Ice Cream

I think this is the first cone of the season. Certainly the first double-fisted cone attempt for sure.

Note: these photos ARE in chronological order. This will make more sense when you see the ones of Ily eyeing the cone...

Grandma Jackie had told us last week she got Amara a baby cone from DQ on one of the hotter days in the week. Of course, I was impressed and had to witness this for myself--so after flower shopping, we headed for treats.

We ordered baby cones for all (daddy's was chocolate dipped...not sure WHAT he was thinking there) and headed home. After about oh, 15 seconds, she decided she wanted my cone. I was happy to give it up--considering I figured this was a swap, but it was a take. She did 'let me' have it when they started running down her hands--but after a quick clean up, she was back in the game. If you notice in the one shot--Amara even ended up with daddy's chocolate cone for a sec--before the craziness of 3 cones in the backseat was too much for even me, and we shuffled cones again.

I'm pretty sure the seatbelt and hoodie got more of the softserve than she did--but boy did she have fun. Like I said--nary a big eater, she couldn't wait to share with Ily (who was just as eager to be shared WITH).

Be got her out of the car, and Ily out of the house, and got poised with the camera. All was going well--until the inevitable...our 'full' Beanie who was giving the cone to Ily, took it back. What can you do? At that point, she only wanted a lick--and we figured trying to stop her would only induce a chase-scene at best, so we let it go.

In the end, Ily got the cone, Amara got--well, some Ily germs, and all were happy and content. Like I always say, best friends.

DeMonye's sale

The annual DeMonye's perennial sale is a big deal--like a flat of perennials (though small) for what a normal flat of annuals would cost--

Our friend Carolyn goes EVERY year and is kind enough to offer to get things to us, though--we are kind of sporadic at the greenhouses, so we thought we'd head over.

It's only for one weekend, and a windy weekend it was--but the fun thing is that it's SO close to the airport, that it was double duty for all of us. We headed out to the racks and racks of plants and started weeding through.

Eric would pick and Amara and I would browse around at the other shoppers--and she LOVES those tags, those landscaping flags that tell you what the plants are? Loves them. Takes them--hard to know what a tiny, tiny plant with no flower on it is, without those little sticks--dagnabbit.

Anyway...we headed indoors to see if any annuals caught our fancy, but instead, found this ENORMOUS blue car-cart thingy. Amara usually doesn't seem interested at the grocery store, but this one was a must have (apparently). It was a full 2-seater, and if you've never tried to steer one of these things, in a BUMPY and uneven greenhouse, lord help you. I have NEVER struggled with an empty cart so much--and of course she loved it.

We went up and down the aisles while dad picked out flowers (2 flats/ 72 plants worth) and we window shopped. In the end, we checked out and got loaded up--when I caught the sign on the child seat in the cart. Since Amara (and we) calls herself Beanie, I thought this was fitting.

We planted all these flowers Saturday--just before the rains came, so they look great now. We even went and got Amara her gloves, a shovel and spade and a garden bag and hat, so she's official now--next, annuals. We have a flat of marigolds and inpatients to get in the ground before the next rain (hopefully!)

AHA/ Maya's party

Happy 3rd bday to Maya! What a cutie! We were lucky enough to be invited to the big birthday bash at AHA http://www.aha4kids.org/--and what a bash it was...

Walking in, we were inundated with kids of all sizes running around, a giant firetruck, foam shapes, and so many cool creative little vignettes and always helpful staff around too.

Renee and Keith had done such a wonderful job of setting up this adorable farm party theme--the cake was adorable with little animal candles, the goodie bags were incredible, and (probably the favorite) COW BALLOONS!

On to the "stuff" --there was a super neat ball 'thing' where she collected balls at the bottom (gave them to daddy) and up the stairs, to put them in various holes, where they'd snake down through tubes to the bottom again--that had to be her favorite!

There was a costume station, where (SURPRISE) she played with some hats--a chef's hat, cowboy, some crazy pink boa Dennis Rodman number, etc.

Then a veterinary station, where she got to put all kinds of animals in their cages--cute. I don't know that I've seen stuffed snakes or a few other randoms in there, but they even had an xray machine w/ films!

And after much deliberation (and some sampling) she went for the chocolate cake (note for the bday party next month) and helped herself to it! Not that she had that much--but just enough to get some energy for the water table, sand areas and painting/ drawing...before wearing out completely.

We quickly packed up and headed home, and thank goodness for Renee's goodie bag, that helped entertain us all the way home--the tiny horse head finger puppet is a keeper, thanks guys!

