Candy Cottage

Summer made her first candy cottage. The museum had everything you could think of for decorating... from cheerios, mint, vanilla crackers, to mini marshmallows, Oreos, and so on! We had a blast. It was really cute when Summer said she wanted to build a back deck as part of the cottage design. We are in the process of building a screened-in porch and lower deck in the back.  She even named the cottage "Porchy". After the cottage project, we explored the museum a bit, then had a little shopping trip to the mall and concluded our girls' day with dinner at Chick-Fil-A, Summer's favorite place to eat. It was such a fun Saturday!

Kids Being Themselves

Forrest started to walk about a month ago, and just recently put on Summer's Cinderella high heels. At the pace he's going, he probably will outrun me in a couple of months. Summer says she's a flower fairy. The kids bring so much joy to our lives.

Thanksgiving Play

Here are some photos of Summer wearing her costume from the Thanksgiving program at her preschool. I forgot the camera, so as soon as I got home I took these, about the same time Grams arrived our house for the holidays. She was a "Dancing Octopus" and did a few songs, which she still sings to this day. Forrest just loves to copy everything she does, as you can see a glimpse of him next to her trying to copy whatever she's doing.

Thanksgiving Party

Summer signed up to bring treats for her preschool's Thanksgiving party. We made sugar cookies with orange frosting and fall sprinkles, also ice cream cones upside down as Pilgrims hats with sweet treats stuffed inside along with sliced apples for a balanced treat. It was so much fun to make these treats together and bring them to the school the next day. She had her party today and the school did a Thanksgiving program which was so cute. Summer made her feather hat, costume out of paper bags with lots of colorful paint all around and pasta beads necklace. She performed a couple of songs with her class. Super cute.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

David celebrated his birthday today. I won't say how old he is, but I do know that having little kids keep him young. Summer and I baked him a carrot cake last night, which he wanted. It turned out delicious. We were all planning to go swimming, but because Summer was not cooperating (terrible threes, uh?) David and Forrest went ahead leaving Summer and myself at home. The kids made him a birthday crown, colored birthday cards, and helped daddy blow the candles, so it was all special. 

Happy Birthday, honey!

Gymnast

With David off from work, he stayed home with Forrest while I took Summer to gymnastics. It was a treat in a way that I could take some pictures of Summer. She absolutely loves going to her gymnastics classes. She wears her leotard almost every day and practices what she learns at home. After gymnastics, she and I had a Girls' lunch which was so much fun.

Feels Like Fall

We spent the majority of our weekend outdoors. We raked (which the kids love to help) played on the swing set, rode in the wheelbarrow, and jumped in the piles of leaves. It had already been an incredibly busy November. I called our babysitter to come Sunday evening and surprised David with a date. We had a wonderful time. It was what we needed after a busy month of playing tag. I also included a photo of Summer reading a book to Forrest that I just love.

Signing Time

Signing Time! a PBS show came to Wilmington and we were so excited to meet the kids' favorite show folks, Rachel and her daughter, Leah. Summer was in awe to meet the cast. 

The kids love to watch Signing Time!

Life on Hazelstone Lane

One of my New Year's resolution for 2009 is to become a little better at photography. Ok... a lot better! I have a long ways to go. I am hoping to take an online course in photography. In attempt to journal our family's happenings and to stay in touch with family and friends, I've created this blog. Summer is 3 and Forrest is 1! How did that happen? I am excited to see what 2009 has in store for our family. 

Here we go!