Lazy Blogging

Sorry, people, just not feeling up to blogging lately.  We haven't been doing much of anything, just trying to get outside every day, dreaming of what we'll do when it's summer.  I have big ideas of raised garden beds, a patio with a fire pit, and a bright red door!  We'll see how much of that actually happens though, I guess!

 We had Easter at Brendan's parent's house.  The kids were excited to find the Easter eggs I hid.  Ingrid asked all excitedly "I wonder what's in them?!" even though she helped me fill them (jelly beans and pennies!)

 Brendan's aunt and uncle were in town, we haven't seen them since our wedding seven years ago!  Which means they'd never met the kids.  They brought them presents, it was so sweet of them!  Otis took to the blue doll and has been toting it around with him everywhere, along with the little bottle.  It was pretty adorable, as he was falling asleep he'd hold his baby, and every once in awhile he'd hold the bottle up and say "eat, baby, shhh."  Be still my heart!

Other than that, not much going on.  Just living life, enjoying April!

Spring is Finally HERE!

We still have snow on the ground, but it's slowly melting and will hopefully be gone for good in a few days.   Today it's supposed to be 54.  I almost can't believe it, I was figuring we'd be covered in snow until July.  And then I think back to last year's Easter weekend and I am amazed at how late spring is coming.

LAST YEAR:

THIS YEAR:

 Our bulbs are just coming through the ground, and we still need winter coats and hats when we go outside.  BUT!  It's around the corner.  Warm weather is almost here.  ALMOST!

Breakfast with Benjamin Bunny

We took the kids to a fun little Easter event this weekend--breakfast with Benjamin Bunny at George Watts.  It's a cool shop downtown that has a tea room upstairs.  This event was a fun morning with coloring, food, drinking out of crystal goblets, and meeting big stuffed bunnies.  Oh, and Jemima Puddleduck made it, too! 

Daddy and Otis, before the crying began.

Jemima Puddleduck!

It's funny because we never have taken the kids to get pictures with Santa or the Easter Bunny or any theme park characters before.  Ingrid did not like the idea at first, she kept asking with a hint of terrror, "Is the bunny going to be at our table??"  But once she saw they were just big stuffed animals that walked around, she couldn't stop hugging them! 

Mrs. Watts herself reading a story.

Otis, however, cried whenever they got near.  Taking their picture with them was an act of child abuse, according to him!  But who doesn't have a picture of their screaming kid with some huge dressed up character?

It was so fun, definitely something we'll do again next year!

Happy Easter.

We are not religious, so Easter is a thing purely of bunnies and eggs and chocolate.  Which is all good in my book!  Although dying eggs is not fun, and then I'm left with colored hard boiled eggs that I end up leaving sitting out and having to throw away.  But Ingrid thinks it's cool, so we do it.

We had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's, after which we had an egg hunt.  Ingrid was SO excited about this, she kept asking if the Easter bunny would know we were there and not at our house.  Oh, the young.  The stupid, believing young.  I am such a bad mom, I said "well he's not real, it's just a joke.  Like Santa!"  My mother in law was laughing at me.  I don't sugar coat it, huh?

She got her eggs, she ate her chocolate, and she didn't seem to care one way or another if the Easter bunny was real or not!!

Happy Easter, Everyone!

The Easter Bunny showed his fuzzy little butt today.  Hooray! 

It's only 7:45am and Ingrid's already eaten a chocolate bunny.  What the hell is today going to be like??  We are going to hang out at home this morning and then go celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa later.  Looks like it's going to rain so perhaps there will be an indoors egg hunt. 

Hope you all have a great Easter!

Wraps, Bunnies, Cupcakes, and Other Things To Keep Us Busy.

This weekend was pretty busy and fun.  First of all, I got a Moby and am loving it.  Otis wasn't sure at first, I think his legs hanging out bothered him, since the Ergo covers them up.  But he's into it now and I love to wear him in it.

My view when wearing Otis.  How could you not want to wear your baby??

After seeing her little brother in it and hearing stories of her being held in one, Ingrid just had to see if Mama could still hold her in the wrap.  Do you know that I could?  That thing is amazing!

I also made more bunnies.  Easter is coming up, guys!  Do you really want to put sugary sweets in your kids' baskets when you could have a one of a kind wonky bunny instead?  Just look how many different kinds to choose from!

Haha, okay, enough advertising!

