... for real. Next stop... a run through of the fire engine. They let us actually go inside! Can you even believe it? We learned all about the different tools that are aboard a fire engine... so awesome! They even let us watch the lights and hear the sirens. The sirens were VERY loud.My very first preschool class ever! :) SO MUCH FUN! :)

Outside...

This week we spent the majority of our time outside playing. Check out our new fairy garden! Mommy transplanted our pots to a quaint little spot under a tree in our backyard. All of the cool wooden branch pieces are from Grandma and Grandaddy's house. Grandaddy chopped a tree down, and we've inherited some of the pieces... more on that later.
Mommy and Daddy got me a mortar and pestal to make fairy concoctions. They are hoping I'll leave the rain gauge alone... muahahaha!

'Tis the season for playing in the water. Mommy made blue ice cubes and little blue fish ice cubes for our water table. Emma Grace loved them, but sadly they melted within a few minutes. :(We also got a new pool! Hurray! Another high light this week was the abundance of strawberries we've been harvesting. We had so many, we decided to make frozen yogurt pops with them. They were scrumptious.

I have 4 DAYS of preschool next week, as it's my last week, so who knows what we'll up to. I know Mommy has tons to get done for Emma Grace's birthday party next weekend, so I can only assume she'll keep the two of us busy with projects. :)

Kung Fu Panda 2

Emma Grace here. Mommy, Daddy, Reese, and I went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 yesterday. It was my VERY FIRST MOVIE EVER... in the theaters anyway! I was a law abiding citizen until about 30 minutes 'til the end of the movie. Mommy knew we would be making our grand exit early when I began to strip down and sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. For real. :)
So basically... don't ask me how the movie ends.

Last week's shenanigans

We've been spending a lot of time outside lately... OBVIOUSLY... so regular themes/lessons have been put on the back burner. Mommy's been working on a great summer schedule for us that'll allow us PLENTY of outside exploration time along with a very short Montessori lesson. BUT until then, here's what we were up to last week.

Mommy made me a worm habitat. We collected a few worms from the garden and placed them in a jar alternating soil and sand, so we could see their tunnel trails... it was awesome... until Daddy discovered yesterday they were dead... oy. For the record there were holes in the lid.
Mommy decided to clear out some of our toys... we still own them... but weren't playing with them. We now only have one toy per opening on our shelves... this has prompted us to actually play with them... Our new rainbow music that Mommy made a la her frapaccino bottles. :)

Water play begins!

Our strawberries are poppin'. We've gotten at least this many everyday for about a week now from our little garden... AWESOME.

Take 2

Since I made such strides last go round with swimming lessons, Mommy and Daddy decided to enroll us again right away. Emma Grace does well in class until it's time to float on her back... then all shenanigans breaks loose. Luckily Aly is in her class to be a good role model. ;)
Mommy was a little shocked this go round when she discovered it was a "no parents" class. OMFG... excuse my french! Mommy explained to me that this was a chance to swim with my friends, so I was chill. I'm really confident in class this time... I'm the only one who's been under water so far... on purpose!Hopefully we'll be okay this summer with all the traveling and swimming pools in our future!

Going on a bear hunt...

After the Smith Family Fun Day at the baseball field, we decided to camp out. It went just as last time. We all went balls to the wall eating, running, playing, and roasting marshmallows. I slept outside with Daddy, and Emma Grace and Mommy slept inside.
It was a blast.