Pre-Vacation Photo Dump

We are packing up & taking off for 6 days of lobster and beaches and low(er) humidity, but before we strap everyone in the car & go, here are some catch-up pictures to tide everyone (Grammy) over in our absence.

Awww, friends

Oh, but Harper is honing her little sister skills

 Matching firefighter jams!  [Luke picked them out]

 A little picnic waiting for the splashpark to open

 SPLASHPARK!

Blue Steel

Harper is not afraid

 Of anything

 A meeting of the Mutual Admiration Society convenes over Crocs

 Prettyprettyprettyprettyprettypretty

 Luke, wearing Crocs that were handed down to us for future use by Harper...

"Luke's Clubhouse" was busted out during a rainy streak. 

Harper was undeterred by the sign

Success!  PWN!

 Story time in the accompanying set of matching firefighter jams

 Harper, hanging out with Maggie at Aunt Sharren's house, post sprinkler fun

 Do you think Harper was tired & ready to go home?

 Luke and his friend Genna (of the hand-me-down Crocs above) enjoy hippie ice pops at the Ramsey, NJ farmer's market.  They really were having fun, despite their faces here

 What did Luke & Harper think was the MOST FUN EVER?  Why, sitting in the crib eating apples, of course.  Lukey loves Harper.

 Harper loves Lukey.

 Luke is a ham

 Luke is done with the paparazzi

 Hugs!

"Look, Harper," said Luke, in his most learned tone, "this is where Fig Newtons come from."

 Wearing Uncle Joe's "construction worker hat" to the Italian Festival

 Harper enjoyed the cannolis, thank you very much

The other night, after a good 15 minutes of clinking, clanking, and general rustling in the kids' room after lights out, Luke appeared at the top of the stairs.  "I accidentally thought we were going on vacation tomorrow so I packed my little suitcase with some things and 100 coins."  We were dying to find out what that meant, but had to wait for the next morning.  Sure enough...

 Luke put this ensemble together for a pre-vacation book retrieval trip to the library.  Very early-to-mid 90s grunge

Happy Birthday, Luke: The Party

Due to a high volume of birthdays (and parties) in Preschool Classroom 3 in January, and also (primarily) due to the fact that Mom & Dad have had a lot on their plate of late, Luke's 3rd birthday (Observed) was set for February 12.

Once again, Daddy went all out on the theme cake - and his cake decorating skills are getting quite good with all of the practice. Much less cursing this year! The cake, per Luke's request, was chocolate

He also made a "groom's cake" for the affair - a white cake with chocolate icing (Mommy's favorite)

On the day of the party, Luke helped Mommy give Harper her bath, and decided that he should "take pictures for Grammy. I think she would like to see pictures of Chooch's bath." Um, OK

Then he decided to take self-portraits


And some still lifes (still lives?)

Finally! It was PARTY TIME.
Luke and his friend, Sophie-Anne, mingled over JBs, salt dough shapes, and markers

Luke and Zoe's mom had a chat, too

And a few of the kids had fun being firefighters

Some riff raff wandered in

A rousing game of "stick the helmet on the fire dog" was enjoyed


And the kids made their own fun

Look out, Max!

Cake time!



Candle blowing outing high 5!
Luke and his besties eat cake

Harper made a brief appearance between naps

The art table was popular, too


And finally, after it was all over, Luke was pooped! This was after his post-party meltdown because the party was over wherein we had to trick him into NOT going to bed at 6pm per his tearful demands.

It's going to be hard to top this when he turns 4!