WV Gymnastics, Art Projects, Easter, and Random pics

Last weekend our small group from church organized a play date at WV Gymnastics. (Thanks Gwen!)  Some of you may recall that is where Drea had her sixth birthday party.  Needless to say the girls had a blast.  It was nice to get to go there and just play and not have the stress of trying to have a party to go along with the gymnastics.  It was a relaxing time and a great way to hang out with friends without having to worry about messing up some one's house.  The thought is to try and plan different activities throughout the summer like this.  I am wondering how we are going to top this idea.  I am glad I am not one of the event planners.  Good luck girls!

Here is the only picture I was able to get of the girls together.  This seems to be a difficult task anymore.

I tried to get Charlotte to jump in, but she wouldn't.  At least on this attempt.  I did get her to jump in later, however her arm hit the red platform and threw her sideways.  Don't worry she was fine.  She is tough.

Drea and her friends, Elijah and Allie.

This is Reese hanging upside down.  Two seconds later he let go.  It was cool.  Wish I was that fearless.

Those of you that read our blog know that our girls love to do art projects.  Here are some pics of the girls doing some art projects for Easter.

My favorite part of this picture is the gigantic pile of foam pieces in the middle of the table.

Here is the end result of the art project.  I'm not quite sure about the long pieces of tape.  You will have to ask Char about that.

Like I said earlier it's tough to get a picture of the girls together.

Charlotte in her Easter best

Drea saying, "Cheese!"

She is such a ham

Horseback riding, WV style

Stacey recently took the girls to Valley Worlds of Fun and Drea got to drive the bumper cars all by herself.  I wonder if they make big cars with bumpers.  She may need them in a few years.

Summer Park Tour: Park One

Ok, I know it's not summer yet, but the weather in north central West Virginia sure feels like it.  Anyway, my goal for the summer is to take the girls to as many parks as I can.  I can get a jump on this goal because of the way Marion County BOE built snow days into our calendar.  For the remainder of the school year we only have to work one Friday (state testing week).  I know pretty awesome.  Keep in mind we go to school until June 7th.  That's a lot of 4 day weeks, and more importantly 3 day weekends.

Sorry, I am getting off track...So the goal is to go to as many parks as we can.  I am going to take the camera along and take pictures of the girls playing and the playground.  I will rate the park on a scale of one to five swings.  One being the lowest rating and five being the highest.  So without any further ado, park number one:  Gateway Connector Park

The first thing any park has to have is swings and this park meets that requirement

Charlotte loves the swings

This is the back side of the playground equipment, there are lots
of cool things for the kids to play on, my favorite is a zip line

Drea always ready to pose

These round things move when you walk on them

This is three of the four slides at the park and Drea

This is my least favorite piece of equipment.  It is great for Drea, but
not so much for Charlotte.  Char wants to climb on it and then gets to
the very top and want to jump off. 

Charlotte posed like this a couple times, I'm not sure why, but it's cute

T bird in the tunnel

Drea's turn to swing

There's that pose again

Drea in the tunnel...look close

How could something so cute be so rotten

Adorable

Overall this is a good park.  On my scale of one to five swings, I give it a rating of three swings.  There are some positives, which include the new equipment and a variety of things for the kids to do.  The park also has rubber mulch which is great and it is walking distance to the house.  The biggest negative to this park is there is not any shade.  It was overwhelmingly hot and we were not there long before the girls wanted to leave because they could not find some relief from the sun.  Not only that, the water fountain was not working yet.  Plus that crazy round piece of equipment isn't age appropriate for Charlotte.  I'm looking forward to this challenge and I hope you enjoy reading about all the parks we plan on visiting.

Charlotte turns Three!

It's hard to believe that Charlotte is now three years old.  It seems just like yesterday, that Stacey went into labor after watching WVU beat pitt in basketball.  I knew Charlotte was going to be special because she waited until after the game.  She is more of a challenge then Drea, but she can also be the sweetest and most kind child around.  We celebrated her birthday at Burger King and I think the kids played in the play area for 3 hours.  Stacey said we will never be able to leave the play area in a decent amount of time ever again. 

It's the Birthday Girl!

Drea always posing

Yeah, someone likes Dora...or as Charlotte says Dorla

Drea helping Charlotte open her gifts

Yep, I am rotten

Momma and the Birthday Girl

Licking off the icing

Randomness

I took some pictures of the girls over the weekend and wanted to share them with everyone.  Both of our girls love art.  I'm not talking about Picasso or Rembrandt, I am talking about doing art.  You name it, they love it.  Coloring is probably at the top of the list.  Drea absolutely adores new markers.  Give Charlotte a pair of scissors and she goes to town.  The girls will take any chance they can get to do an art project.  So this weekend they wanted to paint and they set out to work.

