a trip to Great America

This weekend, we went with some of our friends to Great America. The older girls wanted to pose for a picture on the Snoopy bench.



After lunch, Jessica had a blast playing in their water park.

Jamison at music class

A few weeks ago, Jamison started going to music class. I normally do not take her as this thing called work gets in the way. Last week, however, she missed her regular class since she was sick (hand, foot, and mouth virus) and I did a makeup with her during the weekend. Here is our self portrait.



Jamison loves walking around during class and playing with the musical instruments. This week, she really seemed to like the sticks -- more for chewing than playing of course.

meet mini Jim

All of a sudden, Jessica wants to wear everyone's glasses. Here she is sporting Jim's specs.

happy 4th birthday Miss Jessica

Today, Jessica turned 4 years old. She got to choose what we had for dinner since it was her special day. She wanted Chipotle, but Jim convinced her that Chevy's would be a better option for a quesadilla and chips because she would get also get a hat and ice cream. She seemed to enjoy both.





At the end of dinner, Jessica got a big hug from her Daddy.

another birthday party

The day after their birthday party, Jessica and Jamison got to go to Aurora's fifth birthday party. Jamison started out by playing in the under 3 area.



She quickly decided that she was a big girl, however, and walked over to attempt the larger play structures. To entertain her, Jim took her down one of the big slides.

At the end of playtime, the kids had fun making funny faces.



After a quick pizza and cake lunch, it was off the the arcade for games, tickets, and prizes. Jessica was interested in playing games for tickets and prizes, while Jamison was simply obsessed with any game that had balls.

Jessica's and Jamison's Birthday Party

This weekend, Jessica and Jamison had their Rapunzel birthday party at our house. We decorated the house in a Rapunzel theme with lanterns and banners.



And, their Nana got the girls a Rapunzel themed tower cake.



We started the party with crafts. All of the girls got Rapunzel braids to put in their hair and they got to decorate crowns.



Our special guest Rapunzel visited the party too.



Just as Rapunzel arrived, Jamison made an appearance in her own Rapunzel outfit. We had tried to put her down for an early nap, but she wouldn't have it.



Meanwhile, the girls did dress up with Rapunzel and had fun trying on lots of dresses.



Jessica and Jamison had fun checking out each other's outfits.



Jamison spent a bit of time playing in the yard and then had to be put down for a nap. She ended up missing most of her own party!



After dress-up, the girls danced and did bubbles with Rapunzel.







Next, it was time for face painting. Jessica loved it!



We also had fun playing party games like pass the parcel and pin the frying pan on Flynn Rider.





We then got everyone lined up for a treasure hunt.



Everyone went racing off towards the first clue.



Jessica eventually found the treasure.



And, everyone got a piece of it.



Then, it was time for Rapunzel to leave. Jessica got a big hug from her.



Afterwards, it was time for cake.



And, then, we did the Rapunzel pinata.

Jamison is cute and she knows it!

This is the I'm cute and I know it smile.

Jessica makes muffins with her daddy

Jessica and her daddy made muffins together this week.



Jessica had a good time licking the spoon.

loving the sandbox at school

Jessica loves the sandbox at school and is super excited because it doubled in size over the school break. She had not problems playing in the muddy river in her frilly dress either.

some random Jamison photos

This past week was a fun one for Jamison. In addition to seeing her grandparents, she played with birthday presents. She really loved her picnic set from Benjamin! She plays with it every day.



She's also started to play with Jessica's doll stuff. Not the dolls, but all of the accessories. She loves emptying all the doll toys out and even plays with them. The rattle, baby doll pacifier, and baby doll bottle are all big hits. She uses them on herself. What can you do?



Jamison was also excited to get back to Chipotle once her grandparents left. She loves guacamole (as evidenced by it being all over her face and even in her hair)!

Jessica's garden

Recently, Jessica has been really interested in the few strawberry plants that we have growing and likes to check them every day for new fruit. And, after science camp the past few weeks, she has seemed increasingly more interested in gardening. So, while Jessica's grandfather was out visiting, he built her a planter so that she could plant and grow vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. This past weekend we planted strawberries, carrots, lettuce, oregano, basil, sunflowes, zucchini, bells peppers, watermelon, and canteloupe. Here she is showing off her garden.

outdoor fun

Over the past week, while their grandparents were out visiting, Jessica and Jamison really enjoyed the backyard. Jessica learned to slip-n-slide (sort of).

Jamison had a blast playing with her birthday gift -- a water table.



And, Jessica enjoyed driving Jamison around the yard.

Look at Jamison! She's walking.

All of a sudden, Jamison is really walking.

She even enjoys walking around parking lots with the help of her sister.

Jamison's 2nd swim lesson

Jamison's second swim lesson went a bit more smoothly than the first as there was a whole lot less crying this time around. Before class, she modeled her new swimsuit. It's her Daddy's favorite.



When we got in the water, she even managed a smile.



I'm thinking the lesson went well because she devoted all of her energy to playing with her pool toy.

a 4th of july weekend trip to Happy Hollow

Over the 4th of July weekend, Jessica and Jamison went to Happy Hollow with their Mimi and I. Jessica had a blast riding the Frog Hopper. This is her favorite ride at Happy Hollow and she rode it again and again.





Jessica and Jamison also rode a few rides together. Jessica had fun riding on the cars with Jamison. I'm not sure if Jamison was so thrilled with her sister "driving" her around.



This is the "are you crazy mom / please save me" look.



Jessica enjoyed feeding the goats in the petting zoo.



And, Jamison wanted to take part too!