family fun

day in philly

Melissa

We went into Philly on Friday and started the day in one of my favorite places, Reading Terminal Market, for breakfast at the Dutch Eating Place. Best breakfast in Philly.

If you’ve ever had a hankering for a pancake the size of your head, this is the place to go.  Seriously – out of control yummy pancakes, french toast and bacon the way it was meant to be – thick, crispy and in abundance.

We wandered around finding all sorts of amazing culinary wonders. Reading Terminal Market is a cook’s paradise. Or a eater’s paradise. If you can’t find it here, it probably doesn’t exist. And discover things you didn’t know existed. Like Bacon Salt. Oh yes, BACON SALT. *cue angels singing*

And hit the Christmas train! Colin could have stood here all day.

Then we headed over to Macy’s for the Holiday Light Show, then took the kids to Chinatown. Grace is in love with China and keeps asking to go there. Since we are a little short on vacation time, we did the next best thing 😉
The kids were fascinated by it – we’ll need to come back when we can spend more time – and we’re not stuffed full of pancakes!

What did you do for New Years?

lessons learned

Melissa

This week has given me a new appreciation of just how much energy my kids have.

Seriously, WHAT am I going to do this summer? Having all three kids home all day was a little intense.  Granted, I’ve been sick and my in-laws are living here, which always ramps up the chaos a bit, but OH MY GOODNESS, its been nuts. I’ve learned a few important lessons.

1. The Easy Bake Oven, despite having the name “Easy” in its name, was not as easy as one might guess. It claims to be for ages 8 and up, but it took my mother-in-law and I a good 12 hours to figure out how to get it to actually bake things. Everything kept coming out raw and we couldn’t figure out why. We have it now, but we were very confused for awhile. And of course, the kids LOVE it. I’m so glad I buy organic so that they can chow down on Easy Bake Oven treats. *gag*

2. You’d think they would be busy with their new toys instead of driving me nuts. Humph.

3. Our cats are going to be seriously depressed when we put the Christmas tree away. It has been their chief source of entertainment for the last month. I suspect we’ll be finding Christmas ornaments in random places for the next six months, based on the number of empty hooks hanging on the tree now. Its super festive. Notice how there are almost no ornaments on the bottom third of the tree…

4. Always ask for the next size up in clothes. I requested size 3T for Colin for Christmas. And that little stinker outgrew of all of his clothes the week before Christmas, so now I have to go exchange everything he got for size 4T.

5. Last night we went out on a date. (Gotta love free babysitting!!) We haven’t been on a date in forever – we must do this more.

6. Cats hate dogs. Nick’s brother brought their dog over on Christmas day and our cats fuh-REAKED out. It was a little hilarious. I don’t think they’ve ever even seen dogs before, but they were not amused. They spent most of the day hiding under our bed. The few times they saw the dog they tried to be scary, but ended up running away.  They were a little stressed out the next day.

 

this week we will

Melissa 1 Comment

sleep in.

spend a whole day in our jammies.

read books. for fun. around the fire.

not go online unless its for fun.

clean out my closet. (yes, i know i just did that, but it was a catch all for christmas stuff, so its totally out of control again.)

go into the city and look at the lights.

make hot chocolate. with lots of marshmallows.

just be.

my little caretaker

Melissa 1 Comment

I woke up on Monday sick (lovely timing, as usual) and since Colin is out of preschool now, he’s been my little helper. He has been getting me tissues, tucking me in under a blanket and generally being cute.

“Poor Mama. Why don’t you go lay down on the couch and watch Cars 2? You feel so much better!”
“Mom, you relax. I get this.”

It is so sweet. Not super helpful… but sweet.

bake sale!

Melissa 1 Comment

This weekend, my kids hosted a bake sale at church to raise money to buy farm animals for families in need. I was so proud of them – they decided they wanted to do this a month or two ago and mobilized their friends to help.
On the menu?
Cookie and Cream Cupcakes
Carrot Cupcakes
Red Velvet cupcakes
Christmas Cupcakes
Apple Bread
Banana Bread
Hot Chocolate Stirrers
Whoopie Pies
Chocolate Covered Oreos
Cookies
Brownies
mini-muffins

and more!!

