Ice Cream Sundaes

One of life's great joys is making your own ice cream sundae:  three flavors of ice cream, two types of sprinkles, chocolate fudge, whipped cream and topped with a chocolate chip cookie.  Yum!

Acadia

At the end of March, MLD and I stole away for a vacation to Bangor and Acadia National Park.  We even saw a marriage proposal at Thunder Hole!  Here's some of the stunning scenery for those of you who have yet to visit:

Try clicking on this one and then use your mouse to pan around, up and down;  it's a special panorama shot.

At Ship Harbor Nature Trail

At Thunder Hole (where it did not Thunder, unfortunately)

Waterworks

Thanks to Grandma for the clever title of today's post:

Almost missed this one!

MLM is catching up on blog posts.  It's hard to believe, but there was snow on the ground just about 1 month ago. Even with the snow, Tate likes to bang on the windows and shout "Ow-tide!  Ow-tide!"

Dedushka and Babushka made sure bundle up the little guy very well.

Usual Photo Op

This bench has become one of our routine stops at Wegman's:

Patriots' Day 2017

What a rare moment:  the end of our cousins' school vacation overlapped with the start of ours and Patriots' Day!  We took a short trip out to the Minuteman National Park to picnic and watch some of the reenactments.  What fun!

The Annual Ruck Sack Race was going on too.  The girls helped out a solider by holding his flag for a few minutes.  He had 26.2 miles to go.  No wonder he wanted to roll up his sleeves!

Family picnic near the Visitors' Center

Homeschooling, Lesson #28: Anatomy

Tate aced his homeschool anatomy lessons:

New England Flower Show

After years of looking longingly from the sidelines, this was the year MLM packed up the crew and headed to the New England Flower Show.  Activities for the kids, browsing for me, a successful outing for all.  Here's a shot of the citizens walking through one of the displays:

The Pudding and Tate

Tate was given a pudding cup. Tate proceeded to eat, bathe and wear the contents of said cup.

What fun!

Here's the "before" clip:

And then the hilarious "after"

Mommy's Fleece

Sometimes the most unexpected moments are the cutest ones:

Home Improvements Continue

Never let it be said that we did things for the citizens that we didn't do with the little guy.  Just like his bigger sibs, Tate is getting exposure to all sorts of exciting home improvement projects too.

2017 Daddy Daughter Dance

When MLD found out about the Daddy Daughter Dance, he knew that Ashley would love to go with him.  Here are some photos and a very special video clip:

Yoga Instructor

Big sisters are fantastic yoga instructors:

Give a Push!

Want a good laugh?  Ask Ashley to do a somersault.  Hint:  it involves Adam's help!

Citizen Chefs

The citizens are at it again.  This time they're cooking pizzas for a crowd:

Princess Leia

I held back from showing you everything in yesterday's post.  You thought I wrangled Ashley's hair into a bun.  Not entirely true.  I found inspriration in one of my heros, Princess Leia:

Although even I have to admit that Leia's is far more complicated than I could ever dream to tackle...

Adam's 'do just does what it wants to do, and luckily for him, it's definitely Jedi-worthy.

Spring Concert

Adam and Ashley have spent weeks practicing with their classmates and Mr. Hamm in preparation for the annual Spring Concert.  MLM, on the other hand, had to orchestrate both hair and outfits an an early week day hour.  Glad to report passing grades all around!

Luckily I got to the school early enough to snag a prime front row seat.  Perfect for catching the action. When looking at the stage, Ashley is on the left side and in the upper few rows (next to her friend Brooklyn in blue sequins).  Adam is on the far right side of the stage in the bottom row (in red, of course).

HandyWoman

Ashley is quite the do-it-yourself-er too when it comes to helping out around the house.  Look at who tackled the greenhouse assembly all by herself!

Shuttle Engineer

Adam learned how to make paper airplanes at an afterschool program.  He quickly identified a problem:  they're not easy to launch.  Not that he said this in so many words, of course, but this is clearly what he was thinking about.

So what's a guy to do?  Well first, confuse the heck out of your mother by asking for straws and tape.  Blue tape.  Then take your Chinese New Year paper holder in half and attach it to the body.  Tape up one end of the straw, fit the other inside, and et voila!  Paper airplane launcher!

I'm quite certain this is how all NASA engineers get their start.

Ballet Bun

On a typical Saturday, Ashley learns how to plié.  MLM learns how to wrestle long hair into temporary submission.

Quality Time

Reading is very important in our family.  And it was so sweet to see this happening, so I turned on my camera.  As soon as I did, guess who noticed?