Peruvian delight

Lilly had to make a dessert from Peru this weekend for her AP Human Geography class. I asked if we could buy something and got "the look"- like how stupid are you. Oh well. She found a recipe on line and I shopped for the ingredients then let her have the kitchen. These little cookies took HOURS! Make the batter then refrigerate for 2 hours, while making a flan in the oven for 90 minutes. After that, roll dough, cut cookies, bake, cool then assemble. It was a strange assortment of flavors too. Lemon, vanilla, custard and then rolled in coconut. Well, they tasted delicious and looked great and went over well at school. So really I am that stupid! Well done Lils!

Halloween 2011

We had a fun and festive Halloween this year! It was a little weird without Kate but we still had fun! Maggie was "the Mad Hatter" this year. She had been looking for a costume a full 2 months before Halloween. Once she found it, there was no changing her mind. We found it at Party City but it only came in preteen sizes, not kid sizes. No worries she assured me. It was a little low cut for my taste (unless she was a tart- which she isn't!) but she proposed wearing a pink shirt underneath. Great idea so we bought it on Oct. 3rd! Maggie did not try it on again until minutes before trick or treating so I was a little nervous. I must say she looked fabulous! The cutest Mad Hatter I have EVER seen! So she passed out candy at our house for a while then combed the neighborhood with Harper until the candy bag had a decent haul. Back at home she swapped candy with a neighbor for all her favorites then watched the Disney channel until 9 and ate her fill of candy. Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Picking 2011

Kate was home for fall break and we "had" to choose our pumpkin with her here- even though she will not be around for the carving or Halloween! Oh well. She was "home" for 5 days with a few overnights with friends at other schools. So the pumpkin outing had to be put off until the last day, hours before her departure back to Chapel Hill and minutes before a lunch date with friends. So glad she could squeeze us in! (just kidding) We went to the first "pumpkin patch" and snapped a few photos and began choosing THE pumpkin but then discovered they were not yet open-on a Sunday afternoon at 12:15 pm! So we headed to the next pumpkin patch and repeated the whole thing but in less time. It was too sunny and my subjects were less than cooperative for photos. Quickly chose fun gourds for our harvest themed center piece and few little ones and 2 big ones. We plan to only carve one but Maggie needed one to make a pumpkin man out of (who knows but pictures will follow later). Not the "invisible" pumpkin Harper was lobbying for! So it was a good end to fall break with the WHOLE family!!

Homecoming Dance 2011

Lilly went to the Homecoming Dance this year with a SENIOR! It made big news at our house. The night before the dance, we went to a college parents' cocktail with our freshman and her date was a SENIOR (in high school) too! Funny coincidence! Lilly looked beautiful in a multi-shaded strapless dress of purples. And her date, Luke, wore a purple bow tie. They looked great together. We got to snap a few pictures before they headed off to dinner and the dance.

Spiders, snails and more!

We had a rainy few days and after the creek went down a few feet Maggie and I went to explore. We found a gazillion crickets, huge spiders, slimy snails and many more creepy crawlies who had all come out after the rain stopped. It was cool and weird all at the same time!

Labor Day Lake Fun!

We have had a big Labor Day weekend with the Carolina game Saturday and then went to the spend the day with our family and cousins and go out on the lake! It was a gorgeous day, not too hot, with a breeze and lots of sunshine! The kids got to tube and ski and just have fun together. We had a fabulous dinner that night at my sister-in-law's house. It was a great day for everyone!

First Football Game of the Season

It was the first football game of the season AND MY FIRST TAILGATE WITH MY COLLEGE DAUGHTER!!! Kate as been as school for three weeks and this was my first opportunity to see her and hug her and spend a little time with her. Yipee! We headed down to Chapel Hill around noon for a 3:30 game. We went to Tarheel Town so Maggie and her friend could see the cheerleaders and team. Then we headed over to our tailgate to wait for Kate. Tarheel Town had inflatables and lots of other fun activities but Maggie opted to forgo them all to see Kate! It was so cute! Kate brought several friends and then had her suitemate drop by too. It was so great to see her!!!!!!! She stayed for about 30-45 minutes then went on to the game. Carolina won 42-10. It was a perfect football Saturday!

