Annie

Happy 2nd Birthday to our Annie girl! How have you gotten so big? We are so glad you are part of our family and have had a fun time celebrating with you.

We went with the "Old MacDonald" cake theme since this little lady is a lover of the song.

She loved her cake, which made me happy. After her nap, Annie spent probably an hour standing on a chair and looking at her cake and pointing to all the animals and saying their sounds.

Thank you "Little People" for substituting as cake decorations. Pay special note to the fact that the cake looks good. By the last picture when it's actually 'cake time' things had started falling apart. I have yet to perfect making allergy friendly (no egg) cakes in a way that they aren't so moist they fall apart. It gets tricky when it comes to these specialty cakes. Any suggestions besides freezing them or adding flour to the recipe (been there done that) would be appreciated.

PRESENT TIME!!!! Notice Annie getting in serious mode.

It's funny that in a house with tons of baby dolls a few new ones could even be exciting. However, we have been in baby doll crazy mode since the new birthday arrivals have become part of the family.

Oh so happy! (notice the gross-looking cake? HELP!!!)

Happy Birthday girl. Love you!

Back To School

School started for us in normal Singer-style...life had to be crazy and someone had to be sick. This time the winner was Mary.

Andrew had his FIRST first day of school. Our excited kindergartener!

1st shirt of the school year--why his RED StarWars shirt, of course. (that Star Wars may have a short lived life in our home is a true prayer in my heart)

A happier than it looks bunch for the first day of school.

Andrew and Andrew, neighbors and bus buddies!
Mary had a fever for 2 1/2 days at the start of the week. It broke late the day before school started, so she had to miss both "meet your teacher" day and the first day of school.

Mary posing for the 2nd day of school (her first)

The bus stop gang!

After coming home from day 2 of school having eaten no lunch and still looking exhausted and complaining of her mouth hurting, Mary stayed home the 3rd day as well. Then she actually attended for a full week but got sent home with a fever last week. We are off to a GREAT start. Hopefully we're getting all the insanity over with early.

It's Always Fun for Everyone When Grandma Comes!

I'm a bit behind posting on life. Let's flashback to August...

Rita, aka Grandma, came out to visit for a week in mid-August. She told us several months ago that she would come out and stay with the kids for a few days so Matt and I could have a mini-getaway to celebrate our 10th anniverary. I had a few days with Rita before we left; we didn't do any major adventures but took her to a few places she hadn't been yet.

Grandma, Mary and Andrew posing at Jonathan's Dream playground in West Hartford. It's a playground for all types of kids, including those with disabilities, so it had a different design and feel. The kids loved it!

We took a mini day trip up to S. Deerfield, MA and went to Yankee Candle. The kids have so much fun, they hardly realize they are at a candle store.

I guess it's hard to think 'candle' when you can dress up and play on a pirate ship.

...or when you can sit on a throne and feel all royal.

Phil and Jen came to visit for the day on Saturday, and then Monday Matt and I headed to Newport, RI for 3 days. The kids and Grandma had a successful few days (I think she might even be willing to do it again one day!). Matt and I did too. Here's a few shots of fun in Newport:

Matt and I in the backyard of Rosecliff, one of the mansions we toured in Newport.

A heel-click at the Breakers (another mansion)...well, because I could. It's amazing what you can do without a stroller or a bag of diapers and snacks for kids.

The weather stunk most of the time, but we didn't let wind or rain stop us from doing the Cliff Walk. Matt almost blew away...almost.

Yes, we ate PEANUTS. While we were ate it, we ate some SOY and EGGS too. We ordered and ate anything we wanted, with no thought of allergies...it felt nice.

It was a great, relaxing 3 days. We did miss the kiddos though and were happy to come home as happy, refreshed parents. Thanks Rita!!!!

You say "Tomato", I say "Tomahto"

It's been a good garden this summer. The cucumbers have been a great success and would be an even greater success if I could stand eating them. Fortunately, Matt and Annie (and our neighbors) like them. It's been so fun having fresh tomatoes in meals and our green beans have been never ending. That has been fun. We had some awesome brocolli, lots of peas, not so awesome bell pepper plants, and are waiting to be surprised by our potatoes and the few canteloupe that are finally growing. I'm excited to get in another round of lettuce and spinich as the summer starts to wind down.

Overall, more successful than last year and I'm excited to build another box or two for next year.

Broadway Baby

The last 2 weeks at this house have been extremely full...and crazy, I'll be honest. We got home from vacation and the following Monday began 2 weeks of Theater Class in the mornings and swim lessons in the afternoons. It made for lots of fun and lots of long days. It hit me hard in terms of being so exhausted and having the most disgusting house on the planet.

Mary and Andrew LOVED theater class. It was 1 1/2 hours each day and at the end of two weeks, they did a performance of "Rainbow Fish." The kids created their set, learned their lines, etc, etc. My kids, whose lives revolve around dressing up and playing pretend, thought they were in heaven. They performed in a local high school auditorium and then watched the 2 older age group classes put on their plays.

Mary was the starfish. This is her big part with Rainbow Fish. She loved walking around slowly with her arms out ("starfish are slow, you know, Mom.").

Andrew is there on the far left. He did a great job of saying his part so loud.

Here are some of the kids after the show. Several other families from church had kids in the class too and they had fun being with their friends and making new friends.

Happy kiddos. If only they would just choose to be a starfish and a regular fish for Halloween, my life would be perfect!!!!