Hmm, what else kept us busy this weekend?  Ingrid used  her desk to color and the sun was coming in from behind her.  She just looked so peaceful talking to herself and coloring.  Those moments are what balances all the screaming and whining.

And cupcakes.  Cupcakes in a rainbow.  I finally tried this and they turned out super cute!  And were much easier to make than I'd thought.  For those who haven't seen these, it's easy!  Make a white cake batter, split the batter up six ways and dye the batter with food coloring in the colors of the rainbow.  The dollop each color in each cupcake cup and they come out looking like this!  So awesome. 

We also got a new rug this weekend for our living room.  Little by little our apartment is turning into home.  Things are hung up on the walls, we have curtains, it's great.  We've been here almost a month and I'm feeling pretty settled.  Whew!

Eggs and Baskets and Balloons.

We finally got around to dying Easter eggs yesterday.  It was messy, and not really that much fun.  Ingrid just wanted to stick her hands in the dye cups and lick her hands.  Blech.  But, we got some cute ones.

This morning she woke up bright and early and found her basket.  I got the felt basket last year and just added some little dollar toys--play dough and a bouncy wind up bunny.  No candy this year because seriously, I would be the one to eat it all up, and none of us needs it!  Although someone said something about jelly beans and I thought mmmm, jelly beans.  I may have to get a bag on clearance tomorrow!

Brendan took Ingrid out to the park and to go hiking through the Arboretum.  I used the time alone to clean house, work on a jigsaw puzzle, and watch Lost.  It felt amazing to have a few hours all to myself.  Then it was naptime, so I got to nap on top of it!  I'm telling you, we love our lazy Sundays here!

And also, I finally cut Ingrid's hair!  And how glad I am after seeing that picture of her up there!  She's needed it so bad but I wasn't sure if I was going to take her somewhere or do it myself again.  I couldn't take it anymore so snip snip with my sewing scissors and viola!  I can see her eyes again! 

Easter Party

Our friends had a little Easter party in their backyard yesterday.  Luckily the weather cooperated and it was sunny and in the 70s.  The kids wore their cutest new spring wear, including Ben's amazing hat:

The girlies were all wearing skirts and pigtails, it was just that kind of day!  The kids got to pick up Easter eggs (which were thankfully NOT hidden, just thrown around the lawn.  Trying to give hints to Ingrid where to find something is so frustrating:  right there, no, by your hand, no right in front of you!!)

Allie has a great selection of toys, but the best one by far was this motorized Barbie VW Bug.  How ridiculous is this thing??  The kids loved taking turns driving around and no one knew how to steer so it was constant screaming, NO!  You're gonna crash!  Turn! 

Before we left, I had to get some pictures of Ingrid in the bathroom.  She was dancing on the counter and the mirror was playing tricks.  I suddenly had this glimpse of what it would be like to have not one but two of my little monster!!  Ahhhh! 

The Easter Bunny

I took Ingrid to the local Easter egg hunt ordeal today.  Normally I wouldn't have bothered, since it was cold and Ingrid was crabby as hell this morning, but Brendan had to work and a couple friends were going to be there so we went.  The big event is a helicopter flying overhead and dropping tons of marshmallows into the park, so Ingrid kept asking where the helicopter was about an hour before it was scheduled to show up.  We tried to meet friends at a restaurant but the place is tiny and not very child friendly (only one high chair and there were like ten kids there this morning!) so it was kind of tough to wrangle her into a chair and not get in everyone's way. 

We went over to the park and found our other friends and then chased the kids around in the freezing cold weather for awhile.  Ingrid met the Easter bunny (and his wife?)  She was okay, but very cautious.  She would sneak up and give him a hi-five and then run away giggling, so the only pictures I could get of her were the back of her head. 

Then the helicopter came, dropped the marshmallows, and flew away.  All the kids busted out trying to find them and it was a madhouse.  I have to say, I am not fond of the clusterf*&k aspect of these things.  The marshmallows were on the other side of the park so by the time we got there they were all gone and we saw all these big kids with baskets full.  The socialist in me thought there should be some limit so every kid could get one.  But it doesn't matter anyway, all you did was turn in your marshmallows (aka throw them in a big garbage can) and then you got a cheap plastic toy. 

Ingrid had fun, though, so I shouldn't complain.  And we are going to an Easter party on Friday where they'll have a little egg hunt.  Without big kids.  Or muddy marshmallows.