Visiting Shenandoah

We got a real treat when we arrived in Richmond today, . . .
. . . as Leia Rose got to meet Shenandoah at the bus stop!!!

They were just a little happy to see each other. ; )
Then they got busy doing lots of paper projects. *sigh* Couldn't Leia Rose at LEAST confine this creativity to home?!? ; ) Anyway, look at this FABULOUS dinosaur mask that Leia Rose made all by herself!!!

[And it was this project that proved to me that I just need to get over my annoyance about this. Recently, whenever there is copy paper, crayons, and especially TAPE to be had by Leia Rose, . . . she is making some kind of a project with it that she always wants to save for eternity. A table. A chair. An umbrella. A mask. A heart pocket. A Shenandoah robot. Etc. Etc. These projects, although amazingly creative and incredibly educational, end up absolutely littering our home with what looks like trash. This drives me absolutely nuts. BUT Leia Rose absolutely LOVES doing this, and just when I was about to say NO MORE, I decided to make this rule in our new home: Paper Projects Galore, BUT when finished they need to be put away in Leia's closet for safe-keeping, . . . and anything left in any other place will be thrown away. Whew! This should solve the problem, . . . and everyone's happy! : )
Another highlight for Leia Rose (and me as well) was picking real carrots in Laura's vegetable garden! I was amazed at how FLAVORFUL these carrots were! SO different than storebought! [I'm learning lots of great parental activities from Laura these days!!! In fact, with all the things going on in my life right now, let's just say that, Laura, thank God you're a psychiatrist. ; ) ]
And, let me tell you, I was in AWE at Laura's parental skills for coming up with this educational-and-fun-cooperation-encouraging-healthy-snack-game. I'm stealing this one, Laura. ; ) And Leia Rose has already asked for it again! It's a Snack Treasure Hunt!!! Laura drew a map which led to a clue. And it was this clue that led to the actual snack! The girls had a BLAST with this!!!
And it was just SO cute to watch them figuring out the clues as to where those apples with lemon juice were. : )
Here is something that no one witnessed but Leia Rose and I. ; ) Leia found a cool snorkel in Shenan's bathtub. As she blew into it, she truly buzzed her lips just like playing a brass instrument, . . . and it REALLY sounded like a trumpet! I told her that she should consider playing brass. And you can guess her response: "MOM! You KNOW I want to play the piccolo!" ; )