Mommy's pie plate

Remember back during Christmas time when I told the story of Eric and Amara getting me the pie plate and the suncatcher craft--that was representational of a pie plate he wanted to make with me? Well, we finally got around to doing it.

After our indoor play adventure, we headed over to Color Me Mine, a paint your own pottery place in Dublin. I knew I wanted to 'capture' Beanie's precious hand prints--what we hadn't bargained for was the prep-work that would get us to that one tiny step.

As Eric got started on the base coats for the plate--Amara picked out a tiny dog to paint. Another little girl in the store was painting a larger puppy, so she REALLY wanted that one, but the nice store lady helped us find a small one :) We first gave the puppy a sponge bath, to take all the dust off and help the paint saturate into the project. We then got our brushes and picked out her browns and blacks and got to work. That puppy had a lot of curves and crooks, and to get a nice color, you needed 3 coats of paint!

Each time Eric would paint a coat, he'd stick the pie plate under the fan and we'd walk around the store--trying to entertain Amara. It was getting late and near dinner/ bedtime, so she really just wanted to go home at that point. We even walked outside to the Blockbuster next door to get a bottle of water and a sucker on one of the paint-drying-breaks.

Finally it was time for the hand prints. Our green plate was dry and the store lady helped get some dark blue paint on Amara's hands with a small sponge--she liked this part. 2 quick presses in the plate and we were DONE! Off to the sink for a quick wash and out the door!

(I have to come back to finish the plate later--I wanted to add her name and the date, but the prints were good for now. I'll post the finished projects later :)) The Color Me Mine staff was sweet and it's a pretty painless process if you have a little patience...I can't wait to see the finished project and what a sweet way to commemorate this moment and such a sweet gift. Thanks honey!

Playing at Recreations outlet

As usual--yet another great tip from a friend, led us to Recreations Outlet in Powell. We'd heard that it was basically a giant indoor showroom for those MASSIVE play-sets you see, usually behind very nice houses (or small schools).

We went up on a Saturday afternoon (a VERY nice day) but we'd been wanting to go up for a while--so we were super excited. Getting there, they had those 'mini' but very life-like play houses outside...the kind that are actually TALLER than most adults because the thing is REALLY a small house anyway--so cute.

We headed inside and the first thing we noticed was that the floor were these 18" square rubber tiles, PERFECT for little kid playing. They had probably a dozen or more GIANT cedar play sets--some with swings, some had climbing walls, ropes, tire swings, ALL with massive slides--one even had an attic! (I purposely skipped the price tag on that one)

Amara was drawn to the tire swing, and we spent a good amount of time trying the various ones on different sets. Also, the trampolines are SO cool--they are springless now, no chance to get your teeth knocked out or a limb caught in the springs, just good play time and very easy to get in and out too.

I'm pretty sure we tried out every slide, bumpy, curvy, fast, short or tall--in the place. We also headed to the basketball corner, where they had probably a half dozen or more smaller basketball hoops, perfect for our budding hoopster and her dad to get some practice in!

A very popular item was the extreme coaster--something she is already familiar with because of our friend Hayliee (and is getting for her birthday...shhhhhh...) so after waiting her turn, she got to ride a half dozen times--and even shared with another little boy and showed him how it's done :)

We had a great visit--and more places to run off to, but I'm SURE we'll be back--PERFECT place for a rainy day or party!

Happy Easter 2010

Easter morning started off with Amara almost sleeping through church. After a BIG day on Saturday, we figured she'd sleep...but she was REALLY tired! I think we all got ready for church in record time--though, we did get in the car with Amara in her slippers (a bit of a power struggle on shoes, which I was HAPPY to give up for the moment) and carrying a hat, socks, sweater--and toting a car packed to the roof with egg hunt supplies.

After church and a quick lunch, Amara headed for MeMaws room for a nap, and Eric and I got to working. See, the nephews are older this year--and we decided they shouldn't just have to be HANDED their baskets, they should work for them. So Eric built a scavenger hunt--which, considering we found out all the Hamm's were coming too, meant we could have teams and spread it out and have a lot of fun.

We had 6 clues each for 3 different teams. The clues took them as far back as the barn, all the way to Hoover road, and all around the house (even inside!). In addition to that, they were each allowed a dozen candy eggs each and 5 money (glittery sparkely) eggs too! What a haul! The great part about it too--was that when one kid had reached their limit of eggs, they could help the other--it was really a teamwork event and we heard all the kids really enjoyed it.

