Micah's Mower

Daddy's Girl

Sea World on the Driveway

Gabi drew under-the-sea creatures all over the driveway in chalk.
Here's Micah being a shark, watching Gabi show him how to chomp with his hands.
Gabi holding hands with her merman:

Dance Recital

Together in their Easter Clothes!

Fishin' with Uncle Neal

Saturday afternoon Uncle Neal took Gabi fishing at 5 Mile Creek, down near mom & dad's house. They didn't catch any fish, but saw a cottonmouth snake. Gabi thinks they must be called that because they eat cotton candy.

Ace of Cakes fan mail

This is the letter we are mailing to Duff, the chef at Charm City Cakes in Baltimore. We like to watch the show Ace of Cakes on the FoodNetwork.

Dear Duff and everybody at Charm City Cakes,

My name is Gabi and I am five years old. When I grow up, I would like to have a job at your bakery. I like to watch Ace of Cakes on TV with my mommy, daddy, and little brother. I drew a picture of a cake for you and I also have a picture of me sitting on a cake I made out of furniture and other stuff. The Cinderella carriage cake is my favorite you made.

See you when I grow up!

Love,

(Gabi signed her name here)

Here's the included pictures:

Registered and Ready for Kindergarten!

Yep, that's right- Gabi is going to kindergarten next year! We signed her up tonight. This was my first time to visit the school and I liked it a lot. The art displayed in the hallways made me happy- no photocopied sheets, lots of individual style. They had a display showing how they taught symmetry and balance with art projects, so I was very pleased.
The kindergarten teachers invited all of next years new students to join the current K classes at a bookmaking party at the end of May and we can stay for lunch. And Evan (best buddy boyfriend) was there when we were. We're already planning the carpool.
Gabi will also have her evaluation with a teacher in May to see where she is academically. On that front, Gabi learned how to multiply while we were driving to Petit Jean. She knows her "2" times tables from 0-5, because she was determining how many arms were in the car if different numbers of people were in the car. She has also started sounding out words like "cat, rat, bat, sat...."-- I'm hoping to have her reading some basics before she starts school in the fall. And she used her portion of our garage sale cash to buy an encyclopedia of animals (she calls it her Great Big Book of Everything like Stanley has on TV). She has added the words mammal, marsupial, carnivore, and habitat to her vocabulary. OK- I'm done bragging now. But I think she is definitely ready for Kindergarten.

Adventures at Petit Jean

Here we are on the trail to Rock Cave.

Gabi is Queen of the Turtle Rocks!!

Gabi brought her archeolgy equipment (magnifying glass, binoculars, etc.) Later in the day her dad taught her how to use it to light a leaf on fire.

"Ahh! It dark!"

After a long day of hiking, we reclined on the back porch of our cabin
with juice boxes and an iPod.

It is fun to climb with daddy and to climb on daddy!

Micah used the magnifying glass to check out a green stick bug. See it?

Are those cave bears?

Blake & Gabi in the backyard of our cabin.

The kids enjoyed the playground while
Blake cooked hot dogs and marshmallows on the grill.

OK, OK- we grown ups played, too. Gabi took the picture of me.
Riding in the car.... notice Micah keeps copying my "one-eye-shut" photgraphing face.

At the Cedar Falls overlook. It was cold that morning!

Gabi made a buggy friend, too.

Just for fun.....

If you evered wondered what Gabi would look like if she were the fairy queen.....



That should tide you over until we get back from our little trip with pictures of camping, hiking, and s'mores.

What did you eat on Easter?

Yes, I took pictures of our food. But Gabi & Micah "helped" me make the brownie baskets and bunny waffles. I didn't take pictures of the steaks PaPa Jack grilled for fear you wouldn't be able to resist licking your screen.