A delightful weekend of culture, strawberries and picnics!

The Phillips Collection was having their annual Family Fun Day this weekend so we headed out to Dupont Circle for some art and jazz.  Evie and Ellie donned their smocks and got to rock, er work in the art rooms - painting to the sounds of jazz - and created a beautiful house and garden respectively.  In the next room, we used recycled materials to create maracas to shake our booties. 

Ellie is concentrating on her painting intensely while Mom enjoys the music. 

Then it was off to the instrument petting zoo where Ellie enjoyed the percussion instruments and shakers the most.  

Whew, Evie learned that blowing on a trumpet is NOT easy.  She kind of sounds like Piggie in "Do you like my Trumpet?"

On Sunday we had delightful weather in the morning and set out for Hollin Farms for some delicious strawberry picking!  The views were beautiful and the girls really got into picking the best berries for  some special treats, like Dad's strawberry shortcakes and some delicious strawberry & cream Popsicles. 

Mom and Evie were masters at picking the juiciest and reddest berries we could find. 

Our little girl gets very introspective while at work. 

Evie finds a double-headed, conjoined twins strawberry to everyone's delight!  Doubly delicious! 

Ellie begins belting out her "Annie" song medley, caught up in the beauty of nature. 

We pose with the fruits of our labor before heading out! 

Then it was off to Sky Meadow National Park for a delicious cheese and strawberry picnic. The girls show off their berry and cheese smiles. 

...then huddle together for warmth since Daddy made us sit in the shade of a pine tree grove.  It was an awesome weekend! 

We get tangled in fun for Ellie's birthday party... dodge the leaning Rapunzel tower!

On Saturday we celebrated Ellie turning 4 with a Tangled party and 16 or so of her closest friends!  Mom went overboard with the theme as usual - the table included ham & cheese biscuit braids, Maximus' apples (rice krispie treats shaped to look like apples, complete with candy stem and leaves), Rapunzel's paintbrushes (chocolate covered pretzels), and an apple turnover braid.  Note the floating lanterns above?   The sisters were delirious with excitement!

Mom also created a mural to replicate Rapunzel's painting in her tower of the floating lanterns.  We also created a string pinata (to the left) which was somewhat amusing for the kids to try but didn't last for long - the trap door was released after maybe 5 pulls. 

As always, Daddy's cake stole the show!  Unfortunately, as the day got warmer, the rice krispie tower started to defrost a bit, and the tower started slowly leaning back, under our watchful eyes. 

It wasn't long before all the Rapunzel dresses came out!  Ellie enjoyed showing bestie Mary Manning the basement and all her toys. 

Then we played a game where the girls took turns getting "tangled" in Rapunzel's hair, then showing their super strength by breaking through the yellow streamers. 

Ellie seems to be enjoying her new look. 

A little earlier than expected we had to blow out the candles, as the tower started to crumble out of the cake!  Well, it was amazing while it lasted. 

Later everyone changed into bathing suits for some sprinkler fun - things got very slippery very fast in the moon bounce!  The cool water felt great on the hot day! 

Then came the water "slide" into the mud pit, Evie's favorite. 

I'm not quite sure what these monkeys - Ellie, Lucy, Evie and JJ - are up to - giving themselves bunny ears I think.  Ellie was so lucky to have both JJ and Bebe travel so far for the festivities.  

A party would not be complete without passing out on Bebe at the end of the day.  Whew, what a day! 

Ellie's Birthday Week

As you know, in the Foelsche-McDonald family, we celebrate birth-weeks, not just birth-days. The subsequent celebrations can span weeks, or at least multiple days and cupcakes.  Ellie's birth-week got off to a nice start with a celebration at Ba and Opa's on Memorial Day.  The girls were amazed with Opa's decorating skills and wanted to take all the balloons home. 

Ellie hamming it up and showing appreciation for her new hat like only she knows how. 

Mastering the "coy" look...

Blowing out her candles in her ice cream cake... 

... and especially enjoying the blue frosting. 

On her birthday, Mommy took off work that day to take Ellie on several adventures, including the trampoline park, McDonald's, and to see Home in the theatre (we had the whole theatre to ourselves!)  It was a delightful day before everyone joined us for a special spaghetti dinner and another round of gifts from the family. Ellie was especially delighted with the Lily Bobtail bunny given to her by her sister - now Peter will have a close friend! 

She also loved the Izzy the Ice Cream Fairy book Evie had picked out...

...and actually wanted to stop opening gifts to start reading her presents.  That's our Ellie!

Her final gift was a pony dubbed Maximus, of course, and Pascal, another buddy to join the sleeping friends. 

Then it was time to blow out her candles and make a wish!  What a birth-week this was, and it's not even quite over yet!

Ellie's frou-frou Gallery Opening

The family was delighted to attend Ellie's big art show at MHCP last Thursday.  Ellie poses by her masterpiece (center) - everyone was impressed at how she stayed within the lines of the overlapping circles. 

But the biggest surprise was Ellie's portrait of her hero, Daddy. We think the hairstyle was inspired by Riker on Dancing with the Stars, but certainly she captured Daddy's playful character with his winking eye.  She also shared that she "loves it when Daddy gives her screen time in the morning." 

Mommy, Evie and Ellie get ready to blast off in space in the rocket designed by her class.  Then the family headed over to North Old Town for a fancy French dinner at A la lucia. 

Not to be outdone, Evie also had a great start to her week when she graduated to the next level of her swim class (with 10 bobs!) and got to ring the bell.  What a big smile!

Cousin Birthday Celebration!

It was celebration time in Jersey this weekend as the McDonalds gathered to celebrate JJ's 7th, Stan's 6th, and Ellie's 4th birthdays.  The cousins had fun playing ball outside before we headed out to the Point Pleasant boardwalk for more excitement! 

The girls take a moment before the gates open to smile for the cameras. 

First stop: the spinning dragon!  Uncle Dave knew how to make that dragon spin like a tornado. 

Yippee!  Ellie was the only brave soul to take on the Tornado rollercoaster with mom! 

Daddy, Ellie and Evie take flight on a spinning balloon. 

Stan revs up his motorcycle engine! 

Ellie blows out her cupcake candle!  

Aunt Dellie and Ellie read one of her favorites! 

Mother's Day Joy

What a wonderful week of surprises for Mom. Earlier in the week she got to attend Ellie's surprise serenade at MHCP...

and then on Mother's Day taste the delicious chocolate chip cookies made for Mom - that spelled out Mom.  The girls had also made delightful cards and Daddy lead them through making beautiful heart thumbprint necklaces. Evie also made a gorgeous painting in art class that looked like a Matisse!

Ellie proudly reads the inscription in the book she gave Ba that she dictated to Mom.  It was quite poetic, making the present even more of a treasure!

Three generations of smiles!  The moms are modeling the dashing corsages made by Ellie in her preschool class.  

The girls show of their footwork, ur artwork that they created for Ba. 

Enjoying a beautiful day - thank you to Daddy, Evie and Ellie, Ba and Opa for making this Mom the happiest of mothers!