Our little artist at work

For whatever reason Drea likes to paint in just her panties.
I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Obviously, our girls are different from one another just like most siblings.  I think this fact is evident in the way both of them sleep.  It cracked me up the other night when I peeked in on them, what a stark contrast between the way they were sleeping.  I think it shows their personalities.  In a recent blog I said Charlotte is always going at a hundred miles an hour.  So of course, when she sleeps she is all sprawled out.  Drea on the other hand likes order and everything has to be in its place.  Hence, she is rolled up in a little ball, all neat and tidy.
 

Charlotte sprawled out

Drea in a ball

Below are two pictures that Drea and I drew.  I won't tell you who drew which one.  Drea wanted me to draw a picture of a zoo.  I tried my best.  I didn't know she was going to draw a zoo, too.  I think hers maybe better.  I would like you to be the judge.  Which one do you think is better?  You can cast your vote by leaving a comment.  Also see if you can figure out what animals and activities we have at our zoos.  Have fun and vote for me..................... or Drea, I guess.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Just an Update

Some of you may remember that Drea was given a couple of chicks for Easter several years ago.  If you don't remember here is the link to that post from Monday April 13, 2009.

http://wvniessners.blogspot.com/2009/04/one-month-knock-knock-and-chicks.html

For  our concerned blog readers I want you to know that the chick that survived is doing quite well.  Here are some pics of the proof. 

One of my coworkers took Peepers in and all is well with her.  The chick that is, I am not sure about my coworker.  

Our Girls

Our girls are pretty special.  They are constantly doing stuff that makes us laugh.  Here are a few stories about both the girls that are pretty priceless.

Charlotte:

She is like a tornado...she is always on the go and she is going 100 mph.  It doesn't matter what she is doing...walking, dancing, playing, or talking, she is going fast.  She says some of the funniest things.  The problem is, she does so many things I usually laugh about it and then she has moved on to the next funny thing so I forget. 

One of the things she does that makes me laugh is at the dinner table.  We will sit around the table and do our highs and lows for the day.  Without fail, Charlotte always says her high is Poppy Jo (her friend from daycare) and how she played with her.  She even says it when it is a day that she is not at school.  She also always says her low is her friend Jacob and how he always bites her.  She knows that she didn't get bit, but for whatever reason she finds humor in it.  I do too, go figure. 

She is pretty cute as well.  Almost every night she will be laying in bed and she will yell, "Daddy, come here!" She will keep yelling until you come and see what she wants.  What she wants is always the same.  Daddy, I want to tell you a secret.  She always whispers a bunch of stuff that I don't understand, but obviously I don't care it's cute.

Another funny thing she does revolves around this game I play to get the kids in their car seats.  Don't ask me why, but for some reason I decided one day that whoever was the last one to get in their car seat with their seat belt on had to eat a poop sandwich.  So the point is the last one in their seat has to eat it.  Well, Drea hates being last and cries as if I am really going to make her eat a poop sandwich.  Charlotte on the other hand things she wins if she eats a poop sandwich.  So I usually have one kid crying and the other one excited regardless of whoever is last.  It cracks me up though when Charlotte says, "Yeah, I win the poop sandwich!"

Alexandrea:

Drea likes to be called Alexandrea now.  I'm not quite sure why, but my guess is that it sounds more elegant.  She is our fancy girl.  I mean that in a nice way.  She is growing up so fast.  I always tell her to stop growing.  She always says, "Daddy, I'm not going to stop!"

The other day I was taking the kids to school and I was dropping Charlotte off first.  So Nancy called to ask me something just as I was about to get out of the car.  So I answered it and began to get Charlotte out of the car.  Without asking, Drea got out of the car, opened the passenger door and got all the items that Char needed for the day.  She carried them in and gave them to Charlotte's teacher.  I'm not going to lie, I was proud.  It was pretty special, but what was even better was when I told her how proud I was and she was beaming.  I think that was my high for the day.

Last week we had parent teacher conference.  Drea woke up and said to me, "Happy Parent Teacher Conference Day!".....I don't care who you are that is funny.

Friday at dancing I was watching Drea dance.  She was doing a good job.  Anyway, I started talking to someone and I stop paying attention to her.  This went on for several minutes.  Then all of a sudden in between dances, Drea ran up to me and whispered, "Daddy watch me."  I stopped talking and watched.

Finally, one last Drea story....it went something like this:

Drea: Know what fell on my foot?

Me: Know what?

Drea: Know what fell on my foot?

Me: Know WHAT?

Drea: Know what fell on my foot?

Me: KNOW WHAT!

Drea:  N O A H, fell on my foot!

Me:  I just burst out laughing.

Somebody turned 6!



So somebody forget the candles, so we borrowed candles from the party upstairs....what, 5 plus 1 equals 6

Drea wanted cupcakes with shoes on them for her guests....so we went with a cupcake cake with a giant shoe

She also wanted two cupcakes with purses, one for her and one for Charlotte
My favorite thing about both of these was Drea drew a picture of what she wanted and gave it to the
cupcake lady....I think she is amazing

Drea's party of at WV gymnastics....I swear the big kids have more fun then the little

Mommy and Char

What was that about the big kids

I dont know how she does that

Daddy and Charlotte in the foam pit

Drea opening presents