Thank You Easter Bunny!

Hoping for a seond round of hidden eggs, we decided to dye eggs again with Mom's Group. Pip and Vivian both love "crack eggs" and so none of the dozens we dyed were wasted. Actually, while a bit messy, the effort of peeling the eggs came in handy when we needed them to calm down here and there.

Here's Pip dyeing his eggs. His technique was all about the dropping and removing of the egg, less about subtleties of color and design.


All the kids were thrilled to find that their eggs did indeed lure the Easter Bunny. We sent the big kids to the living and dining room while the littler ones searched in the kitchen and bathroom.


Here's Pip relaxing with his loot, chocolate in mouth.


My cuties!

Mom's night out

Last night Susan, Jess, and I hit the town for a fabulous Mom's night. We snagged a room at the Marriott Long Wharf, shared a great dinner downtown, and then danced the night away. So much fun! But my feet actually hurt today from all the dancing (well, perhaps I should place at least some blame on the crazy heels I wore ... but I rarely get to go out like that!)

Easter Egg Hunt

We went to Tasha's on Saturday to paint eggs and play. It was a ton of fun. Vivie and Pip both dipped and colored eggs (taking frequent breaks to run and play). I even got to paint a few eggs myself. As we were getting ready to leave, the Easter Bunny stopped by, leaving a note for the kids and 34 treat-filled eggs hidden in the backyard. Very cool. Pip and Vivie had a blast finding the eggs!

Princess Pip

So I'm cleaning out Vivie's closet of clothes that don't fit and replacing it with her spring/summer stuff. And I ran across a Snow White costume Susan gave us. Vivie LOVES Snow White. So I asked her if she wanted to wear it. Much to my surprise, she was a bit afraid of it. Not Pip. He wanted to wear it!

The cutie wore it all afternoon. Mirror, mirror on the wall, Who is the fairest Prince of all?


Even Princes need to get their hands dirty on the train tracks.




One day my prince will come!

Big Girl Bed

Vivie's begun to notice Pip's big boy bed. Right about the time Pip seems done with it. For the past month, Pip has been insisting on sleeping on a blow-up twin mattress in the middle of his room. This leaves his bed wide open. The other day Phil noticed Vivie looking longinly at the bed ... so he suggested she nap there and she did! Here's the cutie all cuddled up.

Sunny Days

True to form, this March has had plenty of cold, rain-filled days and then some very warm and bright sunny days. This was one of those days. Vivie got dressed up in her new sun dress, which she rocked with pony tails and leggins.

They played a while indoors with these vase beads -- mesmerizing!



Later we grilled dinner out on the deck. Vivie continues to rock her glasses (even upside down!)


And Pip somehow convinced Phil to row the big plastic boat!

St. Patrick's Day!

Today we celebrated St. Pat's day all in green. I was very excited to show off our green outfits at Mom's Group. Vivian has a oh-so cute green dress with a rainbow and Pip has a green Snoopy shirt (also with a rainbow). Our group was smalled than usual, but we still posed for a group shot:



I am officially nominated for Mom-Of-The-Year for my Stupendous Rainbow Cupcakes, complete with cloud frosting and "pot of gold" treasure at the end of the rainbow. Check it out. (props to Family Fun magazine for the idea.)


To top it all off, after days of rain there was not a cloud in sight and it warmed up to maybe 70 today. Not sure if that was accurate, but it felt that warm in the sun. Here are Pip and Nick before they shed their jackets:


Vivian somehow snuck off back inside and helped herself to another rainbow cupcake. The crumbs gave her away.

Baa Baa black sheep

As much as this piano is a huge eyesore and space-consumer, it's hard to imagine getting rid of it. Pip and Vivian love practicing their songs just enough so that it doesn't gather dust. Here's Vivian giving "Baa baa black sheep" a try. (Just before she was singing the Bob the Builder theme some which was very cute too).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFeGLdYpEp0

Little Bit

Vivian is now second in command for feeding Sprouter. She seems to think Sprout is very hungry. I occasionally need to dump some of the food back in the canister after she's done.



Here's a video. She's saying "little bit" but it comes out so fast, sounds like "ittle-it"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZNeseHEdaw

Mt. Bebo erupts

Yesterday Mt. Bebo erupted! Drew was over visiting after the Go Dog Go! production, which he also attended. Pip eventually succumbed to exhaustion from his lingering cold, but this hadn't happened yet. Who could resist the pull of the volcano?

