Lax

Today was a full day of lacrosse. Zaven played well. His team lost two and won one. It was a beautiful day. Nell is not feeling well but hung in pretty well. It is fun having Milla and Poppy here with us.
Esmé has started climbing stairs. It makes it extra important to keep an eye on her. Her other favorite thing to do is stand at the screen door and look out.
Last night at the frozen yogurt shop Ni was adding sprinkles to Nell's yogurt and the top came off and the whole canister went in! Oops.

A fun day

Today was a good day! I picked Nell up from school with Esmé and we went to lunch at the Cheese Shop. We sat out in Merchant's Square to eat and had a nice time. There is a Classic Car Club convention in town and they were displaying Packers, Cadillacs etc from the 1930's and 40's.
We walked through to check those put and ran into a friend of Nell's, Miles who will be in K with Nell next year and whose mom reached 3rd grade at Matthew Whaley. So that was fun and Nell and Miles looked at the cars and then tried to gain the attention of the Thomas Jefferson statue, one of Nell's favorite past times. Then we came home and Esmé had her nap while Nell tried out the new picnic blanket on the den floor while watching tv. Then it was time to get Zav from school.
The cars were to be in the square until 4pm so we walked up there and then went to the candy store for a treat.
When we got home Nell's, long-awaited, pogo stick was here! That was very exciting. She and Zaven both took to it quickly and are bouncing away!

Friendship bracelets

At Christmas I have Zaven a friendship bracelet making kit. We had a flurry of making them and then it died down. He wore several for a while and then had to cut them off during a basketball game. Recently, at school some bracelets were in a prize box that the kids got to go in if they get 100's on quizzes. Happily Zaven had been in the prize box a lot as they review for the VA Standardized tests.
So he has been wearing bracelets again. He told me yesterday that he was a trendsetter at school, starting boys wearing bracelets.
His tests began yesterday and he has his second set today. So this morning, with a little extra time on my hands I made him a bracelet for good wishes on his testing.
It brought back good memories making the bracelets. It is a fun project. Will have to keep it in mind for the summer.

Playmates

Nell and her friend Emery have gotten in the the pattern of having a playdate every Tuesday. One week here and then the next at Emery's house. It is great. They are good friends. But honestly sometimes the time goes better than others. Today it took a little time to get started. They were having a hard time deciding what to play. They kept trying to gets involved. But I just told them that they are good friends and wanted to play together so they needed to work it out. And they have. They are now outside and I have bobby pinned leaves in their hair and they are pretending to be fairies in the woods.
Esmé just went down for a nap and I find myself with a quiet minute to do some laundry. I have two loads to put away but Esmé is asleep where a lot of it goes so that will have to wait.

Going mobile

I am trying to see Ido can post from my phone. In hopes that i can post more often and capture more moments with the kids to share with you.

Here is Esmé this morning on the couch.

Sunny Days

we have been having great weather. with Nell wanting to ride her bike a lot. Esmé and I have been happy to go out for walks while she does that. Here is Esmé in her stroller making funny face. She squinches up her face and sniffs it is funny and she knows it. 

Esmé has been eating a lot of new foods. She tends to like a lot of things, but not every time she tries them. Some of her favorites are broccoli, green beans and peas. 

Nell and Esmé have a lot of fun together. Nell enjoys being silly and getting Esmé to laugh. 

At the playground Esmé crawled through the tube from one side to the other. 

I love this picture of Esmé. Though, she has a little rash around her mouth from eating hummus.

On Friday, Nell's school had a Mother's Day luncheon. It was really fun being with her. Esmé stayed home with Chris. 

Here's Nell with her friends Kamryn and Holly. Her other good friend Emery was out of town. 

Later that night, Zaven's school had the Strawberry Festival. We all had a good time. Nell wanted to sing karoake, so we got some kids together and they sang Adelle's "Rumor Has it" Here they are doing "test, test" into the mics.

After the festival Chris and I went to the Easton's for dinner and it was really fun. Then Saturday we went to the OBX for Zaven's lacrosse game. He played well. Then we had lunch at a local spot and came home. 

Mother's Day was great. My first as a mother of three. I wish I had gotten a photo of me with the three of them. But we had a nice time at church. Chris gave me a beautiful bracelet with three ginko leaves on it, I decided it was one for each kid. It is really pretty. 