From her Easter basket at home, she LOVES the green dancing frog--that went in the car with us all day...and from MeMaws--well, it had all the favorites, including APPLESAUCE and raisins and SUCKERS! Thanks MeMaw.

In true form, Amara didn't care as much for the eggs as she did the mower sitting in the back yard (because there were clues in it!) so that was her Easter treat, regardless. We all ate (again) and enjoyed the day--playing, swinging, running, hunting, chasing, and riding, and crashing :) For one tiny moment, all of mom and dad's grandkids were there (now 5) including tiny baby Gideon--but before we could get a picture, Amara climbed up into her car-seat and promptly said "home," so we went. I guess even fun things can be a lot. Big day, BIGGER weekend!

Easter lunch

After a crazy morning at the Eggstravanga, the Youngs came over for lunch. Beanie had already made the cupcakes earlier and Eric and I had cooked before the egg drop, so we just all played a little while a few things were in the oven.

Eric and I had gotten a few new bubble toys, so G and Amara played with the rocket a good bit. I think Kristin and Grandma liked the play set out back, and they rest enjoyed Eric's (amazing) salsa from last summer! (we're holding you TO that assembly line offer, Steph!)

Uncle Matt & Aunt Steph got Amara a wonderfu bee watering can, which she promptly put to good use with Grandma in the back yard. Grandma and Grandpa Young also got Amara a new duck, an elmo Easter basket filled with goodies, and a Curious George Easter book too!

After all the great food, little miss baker had to make sure EVERYONE enjoyed one of her 'cakes' by hand-delivering a cupcake to everyone (whether they wanted it or not!) It was adorable. I'm pretty sure she refrained frome taking too many bites--secured by another cake in the other hand at all times :)

A nap wasn't far behind for Amara, but we watched some video and enjoyed the rest of the day inside (that was the crazy windy day) for a bit. What wonderful gifts and a really fun lunch!

Eggstravaganza 2010 aka: the egg drop

Apparently some time (recently) once my nephews had stopped going to the Easter egg hunts at Windsor park...they stopped. Like altogether stopped. I was amazed that as I googled and checked for an egg hunt around Grove City, that there appeared to be none.

Well, I quickly learned, just about every church in GC has their OWN egg hunt, and I guess parks and req. just decided to bow out. Good news for us is that mom's church (1st Baptist) was having a HUGE Eggstravaganza to kick off it's first year and Easter holiday at their new church location (ironically enough, a location my dad has owned and farmed as long as I can remember).

I called and we decided that THIS would be our egg hunt--we'd see how it went, but didn't really expect much this year. Well, it's important to note that the egg hunt was at the END of a 5k run the church was sponsoring, to help with a local food drive also, so it was BIG. People sampling sports drinks, food, bouncy things, games, it was like a carnival and there were thousands of people there.

We quickly made our way around the side and to the back of the church, following the helicopter (the main attraction) to it's launch site. We heard there'd be 8,000 eggs dropping from this helicopter and were all really excited to see how it would work.

We didn't get through many of the longer lines for food or games before the hunt, but it left plenty to do afterwards. The helicopter lifted off and then hovered around the drop zone. I was surprised at how the eggs didn't really "scatter" the way I thought they would--really more just dropped straight down. It was still a cool idea though and fun to watch. After he was all done, some ladies ran out and dumped a few more bags--in efforts to spread it out.

When they let everyone go, it was literally a free-for all. The church has never done this before, so they didn't release by ages, or in different areas, it was like a mob! (Do you SEE all those people lined up?) Luckily, we had stayed along the side, so Amara just darted right out there and grabbed a half dozen, and wanted to go after the helicopter--so we did. The pilot was so kind, he let us go right up to the door and peek in--we were pretty impressed.

Back to the carnival area--Amara found a new "favorite thing" in the sucker tree game. First, I didn't even KNOW it was a game. I just saw a tree with suckers and little kids coming up and taking one, and that was all she cared about too. (suckers are hands-down here favorite, favorite thing) She waited in like with daddy to get a balloon, Grandma Young got her some popcorn, and I think she even jumped in one of the bouncer things for a second or two.

We had some friends and family join us too--Brandy and Hayliee went, Susie and her girls were there too, as well as the Fraziers--and Uncle Matt & Aunt Steph, Aunt Kristin and Grandma and Grandpa Young, as well as MeMaw Jackie--oh and cousin G. G got a TON of eggs--he opened them up in the car and was totally impressed! They all thought it was a nice day and we hope to make it an annual event for sure!

