Fancy Princesses

Our dear friends, the Roberts family, spent the day with us today, and as usual, the kids picked up right where they left off and played together like best friends. Maura and I had our first babies together in Maryland, and then our second ones came along together, too, so they've been good buddies for a while. Maura now has 4 little ones (yes - SHE is the awesome mom who drove a van full of kids from VA all by herself just to spend the day with us! How great are you Maura!!), and they are such fun kids.

A came home from a week at grandparents' houses to find a new Little Mermaid costume waiting for her, and she's worn it every day since then. When Katelyn arrived she couldn't wait to show it to her, and within minutes this was the scene on the stairs:

A was so nice to share her new costume with Katelyn. I LOVE it when A dresses up, because she doesn't do it that often, and I think this is the most blinged out I have ever seen her! They switched dresses back and forth all day, playing so nicely all the while having epic battles with the boys - zapping them with their wands and hiding from them under the covers. They went from being pretty princesses to wicked stepsisters and back again. Just too funny! She didn't want Katelyn to leave so she could play princess all the time.


side note - A saw an older girl getting her ears pierced at Claire's tonight, and she went in and asked her if it hurt. Then she fingered a rack of earrings, picking out which ones she liked best. Is this something in her future? I would bet not, but with A you just NEVER know!

what i think

is that there should be a way for moms to call in sick sometimes - like today!  ugh, it is no fun feeling so horrible when the kids all feel fine and want to do everything business as usual.  hopefully tomorrow i will be feeling better.

uh-oh-spaghetti-o

Lesson Learned: DO NOT put that half pound of cooked spaghetti noodles that you found hiding out in the way back of the refrigerator down the garbage disposal in the kitchen sink. I suppose I might have done the same thing, but I'd like to think that if I had been present when this decision was being made, I would have said the garbage can would be a better option. :)

While dear husband G is fantastic at his day job, household repair is just not something that should ever appear on his resume. So when he called me into the kitchen and I saw this:

I was sure that I would spend today waiting for a plumber to arrive and put the pipes back together and me explaining 1) why in the world a half pound of pasta was stuffed into the pipes and 2) why in the world my husband took the sink apart himself.

Quotes from G, our happy plumber:
" ooooooh yuck!"
" these pipes are really grimy"
"there's a chance I'll be able to put this back together"

" how far could it [the spaghetti] possible be? I mean, how far can spaghetti go?" [after taking off piece after piece of pipe and not finding the clog]

"the noises and sites associated with this are very similar to those of vomiting."

I'm happy to report that G DID get the pipes reassembled and the drain now drains and the water seems to be flowing without any leakage. I was amazed, and G was beaming with pride all evening! Who knew he could he so handy?

Dee - Dee - Dee?

She is missing her big brother and sister. Over the past couple days she keeps walking up to pictures of A&K saying "Dee-Dee-Dee?" (her word for big sister's name) and pointing to them. It's cute and a little sad, too. Today I pulled a picture down for her to look at and she pointed and talked to the pictures for a while. She'll be happy when they get back home tomorrow.

"where's my big brother, Mom?"

Another one!

ooh - this is WAY too much fun!

My first storyboard!

OK, the subject matter lacks variety, and the colors are odd, but I was just playing around trying to figure some things out and voila! My first storyboard! I'm so excited - endless possibilities! My poor kids will have my camera in their faces all the time, and my poor husband will never see me again now that I have my new software... ;)

1607

On Saturday we again took advantage of one of the great things about Williamsburg and visited the Jamestown Settlement, which is just up the road from our families. I went a lot as a kid, but we hadn't been in ages. The big kids went last year as part of "Camp Grandma," and K wanted us to go back so he could show me something about the bunks on the ships. They have redone the settlement since I had been there, in celebration of Jamestown's 400th anniversary. It was really nice! We spent time in the Powhatan village, exploring the dwellings and watching an interpretor make stew and corn cakes on a rock. EB was a riot - she insisted on walking everywhere, toddling in and out of the houses and fingering everything. Such a tiny tourist! Then we went to see the ships, but K was too scared to stay on board very long. He was SURE that they would fire off the canons, and even more concerning, that they would fire them off at him. I even had him ask the captain about it, and he assured K that they would NOT be firing any canons, but I don't think K believed him. So I didn't get to see what it was the K wanted to show me about the bunks (except that they are REALLY small and I am so glad I don't have to travel for 4 1/2 months on a 17th century cargo ship to get to a wilderness land populated by hostile indians). BUT, here's my interesting bit of trivia (especially for my friend Heather who thinks I have all kinds of interesting tidbits in my past) - G does a lot of genealogy, and he's traced my mom's direct line back to 2 people who came over to Jamestown in about 1614. I knew my family on both sides had been in VA FOREVER, but it's neat to know that they came over so early and to see how they probably lived. I don't believe either of those ancestors was a governor... Anyway, below are some highlights from the day.

The Powhatan dwellings were filled with all kinds of animal pelts. EB couldn't keep her hands off, and A thought it was interesting that they still had faces. Interesting, but a little creepy!

Tiny tourist heading out to the next building

The "scary boat" filled with canons. We waited safely on the dock while the others explored on board.

Trying on protective gear in the British settlement. K was so worried about the guns they were firing off nearby, so we told him this would keep him safe. EB's helmet was a little heavy, but she was determined to try to wear it.

Chores - trying to carry water. That yoke was so heavy!

It got pretty warm and the kids were tired, so we headed inside the new visitors center museum. They had recreated several houses inside the museum that you could walk through - another cool fact: my brother Ben actually built this house for the museum. He would come in after hours and work on it at night. It was amazing to see his work!

The visitor's center had a kids craft program, and K learned how to play mancala while A finished her craft. It was really fun!