And I forgot my camera at swim lessons everyday, but it was a great 2 weeks for both kids. Andrew passed level one and is doing great going under water and trying to do more and more things. Mary was so afraid of doing Level 2 b/c she was nervous about having her head in the water. She really stepped it up though and hit a big turning point the 2nd week of being fine going under the water and being a successful backfloater. She passed most of the level 2 skills but has a few left to work on. The kids are actually excited that it means they'll get to be in level 2 together next year. :)

Kirtland/Palmyra--the trip on the way home from the trip

On our way home, we decided to take a different route. I had fears of the state of Pennsylvania and those horrid "Be Prepared to Stop" signs that made our drive out take forever. Plus we bought a car while in MO and were driving 2 back so we thought it would be fun to break up the drive a bit. We took I-90 instead of I-80 which added about 60 miles but let us see Kirtland, OH and Palmyra, NY. Both sites full of a lot of LDS church history. Matt had never been to either and the last time I had been, I was a teenager.

First stop--Kirtland, OH

Here are Whit and Annie outside of the Newel K. Whitney store. Our tour group actually included a few other families and these girls weren't too big on listening to the guide tell about history. They preferred being loud and not being still, so I played outside with them while Matt, Mary and Andrew got the tour (and even those guys only made it through this first building).
I did manage to get to see the movie at the visitor's center, so I got a small portion of the tour.

One day Whit will think it's cool that this store has her name in it. She kind of thought it was cool already. She might wonder if she was named after Newel K Whitney (no) and we'll assure her that if that was the case, we would have just named Andrew 'Newel.'

From that part of Kirtland, we drove up the road to see the Kirtland Temple. It's no longer owned by our church but we walked around the grounds and got some pictures. Decided against a tour, given how well the other tour had gone a few minutes earlier.



From Kirtland we got back driving and headed on I-90 to Palmyra, NY. We stopped at the Hill Cumorah and treked our way to the top. The kids kept wondering/guessing where the plates might have been buried and it was pretty cute. The view was great.

Another typically 'awesome' shot of the kids.

There is a nice monument at the top of the hill. The kids enjoyed marching around it and being oh so reverent. :)

From the Hill Cumorah, we drove to the Smith Family Farm and got to tour where Joseph Smith's family lived while he was growing up. Just outside the farm is the Sacred Grove. It was really great taking the kids there because they have heard of it so often and suddenly it was a real place. Whit and Annie were just cute and silly and while Mary and Andrew were too, I know it meant something more to them. I'm really glad we got the chance to take them there and talk to them about important things that really impact who they are and the things we believe.

The drive back overall went really great. The 2 car thing ended up not being so horrible and it felt so good getting home. I'm excited for future "trips on the way home from the trip" to do this again (in a few years) and to hit Niagra Falls.

**Any song titles out there for this post...my brain is getting infinitely less creative with each post.

Nauvoo--the trip within the trip

While we were in Missouri, we left for 3 days and 2 nights and went up to Nauvoo, Illinois. Rita and Clem, aka Grandma and Grandpa, were serving up there for 3 1/2 weeks as volunteers. Clem was in the pageant and Rita was a seamstress for the pageant. We were excited to go up and see them and see Grandpa in the show.

The kids were loving how much they got to eat out. Hotel breakfasts, picnic lunches, fast food dinners. By the end, they were tired of picnic lunches (as was I) but never tired of fun things like slurpees and BK crowns.

I love the Monuments to Women Garden outside the visitor's center. We were actually the only ones there which was nice.

The kids love trying to pose like the statues. They also like hitting the buttons that play music.

Before the pageant, there are preshow activities for an hour and a half. We got to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa and the kids convinced Grandpa to pull them in the handcart. As if he wasn't hot enough in those long sleeves and pants.

Whit and Matt doing some stilt walking. I do believe it was 142 degrees that night. We were guzzling water like there was no tomorrow and we were all dripping with sweat. Yummy. The nice part was that everyone there was just as gross as we were.

Next morning, we got up and headed over to some outdoor activities before it go too hot later in the day. Here's Annie and Whit having fun on our wagon ride.

Grandma was off sewing but we got to have Grandpa as company. Actually a cute picture of us (only try #2)

I love this one of Andrew. He is playing 'pioneer games' (I believe it was mini-bowling) though it looks like he is shooting craps.

Mary was loving dressing up. At this point it was only like 94 degrees, though she didn't seem to mind.

Whit refused to dress up but played her heart out in the mini-log cabin and school.

Annie was cracking me up in this funny outfit!

After a morning of outdoor fun, we headed to the school where Grandma worked with all the sewing ladies. She took us on a tour and Mary got to sample a bonnet that was not current being used.

Night #2 of being there, Whit and Annie were too overtired to stay up til after 11pm again. I stayed back at the hotel with them (and actually fell asleep myself at like 7:30pm--what the party girl, I know). Matt took Mary and Andrew to the pre-show and show again. They loved getting to watch Grandpa perform.

Grandma even gave them the backstage tour and they got to see the awesome box, I mean dressing room, that she was in charge of throughout the performance. There were a lot of costume changes and she was on her toes all night.

Our last day, we headed to Carthage, Illinois before heading back to St. Louis. Carthage is the town Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed in. We took a tour of the jail house where they were being held when a mob came and shot them. The kids thought it was cool that the door with bullet holes in it was still there. That's what they are posing by.

We headed back to MO and a few days later Rita and Clem joined us there for a brief visit before heading back to Oregon. The 3 hour drive was definitely worth it.