Last Day of School

A Conversation with Ashby, Five Years Old

What is your favorite season?  Summer, because you get to go to the pool and have my birthday, with presents and cake and have my friends come over.

What is your favorite song?  "Girls Like You" (Pandora) station and "strong girl songs", because they're loud and they're about girls

What is your favorite TV show?  Puppy Dog Pals

What is your favorite color?  Golden

What is your favorite food?  Pirate's Booty, cheeseburgers and hotdogs with ketchup

What are your favorite clothes to wear?  Dresses, because they look pretty on me and feel good

What is your favorite book?  Critter Club books, because they are about animals and a lot of different people are in them.

What is your favorite part of school?  Crafts and when the teacher reads books to us

What is your favorite thing to sleep with?  Baby

What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Ride my bike (she's learning!) and go to the pool

What is your favorite toy?  Our play food and making a pretend house

What is your favorite thing about being 5?  Going to Veritas, because it's so fun and you get to go on field trips

If you could choose another name for yourself, what would it be?  Rose  (She often chooses this name for herself or her babies when she is playing pretend.)

What superhero power do you wish you had?  Flying, so if there was a volcano I could fly away and grab people on my back to save them.

If you were an animal, what would you be?  A monkey, so I could climb more easily and say "ooh ooh aah aah!"

What would you buy if you had a lot of money?  A ring with a diamond and a pretty necklace and a pretty bracelet.  Those sound nice, what would you do with those?  Wear them to birthday parties, weddings and maybe a baby shower.

What is your favorite thing in your room?  My "special box" because it has my special things in it, things that are memories and special

What do you want to do when you grow up?  Be an artist and a painter.  I might paint pictures of flowers in a meadow and a picnic in the meadow.  I want to be married, but I don't know if I want to have babies.

What are three words that describe you?  Funny, friendly, scared.  What are you scared of?  I would be scared if I had to go up to a cave or if I saw a dragon.

What are you really good at?  Coloring and painting

What do you like about yourself?  That I make new friends.  (Ashby is very social and almost always up for making a new friend or involving herself with a group wherever we are.  She doesn't often "take charge" of other children, but she confidently finds her place in the situation.  It makes it fun and easy to take her places.)

What is something you are working on improving?  Drawing my own pictures, and not screaming and hitting people.  (Something she is prone to do with her family members when she is frustrated.  Thankfully she has never displayed this with her friends.)

What do you like to do with daddy?  I like when he tickles me and chases all of us (with her siblings).

What do you like to do with mommy?  I like to make cookies and lick the spoon.

What is something you love about our family?  I love that we get to go to Disney World. (Our highly anticipated trip is coming up soon!)  I love when Sadie plays pretend with me, and when Finley wrestles with me.

What is something I always says to you?  "It's time to get dressed!"

What is something you thank Jesus for?  That I have a family and friends.

What is your greatest wish?  To have every kind of treat falling down from the sky, and to have more friends.

What makes you happy?  When someone reads me a book, when I color and when I wrestle with Finley.

What makes you laugh?  When someone tickles me or makes funny noises.

Are you afraid of anything?  If our house was on fire.

What is your happiest memory?  When I would jump jump jump in my crib!

What is your saddest memory?  When we had to take my crib away.

When I was little I used to.....?  Splash in the tub and scribbled when I tried to make a picture

What would you like to do on your favorite day?  I would go to Busch Gardens plus go to Disney World with my friends.  I would like to eat hotdogs and hamburgers and mac n cheese, and go out to have ice cream sundaes.

Happy New Year!

After having a relaxing family day at home, we had a little celebration to say good-bye to 2018 and   hello to 2019!!

We were blessed with a wonderful year behind us, and look forward to all the adventures and things to come in the new year!

Sparkling cider toast to ring in 2019!

Cheers with my best girls!

And one more milk with sprinkles toast with dessert.......

....while we watched the countdown and impressive fireworks display on live stream from London.  Happy New Year!  

Gingerbread Houses

After last year's fun graham cracker house decorating, I decided to step up our game this year with actual gingerbread house kits.  I did elect to assemble them with hot glue instead of icing, in order to cut down on our assembly time and potential frustration.  We got our bowls of candy and bags of icing ready and started decorating!

I did give Ashby quite a bit of help, but followed all her design instructions. 

Tongue out, eyes focused, deep concentration

Working the icing bag like a pro

I also introduced Finley to the power and versatility of a hot glue gun.....he was hooked and wanted to hot glue everything in sight!

Our finished gingerbread village....impressive masterpieces!

The kids wanted to be sure to take a picture of the back of the houses also

Ashby's design included yellow Skittles in the windows to be the lights, and one gingerbread man missing his head on the roof......casualty of a hungry home builder.

Sadie's house design was more minimal, but she thoughtfully and intentionally placed each element.

Several gumdrop trees outside Finley's houses, courtesy of his newfound love for the hot glue gun.  And please don't miss the gingerbread men scaling the roof....that's how a nine year old boy does gingerbread house decorating.

More Visits to Colonial Williamsburg

Because we had season passes to Colonial Williamsburg this year, we were able to enjoy going back several times, without the pressure of seeing everything each visit.  During one visit over the summer, I signed the kids up for an archaeological dig in the colonial village.

They were sent down a flight of stairs into the dig site, with instructions on how to use their digging trowel and collecting pan.

They worked on filling up with their buckets with dirt (and hopefully treasures!) and hauling them back up the stairs to the collection bins.

It was a slow and tedious task in the blazing summer sun.

Then it was time to sort through the bins, working to shake the loose dirt through the sieve and remove any potential artifacts.

Examining their findings......I think they found mostly small pieces of dishes, oyster shells and animal bones.....probably things that had largely been discarded in a trash pile 200 years ago. 

Trying on beautiful straw hats in the marketplace.

One of the kids' favorite spots is the maze in the Palace Garden.  No matter how many times they run through it, it's such fun to do it again!

Those summer visits left us hot and sweaty!

We returned again in the fall when the weather was cooler and the leaves were changing color.

The kids always want to stop by the outdoor market to play the games on display and try their hand at rifle shooting.

During our last visit in the winter, we enjoyed the holiday decorations that were on display.

We stopped to watch the outdoor theatre show, which re-told the story of the passengers of the first hot air balloon ride......an unsuspecting duck, rooster and sheep.  As the story unfolded on the stage, Ashby leaned over and was pleased to tell me that she knew this story from a book they had read in class.  

Always need to make a stop here outside the Courthouse.....wonder what she did this time to deserve time in the stocks?

We all enjoy seeing the men and women in costume, and especially enjoy when they speak to you while in character.  These women were conversing with us about their professions and families in Williamsburg.

Thanks for a lovely year Williamsbug!  We enjoyed visiting to run, explore, learn and spend time together.