OMG! Kate napped!

Kate is a notorious non-napper. So imagine our surprise this afternoon when, on the car ride home from the Oregon Ag Fest, she fell asleep around Wilsonville and stayed asleep until we had made it home and parked and unpacked the car. We can't recall the last time Kate napped in the car, if she ever did.

 

Oregon Ag Fest

Audrey and Kate went to Salem today to check out the Oregon Ag Fest at the State Fairgrounds. It's a kid-oriented celebration of Oregon agriculture where you can "learn about life on the farm." The girls looked at and petted farm animals, took a wagon ride, tested out some tractors, and partook of many activities. These included digging for potatoes, playing in dried corn, and making "dirt babies." A dirt baby is a mixture of grass seed and dirt in nylon hose that, when kept wet, will sprout grass "hair," kind of like a Chia Pet.

Advancing artistry

Audrey and Kate like to color and draw, and it seems like they're getting better at it. Kate drew the first picture below, of her and Audrey. The second is a coloring-book picture Audrey colored. She spent at least an hour on it, if not more.

Garden girls

Audrey and Kate biked down to the grand opening of the Frazer Park Community Garden in our neighborhood this morning (Dada had helped a bit with the planning and construction of the garden). They painted some wood cutouts of garden critters that will be used to decorate the garden's fence, enjoyed some snacks and cake, and played in the playground when they got tired of all the boring speeches. Kate insisted on wearing her bike helmet the whole time we were there.

Office visit

Today was Take Your Child to Work Day. Audrey got to go to work with Mama for a half day. Mama had helped organize a Take Your Child to Work Day event for her employer, so there were lots of public health-themed activities to keep Audrey busy. She listened to presentations; played games that included bean-bag toss and an epidemiology game where players had to figure out how people at a party had gotten sick; did some art; and enjoyed a box lunch from Quiznos. Mama was very proud of Audrey: she was the youngest kid there, but participated in everything and was very well-behaved. She even complimented Mama after Mama had given a presentation (she said, "You did a good job, Mama!").

Bubbly bathing beauties

Audrey and Kate test out the bubble bath Aunt Louise sent for Audrey's birthday.

Mower moment

Audrey and Kate tested out the riding mowers at Home Depot yesterday. They also enjoyed playing hide-and-seek in the rug racks.

Little landscaper

It was a nice spring day today, which meant catching up on yard work. Audrey pitched in and helped Dada unload bark mulch from neighbor Harlan's truck and spread it around the yard. She also helped clean out the truck with the shop vac.

Tunes with Tyleena

On Thursday, the girls went to a music class at Sound Roots. It was with Tyleena Fairy Funkmother, one of several kid-oriented music performers/teachers in North and Northeast Portland (another is Mr. Ben, a favorite of Audrey and Kate's). They had a good time, singing some classic songs as well as some new ones, with plenty of banging on drums.

Easter 2012

Audrey and Kate had a busy, bounteous Easter yesterday. It started off with Easter baskets and an Easter egg hunt at home in the morning. Then they went to church with Mama, Dada, GG, and Michael, where they got to ring the church bell and partake of a second Easter egg hunt. Then they went home to have brunch, open some more gifts the Easter Bunny had brought to GG's house, and put together a couple of their gifts (a Lego Friends set for Audrey and a Lego Duplo set for Kate). After a rest, it was off to Honey and Honey Grandpa's house. There they hunted for more eggs (inside and outside), played with more Lego sets the Easter Bunny had left for them at Honey's house, and had dinner with family, including Uncle Keith and Aunt Marie. Audrey helped make the desert.

Mowing the lawn with Dada

Dada hauled the lawnmower out of winter storage today for the first grass-cutting of the spring. The girls pitched in, Audrey with her bubble mower and Kate with a popper push toy.

Easter egg hunt at Great-Grandpa Darrel's

Audrey and Kate went to an Easter egg hunt today at Great-Grandpa Darrel's place. The weather cooperated, with the sun breaking through the incessant gloom of the past couple of weeks to shine down on the happy hunters. The Easter Bunny made an appearance, but the girls were a bit scared of him and didn't want their pictures taken with him. While there, they visited with Carol and Carol's cat Snowshoe. Carol had a dancing, singing bunny toy the girls were enthralled with. Grandpa Dave was there as well. Kate helped take some pictures with Mama's camera. She took a few good ones, including the one below with Great-Grandpa and Snowshoe.

Tubes 2

A week after their visit to Pump It Up Jr., Audrey and Kate got to check out another bouncy-house play park today. Honey Grandpa treated them to JJ Jump in Clackamas (Grandpa got to try out the slides for himself). Afterwards, they went to lunch at Killer Burger in Sellwood.

Tumbler trainee

Kate in the gymnastics room at the Montavilla Community Center, where she started another tumbling class today.

Pretty in pigtails

Kate models some pigtails. She was quite proud of them, and insisted on keeping them in when she went to bed last night.

Painting pro

Over the past week, Mama and Dada repainted the dining room. The girls patiently put up with masking tape everywhere and furniture moved around. Kate even pitched in, showing us her own special painting technique.

Palm Sunday

Audrey and Kate participated in some Palm Sunday festivities at church yesterday. They decorated paper easter eggs, made storytelling wheels about Holy Week, and marched with palm fronds and a miniature pony in a procession at the start of the church service.

Bowling with Sam

This past Saturday proved to be quite busy for Audrey and Kate. In addition to celebrating Grandpa Dave's birthday and decorating Easter eggs, in the afternoon they went to Big Al's in Vancouver for bowling and arcade games with Sam and her parents Jeannie and Chris (Mama's friends from her days in Bend). The girls played air hockey, skeeball, and a motorcycle video game while they waited for a lane. They were quite into collecting the prize tickets they got from the games, which they redeemed for candy and tchotchkes. When their lane was ready, they donned their bowling shoes and headed into the black lights and neon (it was "galaxy bowling" time) to knock down some pins. It was their first time bowling, but the alley made it really easy for them, with bumpers that kept the ball out of the gutters and a special rack they could use to launch the ball down the lane with minimal effort. (Given how Mama and Dada bowled, they probably should have used the bumpers and rack as well). Afterwards, Audrey and Kate went to Sam's house to play and have dinner.

Eager Easter eggers

Audrey and Kate got into the Easter spirit this weekend by dying and decorating Easter eggs.

Happy birthday, Grandpa Dave!

Audrey and Kate met Grandpa Dave and Judy at the Cadillac Cafe this past Saturday morning to help Grandpa celebrate his birthday. Additional (and unexpected) well-wishers included Honey and Honey Grandpa, who had coincidentally come to the Cafe for breakfast as well.