Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Just some FYI's on upcoming activities in the area.

- There is a holiday craft show Saturday December 1st: 9am-4pm, and Sunday December 2nd: 11am-4pm. Admission is $1 for adults and $.50 for kids 12 and up. Kids 12 and under are free.
Here's the link
- December 8th from 10am - 2 pm is a children's Holiday Shoppe.
Here's the link

Hope to see everyone Tuesday! Remember we're meeting at 10:30 at the church.
Happy Holiday's!
-Charish

New Meeting Time and Place

Since the weather is cooling down, we will now be meeting at 10:30 am at the church from now on. Please bring toys and a snack to share. Bikes are welcome!

Let's Share Some Holiday Recipe's!

Pull out that apron and get creative!

Spider Cupcakes:

1 box choc. cake mix
1 lb. licorice
1 16 oz. can frosting (depends on color of your spiders!)
Candy Corn
Red Hot Candies

Prepare cupcakes as directed. Frost. Use licorice as legs (stick on top outer edges of cup cakes). Place two pieces of candy corn on lower top of cupcake for fangs. Place two red hot's on top for eyes!

Fall 2006 Bouldins

Brian dressed up last year as Periwinkle the cat from Blues Clues
Ian as Harry Potter and Ashley was a DivaHaving fun on the hayride at Cox Farm

Fall 2005 of Bouldins

Playing in the leaves in our backyard ...All dressed up for Halloween ...

Let's see your kids fun old photos from Halloween/Autumn!

Lincoln 'helping' Daddy rake (2006) It was more like sitting and watching him do all the work!








Isaac the T-Rex (2006)























Lincoln with the 'Big Apple' from Cox Farms! (2006)















Isaac the Elephant (2005)














Lincoln in his peanut costume (2005)












Isaac in the leaves at Thanksgiving (2005)
















Isaac with the pumpkin from G-ma and G-pa's (2005)

It's October?? Yikes!!

My apologies for being a slacker and not posting more! With a new baby here, family visiting, pre-school starting, birthdays, and just being a mom you tend to lost track of time!! Well, we are still meeting at 9:30am at Westover Park, near the church. You are of course welcome to come at any time. We've grown in numbers, which is exciting!!
As for upcoming activities:
We're excited for General Conference this weekend! Don't forget to remind your hubbies about the Priesthood session at 8pm at the Stake Center!
Also on Saturday there is a Farm Day activity going on from 10-3 at Cherry Hill Park, which is by Mary Riley-Stiles Library in Falls Church City.
The city is also putting together a 2008 calendar. They feature children's artwork from the area. If you're interested in entering your kid's drawings the link is: http://www.fallschurchva.gov/ArtContest.html
Monday the 29th at 7pm Mary Riley-Stiles library has a puppeteer/tall-tale story teller coming. Free and no registration, ages 5 and up.
The library also has story times available for different ages. The link is: http://www.falls-church.lib.va.us/youth/summerstory.html
Here's a link of free activities in D.C. for you new people!
http://www.gallagherstravels.com/States/DC/FreeDC.html
and free kid-friendly things also:
http://www.our-kids.com/
Anyway, we hope to see you Tuesday! FYI once the weather cools down, we'll be meeting at the church!
-Charish

Fun things in the community

So this Saturday at 2 o'clock at the Mary Riley Stiles library in Falls Church, there is a Harry Potter party. For those who don't know, Falls Church City was voted the "Harry-est town in America" by Amazon.com because we had the most pre-ordered books online per capita. I'm planning on going, as long as I don't have a new baby around! Also, next Friday at the Cherry Hill Park - right across the street from MRS library, the city is showing Happy Feet, a kids movie. It starts at 8:30 pm. You can check at the Falls Church website online. They'll be doing a kids movie every Friday night during the month of August. It's outside, so the kids can also play and you can pack a picnic dinner or whatnot. It sounds like a ton of fun! I believe the week after that is the Wizard of Oz, we'll definitely have to see that one! It's one of Isaac's favorites!
FYI- I won't be at playgroup for the next 2 weeks. I have family in town for the baby. So if anyone wants to do an outing on those Thursdays I won't be able to plan them. Anyone else wanting too? Have fun, and maybe see you Sunday...hopefully not right?? haha

Anyone interested in Field Trips?

I was talking with Shar on Tuesday and we thought it might be fine to start doing field trips on Thursdays for those who are interested. There's so much to do around here and a lot of fun things. So if you're interested let's get something going. There's neat parks, kid's train rides, free kid movies at IMAX theaters, historical sites, museums, etc. Let's try to get a list going of things in the area and schedule a date.
Also, we'll meet Tuesday at 9:30 at the park. Email or call me for directions.