Eggs, paws, and claws

We've only been zoo members--well, it will be 1 year on Amara's birthday, so not quite a year yet. Been probably a half dozen times, but it never seems that the member events work out for us (timing wise), so we've actually never been to any of those. This weekend was the annual Eggs, Paws, and Claws event--and I HEARD, with special guest PABLO from the Backyardigans. We HAD to go.

...AND, since our friends Jason and Sylvia turned us onto them in the first place, we of course told THEM about the event and planned to meet. Mom took Amara up to the zoo, so Eric and I could both meet up there (and not have to double back to GC). We headed straight in the front gate--but the 'event' hadn't kicked off yet, so we went to find new animals instead.

Because we were approaching dinner-time, Amara caught the attention of some vendors, and grabbed a hotdog before we were 10 ft. inside the zoo...I wondered about taking food that close to animals, but I guess they must be used to it.

The first animal we got to, which I'm sure has been there before considering it's just inside the gate, was the Lynx. It was beautiful--just kept pacing back and forth and jumping around. Amara was intrigued by the 'kitty.' We quickly moved on (as we met up with daddy) to the Asia exhibit and FINALLY got to see 'baby' Beco....who is over a year old now. Better late than ever! He was playing with a giant blue ball, similar to my workout ball--which I personally found funny.

Off to the merry-go-round. It was really a fun ride and Amara enjoyed going up and down--getting taller than mommy and daddy ;) Next, to the boat ride--this was a first for all of us! Last fall, it was closed already by the time we got around to it. After a short wait, we got right on. Amara wasn't thrilled by it, but didn't seem to hate it either--though, she did tell us it was a bit long (by repeatedly saying 'out' or 'off').

As we wrapped up the boat ride and headed to the main path, the 6 o'clock hour struck and we started watching for the character caravan. This is the name they give to an event where they drive a cast of characters around the zoo to visit, without actually stopping for photos, etc. JUST past the carousel, we heard a familiar Backyardigans tune and the caravan appeared!

It consisted of a polar bear (coming this summer), eagle, koala, and PABLO! We were all so surprised and excited--I think they were beyond us when we realized what had happened! They are on make-shift golf carts, but they weren't crawling either. Knowing Amara was nearing her end, we headed to meet up with Jason and his family (who arrived after a car accident, bee-sting to Sylvia, and STILL made it) and got to actually see another drive-by of the caravan!

We all posed for a quick shot and then headed out the gate to get home. They stayed and had a great time too, from what we heard! We (apparently) missed any other special festivities that were going on, but we had a great time on a perfect evening. As we left, they were handing out bags at the front gate, and we 'heard' different stations were around for treats, but it wasn't in the cards for this year. We had plenty of other opportunities anyway, this visit was all about Pablo.

Easter lunch prep

Since we were hosting an Easter lunch on Saturday (and had the big zoo night planned Friday) we started getting ready on Thursday. Amara had such a great time decorating cookies last weekend at the Y luncheon, that we decided to do cupcakes--so she could participate again.

I whipped up the cupcakes, while Amara and dad played--and as soon as they were out of the oven, I assembled the icing, sprinkles, flowers, etc...just like the last time. As soon as I called them up from the playroom to help, Amara hopped right up in her chair and grabbed her icing utensil (a plastic knife, since I couldn't find food-safe popsicle sticks ANYWHERE for some reason) and was ready to roll.

We started off well enough, globs of icing up on top of the cakes, smear it around, grab some sprinkles, repeat. But somewhere between 2 and, well, 3--it went haywire. I'm not sure if the still cooling chocolate cupcakes were more than she could take...if the cream cheese icing came too close to her lips, or if that one stray granule of pink decorative sugar got her all excited, but she started licking. And licking...and dipping, and grabbing.

Luckily, she had eaten a good dinner, and wasn't really that hungry--and you know they aren't actually getting THAT much sugar (right before bedtime) anyway...but part of it seemed wrong, but still cute and sweet, that we were making cupcakes for Easter, the old-fashioned way. At the very least (I justified), she could do this with me, right?

I reviewing the shots Eric got, I was sure that we had at least ONE pre-icing photo that I could share, but alas--apparently we didn't bust the camera out until it got 'hands on.' Not surprising. I personally love the COVERED purple hand--she was DEDICATED to her craft and wasn't timid about her use of color.

Amara personally hand-delivered her cake creations to each and every family member at Saturday's luncheon. I think she really enjoyed sharing her creations and that folks enjoyed getting them too (even Grandma Young's with a lick of icing missing from the top). Our little pastry chef :)