Check out the videos of it's first and second eruptions (red and orange respectively) and the pics below of it's final green explosion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVCAMqm7Z3A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLGdjAvw94M

T-shirts from Grammie!

Grammie sent us these very cool Tshirts from her last visit to Florida. Pip and Vivian look very cute in them and both have dubbed them their favorite outfits of the season!

Meanwhile Pip has come down with the latest nasty bug of the season. Since Phil's volcano blog he's sported a peaking fever Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So far today we appear to be on the mend. No fever (yet), better appetite, and even relented and took a nap so that his body could recover. I think he's sad to miss out on so many fun things with his friends.

But he wasn't sequestered from all activities (bad MomDaddy). His mornings are generally stronger even with a cold and yesterday we thought he was over it. So we made the call to take him to a local play on the book Go Dog Go! performed by high school students from neighboring towns. Pip loved it! He sat right up front with the all the other toddlers and watched silently with rapt attention! Vivian also sat silently on my lap in the seating section, watching intently. When it was over they had an open chat with the actors but this proved a little hard for the smaller toddlers to bear. No singing? No dancing? No romping actors? No paying attention. Pip stood up in the middle of the Q & A and announced loudly ... "Mommy! Mommy! Maaa--meeeee!! I have to go to the bathroom!" Luckily there was already a din of kids voices so this wasn't disruptive, but certainly loud enough to get our attentions!

Ring of Fire extends to Melrose!

Pip woke up today with a nasty cough and a mild fever. We made a game time decision to keep him home from daycare, and I drew the short straw. After dropping off Vivi and devouring a wake-up wrap and donut with shamrocks, he was in much better spirits. Who wouldn't be?! Now we have the whole day to ourselves....

While I checked in at work, Pip watched some of his favorite video clips. One that has always fascinated him is a few minutes of Mt Etna erupting. So we decided to make a volcano ourselves using a kit that we had in our crafts cabinet. I thought Pip would be all over this potentially messy project, but he was feeling rather dainty today. So my job was to mix up the papier-mache and shape the cone, while Pip volunteered to be in charge of magma. He has dubbed this smouldering cone Mt Beebo.

Unfortunately, this particular volcano is not quite ready to erupt. In fact, scientists predict that it will need "2 or 3 days" of sitting outside or "near a sunny window" before it will erupt. Oh well... but it will be fun to build up the anticipation for this event over the weekend. Check back in a few days to see how it goes!

The Zoo!!

The streak of great weather continues! Today we met Liz and Susan's clans at the Stone Zoo. I think it was our best ever outing there. All the animals were out romping (or lazing) in the sun. Plus Pip and Vivie showed at least some mild interest in actually looking at them. It wasn't long before they were playing hide and seek and climbing games all over the place, but at least no one tried to stick their fingers in the cages!

Here we are about to go in. I think the first pic of Pip harassing Nick explains why Nick may be crying in the next shot. Oops.

Bungee cords -- FOUND

The spring weather meant lots of yard work and (thank goodness) the full-out cleaning of our cars. This led to the discovery of several lost bungee cords. You should have seen the glee in Pip's eyes when he was reunited with his long lost pals.

He promptly hooked a chain of cords from the air vents to the freezer door and tried to figure out how to close the freezer this way.


Giving up on that, he attached himself to Vivian who felt this was a fabulous idea.


Phil wanted in on the action and soon he was also tethered to Pip and being yanked around the house.


I think I need to hide these things again before someone gets hurt!

Sleeping In?

Phil and I usually switch off sleeping in on weekends. But this isn't working for me lately. Vivie tends to freak out if she can't see me immediately upon waking up. So, ok, Phil will bring her in for a quick hello. This is intended to be terse, ending in Phil whisking her away for a happy breakfast while I roll back to sleep. Problem is, I have Vivie's cute factor working against me. Obviously, she has no intention of being swept away. She purrs and cuddles with me until I'm fully awake ...



And then gives me this look until I relent and go downstairs with her. So now no one is sleeping in around here!

Pip is all to happy to reap the benefits of this problem. With Phil and I both up early and our first sunny day (45 degree temp!!) we quickly motivated and hit the sidewalk in our stroller.

Soon we were gallivanting all over the Melrose Commons park. Sandbox, Swings, Special Deliveries (of sticks to the playhouse), Rocking Planes, Slides, .... you get the point.

I guess early mornings aren't so bad as long as the sun is shining!