Dr. Doolittles

We had a lovely, lazy Saturday yesterday. We probably broke some parenting rules as well. We decided since it was cold and dreary that it was a perfect movie day. Then the girls decided that they wanted to watch "Jurassic Park". Greg and I kind of looked at each other and thought, "Why not?" We figured we could skip any part that was too intense and just explain how everything was fake. Everything seemed all fine and dandy until they dropped the cow down for the raptors to eat then it continued ok until the power went out on the island. Then it was all a blur between Tati laughing, Chloe hiding under a blanket and me fast forwarding. After the kids went to bed, we watched Harry Potter and suddenly appears Tati crying, telling us our movie was too loud and it sounded like dinosaurs were walking in their room. Greg finally turned on their Primary cd to listen to so they could feel safe. I guess we won't be watching Jurassic Park 2 for a while. ;-) I actually told Greg I forbid Jaws until they are at least 16 because once you watch Jaws, there is no going back and swimming will never be the same.

Anyway, after all the drama of the dinos, we decided to get out of the house and headed over to this little festival. There wasn't much to do at the festival but they did have an awesome Petting Zoo. The girls went nuts in there. Chloe was determined to hold a goat but they all wanted to run away from her. She finally settled with a cute little bunny who sat patiently on her lap and let her pet her. Chloe said it was because her jacket was so soft that the bunny wanted to sit with her.
Tati held a rooster (bad idea), a bunny and then a baby goat. The little goat was so cute! We want a baby goat. The only problem is that the goat would grow up. The little goat just sat on Tati's lap so cute and still and then the next thing we knew, the goat was SLEEPING! It was so funny and so cute. Tati sat there for like 10 min. just with this smile on her face while the goat slept.

It was fun to get out with the girls and do something as a family!

Easter Weekend

So, we are a bit behind over here but we are getting there. We have church at 1 and struggle as is on a normal Sunday to get to church on time so we did Easter baskets on Sunday and somehow convinced the girls to wait until the following day to do the egg hunt.

These glasses seemed like a good idea at the store. Obviously they were not cut with normal human eyes in mind. Still funny though.

Then Gavin wore the lamb headband that has been passed down since Chloe. Such a cute one. Those bunny ear ones never seem to stay on right.

We tried to do a photo shoot before church too and although we got a few nice shots, I'd have to say we sort of suck at picture taking. We're still trying to figure it all out. After church we had a friend take a picture of us by our backyard but it was too sunny and windy and the kids were hungry so it didn't really work out. I was a bit disappointed but just told everybody that we'd all wear the exact outfits the next week and we'd get our picture then. Anyway, here are the best from the Easter shoot.

Our little stud muffin:


And our girls. One looking:


And one laughing.

I love this picture b/c it isn't the kind of picture you can plan for. It just happens.

The next day we went to the zoo and enjoyed some of their Easter Weekend Activities and also did our egg hunt and had a lunch picnic at a nearby park. We were excited because all the snow was finally melted and they were moving the animals out of the big barn area and back into their individual pens.

We did lots of fun things at the zoo that really made the girls enjoy themselves.
First they got their faces "painted". Seriously this is the smartest idea. They just use this face spray paint and a stencil. It takes about a minute to do it and then you're on your way. They can't be smudged and even if the line is long, your kids won't be waiting very long. Tati chose a dragon. Of course she did. The lady was cute and turned it into a girly dragon with pink. Then Chloe chose a dolphin.



Then the girls made themselves some butterfly costumes and fluttered around.

We finished off with looking at some ratty ole farm animals then on to the bugs and touching a tarantula and finally off to the owls (the girls' favorite part of the zoo) where they said hello and good bye to all their favorites. It was a great day and now we're feeling pumped that Spring is finally here!

The Royals

I have to admit I am smitten with the new princess and Prince William. I even watched an infomercial that was selling replicas of the OFFICIAL engagement ring. Just $19.95 and I could've had one. But then you throw in the whole "international shipping" and well, I had to forget it. But it would've been fun. I know I'm not the only one into them. I mean, look at the wedding coverage they had. There is something so fun about the idea of them in a world with so much drama and bad stuff. It is like a bit of a fairy tale (although I know they are real people with real problems--I mean hello, look at his loser dad and they did live together BEFORE getting married but still work with me here). I think I'm extra into the whole thing because it makes me think of a special lady I knew when I was younger. Her name was Margaret Morrish. She was from England and lived near us in California where I grew up. Her husband and sons had all died in the war and she was left living alone with no real family to speak of.. At least once a month on Saturdays, our whole family would go to her house and do yard work. Then when we were done, Sis. Morrish would give us some sort of treat from those yummy tin cookies (she called them "biscuits") to those rare and super exciting occasions when we'd eat Klondike bars. We didn't always love going over there and we didn't always love all the work we did but looking back, helping her out taught me a lot of important lessons. I remember when I was in high school and I was in charge of the front "yard" (which was mostly rocks with weeds) and I was the one to plant all the impatiens underneath her front windows. I learned about planning a garden and executing it--at least when no worms were out.

