Views of Spring

The twins have a week and a day until their school is out for summer!  The mornings have still been chilly and rainy, and with so few days left, I've tried to enjoy every single walk!

The new leaf pierced through the old leaf as it grew!

After reading the cookbook* that offered me new perspective, I look forward to this bush flowering each spring now!  And will probably forever associate it with the twins' fourth grade publishing party!

One of the trees at the twins' school looked so pretty, I had to try to get a picture!  It was so much better in person though.

When we got back from Emily and William's band concert, the tops of the trees looked like they were on fire!

And we spotted a rainbow!  If you look closely, you can see it in the other picture too!

The dew clinging to the grass seeds looked too cool.

Nicole gave me some sweet William last year, and it thrived!  It's so pretty, and green and healthy looking!  She said it might even flower this year! = )

New growth on this evergreen is a bright green color!

The moon was big and bright, long before the sunset.

I usually hear the woodpecker, but rarely see it.  These holes might be the work of a woodpecker?

I think all springs in Michigan are chilly, but knowing how short lived the morning walks will be this spring, has me thankful for each and every morning we do get to walk!

later days

 *The title is Big Heart, Little Stove by Erin French and while it seems strange that a cookbook could inspire me this much, it has been over a year, and I'm still benefiting from the read, so no regrets!

Grace and Juliet 11th Birthday!

This year Juliet referred to 'her' birthday more than year's past, but aside from that, we had a typical build up to their birthday!

Grace painted some 'unicorn' rocks to pass out as favors.

They agreed on passing out 'dirt cups' for class treat on their birthday, for a second year in a row!

The worms crawling out of the 'dirt.' lol

One final picture as 10 year olds!!!  They started short, for Aunt Rocky's benefit, but then showed just how tall they actually are!

After the twins were in bed, Emily helped me make a bubble solution that I found online.  Alice came out and asked why I would make bubbles for them, then proceeded to be entranced by said bubbles for 10 minutes! lol.

The next morning, so incredibly early, the twins were also entranced by the bubbles, and excited to celebrate their birthday before Alice left for school at 6:40!!

Their birthday fell on a Wednesday, so they were dressed in matching shirts for talent show practice.

Grace gave Juliet a magnetic heart necklace as a gift, and they wore them the following day!

We managed to land a party date really close to their birthday, at FunCity!  As I hung the unicorn banner, Juliet mentioned, offhandedly, that this would probably the be last year that we would need that banner. = ( ::sniff:: ::sniff::

Tiny unicorn favor boxes with erasers and candy and tattoos! 

I was so excited to reuse the streamers that we hung on their bedroom door for their party decor!

We also used some fresh decor, but the tablecloths were provided by the venue!  They just happened to pick the perfect color scheme!

I had time to take a few action shots!

I actually ended up making two cakes for this party. The first cracked when I moved it to the serving tray, and continued to crack after frosting it. eek!  So, I made the orange cake, and it was super well received, so it was probably for the best!

We stayed just a bit after the end of the party, since the guests all left, but everyone  had a good time, I think!

When we got home, Grace and Juliet sorted through and played with all of their new gifts!

I had no paper to write the gift list on, so ended up using a paper plate to record the gifts!  The twins did a pretty good job of filling in the blanks, since they opened their gifts out of order of giver, and I had a hard time keeping the record straight!

Not long after their birthday, I read a book about twins, and must whole heartedly agree, twins are a "very nice arrangement!"

 later days

4-26-25: backdated for continuity.

After School Events

At the end of January,  the twins' school hosted a STEAM night, but only the three of us attended.  Our first stop was building an igloo, out of marshmallows!  The challenge was to use as few toothpicks as possible, while having a circular shape, door opening, and closed top!

Next up was making a name tag.

Then we went to build an atom with pipe cleaners and beads.

The twins also played a multiplication bingo before we left. Thankfully, it was a short and sweet hour-long event.  Probably the last one of their elementary career! = 0

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Then, last Friday, their school hosted a Snowball Dance!  The roads were clear, so I agreed to drop Emily off to watch a basketball game at her school, while the twins ran around the school with their friends!

I only got one picture from her.

And actually, I only took one picture of the twins and Heleena the whole night.  The rest of these are taken from the facebook post!

Juliet's outfit was totally put together by her.  She borrowed one of Alice's skirts and styled it with a pin and scarf over a long-sleeved shirt. = )

Pictures of all the fifth graders they could round up!

The only picture I took that evening:

Two hours was a little long* at the end of a busy week, but all three of my girls had a good time!

And, we found out later that night, that Grace won one of the drawings for jump passes! 

later days

*I woke up really ill the next morning, so it probably felt a little longer than usual.