Jamboree 2011

We spent all day last Saturday in Winston-Salem at a field hockey JAMBOREE! It really was a fun day. The girls left at 7:15 for their first game at 8:30. Maggie and I came around 8:45 after a coffee and bagel run. There were 4 scheduled games through out the day with a lunch break. Lilly started in 3 of the games and due to some paroneal tendinitis did not play the last game. We won 1 game, tied 2 games and lost 1 game (to a seasoned team, I might add). The girls played well and it was fun to watch. The day was windy (due to Hurricane Irene) and mostly overcast with some sun and temps in the mid 80's. Nice day for field hockey. We are looking forward to a great season at Page!!

First Day of 3rd, 10th and . . .

Well this will be the first year (in 18 years!!) that I do not have pictures of all my girls on the first day of school. I asked Kate what she would be wearing and if she could send me a picture. No such luck! So I planned to get pictures of the other two the morning before leaving for school. Maggie was excited and ready early. Her bus comes at 7:14 am this year so the fact that she was ready was a miracle. She went to bed at 10 because she was so excited for the first day of third grade! Anyway, she posed and smiled and completely complied with my wishes. Daughter number two not so much. Lilly now goes later, 8:55 am is when school begins so you would have thought I had plenty of time to snap a quick photo. Unfortunately not! Lilly is now riding to school with a "hot" boy down the street so she had FORBIDDEN me to take any photos once he pulled up. And she was not ready a second earlier so she dashed out to his car. I managed to get a few of them driving away. This really does not count.

Magical Weekend

Our sweet Maggie was in a play last weekend! It was Aladdin Jr. and there were 3 performances, 2 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday. The play was a culmination of a two week camp that was ALL DAY EVERY DAY. But Maggie LOVED every minute of it. And it showed! The play was adorable and she really did shine! Now she plans on auditioning for another play this fall. Who know we might have an actress in the family. She definitely has a flare for drama! She has been singing all the songs from the play and doing the dances too! IT was a wonderful end of summer event for the whole family!

She has left the nest!

We moved our oldest daughter, Kate, into her college dorm yesterday! It was exciting and a little sad (for the family left behind). Her sisters were definitely a little sad after saying goodbye. I was too, of course, but also excited about her new chapter she is beginning!! The move in went very well. Her room is adorable and the roommates and suitemates all seem to be great girls. We had to stage the move in into 2 waves because Maggie is in a play this weekend and had dress rehearsal and couldn't leave until 3:30pm. Harper, Kate and Lilly left about noon and had everything moved in, unpacked and sorted by the time I got there! Yipee for me so all I had to do was "fluff" the room a bit. We went to dinner with the roommate, her parents and the 2 suitemates and their parents. That was really fun! Everyone got to know each other and we all seemed to have a lot in common! After a 5 minute walk back to the girls' dorm and some picture taking we left. I kept wanting to call or text my girl and find out what was going on but I didn't. It is almost noon the following day I haven't heard from her yet. . . I miss my baby already!!

Camping with Maggie

We found ourselves with 2 big sisters gone and 1 Maggie who was dying to go camping. This had been a goal of hers last summer and we never could go. SO... on a Tuesday at 4 we left the city in search of cooler temperatures and a fun overnight camping adventure. We traveled only 40 minutes away to Hanging Rock State Park. There we found campsite #32 and pitched the tent. Already Maggie was claiming this to be the "best camping trip EVER". Off to a good start, we then decide to go hiking up to Hanging Rock. It was about 1.3 miles one way, up hill and should take about 40 minutes. The hike was nice but HOT!!! Even at 6:30 pm! It got quite a bit steeper as we neared the summit but was a fun outing. The dogs were exhausted at the top and we were all sweaty! But the view was AMAZING!! We hung out for a while then headed back down and to the campsite. Maggie got to experience a pay phone for the first time since there was no cell service here. We cooked a yummy steak dinner with hobo packets of beer soaked potatoes, carrots, fire toasted bread and brie and ended with s'mores, of course! We were in the tent by 11 and asleep by 12. Then up by 6 am! We then started the fire and began making breakfast. Eggs, hashbrowns, bacon and toast. Packed up camp by 8 and went on a short hike to the waterfalls. It was a great, quick camping trip. Maggie said it was "epic"!