Olivia the star

Olivia goes to a performing arts school so I guess I shouldn't be surprised when she comes home and says "Mommy, I'm going to be in a talent show tomorrow".  Then again, she's 5, so yes, that should totally surprise me!!  I asked what she was singing and she said "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".  A huge part of me sighed in relief that it was an easy song I had no doubt she knew backwards and forwards.  Nothing worse than your child freezing up on stage I'm sure!
I made an effort to get her to school looking like she couldn't possible get messy in a few hours (wrong Cat, it's Olivia you're talking about, she can get messy anywhere).  Her teacher told Brad that we could come and see her (and in her teacher's defense, she told Brad she got a note at the end of the day Thursday saying that two of her students were in the talent show...nice warning music lady!).  So, the music teacher somehow chose two students (I have no idea how she chose them, but I think it's safe to say it's not because she thought they would win American Idol one day) from the class (her and her friend Jadelyn- one of the shy  ones) to perform. 
Luke was SUPER excited to see her on stage.  He enjoyed every minute of the show.  Olivia was towards the end, so we watched a boy "ice skate" in his socks - he was great, a ballet performance, a few songs by some other students, a weird play by some 1st graders about eating berries and taking a nap, and (Luke's favorite) a girl singing a song from Hannah Montana. 
I'm trying to upload her performance...but I'm having a minor difficulty...

We bought a plot in the community garden this year, so we are planning on growing our own veggies (and a few flowers courtesy of Olivia). We started the seedlings down the basement to get a jump on the growing season.  Here are some Italian peppers (on the left) and sweet peppers (on the right).

The squash seeds really sprouted fast!  Check out how tall they got in just a few weeks (at the rate they're growing, we may have squash before we can actually plant in the garden!)  I brought them out to the sun today and they are a bit droopy...guess they liked the basement better!  The left side is Olivia's lavender.  Just a few little sprouts there!

When kids get the camera

The kids love to grab the camera and take it around the house to take pictures.  They have their own kid one, but for some reason they really love my super expensive one.  I'm trying to let them be creative with it, but I'm also keeping my eye on them to make sure they aren't breaking it!

Here's a picture Olivia took from her bed.  Luke was playing on the computer...luckily this shot doesn't show you how messy it is!

Self portrait....

Olivia took this picture of Brad holding her when she was a baby.  Luke is usually really good at taking pictures, but all the ones he took were of me before I dried my hair...so they were deleted. 

We're LOVING the playground in the backyard!  The kids have spent everyday outside playing on it for the past week.  They are getting a little innovative playing on it.  The other day they dragged the hose up and pretended to be firemen squirting out fires and rescuing people. 

I was inside dong the dishes watching them through the window when I saw something funny going on...They took their LLBean sleds up to the top and were sledding down the slide!

Combining their favorite spring and winter activities!  Since the sleds weren't that great in the snow, at least they are getting used here!  In other news, the black tire swing Olivia loves so much is not loving her clothes.  Her bum is looking a bit black from it!  Her best uniform pants are now totally ruined from a black butt and a hole in the knee!  The price we pay for having fun!

New Playground!

A few weeks ago we decided it was time to upgrade our playground in the backyard, so we headed to Kloter Farms up here in CT to find a new one....on one of th coldest days of the year!  We had them deliver it at the beginning of March when the ground would still be solid...or so we thought!  Turns out we had a lot of rain in the meantime, so the ground was actually mushy and wet, but they brought it out anyway!  Luke was REALLY excited yesterday waiting for the truck to arrive...from 7 am to 10:30!  When they finally came he grabbed the camera and headed outside for the next 1.5 hours to watch the man set it up.  The truck was really cool and Luke examined every bit he could to figure out how it worked.  I could tell he was memorizing it so that he could explain how it works to everyone.

Here it is coming in the backyard between the two houses.  Unfortunately some dirt and plants were injured in the process...but they'll grow back before the neighbors get home from Florida!
Once it was assembled, Luke stood in front for a few minutes trying to figure out what he would do first.

He eventually chose the rings and then spent the next 4 hours playing on it.  When I went to get Olivia at school she threw her snack in the trash and ran out of the room so we could get home and play on it super fast!

Hopefully the investment was worth it (I'm sure it was!).  They are looking forward to having snacktime at the top "clubhouse" today, and picnics up there in the summer!  Now we need to invite some friends over to break it in with us!