Apple Pie Evening

Yesterday was a really nice day, capped off by dinner with Brian and Teresa and Riley - whom we haven't seen since Spring Break. We hung out in their lovely back yard while Brian grilled, then Teresa served up a gorgeous apple pie that the tasted as good as it looked.

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Reader Leader

Elizabeth reading to Stu and Jasper.

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Central Library

We haven't been to the downtown library in a long while, so Barb took Elizabeth there on a date and I met them after work. It's easy to forget what a fantastic place it is. As Barb observed, the children's section is bigger than our entire branch library!

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Goofballs

While Barb was at a KCP board meeting, the girls decided to test out their witchy costumes for an upcoming Harry Potter-themed birthday party.

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Pottermania





As for why Elizabeth is using her sister as a footrest, that's another story.



Elizabeth's friend introduced her to Harry Potter a couple of weeks ago through a game they were playing. Elizabeth said it was fun, but she had no idea what she was doing, pretending to be a witch from Ravensclaw sneaking into the Slytherin tower to steal back a magic belt (or whatever).

So we got the book out of the library. On the way home, Elizabeth started reading. She stayed in the car for two hours after Barb pulled into the driveway, devouring the book. We finished it in less than a week, with the parents reading it to her every evening, and Elizabeth reading it to herself every chance she got. It was the first time she read a book without illustrations and definitely the biggest book she's tackled on her own.

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Chicken Run

A couple of weeks ago we were over at Aaron and Wendy's and discovered that one of the neighbor's chickens had squeezed through a hole in the coop fence and gotten into the yard. Elizabeth chased it down. There are a lot of chickens in our neighborhood, including some in the yard of Elizabeth and Suzanne's friend Lily who lives at the end of our block.

I really enjoy watching Elizabeth's confidence and leadership here -- there were other kids there (albeit younger), but she plunged right in to take care of the escapee -- and also her gentleness.

Curse of the Jaded Kid

This morning while watching shows, Suzanne picked an episode of "Jake and the Neverland Pirates." It's one of those kids shows where the characters occasionally address the viewers. In every episode, for instance, Jake turns to the camera and asks the kids, "Will you be part of my crew?"

Today, Suzanne responded with a lusty, "Yeah!"

Elizabeth, on the other hand, just muttered: "Maybe... ."

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