Every year at Christmas, our family all gives a portion of our Christmas money to buy a farm animal for a family in need. It is so simple, but I cannot even describe how this has affected my kids. We watched the videos of how a single goat can save a family from poverty in Africa. I remember them saying, “What a cool play house!” And I had to explain that the tiny house with the dirt floor was that family’s home. They were truly amazed and humbled that they could make such a difference in a family’s life with so little. And they were instantly excited to help. They gave so generously last year – they were able to buy a goat!

This year, when the catalog arrived, they were looking through deciding what their goal was – maybe a sheep or some ducks? Then they came up with an idea. If we got more people to give, we could buy even more! We should get our friends involved! Long story short, our girls mobilized their friends to plan this huge sale – and they made double their goal and were able to buy a sheep and a goat. I can not even tell you how proud I am of them! Not only are they excited about giving, but they are mobilizing their friends to do the same.

Best Christmas gift EVER!

 

charlotte’s web at the arden theater

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This weekend, we attended opening night of the newest children’s play at The Arden Theater, Charlotte’s Web. We were so, so excited – we read Charlotte’s Web earlier this year. Naturally, Charlotte’s Web is such a classic story, we knew it would be amazing. Every show we’ve seen at the Arden has been wonderful!

Join us for the heart-warming story of a special friendship between a lovable pig and everyone’s favorite spider. Wilbur, Charlotte and their barnyard friends have never been more delightful than in this wonderful tribute to one of the greatest stories for children ever written.

We arrived for opening night and were greeted by a county fair, complete with an actual live pig!! We enjoyed a super kid friendly dinner, from Catering by Design, then we went around to earn stickers to win a blue ribbon at the Arden County Fair!

getting their hands painted

Grace made her own web word to hang up. She said she was "AWESOME!"

After completing all their stations, the girls won their blue ribbons!

fern and wilber

We headed into the theater and the kids were bouncing in their seats with excitement. The show started and the kids were enthralled, of course. Me, I was fascinated by how such a small cast played so many different characters. They would put on a hat and go from being a person to a goose, or put on a coat and suddenly be a rat. Amazing. It was such a simple set and used so few props and costumes – but the kids were totally into it and following every word of the play. When Charlotte was lowering slowly from the ceiling, they were gasping aloud. And when [spolier alert] Charlotte died, all three kids were in tears. And I may have been as well. *ahem* This show does require imagination, since the actors are people, not animals, and the story is a little sad, so its recommended this for ages 5 and up.

After the show, we enjoyed tasty ice cream from Franklin Fountain and got to meet the actors. The girls made a beeline for Charlotte, beautifully played by Sarah Gliko:

On the drive home, the kids were talking and our friend we brought along said, “That was amazing! I just love going to see plays! I’m going to see lots more plays!! ” And that is why you take kids to the theater. We’re teaching them to love this art form, to appreciate theater and become a life-long patron of the arts.  That’s why I am so thankful for  programs like the Arden – and for programs like Arden for All that brings theater to children who might not otherwise get the opportunity. If you can, try to take your kids to the theater. For under $100, a family of four can see a show at the Arden and with the Target 2-for-1 Program, you can buy one ticket, get one free for select performances! And the memories will last so much longer than you can even imagine.

Charlotte’s Web is playing at the Arden Theater until January 29, 2012. Up next at the Arden? Robin Hood!

disclosure: we received tickets to this show from the arden theatre. i was not compensated for this post. as always, all opinions are my own.

three year old cuteness

Melissa 1 Comment

“Colin, can you spell your name?”

“C-O-3-2-E.”

I think we need to work on spelling still.

***
Colin’s enthusiasm is contagious. When something good happens, like pizza or he gets to have a snack or watch Looney Tunes on tv, he says, “That is really really AWESOME!” with ‘awesome’ in a high voice a la Barney Stinson. (Not that he knows who that is, but he really just sounds just like him.) Then he does the “Oh, Yeah!” dance:

This kid cracks us up!

***
And for your viewing pleasure, the Turkey Song. Which we heard approximately eleventy billion times in the past week.