Thanksgiving at Belle View Elementary

We were delighted to get an hour in Evie's school for the big Thanksgiving pageant and luncheon today. It was wonderful to hear Evie share what she is thankful for: "I'm thankful for my little sister." Needless to say, Ellie was very touched.  Here she is hamming it up for the camera while Evie works on her word search. Then, we listened to the kids sing songs and each read a part from "The Night Before Thanksgiving."  

Evie recites her part above.  Afterwards, we joined her class for a feast in the cafeteria of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and best of all, pumpkin ice cream!  The girls, needless to say, loved the sweet ending.  

Adventures in Baltimore!

On Friday we decided to take a family trip to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore to take advantage of Port Discovery's family night.  After a long drive through DC and Maryland, we finally made it.  

Ellie hit the Tot Trails course and showed off her balance.

Evie enjoyed the sand station with a keen focus on ensuring the sand was finely sifted. 

Later Ellie joined her sister with the same idea.

Ellie found it a little challenging to keep the sand in the station and decided to keep the edge clean by sweeping the sand onto the floor, unfortunately.

So, Ellie figured play where the sand is!

Meanwhile, Evie tipped over on a wobbly seat...

...and Mom barely escaped a mummy...

...with Evie right behind her. Ellie helped keep the door of the sarcophagus open.

Ellie even had an opportunity to be queen for a day... okay make that a minute!

Fun Around Town

We have been having some nice laidback weekends on the homefront.  On Saturday we experienced some art at the Corcoran Gallery during their Community Day.  It was a little nerve-wracking for mom and dad to keep the kids from touching the art, especially around the sculptures and installation pieces. But luckily we made it out alive!

Evie enjoyed reading about the descriptions of the paintings and analyzing the artists' choice of titles while Ellie listened on. 

Then it was off to create some art of our own - catfish made out of water bottles! 

Ellie really got into decorating her catfish. 

Even Dad got into the action. 

The three girls proudly wave their art, after making the fish kiss. 

Nothing like a trip to Clemyjontri for some fun sister times! 

Let's make some beautiful music together! 

A monkey and ladybug hit the streets to Trick o' Treat!

 

The night before Halloween, Evie and Ellie helped Daddy create the jack-o-lanterns by drawing faces and helping scoop out the pumpkin seeds. 

Ellie thought the pumpkin insides were a little too gooey for her liking, and made a big "Yuck!" face. 

 

Then we all got into our costumes and got ready to hit the neighborhood.  Ellie holds on tight to her costume inspiration. 

 

We had a headless man chilling on our front steps and welcoming all the kiddies. 

 

The family poses in our costumes - ladybug, bag of jelly beans, the man in the yellow hat, and Curious George, before we head out the door.  Everyone had a great time trick o' treating, even Ellie who lasted to the last 2 houses on the block!