babies!

the diaper cake

i can't believe how small these newborn diapers are... hard to believe jillian was wearing this size 1 year ago!!

the diaper cake "ingredients"

jillian joins in on the party

the kids check out the gifts inside the cake

jayden's teacher is having a baby (girl) in april and her last day in the classroom was last friday. i baked some cupcakes and the kids had a party in the classroom. i also made a "diaper cake"

with all kinds of "baby goodies" inside the cake.

jilly and the windmill

on our way to the photo shoot!

i took jillian to get her pictures taken for her 1st birthday. on our way home - i spotted this windmill. it was actually in the middle of a neighborhood. i parked the van and tried to get a few shots without being too annoying :) i had the balloons in the car and decided to bring them out too! i had fun just trying to get a photo!

field trip!

snack-time at the museum

i was amazed at what the kids created!

the kids got to make their own "art"

each child looked around the room at several paintings and tried to match their special stuffed animal to the painting. jayden and his friend guru chose this painting. guro chose this painting because he had a horse from toy story and their were horses in the painting. jayden chose this painting because it was the biggest painting in the room and he thought that his giraffe would fit in this painting :) i was really amazed at how this group of kindergarteners could pick a painting to match their stuffed animal!

an unusually sunny day - jillian stops to take in a little culture

On tuesday, jillian and i chaperoned jayden's class to an art museum in Laren. Let's just say I lost track of how many times I said "Don't touch the paining!" :)

my little baker

don't worry - the mixer is not on in this picture.... wouldn't be baking without a taste :)

my sweet little baby jilly looks so grown up in this picture!

jillian helped me make some cranberry muffins on saturday.

little mozart

look at that blonde hair with some curls starting to develop!

watching big brother

look at me!

jillian is finally tall enough to reach the keys on the piano. as soon as the boys sit down to practice the piano - she comes crawling over to the piano and begins stretching her fingers up until she reachs the piano keys.

out with the old and in with the new

in the very same day - graham lost a tooth and jillian's top tooth broke through her gums! i couldn't get a good picture of the tooth breaking through her gums - so i guess this is the last official picture of her two-tooth grin :)

graham was so proud - he pulled his tooth out all by himself..... we had fun at dinner making suggestions to him about how he could get his tooth out :) we suggested tying the tooth to a string and the door - then having helen slam the door --- daddy suggested that he could use a kleenex to grab the tooth --- then we said if he pulled the tooth by himself - the tooth fairy might leave him some extra money :) graham liked the extra money idea!

100 day celebration

jayden's class celebrated 100 days of attendance in school. each child had to gather 100 items from their home to bring in to school and count. they made special crowns and had special cupcakes and fruit for a snack. they also collected 100 cans of food to donate to a local shelter.

it was fun to see the items that the children brought in to count.... someone even brought in 100 wine corks!

jayden chose little umbrellas (paraplu) - an appropriate choice for Holland - the country where it seems to rain at least 4 of the 7 days of the week (ok - that's probably exaggerating - but it seems that way sometimes)