Bunny cakes

While staying with Gramma and Papa, we have plenty of friends to visit. Tonight we hung out with my dear friend that I've

known for 20+ years (We also shared a teeny-tiny dorm room for a year while in college. Suffice it to say, we know each other pretty well. And if that weren't enough to make our relationship special, our birthdays are just one week apart!) and her wonderful family. My friend is super crafty and has seemingly endless energy so after a day of work, she not only invited us over to hang out, she also had a project ready

for the big kids. A yummy project! Bunny cakes to frost and decorate. Here are the finished products. We had to act fast not only to try and get both the Girl and her son, C, in the same photo but also to capture the cakes in all their decorated glory before mischievious fingers started swiping bunny eyes and noses and gliding through that sweet, fluffy frosting. By the time we left that evening, C had managed to make a sizable dent in his cake. His momma caught him red-handed and even if she hadn't the proof was smeared all over his grinning face!

Rocker Chick

There are two wooden rocking chairs at Gramma and Papa's house - one adult-sized rocker and one kid-sized rocker that my Dad made for me and my siblings when we were wee little ones ourselves. Baby Sister loves to rock in both of them. Although she has quite the unconventional rocking style. It is so unnatural that I'm not even sure how she does it. She thrusts her body forward while pushing the chair backward. Then when she leans back the chair collides with the back of her head as it is rocking forward. It is a hoot to watch, especially as she is so enthusiastic about her effort that she can really get those chairs a rockin'.

And ever the helpful big sister, the Girl swoops in to try and coordinate Baby Sister's rocking motion. More often than not, this evokes screams of protest from Baby Sister who independently wants to do it in her own delightful way.

Peek-a-boo!!

Who knew that a Starbucks cup insulator could be so much fun?!

I guess when you've been in the car for three hours (yesterday), on the road from one Grandma's house to another's, all it takes is a little imagination (or is it delusion?)to create a toy out of just about anything.

Lil Caddy

What do sunshine, 18 holes, miniature windmills and three small children make? One fun afternoon and possibly the world's longest and most chaotic game of miniature golf with the Girls' grandparents, aunt and cousin!!

This lil gal even got in on the action. There was no way that she was going to be the only person without a ball and club.

Standing not much taller than the club itself, Baby Sister was quite content to traverse the course holding her ball in one hand and clutching the club in the other. Though on more than one occasion she did try to make off with another player's ball.

For her part, the Girl was more interested in how the ball got from point A to point B through the tiny tunnels or disappearing into one cup only to come shooting out of a hole onto a green below to reach it's final destination of the actual cup marking the hole. But patience she has not and took only a few shots on each hole before picking her ball up and moving onto the next hole.

Cousin RB was MIA for most of the match but as you can see, he made up for it at the end of the course, making the last few holes count!

Oh these Girls!!

Oh man! These Girls. At moments like these I could deny them nothing, if they asked for it. Baby Sister's dimpled, toothy grin while pretending that the remote is a telephone.

Sisters. Sitting side by side munching on dry cereal while watching Curious George.

Some Momma time with my not-so-itty-bitty-anymore.

Totally rockin' the knit newsboy cap.

Oh, the Lord is good to me!!!!!!

Oh, the Lord is good to me
and so I thank the Lord for giving me the things I need


like the sun and the rain and the apple tree.



Oh the Lord is good to me!!
Amen.
Amen.
Amen, amen, amen, a-men!!!!!!


(This is the song that the Girl sings everyday with her little friends in preschool before they have snack. I sing it with her at night before she goes to bed.)

Not only the sun and the rain and the apple tree, but these three as well and foremost. He is good to me indeed!!

So Busted!!

Maybe it was the fact that I lay in bed for nearly two hours before falling asleep sometime after midnight. Or the tossing and turning. Or being woken every half hour by the Girl asking for a drink of water and who was sniffling and had crawled into bed with us. Or finally admitting defeat and rolling out of bed at 5:55. Maybe it was the 2 1/2 hour 'Yogathon' I participated in at the YMCA that started

promptly at 8:00 this morning. Maybe it was the incessant back-talk on the way home from the Y from the Girl who always leaves the

'Adventure Zone' (a supervised kids' play area in the Y) a little bit more sassy than when I dropped her off. Maybe it was the afternoon doctor's appointment and the Girl's insistence that I read to her from a joke book in the waiting room. Or the trip to a nearby park afterward.

Or maybe it was this.

Whatever it was, it left me feeling a bit exhausted. I remember sitting down on the couch next to the Girl (after having put Baby Sister who had fallen asleep on the drive home in her crib), leaning back into the pillows and asking her if she wanted to take a catnap with me. The next thing I know, I vaguely hear the Girl talking, "Hi." Pause. "My Mom's taking a nap right now." Another pause. "Ok." I open my eyes, look around and see the Girl standing behind the couch with my phone in her hand. Assuming that it was most likely J whom she had just been talking too, I stretched an open palm toward the phone and she handed it over. I can clearly see the name of the hair salon that we go to on the phone's screen. No doubt they were calling to remind me of the Girl's haircut appointment tomorrow. Awesome. So busted!! Nothing like having strangers know that your 4-year old is running around unsupervised while you take a nap. Ha, ha!!

Kindergarten Registration

Yesterday morning after I picked the Girl up from preschool, we headed to the school that she will be attending in the fall and armed with a mound of paperwork and her birth certificate, registered her for kindergarten. Sniffle, sniffle. The Girl, who was quite intrigued by the thought of a new school was astutely observing her surroundings and cheerfully pointed out that kids got to be "doorholders" at this school too while she watched the a.m. kindergarten class pass single file through a door to the outside courtyard.

