The Never Ending Birthday

Ethan is still receiving gifts for his birthday. Today a big package from Target arrived. Ethan was SO HAPPY to find more tractors inside...and a gator AND a buck! Thanks Sheller/Fisher family. That was very nice of you. And I am the WORST about sending out thank you notes... every day I think, Oh, I should really get to those thank you's from Ethan's party and then, again, I don't actually get to them. We do appreciate all of his wonderful gifts... thanks everyone!!

So Long Sammy Davis

Sammy Davis is the name Alex gave to one of the tadpoles we harvested from Megan's pond. We were raising him and his "brother" Samuel (I know, very original names) along with nine "Moonies" (another of Alex's names)- which are actually a different variety of tadpole- in a plastic tote on the breezeway.

This is a picture of Sammy Davis last Tuesday. He still has his tail. On Friday we went to the pet store and asked the gentleman there what to feed a young bullfrog (we are guessing he's a bullfrog). He suggested crickets and gave us a free bag full. "There is no way that this tiny frog can eat a cricket almost as big as him," I thought. Well, I was wrong! I watched him gobble one up yesterday afternoon.

This is a picture of Sammy Davis a few days ago. He still had a nub of a tail. We all had fun watching him change and grow.

This is a picture of Sammy Davis on the right with Samuel on the left, taken yesterday. See how Sammy Davis has completely lost his tail? Then this morning we discovered that he had escaped! He had tried to escape once before, and we found him by the door in the breezeway, scooped him up and deposited him back in his home. But this time there was no finding the little guy. So Long Sammy Davis! You were fun while we had you!

Another One Bites the Dust.....

And another one's gone, and another one's gone, and another one bites the dust....

Yep, Hudson lost his second tooth. He's going to be rollin' in the tooth-fairy dough before the summer is out if this pace keeps up. Alex was calling him Gumby this morning.

And another school year bites the dust too..... can you believe that I will now have a 4th grader!!! That sounds so OLD! And a 2nd-grader too. We got Alex all signed up for her flute. It will be delivered to school in September. They are required by Mr. Gerolomi to stick with it through December, but I think that Alex will love playing an instrument. She plays her precorder All. The. Time.

This summer the kids are signed up for only a few "structured" activities. Alex will be doing theater camp in Canandaigua for 2 weeks and both she and Hudson will play soccer and go to Veggie Camp (for one week). We are planning a vacation to the Adirondacks, and a reunion with Justin's family at Letchworth in August. We plan on getting together with our friends Tessa and Bethany for some trade-off playdates (one day here, one day there) and playing a lot at the lake with all the cousins. I really can't believe that summer vacation starts this afternoon!

Finally....

Hudson has finally lost a tooth! It happened this morning. He is 6 years and 8 months old. And can you see all the gear he is wearing? Does it remind you of anyone? We call him Keenan Jr.

Kristin is Evil!

Sarah here- and all I have to say is, Kristin, you are evil, evil, evil..... Those cookies you sent me for my birthday are far too yummy!!! Sure- she loses all this weight and then sends me a dozen ginormous, delicious, different flavored (so I can't just have one and be done with it...No! I need to try all of the varieties) cookies. So, if you need me I'll be wiping crumbs off my chin in the kitchen.....

I'm BAAAAACCCCKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello all! Alex here. Guess what?! I got chosen to play the flute in fourth grade! Only about 6 or 8 people get to play it too! Aren't I lucky! My ballet recital went great too!!!!!!! Hudson loved it so much, he wants to do dance again in the fall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More Dance Photos and Ethan's Party

As promised, here are more pictures from the recital. They don't allow flash photography during the performance, so these are backstage shots. Alex had 3 costumes... Jazz was the hoe-down costume, tap was the Broadway costume (with a cane as well) and ballet was the white cygnet costume. Hudson was a butterfly for ballet (which I unfortunately did not get a picture of- the kids wore all black and had wings and antenna) and he was the frog for tap.

Yesterday to top off our busy weekend we had Ethan's 4th birthday party. It was a John Deere theme, with a tractor ice cream cake and green and yellow accessories (balloons, plates and napkins). He got lots of great toys and a fun time was had by all. The weather could have been better- we were hoping for something like last year's party- an outdoor event.... but it was chilly. The kids played outside and the adults sat around the food in the kitchen and chatted.

Frogman & Swan Princess

The kids had their dance recital this weekend.... it was great. They both did a really wonderful job and were very proud of themselves. I'll post more pictures soon.