Half Birthdays

Highlights from the annual Half Birthday celebration with my parents:

Fancy Table with PapaJohn's cheesesticks

Mother-May-I

Musical Chairs

Scooters!

2! Frog Habitats (1 exchanged for Butterfly Habitat - Tadpoles and Caterpillars now on order)

ZhuZhu pets (Anneliese's last words before falling asleep that night, "i love my zhuzhu pet...zzzz.")

and . . . coffee a la Anneliese!

Oh - and that picture of me with the girls? Taken 20 seconds before Kate fell off her scooter and vowed to NEVER ride it again. She hasn't, by the way - but we're hopeful. The frog habitat, on the other hand, has already lived a full life in the 3 weeks it's been in the Shotwell household. We do love a bug.

Let me handle it

My mom had each of the girls over on separate nights last week for sleepovers. Anneliese was Thursday and Kate was Friday. Anneliese went to see a movie, but Kate decided that she wanted to skip the movie, so mom gave her $10 to spend at Cracker Barrel (the restaurant of choice for Kate). When Kate said she was going to spend her money on something for Anneliese since Anneliese didn't get to go to Cracker Barrel, my mom tried to explain that Anneliese had the special treat of going to the movie, so Kate could get something for herself. Kate's response? "Omi, just give me the $10 and let me handle it."

What do you say to that?

p.s. she handled it well. identical dolls with puppies for each of them. sweet kate.

another p.s. i would HIGHLY discourage all you moms with little girls from purchasing feather boas. unless you have loads of spare time to pick up trails of feathers from the floor, and slobbery feathers from puppy mouths. and if you have that much time - let me give you my number. i've got lists.

Caterpillars

It's bug time! The girls' favorite time of year. So far, we've had "pet" caterpillars, LOTS of moths, lightning bugs, rolly pollies, 2 frogs and 2 snails. On order are tadpoles and more butterflies. And when we aren't searching for, catching or playing with bugs it's usually Hopscotch. I have NO idea what kids who don't do animals do all day. Seriously. Thats all. we. do. Playroom full of toys and we're chasing moths. Ahhhh summertime.

That's my girl!

Not to be outdone by her cake-lovin' cousin - Anneliese took on the responsibility of cleaning the cake server. I love that girl.

Birthday Fun

In April we headed to Roxboro to celebrate my favorite neice's first birthday. I've never seen a kid dig into the cake quite like this sweet girl! It was pretty stinkin' cute. Happy Birthday Kensleigh!

Zoo Trip

Over Spring Break we took our annual Zoo Trip. When we planned the trip, it was supposed to be 76ish degrees. That woulda been nice, huh? Yeah - it was close to 90. Once a year is plenty. Our biggest highlight? The snake that slithered out onto the guard rail right in front of us as we watched the lions just laying around. Oh - and finding an outfit that Anneliese will immediately put on without pitching an enormous fit. This dress is now affectionately called "zoo dress" - and if you know Anneliese, you'll be seeing a lot of it this summer.

Easter

Egg Hunts, bubbles, scooter rides and the many moods of Anneliese - all in one day!