You scream. I scream. We all scream....

for ice cream. Well, not exactly. This was the screaming that took place after she'd tired of the ice cream and had to get her face

washed. Which, if you couldn't tell, she strongly disapproves of. On to the ice cream part. This is Baby Sister's very own classic chocolate kid-sized cone from DQ. I'm not sure that the Girl had even tasted ice cream yet at this age (At least not that I approved of as I'm sure some grandparent, aunt, uncle or maybe even her Dad slipped her some at some point before I lifted the ban.) but I'm certain that she hadn't

been afforded her very own cone. That probably didn't happen until sometime after the age of two. Now she's moved on and prefers the much more sophisticated flavors, such as mint oreo, that can only be found in the Blizzard. Although she will occasionally request possibly the messiest treat of all time - the chocolate-dipped cone. The heat of the dipped chocolate rapidly melting the ice cream

underneath so that once the chocolate has been eaten off (or as is usually the case, falls off into your little one's lap) you are left with a river of dripping vanilla that no amount of licking can keep up with. Did I mention that the Girl's timing in ordering this treat is always impeccable?! Usually when we are in the car, going through the drive-thru and nowhere near home. Ah, but I digress. As you can see, Baby

Sister enjoyed the chocolatey goodness of her cone. Try as we might though, we could not get her to hold the cone. J offered it to her quite a few times and she didn't want to have anything to do with it. Probably worked out better that way anyhow as he wasn't forced to wrench it from her grip when it was in need of a little licking around the cone to get the extra melty parts. Not to mention that it

eliminated the worry over the almost too predictable outcome of the 'dropped ice cream on the ground' scenario. You can tell that it didn't take Baby Sister too awfully long to figure her way around an ice cream cone. She was definitely the 'dive and conquer' kind of gal as opposed to the 'carefully neat licker.'

And by this point she's basically had enough. And the screaming you saw at the top of this post is about to ensue.

Lil Momma

Baby Sister with her baby this afternoon. She pulled the blanket up under the baby's chin and started rocking her back and forth.

Baby's nap was short-lived though and soon she was being snuggled and given hugs by her Lil Momma.

Not the most....

attractive pictures we've ever taken of ourselves. Quite possibly the worst even, but they are sure to put a smile on your face and maybe

even induce a fit of laughter.

Especially this one!!

The purpose of the pictures was to capture our matching hair-do's but the Girl was obviously feeling a little silly. This morning I put my hair up in a bun and the Girl wanted the same. So we headed to preschool looking like Bobsey twins.

Do I really need a reason?

Tonight at dinner I was snapping pictures in hopes of getting a shot of Baby Sister using a fork to get the food from her plate to her mouth rather than her hand. It is a relatively new skill for her. But alas, all I was able to get were these adorable pictures of her eating a tortilla.

J questioned my picture-taking motives and was wondering if I'd felt guilty for not taking very many pictures over the past few days and if that was why I felt the need to be taking pictures during dinner. Ha!! Any time is a good time for taking pictures.

In Bloom!!

(In a singsong voice) Spring is here, spring is here, it's the best time of the year.

Despite the dark looming cloud overhead, spring seems to have arrived early as these plum trees have been in full bloom for over a week now. These trees line either side of the street all the way through our neighborhood. I heart them!! I also heart the sound of frogs croaking a loud chorus in the greenbelt behind our house at night. Also a sure sign that spring is just around the corner.

Another thing I heart - my time in the car with Baby Sister, especially when it is just the two of us. When she doesn't have the distraction of her Big Sister sitting beside her, Baby Sister is a chatter-box. I love, love, love driving down the road with her incessant chattering coming from the back. I glance quite frequently in the rearview mirror to see her gazing out the window and just talking, talking, talking. The sound of her sweet little voice is music to my ears.

Lemonade Lovelies

The Girl was back at it Monday afternoon with some help from her friend Miss A (who just returned from 2 weeks in Hawaii - it was a long

awaited reunion) and Baby Sister. In addition to lemonade the girls were also offering freshly baked, homemade, peanut butter

chocolate chip cookies. Business started off a little slow but that all changed when the unassuming neighbor across the street returned home from work and upon emerging from his vehicle was accosted by shouts of "Lemonade, lemonade, get your fresh lemonade!" Seriously this was a way more aggressive salespitch than the Girl displayed on Sunday. I guess all she needed was a little

outspoken friend to be her business partner. They practically shamed him into buying a cup as who, with half a heart could resist two little girls as sweet as these - and one dressed in a pink leotard, tights and princess shoes no less. Just as unassuming were his two friends that subsequently showed up after him and within five minutes of one another. Right off the bat three customers. Next came a teenage boy

who happened to be walking with his friend. He bought a cup and offered to buy one for his friend too. His friend declined, apparently he was above lemonade drinking and cookie eating. No matter as business picked up and an actual line started to form. Their final customer of the day was a man who was driving by. Through a bit of conversation we discovered that he coaches basketball at the YMCA for kids the girls' age and he recalled fond memories of his sister selling lemonade in the summer months. He was a very generous patron and paid $3 for his lemonade and cookie!! When the lemonade was gone and the girls counted their earnings it totaled $8.50....not bad for 8 customers and less than an hour's worth of work. J is already planning his retirement.

4 Down....

six to go!!

Baby Sister got her fourth tooth on Sunday - bottom front, right side. With a little help from the Girl's tickling fingers I was able to get this picture in which you can see her top two teeth pretty well, at least the one on Baby Sister's left for sure. I was smitten with her toothless grin but this is pretty darn cute too!!