We played a lot of lacrosse in the yard and then went out for dinner and frozen yogurt. It was a great day. 

Spring

 We have had a beautiful spring here. With lots of sunny days, some cool, some quite warm. It keeps us guessing from a what to wear stand point. But has been nice and the flowers and trees have been amazing. Last week the kids all matched for church. So after I took some photos. I like this one, Esmé was pretty tired- but Zav and Nell still look so happy.

 Esmé is showing how she reigns over her big brother and sister.

And the best of the bunch.

 Zaven is in the middle of his lacrosse season. He is playing in the U9 Williamsburg Warriors. He practices twice a week for an hour an forty five minutes, with games on Saturdays. So far they have played well and get better every week. Zaven is playing as a mid fielder and has scored several times. He had a great goal today.

 One morning Nell had school and Zaven did not so as a special treat for Zaven I took him to the Blue Talon. A local French bistro that has a great breakfast. They make an amazing granola and serve it with yogurt. Zaven also had "Parisian" Hot Chocolate - yum! Anyway, it was a fun morning and Zaven really enjoyed it.

 We found a new playground that is close to the house, here Nell and Esmé go down the slide, Esmé's first! Nell is a very sweet big sister and a lot of help with Esmé, sometimes she will watch her while I shower or do laundry. They seem to really enjoy each other.

On one of the warmer days Nell, Esmé and I went to the Cheese Shop for lunch before going in Nell always likes to "talk" to Thomas Jefferson. She said "he's not responding!" She is so silly.

 I love this picture of Nell, she is wearing a dress that was mine and looks particularly angelic, i think.

 We celebrated Chris' birthday with a cake a few days late on account of my being sick on the actual day.

For Spring Break which sadly coincided with Holy Week, the kids and I went to Charleston to see the Webbs. We had a great time! Lexie and Todd are excellent hosts and Quinn is so cute and sweet. We went to a great playground and all the kids had a great time. At one point, Zaven was trying to jump for the monkey bars and went too far and landed on his back and knocked his breath out of him. It was scary for him and brought back those child hood memories of having the breath knocked out of me. He was okay, but it did upset him

 The next day we went to the beach, out at Folly Beach. The kids loved it. They playing in the sand and surf.

 Zaven wrote Quinn in the sand, so we took a pic. Quinn is walking now and talking. She loves to say "baby' it is so cute.

 Lexie and Todd have a neighbor with chickens and in addition to enjoying their fresh eggs we went for a visit. Zaven is now quite interested in having some chickens of our own. I love this pic, check out Todd in the background. Speaking of Todd, he and Zaven had a great time playing Madden football, building sand castles, and tossing pizzas. Zaven loved going to Woody's and "working".

We got home on Thursday. Friday I went to church and then later the kids and I colored eggs. 

Saturday I made the kids lunch and cut it into small pieces and put them in plastic eggs and hid them in the garden, then the kids hunted for their lunch and then we picnic-ed in the yard. The kids loved the whole thing and Zaven thought maybe every meal should be done that way.

 Easter was a beautiful day. We went to the 10 o'clock service. We took flower for the cross, we took lilac and pink dogwood. We sat in the back balcony and all went well. Nell wore her new Liberty print dress that Milla bought her and a bow that the Easter bunny put in her basket. Esmé wore the dress that a parishioner made her all hand smocked. The lady, Frances Hodges, called later in the day and said that Esmé was such a beautiful baby that the dress did not shine. And that the next dress she makes her will have to have more smocking to stand out. I thought that was sweet. Zaven looked so handsome in his new tie from Milla and Poppy. There was an egg hunt at the church. Then the kids and I went home . Chris was not back for a while and we had a flop of an Easter lunch. Then, so Chris could rest the kids and I played in the front yard. It was fun. Chris had to go back for the 5:30 service.

Nell on her bike. Boy can she ride it! She has even learned to start herself. She pedals full speed each time. It is terrifying to watch. But so far so good. Esmé is pulling up on everything. She crawls like the wind. She is eating a lot of foods. She loves pinto beans, tortellini, melon, cottage cheese, cheese.