Sister Morrish was English through and through and in her "sitting room", she had all kinds of English memorabilia like plates of the Queen, special tea cups of Princess Diana, flags, pictures of land marks, etc. She loved Princess Di. Fun side note, they got married pretty much on my birthday (with the time change). I remember Sis. Morrish telling me how cool that was and how I'd remember that fact forever. Walking into that room was like you were in England (I assume). Anyway, with all this happening with Kate and William, I've been thinking a lot about Sister Morrish because she would totally be into all this story and she would probably have ordered a commemorative plate like this to put in the room.

In honor of the big wedding day, I decided we needed to do something royal and something memorable so we had our own royal activity. The first thing I did was get Chloe out of school early. I got her just as the other kids were going down for a nap. I had no reason to check her out. No appointments or "excuse" but I just decided that she needed some time with me, just me. So she came home and I asked her if she wanted to go out and have a date (since Greg finished school early) or if she wanted to help me make a cake and do some yard work. She chose he latter. She was just excited to have some pure, dedicated time with me. I loved it and yet it made me feel horrible for how often she is ignored because she is older. Anyway, after the little kids woke up, we got ready for dinner. Then we had a Royal Tea Party Dinner. We all dressed up and then during dinner [which was just little finger foods and tea (country time lemonade)], we used all the royal terms like, "sire, sir, madam, miss, my lady, etc." The girls LOVED, LOVED, LOVED IT! In fact, Tati wanted to do it all again the next day. The King and Queen especially enjoyed threatening with the dungeon and other horrible things for royal princesses who didn't finish dinner and other things into bed time. It was great. It was fun. It was memorable.

Here is Princess #1. She's like Harry. Since she isn't the first born, she is a lot more wild and crazy.


And here is Princess #2.

And of course our little Prince. (Poor guy, apparently I am always doing the crotch hold with this one. He's just so squirrely.)

And here's our whole royal family.

The princesses had a sleepover afterward and were begging us to let the prince sleep with them too. They sure are a cute little kingdom!

Being 7 Rocks!

Isn't she such a cutie? Happy Birthday Chloe!

Well, our big girl turned 7 and she had a rockin' Geology party this year (that was HER idea)! Dr. Daddy (the PhD) was more than happy to oblige. First thing, Greg had them draw what the "interior" of the earth looked like. Chloe's was the ocean.

Then Greg had them make fossils. We had a bunch of old yogurt containers that he cut up. Yes, we eat a ton of plain yogurt! But I digress. (We used good ole Plaster of Paris which we already had on hand from the stained glass projects.) They could choose what dinosaur or dragon (since we ran out of dinos) they wanted to leave an imprint and they also put a seashell in there.


Then they marched into the backyard which was now transformed into a "rock garden". The kids took turns hitting rocks--wearing safely goggles of course. And here's the big thrill: they could take home ANY or ALL of all the rocks they smashed to smithereens. Instead of normal goodie bags, Greg provided them with actual field sample bags. They even already had a little tag where we could write their names on them.




Then the big thrill was making the volcano! (We used our good friend Plaster of Paris again.) My favorite part was putting the dinos in the lava. Have I mentioned how much kids LOVE lava?

And then the cake. Last time I spent all this time making these elaborate cupcakes and even though they were cute, I felt like the effort was consumed too fast so I wanted to do a super easy/fast cake this year. That's when I talked her into having donuts instead. So this is her "cake". I just covered our paper towel holder with foil and voila! (that's for you Sondi)
And to make things even better and more memorable, Greg sent them home with little jewelry bags full of mini diamonds. This party is going down in history.

3 Mo. Old

And we're loving him from his HEAD

all the way to those baby TOES!

I'm a traveling man!

Well Gavin got his passport. He is now officially legit to cross the border. We'll be heading down south in July. It only took 2 tries to get his shot. Just for fun, here are the rules for photos.

1. Include a full face, front view and open eyes
2. Make sure photo presents full head from top of hair to shoulders
3. Take the photo in a plain white or off-white background
4. Avoid shadows on the face or background
5. Face in photo should have a natural expression (closed mouth)
6. Photos should not include sunglasses or hats
7. The contrast and lighting in the photo should be normal

So this was the first shot that Greg took. Total rule breaker.

And this was shot #2. And who said getting children to cooperate was so hard?

Look Who is Talking!

We finally got some footage of Gavin talking. I had forgotten how stinking cute this phase is when their breathing gets all excited and they are trying so hard but the vocal chords don't quite know what to do and then occasionally, they figure it all out and the sweetest little sounds come out.



And since Tati can't read yet, I'll just say that Gavin LOVES Chloe. He gets excited to hear her voice and starts kicking and Chloe is really good at calming him down. But not to be undone, Tati does enjoy reading books to him. I mean all boys like Wonder Woman, right?