Friends and family gathered today to help Kate celebrate her sixth birthday. She started off the day opening a few presents and blowing out a candle in her breakfast yogurt.
A bounce house arrived around noon, and about 10 of Kate's friends (and several siblings and friend and neighbor Olivia) came at 3 for a friends birthday party. It was a 95-degree day, so in addition to bouncing, the kids soaked in the hot tub (which had been turned down) and splashed each other with squirt guns. Her friends sang her happy birthday and enjoyed some ice cream pies Mama had made for the occasion.
After the friends had left, birthday party number 2 began with the arrival of Honey and GPa, GG and Micheal, Grandpa Dave and Judy, and Aunt Marie for dinner and more presents and ice cream pie.
Audrey hosted a "sleepover" this evening for her friends Hannah, Cecily, and Claudia. They had pizza for dinner, watched an "Eloise" show in the basement, then called it a night at 8 pm.
As he has several times before, the Heartwood Preschool "pet" Chico came to stay with us a few days. Kate got to be the first kid to bring him home this school year. She and Audrey made sure Chico was properly secured in a seatbelt for the trip. He accompanied Kate on the family camping trip.
This week was Audrey's fourth and final camp for this summer. It was a "magic camp" put on by Trackers, a local outdoor-education company, which she did with her friend Hannah. The camp had a Harry Potter-esque theme to it, and each day the girls were taken to explore a different park across Portland and learn and practice "magic skills." She also got to whittle a stick with a knife.
As it was different from her previous camps, it took Audrey awhile to get used to it, especially some of the fantasy elements, which included a tales of "the Faceless Ones," learning to cast a protection spell ("Aegis!"), a battle between competing "headmasters" (one of whom could throw fire), and an impending threat of destruction of Portland (which had Audrey and Hannah quite concerned). In the end, Audrey seemed to come around to it, and even said she'd do it again.
Audrey and Hannah carpooled to and from the camp, so they had a lot of time together, including hanging out at each other's houses and going to Honey and Honey Grandpa's house in Milwaukie, where Kate had gone for a day.
Audrey and Kate rushed home from Audrey's kindergarten concert tonight for a family gathering to celebrate Dada's birthday. They helped Dada blow out his candles and open his presents, ate cake and ice cream, and enjoyed hanging out with their grandparents and Aunt Marie and Uncle Keith.
Although Easter was more than a week ago, Kate and Audrey finally got around to dying Easter eggs with a kit Mama had bought. They dyed the eggs with their friend and neighbor Olivia.
The Heartwood Preschool class mascot, Chico, has been staying with Kate again this week. It's been a low-key visit for Chico. He and Kate did go to meet Mama for lunch on Friday. Kate strapped him into Audrey's carseat so that he'd be safe. This afternoon, Chico accompanied Kate and Audrey on a trip to Irving Park.
Jill and Lily and Cora spent the night at Audrey and Kate's house after Audrey's family birthday party yesterday. Audrey and Kate were excited to hang out with their cousins. The main outing was a walk to Normandale Park for some fresh air and exercise.
Audrey's friend Nora came over to play for a couple of hours today. The girls played in Audrey's room, made some crystals with a science kit Audrey got for Christmas, danced to the songs on Audrey's "Tangled" CD, and had a little rest time.
Audrey and Kate enjoyed multiple Christmas celebrations, each offering plenty of time with family, good food, and many, many presents. The festivities began on Christmas Eve at Honey and Honey Grandpa's house. On Christmas Day, the girls opened presents from Santa at their house in the morning and then headed over to GG's house, where a big highlight was playing with their cousin Elsa (and helping her use the potty) and meeting their new cousin Liam. Christmas continued the following weekend with a celebration at Grandpa Dave and Judy's house.
In between gatherings, the girls opened up, tried on, put together, or tested out many of their gifts. Audrey assembled her Lego Friends house set from Honey and Honey Grandpa in one morning mostly by herself, not wanting to pause to eat breakfast or get dressed. She also practiced her cosmetology skills on her sister with her new fingernail decorating kit and tried out the keyboard from GG (which also inspired Mama to brush up on her piano skills).
Kate put together her Lego set with Dada, sang and danced using her keyboard from GG (both girls had a lot of fun with the microphone that came with it), and took her new scooter from Santa out for a spin. Both girls liked the special nutcrackers they got from Grandpa Dave, and the many games and craft and science sets the girls received were greatly appreciated during the cold and/or wet winter days.
The girls also got to hang out with their cousins and Uncle Paul and Aunt Morgan at their house and at a few of their favorite spots in and around their neighborhood, including the soaking pool at the Kennedy School and the playground at the Rose City Park School.
Thanks to everyone who gave gifts, organized gatherings, and made Christmas an exciting and wonderful time for Audrey and Kate!
(If the photo slideshow below does not appear or work properly, click here.)
After the first rehearsal for the church Christmas pageant this morning, Audrey and Kate got to hang out with their friend Brin. The three girls and their moms went to watch a community theater production of "The Princess and the Pea." Then they came back to Audrey and Kate's house to make Christmas cookies and have dinner.
Chico, Heartwood Preschool's "class pet," came to stay with Kate over the past week. He's been to our house a couple of times before when Audrey was at Heartwood. Kate had fun taking care of him and showing him a good time. He slept in Kate's bed one night, although he's quite big for it so most of the time he's slept on the floor in her room. We thought about taking him to Camp Sherman with us, but decided it might be best if he stayed home to guard the house for us.
Audrey and Kate are hosting Benjamin, Bradley, and Jordan Mulder, their mom Rachelle, and their dog Abby at their house for a couple of nights. The highlight of their time together today was going to the All Comers Track Meet hosted by Portland Parks and Foot Traffic at Grant High School. Audrey and Kate ran in a couple of running events, and Audrey tried out the high jump (she was really into the award ribbons). Jordan tried out several of the events.
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