Easter

Easter started off this year with a parade at Kindergarten. We were asked to make bonnets with our kids and they would then wear them as they paraded through the classrooms at the school. Natalie wore a purple bonnet covered in flowers. On Easter morning we came downstairs to see that the bunny had delivered Easter baskets and hidden eggs in the family room. Natalie was totally into the egg hunt, while Danny only found 2 or 3. He was more concerned with what was in the egg. Once he realized he could shake the egg and make noise, he lost interest in hunting for more.

These pictures were taken after church.

Where are Danny and Greg you ask? Oh, they left early. We felt that throwing Buzz Lightyear into a wooden pew repeatedly and smashing goldfish crackers into the carpet might be a little disturbing to the other parishioners. Fortunately, it was a nice day and we only live a block away.

Then it was down to Mimi and Papa's for a nice dinner and more candy and eggs.

We had a nice Easter and hope you all did too.

to The City of Brotherly ... Rain?

Greg and I snuck away this weekend to Philadelphia as a belated birthday celebration. Since this year was a big one, we figured we should treat ourselves. We recruited help from Mimi who came up and took care of the kids and the dogs (thanks Meems!). Even though it pretty much rained the entire time, we did all the typical tourist attractions. We saw the Liberty Bell and Love Statue ... we ate cheesesteaks at the famous intersection of the dueling Pat's and Geno's. We chose Pat's. We then headed over the Philadelphia Museum of Art where I planned to run up the steps like Rocky. But I was so full from the cheesesteak that I thought I would puke if I tried. We opted for just a picture of the statue. I did see several people running the steps though. We stayed at the Hyatt which was right on the Delaware River.

Of course as we were driving home yesterday, the sun broke through and it ended up being a great day. We were anxious to see the kids and spent the afternoon at a little playground near the house.

Thanks again to Mimi and thanks to Natalie and Danny who were reported as being perfect angels. Really?

Easter pics coming soon.

Slap Happy

On Saturday it rained and rained and rained some more. By dinner, I think everyone was a little slap happy. Including me and Greg who didn't care that Danny was getting more spaghetti down his shirt than in his mouth ...

Or that Natalie was licking the spilled sprinkles from home-made chocolate covered pretzels right off the foil...

Needless to say, these kids went right up to bath time after this dinner.

Not much

Not a whole lot has been going on around here. Natalie got a hair cut. She actually wanted to go even shorter than this, but I convinced her to get it shoulder length and then cut again if she still wanted. For now, she's ok with this length. I think Greg and I both prefer the longer, but she's so cute either way.




I had the pleasure of meeting Karen's new baby, Julianna, yesterday. Just look at this sweet family.

Hope was so protective of Baby Jules. Even though it's been less than a week, it is clear that Hope loves her baby sister.

Speaking of babies, Natalie thought this would get a reaction out of us. It did.

Danny tried to get in on the action too

But Danny has no problem getting into trouble on his own. Here he is caught red-handed playing in Natalie's room while she was at school. She will be ticked to see this picture. Look how the swingset is knocked over ... and the horse is laying sideways in the "barn". That is not how she left things earlier that morning.

So we've been doing a whole lot of nothing, but it's been good. We're just thankful that everyone is healthy right now (knock on wood). We were struck down by illness #457 last week and we hope that's the end of that til next winter. We are very much looking forward to fresh air, open windows and warmer temps.

What a difference.

We went from snow to seventies in just a few days. No complaints here.

Mother Nature plays April Fool's Joke

So much for March going out like a lamb. We woke up this morning to about an inch of snow covering the lawn, trees and cars.

Most of it's melted by now, but it was such a surprise.

Truck on Over...

Yesterday we headed over to the local fire house for Natalie's party. She's been asking to have her party at the fire house since last August so it was a long time coming. I think if you ask her, she'll tell you it was worth the wait. The plan was to start the party off with the fireman giving them a demo of the gear, then tour the fire station, then give the kids rides on the truck. What are the chances of them getting an emergency call right at 2pm when the party was scheduled to start? I'm not sure - but that's exactly what happened. So we had to switch things up a bit and wait til the guys got back. Fortunately - or unfortunately - the accident was directly in front of the fire house so there was not a lot of travel time. And it's my understanding that everyone was ok. So, after things settled down, we were ready to party!

Is Danny actually listening to the fireman??

The big kids got to ride up front!The truck could only take a few kids at a time, so they were allowed to shoot the hose while they were waiting for their friends.

Willow really got in the spirit!

Even with a few hiccups, I think the party was a success. Natalie received wonderful gifts, she had a great time with her friends and I think the firemen got a kick out of all the kids. Thank you to our friends and family who helped us with set-up, clean-up, photos and overall just being a great help!