Do you not know what causes that?

Love this picture...

This was taken at SeaWorld on July 4th at the underwater viewing tank.

Camp Exchange

I have to admit that I'm enjoying the new fangled camps for kids. I love having photos to look at on a daily basis.  It's like checking in without hovering. Not to say I don't look at pics and think, "Why is he wearing long pants in 100 degree weather?"  But hey, it's in the past and I can prove he was breathing yesterday.  ;-)

So on that note, Lilah is home form camp.  She had a blast.  I was worried she'd stay shy but I picked her up and she was smiling, chatting and playing well.  I am so glad.  She wants to go back THIS summer.

In exchange, we dropped Isaac off.  His first pictures have been viewed.  We'll see him in awhile. (See what I mean about the long pants?)

Someone take out the garbage!

So I came to pick Lilah up from camp and this is what she was wearing... Thankfully the swimsuit was on too.

Chess Chick

I can't remember if I blogged this or not, but if I didn't, here is a picture of Lilah and the winning Chess team.

Chanukah (Night #3)

Tonight was Lilah's night of Chanukah. I actually started Lilah's celebration by teaching at her school. I brought lots of snacks to try out and we had fun reading stories and playing dreidel. I knew she would be pleased by her gifts - I mean seriously, how hard is it to buy presents for girls of this age?  So we'd been slowly gathering a collection of American Girl items, including a new doll.  I was a little hurt when she saw the big bag and kept saying, "I know there is an American Girl in there!"  I know she was excited, but gosh it was still like, "Can't you just be happy without runing your own surprise?"  Instead I simply smiled and said "You never know..."  She apparently played and played for hours, I had to leave to teach.  Here are some pics...

 

Thank You Notes

Lilah and Isaac are busy with their thank you notes. Lilah has been actually drawing a really cute picture of the present in each one.  Isaac isn't having as much fun with it.  Lilah just announced - "I have one more to do!  I'm so lucky..."  I looked at her and said, "It's not luck, you've been working hard and being thoughtful." 

Score!

Isaac and Lilah went to a chess tournament yesterday and both got 3rd place in their divisions.  We were really impressed because this was a huge tournament.

Missing a Meal

Lilah played with her dear friend SM yesterday.  They played all day, including a whole session of roller skating.  By the time Little Miss Lilah came home she was exhausted and could barely move - let alone be civil.  So I cooked dinner and tried to get her to eat, she wasn't able to do anything but cry.  So I sent her upstairs knowing she'd fall asleep.

About 7 p.m. I got home and asked Hilary where Lilah was located. She said she didn't know.  Hilary came back a few minutes later and said, "She's up now."  She had awakened the sleeping child. Ouch.  So Lilah came down, mad that her dinner was gone.  Everything I offered to fix she refused. I finally said, "When you calm down, I'll make sure you get dinner."  Needless to say she fell asleep before eating.

I really thought lots of sleep would cure the issue, but alas, it did not.  She woke up this morning screaming about her missed meal.  I finally told her that she could have two breakfasts to catch up.  She managed to only eat one and start complaining.  So I will feed her a heavy snack when she gets home and call it dinner and then take her to Skyline to eat again.  Does that mean she'll be caught up?

Catching up in pictures!

Ada was pretty happy about dinner...

 

Clara previews the Pippi Longstocking Hair

The "Haunted House" we made from a kit...

Happy birthday!

I can't believe that Lilah is seven today. She's changed so much.  Her nick name as a baby was B.  She had an early and often attitude. My grandma made fun of me for claiming that a 3 mo had moods.  Then again she never rode in the car with Lilah, who screamed the entire time.  Just when we thought we were in for a long 18 years, she mellowed out.

She's now the kindest, sweetest girl.  She's an excellent student. She's so lovely and works hard.  We couldn't be happier with her. For her birthday we went to the pumpkin patch to pick a family pumpkin and eat at the farm.

While we did not eat birthday cake, nothing says I love you like happy birthday written in apple butter!  We did sing very loudly to her, much to Hilary's embarassment. And she had pumpkin pie for dessert...