Endings and Beginnings

These last few weeks have brought an end to several things that have been part of my life this last school year. I had my Spring piano recital - ending another year of piano, we had our last movement and music class I've been doing with Alli and Carter and some of their friends all year, Allison graduated from Mother Goose Time preschool, and Carter ended his 3rd year of life with a Thomas the Train birthday party. Well, he'll technically finish his 3rd year of life this Sunday - but we had his birthday party early so we can welcome a new little addition to our family . . . hopefully this next weekend!

I can't figure out how to caption these photos individually - so I'll just tell about them all right here . . .
1 - Anthony's Mom came to visit this last weekend and we were able to go to the science museum together and see Bodyworlds: the Story of the Heart. This is a traveling exhibit - and we were able to see many body parts and organs that have been preserved through plastination. The exhibit left me feeling so grateful and in awe of the human body. Anyway - this picture isn't of the BodyWorlds - but this is Anthony and Allison doing an experiment in the Exhibition Health part of the museum.
2 - We had the kids decorate freight cars for the party. This is one of the few pictures I got of Carter wearing his freight car. He loved helping to paint the cars and played with them all morning - but when the party started - he was simply not interested. I ended up wearing his frieght car for most of the party. :)
3 - Carter's Train Cake . . . I discovered how to 'crumb-coat' a cake this time around. I've always struggled making the frosting look right after cutting and shaping a cake - but I learned that I needed to first do a thin layer of frosting to seal in the crumbs and then refrigerate before putting on a 2nd coat. It worked! Allison helped me choose the 'frieght' to put in the cars. Her favorite candy was the candy corn.
4 - Anthony leading the kids around a train track drawn with chalk on the driveway. They had to complete different assignments from Sir Topham Hat's boss . . . Sir Mighty Hat.
5 & 6 - more birthday pictures . . .
7 - Sir Topham Hat giving instructions on how to play 'Thomas-in-the-Box'
8 - Carter and I pacing off 3 steps before playing 'Load the Freight Cars'. This was probably Carter's favorite game. He got to throw balls into his box.
9 - Grandma and Carter painting the boxes in preparation for the party.
10 - Invites/Boarding Passes
11 - The kids and I went to see Coppellia a few weeks ago (I'm not sure if that is the correct spelling??) It was a ballet - and the kids loved it! Carter is smiling for the camera before the show. As I was uploading this picture, Carter came and sat on my lap and looked at it and declared "That's me being cheeky!" I'm not entirely sure what 'cheeky' means - I think it's a term from Thomas the train . . . but I agree - he does look 'cheeky'.
12 - This is Allison playing Struttin' at the piano recital. She also played Toes in the Sand - which has a little improvisation part in the middle. She did a great job! I'm so proud of her hard work.