Pickles and Parties

Saturday, March 30, 2013, Sidney and I accompanied Cleo to the Southwest Arts Center where her acting class is held. Sidney and I played on our electronic devices while we waited for Cleo.  Sidney and I took turns on my new iPhone 4S that I receive last week through work. They discontinued giving us BlackBerries and gave us the choice of an iPhone 4S or a Samsung Galaxy III. I chose an iPhone because I have never had one before.

While Sidney napped after Cleo's acting class, Cleo and I ran errands.  After our errand running, Cleo requested a pickle as a snack. We don't have whole pickles but I offered and she accepted some sliced dill pickles. She's had them at school and really likes them.

After Sidney got up from his nap, I took him to his classmate's 4th birthday party. Her name is London Ross.  She had the same cake that Cleo did at her party, except Cleo requested that the trim be purple rather than pink.  I couldn't coax a smile out of him at the table.  I do like his contemplative expression, though.  He ate a hot dog and some chips. I was impressed because he rarely eats hotdogs.

Sidney waiting with his friend London for the candle to be lit.  London is a Hello Kitty fan like Cleo is.

It's clear in that picture that Sidney is about to help London blow out her candle.

Sidney had a really good time at the party. We were there 3pm-5:30pm.  I had a good time too, I chatted for a while with Sidney's classmates' parents.  One parent who lives in the same subdivision that we do informed me that there was a huge marijuana bust on our street (around 4 houses away). The police found $250,000 worth of drugs.  People resort to desperate measures in tough times.

Have a great week!

Easter Festivities

We attended 7am Sunrise Service this morning, March 31, 2013.  Here are Sidney and Cleo in their Easter Sunday finery.

 

At church with Angelina, she used to attend the same daycare as Cleo and Sidney.

Cleo, Angelina, Alexia, and Sidney.  Alexia still attends Sidney's daycare.

 Here we are dyeing eggs.

Making cookies.

Sidney and his cute self posing.

 

The Easter Bunny (aka Linda or GramLin) provided the kids with wonderful Easter baskets. Cleo's had a Hello Kitty theme and Sidney's had an Angry Birds theme.

 

 Roger posing and holding a chocolate egg.

After a short nap, we headed over to our friend's house.  Kim, Derrick and Kennedy hosted an Easter brunch.  

Here are the kids lining up for the Easter egg hunt.

Easter egg hunting fun!

Sidney and his new favorite friend, Kennedy.

Doing a little belated egg decorating later this afternoon.  Sidney's Angry Birds egg.  Both kids tried the hard boiled eggs and did not care for them.

Cleo's Hello Kitty egg.

Cleo and Alexandria's Sleepover (and Sidney's too!)

On Saturday, March 23, Alexandria's much awaited sleepover finally happened. We had to postpone it 3 times because of various illnesses (my flu, Cleo's virus, Sidney's pinkeye).  Alexandria's uncle Darryl dropped her off around 4pm.  The 3 kids played a bit, then we headed to dinner at Cici's. It's an all you can eat pizza restaurant. They make a really good super thin crust veggie pizza that I really like.  They also have rootbeer!  Alexandria and Cleo both like rootbeer, Sidney preferred water to soda that night.

We left the restaurant around 6pm and headed home for movie night. Alexandria selected a Disney Princess short movie DVD.

You will see Sidney's black and red cast on his arm.  He broke his arm wrestling with Roger on March 17.  Right away Sidney said his arm was broken but he didn't seem to be in too much pain that evening. I took him to the emergency room with Ahnya the evening of March 18. The x-ray didn't show a break.   He was such a well behaved boy all 3.5 hours we were at the hospital.  When we picked him up from school on Monday, he was holding his little left arm like it was a wounded wing and he wouldn't let us come near us. That's what prompted us to get it checked out.  The nurse at the hospital told us to take Sidney to an orthopedist that week.  Accordingly, Roger took Sidney to an orthopedist on Tuesday, March 19, and the x-ray there showed that there was a slight fracture above his elbow. Sidney requested Angry Birds colors, red, yellow, black and white. The tech did the best she could and gave him a red and black cast. He has to keep it on for 3 weeks, he gets it off on April 9.

Around 10:30pm, I headed up to bed. Roger stayed downstairs and kept the kids company. Cleo and Sidney stayed up until 11:30. Alexandria fell asleep at 10:45pm.

The next day, we broke out Cleo's Easy Bake Oven.  Alexandria selected red velvet cupcakes. The cupcakes were the size of nickels.  Cleo and I had attempted to make chocolate whoopie cookies but they came out rather terrible. This time, the cupcakes came out great. I read the directions a bit more thoroughly this time and that helped considerably.  Sidney was talking about the cupcake days later and commenting on how much fun the Easy Bake Oven was.  He definitely thought that Cleo's sleepover was his sleepover as well.

After cleaning up in the kitchen, the kids brought out books and explained to us what the cover page, spine of the book, etc. informs us about the book.

We had a great time having Alexandria over.  She and Cleo love each other so much. It's precious.  Cleo kept saying that she wished Alexandria could live with us.

Cleo's 6th Birthday Party (and Ahnya's Birthday too!)

On Saturday, March 16, 2013 (Ahnya's birthday), we celebrated Cleo's 6th birthday party at the Brunswick Zone bowling alley in Kennesaw, GA. It's around a 30 minute drive from our house.  Ahnya, Linda, Robin and Kaelin came to town for the weekend.  Cleo and the attendees had a great time.

Linda, Kaelin, Sidney and Cleo at the bowling alley.

Linda, me and Ahnya.

Cleo bowling!

Cleo posing.

Kaelin bowling.

Sidney assisting Cleo with blowing out her candle.

The kids having a good time.

Cleo and Alexandria, her best friend.

Sidney watching on as Cleo licks the icing off of her Hello Kitty cake topper.  There's a switch on it that allows you to turn on a light inside of it. Cute.

 Tyler, Cleo and Sidney. Tyler was the only one of Cleo's classmates to show up to the party. We invited 7 of them.

Linda and Cleo, who is holding her souvenir water bottle shaped like a pin. She loves it.

Sidney playing air hockey with Kaelin.

Cleo and Alexandria playing a big Connect Four.

Sidney, Cleo and Quintin (Alexandria's twin brother) dancing.

After the bowling alley, we went home to relax a bit. Cleo opened her gifts. Then, we headed out to celebrate Ahnya's birthday at Cafe Sunflower.

Ahnya about to tear into Cafe Sunflower's awesome vegan Old Fashioned chocolate cake. It's truly the best.

Cleo sitting on the birthday girl's lap.

Cutie cousins saying "good-bye."  Kaelin, Robin and Linda headed back to Jacksonville, FL on Sunday morning. Kaelin wearing her cute St. Patrick's Day t-shirt.

Birthday girl wearing her new favorite outfit from Linda.

On Monday, March 18, 2013, we helped Cleo's class celebrate her birthday party. Roger, Ahnya and I went to her class around 1:30pm.  We brought cupcakes, juice and blowouts.  You will see Cleo's temporary St. Patrick's Day tattoos.  Cleo, Ahnya and I put them on. It was fun.

The kids singing her a very long version of Happy Birthday with all sorts of the typical add-ons. Too sweet.

The striped shirt sisters!

Cleo dancing with Ms. Frazier, her teacher's assistant teacher.