Beep Beep.

Lillian, the doubtful driver.
(Photo and title credits to Nana.)

Eggs and Fun and Sunshine and Floofy Dresses!

Naomi meets the Easter Bunny

He has a much sweeter ride than I would have guessed.


Lillian "finds" an egg


Both girls find their eggs that we staged. The actual hunt in the Children's Garden was kind of a madhouse--a delightful and well-dressed madhouse, but, still.



We spent the afternoon outside with Grandma, Carolyn, Nana and Papa and for extra fun, hung the new swing. Naomi, with a worshipful light in her eyes, pointed her way towards it, whispering, "Dat. Dat!"

So neither of the are fabulous photographs (okay, they're actually quite terrible.) but we had some fun today that is worth documenting. Lillian's been hit with another round of cold and we've been up for several nights struggling to get her through. She's made huge improvements today and looks to be well on the way towards mended.

Since she was feeling so much better, we headed over to Nat and Amanda's for what has become our annual egg decorating event. It's much more easily justified now that Jack's old enough to participate. The girls played pretty happily all over the room, completely ignoring us and our eggly pursuits. Except for when Naomi pitched her egg to the ground.



When we got home and took off Naomi's overalls, we found a cheerio stuck squarely over her belly button.



More pictures to be taken this weekend!

'Scuse Me.

Several things I'd like you to notice about this picture.

1. Naomi has, literally, a fistful of remotes.

2. Lillian has a "duckbutt" curl at the back of her head. You can't see it as well as I would like here, but know that it exists and it is good.

3. Naomi, a.k.a. Droopy Drawers, cannot keep her pants up over her non-existent butt.

Blame It On The Rain

Blergh. It's been raining here for 47 years. We might all be getting a little testy. What you see here is Lillian's face after I've taken her picture. She chants "baby" and demands to see the back of the camera. When I will not, in fact, hand over the nicest piece of electronic equipment in my home, this is the reaction.

Proof That Lillian is a Clevelander

She is mystified by sunshine. After a long, dreary, grey winter one intrepid ray of sun made its way into our living room. Lillian talked about it for bit, searched for it, and, upon finding it, stuck her fingers into it. Hopefully we'll get a few doses of full body immersion before too long. Need spring!

Watching the World Go By

We spent more time outside today, watching the neighbors emerge from their houses, blinking at the sun. Leaves were raked (not ours), lawns were edged (not ours), cars were vacuumed (not ours).

By the way, Lillian giggles everytime the breeze kicks up.

Daddy's Girls

You've already seen the welcome home celebrations that go on when William walks in the house. This is why. He takes time to really connect with the girls and do something fun. Today, they all snuggled up on the couch and read from their new 'Animal Baby' books. The level of adorableness here is almost toxic.

Ups and Downs

These are the most adorable ponytails, right? Enjoy it. I don't want to talk about how long it took to put them in, and, conversely, how long they lasted. Let's just say one was much longer than the other.




And, it was lovely outside today. We went to play outside and immediately found the mud at the edge of the driveway. Tasty!

We Love a Parade!

The one that Lillian is pushing has a button that makes 'honking' sounds. It adds a lovely sonorous element to this chaos. They must have traveled 37 laps around the house.

Quiet.

Today has been a quiet struggle, as Lillian had some wild 18-hour bug starting at 1:00am. She's fine now. Sleeping peacefully. We also said goodbye to the happiest dog in the universe today. Dear, sweet Penny has gone to dog heaven to wiggle her bottom at the world from there.

So, no picture today. Give a pet a hug.

You asked for more!

I bought this 6' nylon tube at a kid's stuff sale tonight. Could be the best 6 dollars I have ever spent, and they only played with it for 20 minutes before we had to shuffle them off to bed. I knew Naomi would dive right in, and she did, crawling back and forth and peeking at me out the mesh windows. Lillian played with her little table at the other side of the living room, her back turned to us for a long time. I thought she might ignore the thing altogether. Finally, after I coaxed her from the far end, she crawled tentatively into the thing. Then she didn't come out for 15 mintues. She went from end to end, flipping around and poking at all the walls. She played peek-a-boo with Roxy through one of the windows for quite some time, shrieking with laughter everytime the dog booped her nose into the tunnel. (Rozy was, of course, terrified that the baby was somehow trapped in this airless containment device in our living room. The dog may need a Xanax or three.)

I know a lot of the video is just squirming orange nylon, but you have to envision the two of them in there, trying to get past each other as they headed for opposite ends and then changed their minds about 9,000 times.

I'm pretty sure we'll be dragging this out again soon.

Health Inspectors.

"Mom! Did you know you've had salad dressing in here since 2007?"



I didn't run to get the video camera, but I wish you could hear how they shouted and whooped into the refrigerator. And how they complained when I envisioned the electric bill and closed the thing.

Video!

It works!

Circle The Wagons

We took our last weekend of Spring Break to enjoy every minute. William got lots of great time with the girls--just a teaser for summer, my friends! There was enough sunshine on Saturday to take the girls for a walk in their new wagon. A quick trip around the neighborhood, a stop around the corner to visit with Tony, some crocus sightings. Bliss. They seemed to rather enjoy this new mode of transportation, too. A little less inhibiting than the stroller, but still fully parent-powered. We have two little tricycles waiting in the garage for when they decide to take on their own motoring.

Nana and Papa came up to babysit Saturday night so William and I could get out for a date night. Astounding how a mediocre dinner and a slightly better than mediocre movie make for a fabulous night! By all reports, the girls behaved and did a good job of entertaining their grandparents. (Next time, I'll put Naomi in a sweater without buttons, though. You'll have to ask the babysitters about trying to get that off. I can't do the story justice here.)

Naomi's getting braver with her walking. Lillian's still doing the one-finger hold, but has been standing on her own for the last few days. Soon....

Random Fun

Here's Naomi, getting _really_ into the egg hunt the other day. She'd flatten herself out completely to get under the couch or coffee table. Even if she is walking by Easter, I have a feeling that the fancy dress won't make it out of the egg hunt unscathed.



Lillian in the living room "bounce house". William pulled the couch cushions off and piled on the throw pillows. Both girls rolled around on flopped on them, shrieking and cackling their way through the afternoon.