Happy Easter

We had a great Easter weekend.  Grandma Lala and Papa Rod came to town to celebrate with us and we had fun dyeing and hunting eggs, getting dressed up for church and eating way too much candy!

 Just the usual Easter morning schedule...

the baskets are opened looooong before dawn!

 The bunny hop

 Audrey's one bunny ear was sagging within the first hour of her wearing them.

Happy Easter!

St. Patty's Day Parade

I seriously feel like we celebrated St. Patrick's Day for a month around here!  Between the leprechaun trap construction, the requests to wear green Thursday and Friday to school, a parade in SF on Saturday and the actual holiday on Sunday...mercy, we were seeing GREEN!  Corey took Natalie to the parade in SF on Saturday while Audrey and I played at home.  They had a great time and Natalie came home decked out in green jewelry, stickers and swag.   By Sunday, the poor girl was out of green to wear.  We were at the grocery store and the cashier mentioned that she wasn't wearing any green.  The poor pink and purple kid was crushed.  She'd been the most spirited leprechaun hunter all week but a girl has a limit to the amount of green clothing items she can fit in her closet!

 Until I saw this parade participant I wasn't sad we didn't bring Audrey.  Newly potty trained and not a fan of loud noise or crowds, we figured it was a wise choice for her to sit this one out. 

But....she LOVES "Bark the twain".  When we spot BART in town or hear it go past our neighborhood, she gets so excited.  "BARK the twain, Mommy!!"  "Yook at BARK the twain!!"

Fairy Houses and Leprechaun Traps!

Life is a bit fanciful and fantasy filled these days at our house.  After Natalie's fairy birthday party, she installed her fairy house in our backyard determined to catch a fairy.  She even installed window treatments and a covered porch...she's soooo the daughter of designers! No fairy yet, but she's a patient one.  She'll wait.

And then this week her homework assignment in school is to make a leprechaun trap. She and Corey worked all Sunday afternoon making a proper leprechaun trap.  And what, you ask, is a proper leprechaun trap?  Well, there are lots of sparkly things to attract the leprechaun, plenty of signs any leprechaun worth his gold is surely to ignore, and, lastly, a trap that even the smartest little leprechaun can't escape. 

Natalie's involves a ladder (with a sign that says, naturally, "Ladder NOT for leprechauns"), a path on a rainbow and four leaf clover filled meadow leading through a tunnel lined with sparkly treasures (again, with a sign that reads, "DO NOT ENTER secret tunnel") and, lastly, a hole covered with leaves that leads to a deep, plastic jar for her unlucky leprechaun to tumble into.  How is she sure the leprechaun will walk over the hole disguised in leaves?  Well, she's put the best jewel just beyond it...one he's sure not to pass up!

Such a fun project.  And watching Corey and Natalie's imaginations at work was awesome!

Along for the ride...

For her birthday, Natalie received a bike seat for her American Girl doll, Julie.  The two of them ride through the neighborhood, blonde locks blowing in the breeze!  It's quite a sight!  And totally adorable.