Dancing With Picasso

Have I mentioned just how lovely the art museum is?

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

Last Saturday was a breezy and warm(er) blessing in what's been a pretty slow start to springtime here in Ohio.  As I type this, the snow is falling once again.  It was 80 degress two days ago. 

The kite flying was mostly a success.  Lillian had a blast flying her owl-shaped kite all over the baseball field, cackling and pointing and watching it dip and dive.  It was windy enough that you hardly had to do anything to keep it aloft.

 Naomi was a litte overwhelmed by the breeze and requested to be held by William most of the time.

Papa's airplane was also overwhelmed by the wind and did little else besides nosedive into the grass. 

We of course got Lillan's kite stuck in a tree, but were able to rescue it, saving the outing from disaster.  Playing on the playground with no coats on helped too.

Bonus Footage

Egg hunt, reprise.

Easter Highlights

 We hung eggs in the tree out front this week so the Easter Bunny would know where to find us.  The girls were a big help, teetering ontop of the terrifying ladder, making design decisions about where to hang each  color of egg and just general cheerleading.  Then we went to visit the 55th and final year Eggshelland, a display of over 20,000 hand painted egg shells in someone's front yard.  Our few dozen plastic things hanging inthe barren tree out front didn't quite compare.  I'll get the girls drawing up something more elaborate for next year.




Then, Botanical Garden Egg Hunt Day!  It really is the highlight of the spring.  Aunt Pat sent along beautiful dresses again, and amazing coats.   We topped the whole ensemble off with hats from the dollar section at Target!  Here are the precious darlings:

The sun made its appearance and turned the day into one of the prettiest we've had so far this year.  Naomi teamed up wth Jack and Ivy to stake out the tortises

Lillian got chased by butterflies.  If you look closely, there's one right by her hand.

And then, the hunt was on!  Fancy dress be damned, these ladies climbed under brush, into shrubs and through sprouting gardens to get all 10 of their alloted eggs.  And then some.  Once again, we had to steal eggs back from their baskets and hide them in our wake to stay under the quota.  This year, though, we had to be a lot sneakier to keep the

re-hide from them, as they woud just go and snantch up the very ones we had put back.

This year, Naomi got a rare Golden Ticket in one of her eggs.  Instead of being whisked off to the chocolate factory, though, she was ushered to a big cardboard box of prizes.  She selected this spinning flower

We'll be going back to the gardens soon, as I miss having flowers in the pictures and they have a wonderful 'Big Spring' display up for the month. 

The Doctors Will See You Now

But only if you are a plastic blue Easter egg.

They Might Be Giants

At least Lillian might be. Naomi's still a little wisp of a thing. A slightly cranky wisp. There are twenty photos in this series and in not a single one of them is she smiling.

Seriously. Lillian is TALL. She doesn't have to go up on her tiptoes to get things on or off the kitchen counter anymore. When she stands next to the dining room table, her shoulders are even with it. I'm pretty sure that last year she was walking under the table.

And Naomi's not always cranky. Often she is quite funny. Last week we were standing in front of the giant saltwater fishtank at school- our daily exit ritual. There were four new Nemo fish and I pointed them out to the girls, who were fascinated by the hermit crabs. "Look! New clown fish!" Naomi shook her head, placed her hand gently on my arm and said, "Mama. They don't have red noses."

Now I Know My ABCs!

Mostly, anyway. 

I love how much sign language the girls still use and they are learning more at daycare all the time. I really am constantly amazed by how much they learn and absorb at school and at home and everywhere. They remember things that I never expect to turn up again. This is that time when they will be close to making permanent memories. Hm. Parenting was way easier when I knew they wouldn't remember what I did.