Chocolate Festival and New Shoes

What a busy day! First Mama took Emily to gymnastics while Mom took Kate to Home Depot, then after lunch we all headed up to Fairfield for the Chocolate Festival (how could we resist something called that?).

Check out the photo below--somehow a big red heart got into the exposure, just in time for Valentine's Day--pretty cool!

The festival was taking place in the same building where the kids had their preschool holiday concert, but it sure looked different today.There were lots of different vendors selling all kinds of candy, chocolate, and chocolate-themed stuff. It was a little bit overwhelming.For someone with a sweet tooth, it was a little bit like heaven!The girls each got to pick out a treat--Emily picked a blue dog and Kate picked a pink and white kitty cat.We walked around and looked at all the booths...there were lots of free samples.......which we all enjoyed........we got to meet the Nestle Quik bunny........and the kids got balloons from a creepy-looking guy wearing a jacket that said "Sugar Daddy"........and then, to top it off, they got their faces painted. Emily requested an alligator........and Kate got a pretty pink flower. We were still riding high from all the sugar at the Chocolate Festival, and nobody wanted to go home yet, so we decided to drive up to Skowhegan to the New Balance factory store. The kids needed new sneakers, and Mama was looking for some running shoes.It's amazing how fast the kids are growing. Emily needed a size (kids) 12, and Kate is already into a 9.Trying on shoes is fun, especially when it involves dancing.......and running around!Everybody found the shoes they wanted, so the trip was a success!

Chore Time

The time has come for the kids to start contributing to the household chores, and we're starting with an easy one: Feeding the dog. To help make it more exciting for them, Mom made this hanging tag to identify whose turn it is (yes, that is supposed to be a full dog dish in the middle of the two photos).

The tag hangs on a hook right by Connor's food and water bowls. Tonight it was Emily's turn, as she is gleefully pointing out below.The chore is pretty easy, but involves a lot of different steps (some needing parental supervision). Step one is to fill up the water dish in the bathroom sink. Step two is to take the food dish out to the garage, get the lid off the tub, put one scoop of food in the dish, then put the lid back on. It's harder than it looks to get that lid back on!Step three is to get the powder bowl (enzyme powder for Connor's tummy) and put one scoop of powder on top of the food. This seems to be the part the girls like the best--for some reason they love scooping powder.Here Emily has completed all the steps and is triumphantly bringing the food dish back to its spot, while Kate looks on.Finally, she gets to flip the tag over to Kate's photo for tomorrow night. Mission accomplished!It's just a small chore, but it's a start towards the kids being contributors to the household instead of being waited on all the time.Plus, having a job to do can make you feel very special!

Waterville Trekker Bash

In preparation for this June's Trek Across Maine, the American Lung Association of Maine (the Trek's organizer) is throwing a series of parties, which they call "Trekker Bashes". Tonight we decided to attend the one in Waterville.

Nana came over to put the kids to bed, and as we left they were all admiring the beautiful valentines that the girls got today at their preschool Valentine's Day party. So sweet!

The Bash was at Midnight Blues, which is a tavern in downtown Waterville. They had lots of great Trek decorations (the yellow sign in the photo below is one of the many, many road signs posted along the Trek to keep the bikers on course).They also had free food and lots of door prizes.Joining us tonight at the Bash were Pop Pop and also LeeAnn, who both rode in the Trek with us last year on the Kennewaldo All-Stars.

We had a great time reminiscing about last year's Trek, and, as a bonus, both Pop Pop and LeeAnn won raffle prizes!

You can't beat that for an evening of fun. All this talk about the Trek made us want to get our bikes out on the road and start riding...which was the whole idea behind the Bash in the first place. We are all looking forward to spring!

Footprint Painting

Now we're really getting cabin fever. Tonight Mom put the girls in shorts (kind of amazing that we can still find two pairs of shorts at this point in the winter) and we tried something new: Footprint painting!

Mom has been getting a lot of big sheets of paper from work (she made friends with the copy lady, and now gets all the misprints from the office). An abundance of paper cries out for a painting party, but finger painting and using brushes was starting to get boring.The solution is footprint painting. The kids were tentative at first, but it didn't take them long to get right into it.Tupperware containers worked really well for dipping their feet in.And ta da, a masterpiece!Here's a couple tips if anyone is thinking about trying this at home: Use washable paint (duh), and don't let them get too crazy (i.e. dancing around) because all that paint gets REALLY slippery.Emily wanted to make "bum prints" next, but Mom told her she'll have to wait til college for that (LOL). Needless to day, this craft project was followed immediately by bathtime!

Sportin' a Shiner

We thought we'd get the word out about Kate's shiner before anybody starts accusing us of child abuse. This afternoon the girls were sledding together and had a big "wipe out" (Kate's term), and her face got bumped and scratched pretty good.

It's a little big hard to see in these photos, but we're thinking it may turn into a pretty impressive black eye. Sweet!The amazing part of this story is that Chris reports that Kate did not cry at all after her wipe out, and went right back to sledding. If you know Kate, you know that is kind of amazing.

Videos fixed

Folks may have noticed that some of the video hasn't been working. Just reloaded them and they should be working now.

Mom's Hockey Game

Some of our blog readers may not know that Mom plays hockey in a local league at Sukee Arena (the same place where we watch the high school games). Today she had a rare afternoon game, so the whole family came to watch.

Grandma & Pop Pop usually attend the games, and today they were joined by not only Mom and the kids, but also Nana, Sebastian, Uncle Seth, and Em's classmate Luke and his family! Our group outnumbered all the other fans at the game by far.

Here's Mom getting ready to go in the game (sitting on the boards).

And here she is in game action. The game was a blowout (Mom's team won) so it wasn't very exciting, but the kids entertained themselves by running all over the arena.Afterwards we headed over to the Point Afta to get some dinner and celebrate the big win, and also catch a few minutes of a certain football game.The Point Afta is great because it's very kid-friendly and has about a million tv screens. Emily and Kate were overwhelmed trying to watch the action on all the screens at once.It's unfortunate that the Super Bowl doesn't start until 6:30 on the east coast (since Mom grew up in Washington, she is used to afternoon games). We only stayed long enough to watch a few minutes of the first quarter, and then we had to get the girls home to bed.We did stay long enough to get some crazy dance moves in though!