Fun Filled Friday

What a busy day we had today! This morning was another successful TPG with a really fun "Music" theme. Maribel (John's cousin) was this week's hostess at her home in New Milford.

Avery and Taylor

Mia and Bennett

Reagan dancing to the music

Everyone was supposed to bring an instrument, so Mia played the drums while Reagan danced (and ate a pretzel)

Reagan, Avery, Taylor, and Mia

All the girls: Reagan, Avery, Taylor, Mia and Grace

I looked over and noticed that Grace had sat in the drum ... when I pointed this out to her mother Audra, we all got a good laugh.

Maribel was such a great hostess ... she compiled empty containers and various food items so the kids could make their own musical instruments. Reagan filled her container with Yogo's and raisins, but did more eating than music-making.

We left TPG a little early to make it to the River Vale First Friends end-of-the-year Carnival. We hung out with our friends from our weekly FF playgroup and we were even lucky enough to run into Ms. Lisa, Reagan's preschool teacher!

Since we were there early to help set up, Reagan received the very first balloon ... this may not seem like a big deal, but if you saw the line that soon formed and only got longer and longer, you'd realize why we were happy about it!
Amanda and Avery

Happy Avery ... you probably can't see it, but I actually managed to get a very small amount of hair into an elastic band on the top of her head today! She's wearing an outfit that was Reagan's, so I just had to find a picture of Reagan wearing it. It's pretty scary that I knew exactly where to find it, since I remembered she wore it to Moon Lake, two summers ago. Here's Reagan and my little sister Camille on 6/23/06 which means Reagan was 7 months old ~ exact same age as Avery now. Not sure if you can tell, but there was a lot more room in the outfit when Reagan wore it ... it's pretty tight on Avery and I doubt she'll ever fit into it again.

Reagan and Camille at Moon Lake 6/23/06

Back to the present. Ms. Lisa's daughter Nicole is the girl on the right (her friend Maeve is on the left). I told them to smile and I thought it was so funny to see Nicole strike a pose!

Some of Reagan's First Friends, L to R: Tammy and her daughter Elizabeth, Caitlyn and Christine, and Jessica and Tina.

Class Trip to Closter Nature Center

As summer approaches, so does the inevitable end of preschool. With only one week left, Ms. Lisa planned a wonderful end-of-the-year field trip to the Closter Nature Center. We had a wonderful morning there and I took lots of pictures! (of course) The man who runs the center, Marc, was so great with kids.

Each child sat down on a "lily pad" in a circle and Ms. Lisa took lots of pictures of the kids.

Teacher of the Year ~ Ms. Lisa :)

Here's Reagan watching the animals intently


The toad's name was Cutie Pie
I was so proud of Reagan ... as Marc brought out each animal, he told the kids he'd walk around the circle and they could touch it if they wanted to. About half the kids touched them and half didn't. Reagan didn't seem scared at all ... she was definitely anxious to touch each creature.

They saw and learned about a toad, a snake, a turtle, a rabbit, a ferret and a baby bird. After storms, people often find baby birds who have fallen out of their nests ... they bring these birds to this Nature Center in Closter and Marc nurses them back to health. He was feeding the baby bird with tweezers because he wanted to limit its contact with humans; he said he'd soon release it back into the wild.

Here's Reagan touching the snake which was named "Spaghetti." Marc told them it was lunch time and then threw a worm on the floor. The kids watched Spaghetti devour the entire worm. I think some of the moms were more freaked out by it than the kids!
Spaghetti eating the worm

Here is the ferret ... Marc wouldn't let the kids touch it because he said ferrets can catch human colds and he didn't want the ferret getting sick. Interesting piece of information I didn't know before.
Marc brought out his mandolin and started playing a song about a big fat frog, then he had them play a "dance and freeze" game. Reagan loved dancing with all the kids and I loved watching :)


This isn't the best picture of Reagan, but it's really the only picture I got of the pond at the Nature Center. The pond was huge, with lots of fish, geese, and ducks.


After the indoor presentation of animals, we went outside to the picnic table to do a craft (decorate the turtle's shell with stickers) and eat lunch (Ms. Lisa ordered pizza for everyone).

I tried to get a picture of Reagan and Avery together, since I matched their outfits today, but I couldn't get Reagan to cooperate.

Memorial Day Weekend BBQ

Here are some pictures from the BBQ at Pepito's house.

Pepito (Jose, John's cousin) and Reagan ~ the birthday buddies (Reagan was born on Pepito's birthday, November 27th)

Gabby and Reagan kicking soccer balls

Reagan on the swings


Some of Avery's funny faces


Avery and Maribel


Maribel's son Joaquin

John decided at the last minute to bring Dawson to the BBQ
We clearly wore him out! He needed a nap on the ride home :)

Of course, the BBQ was right in the middle of naptime, so we skipped Reagan's nap that day ... When we got in the car to go home, she was beyond exhausted! We weren't even out of the driveway and she was falling asleep. Of course, I didn't want her to fall asleep, since I wanted to get her home, in the bathtub and right to bed. But there was no way to fight her exhaustion ... she could NOT stay awake! So I took the following video. It was so incredibly mean of me to laugh at her, but I couldn't help it.

I finally stopped pestering her and just let her sleep ...

Corey's Surprise Baby Shower

Melisa and Stacey threw Corey a surprise baby shower on Saturday and we all had a great time!

Here we are at Melissa's house, waiting for Stacey to bring Corey. From left to right: Christine, Alexis, Melisa and Nicole. Here are Melisa and Corey just after she arrived.
Corey is 35 weeks pregnant and doesn't know the sex of the baby yet. She has a sweet little boy named Matthew who just turned 2. She doesn't care if she has a boy or a girl, she only hopes this one will be more mellow ... Matthew is the most energetic little boy I have ever met! He can climb over, into, out of, and under just about any structure you can think of. I honestly don't know how Corey keeps up with him!
Stacey and Amanda

Corey and her "ghetto" cake ... everyone was making fun of the decorating job done by Shop Rite. Although I like what they wrote on it, "Pink or Blue, We Welcome You, " they kind of overdid it :)
Stacey, Corey and Melisa