Happy 4th Everyone!

We will start meeting at 9:30 am instead of 10:30 to try and beat the heat. We hope everyone everyone has a great time on Wed. If you don't already have plans for the 4th, remember the Yeates are having a bash along the Potomac. They sent out info on it on the listserv. If you didn't get it let me know and I'll email you the details. Hope to see everyone there tomorrow!
-Charish

Thomas and Friends

If you haven't already heard there is a recall for the Thomas and Friends Wooden Toys. RC2 (the manufacturer) has determined that the surface paints on the recalled products contain lead. Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects. There is a list of all the toys being recalled but it looks like any thing with red or yellow paint bought in 2005 until now. If you have any of these toys you can send it back for a replacement (of the lead-free vareity). :)http://recalls.rc2.com/recalls_Wood_0607.html

Welcome to June!!

I seem to have lapsed on my updating. Sorry if anyone has checked looking for info. We will meet tomorrow (June 5) at the park as usual at 10:30. I know with school letting out and summer starting, schedules are changing. If anyone wants to have playgroup two days a week, or is interested in playdates...please let me know! That way everyone has a chance to let their kids have interaction with others, if they aren't able to make it Tuesdays, or are just looking for more to do! Please be sure to bring water/snacks/sunscreen, etc. Look forward to seeing you there!!
Charish

Playgroup for 5/15

We'll meet at the park! Bring sunscreen and water!!
-Charish

Playgroup for May 8

It's supposed to be a little chilly today, but should warm up. We'll go ahead with the park. I might not be able to make it. So if not, hope you all have fun...don't forget your camera's!
Charish

azaleas at the arboretum

If you think it looks like a Thomas Kinkade painting in your neighborhood with all the flowers in bloom, you should visit the National Arboretum. The 454 varieties of azaleas are in bloom right now. Thousands of azaleas cover the wooded hillside in a blaze of color. We visited it last year at this time and we couldn't believe the colors and the intensity of all the azaleas, it was really surreal.

It was a little tricky to find the arboretum, so bring a good map and directions. But once we got there, we just strapped Mo onto our backs and hike the small trails that lead you through the azaleas. I think this year he will love just walking with us. I wouldn't recommend a stroller because as I recall the trails weren't paved.

Recipe of the Month

I thought it would be fun if we did a recipe of the month (where we all submit a recipe once a month). That way we can have fun trying out each other's recipes and building up our own cookbooks as well! I can't wait to try everyone else's!
Charish

Charish's Recipe for May

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
(Adam's favorite!!) His family always requests pie instead of birthday cake...I learned to make this one asap!!

Filling:
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
3 Tbl. flour
3 cups fresh rhubarb (cut into 1/2 in. pieces)
3 Tbl. quick tapioca
1 cup fresh strawberries (sliced)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. grated orange rind
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 Tbl. butter

- Mix together dry ingredients. Add fruit and orange rind. Mix well. Pour into pie crust and dot the top with butter. Cover with top of pie crust (cut vents or make a lattice top). Bake at 400 for 35-40 minutes.

Crust:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup water
1 cup shortening
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbl. vinegar

-Cut together flour, shortening and salt. Set aside. Mix water, egg and vinegar. Slowly add water mixture to flour mixture and mix with forth. Press together to form ball. Handle the least amount possible. Divide in half. Roll out. Makes a double crust.

Photos from 5/1

Here are the photos I took of the kids. I know they're not great...the kids weren't too interested in posing while playing!! But there are some cute one's.
Charish

Lincoln

Haven

Brian

Preston with Mom

James and Jefferson

Isaac

Moses

Tyler

Bradley

Playgroup for 5/1

The weather is supposed to be high 70's with a slight breeze. It should be beautiful! We'll meet at the park at 10:30...see you there!
Charish

Playgroup for April 24

I hope everyone had a great time today. Sorry I couldn't be there. Does anyone want to do anything specific next week? I thought it might be fun do let the kids wear bathing suits and bring water guns or whatnot...we'll see what the weather is like.

Free Kid Activities in D.C.

Here some more free activities.
-Charish

Virginia Festivals and Fairs

I found a fun website that shows some free activities that will be going on in the area. Anyone else know of any?
-Charish

Yeah!! Our Blog!!

This blog is for the Falls Church Playgroup. We hope everyone enjoys it! Feel free to comment, post, add, or whatever! To view the calendar, you'll need to sign in to the gmail account. We hope that by creating this, everyone will be able to see what our week's activities are and stay connected! We thought it would be fun if everyone posted activities they heard of, recipes, photos, add links of their favorite websites, or own blogs! We're excited, so have fun blogging!!
-Charish