And smiles.
And crawling around like kids.
And copy-catting your brother.
I heart baby bellies.
And my mom.
And joyful pointing to big ugly fish.
And big ugly fish.
I heart fountains.
And family.
And getting down for a closer look.
And testing the water.
And big trucks.
And purpley-blue.
And orangey-yellow.
I heart serious walks.
And studious drawing.
And tentative waving because you were told to.
And pointing.
And flowers.
And bonsai.
And running.
And mermaids.
And my kids.
And you too.
They took us to this funky little joint on the Licking river. It has apparently been there for ages. The floor is so warped that when you get up to walk to the bathroom you feel drunk because it's hard to walk straight.
The food was all Cajun and quite delicious. We even had some frog legs. Well, Pete and Van had frog legs...I had just the one.
The next morning Liz had choir practice and Van was sleeping in a bit after a week away on business. So Pete and I found the Hyde Park neighborhood and wandered around.
Here's a picture of the cute street. We checked out several stores and spent some money in a nice bookstore. (Though they had hosted a Sarah Palin book signing and Mitt Romney was their upcoming guest. Boo.)
Then we had some late breakfast/lunch at the Echo cafe. Pete ordered (and enjoyed) the Hot Mess.
Later that day we went to a Reds game. We sat in the $7 bleacher seats. It was so nice to go to a game and not have to fuss with parking and crowds and crazy ticket prices.
The Reds didn't do so hot, but we had a good time.
We even got free little turf grower door prizes. We brought ours home for the kids and they are now growing real baseball field grass on the windowsill.
We had some pizza Saturday night in the Mount Adams neighborhood and then went to Graeter's ice cream, where Pete and I picked up a cooler of ice cream to take home. We chose 6 different flavors and we're still enjoying them. Best souvenir ever. We were very excited to get back to see the kids and share all of the fun treats with them. They did very well with Mom, but I think they were pretty happy to see us return....and not just because of the ice cream.
On a completely different note, we had our district "celebration" dinner tonight. We used to call it an appreciation dinner, but due to budget stuff we now have to pay a bit for our dinners, so they can't really call it that anymore. In any case, it's always a nice time. Here's my friend Lainie who lives down the street. We carpooled and enjoyed the Sycamore Lane wine.
And here's me with Colleen, Laurie and Kerri. We all received our 10 year pins! Hard to believe I've been in the district that long.
This is a most common sight in our yard these days. Some flowers are up, the redbud is budding and the squirrels still think they must fatten themselves at the feeder.
Last Sunday Henry took it upon himself to disassemble the paper and take a section off to read.
This is the non-canned (BPA free) variety of chopped tomatoes I found, for a bit more money at Whole Foods a while back. I will be employing their service with some chicken tonight. I still have not found jarred tomatoes anywhere...except for in sauce and paste form. Even this brand didn't have whole tomatoes, or at least WF wasn't stocking them. Anyone else have luck in the BPA-free tomato arena? Maybe I'll have better luck with my garden tomatoes this year. The challenge is finding a spot with enough sun...and last year was just so cold for most of the summer.
Here are the makings for the morning concoction which keeps me away from Starbucks. I hated buying the plastic gallon of milk yesterday, but we're using more milk at home these days. I suppose I could still just get two half-gallons in paper or glass. How do you combat this issue at your house? Also if you see any more Smurf glasses like this at your local 2nd-hand shop I would take one or two...my birthday happens to be coming up.
Last night was the start of my new knitting class. I was so excited! It was very pleasant to be able to walk to and from the class. Turns out the other women (about 7 or so, plus 2 teachers) have been in the class together for a while, so they were all very chatty with each other and very welcoming of me. There is one other woman about my age with a 2-year-old daughter, so that's nice. We all sat around and worked on whatever we worked on while the teachers floated about and helped us with whatever we needed. I spent the first hour working on a baby blanket and getting my bearings. One of the teachers is Adrienne, whose youngest son was in my first kindergarten class ten years ago. She made me knit a gauge swatch for my new project since it's a fitted garment (a dress for Clara). After I did that I just had time to cast on. Here's the yarn:
And here are the obligatory pictures of the kids. Clara was playing a little bit of shopping cart this morning.
And Henry was trying to stay in his pajamas as long as he could. He was playing his mini pinball game here, but you can't see the game.
The weather should be really nice today. We're trying to decide what to do with it. We'll probably go to a park, but we haven't decided yet which one. I suspect there my also be a walk to the ice cream store in our future. If I get the call I'm expecting from The Book Bin we'll have to practically walk past the ice cream on the way to the store...what could be better than ice cream and a new book on a lovely day?
And a little bit of egg treat spilling.
Here are the eggs we decorated and hid last night. The Easter Bunny found them and left treats in their spots.
Henry wrote himself a note last night so he would remember where he had hidden the eggs. It reads "purple drawer, kitchen, floor, window, hall, c.d."
After egg and basket finding we got dressed up for church and brunch. Clara's dress may or may not have been chosen based solely upon the desire for these matching turtle barrettes.
My kids do clean up pretty well.
All of our eggs were inside, but the kids brought their baskets out for pictures.
Grammie came to spend the weekend with us.
And Henry has a new shoulder-shrug he likes to do for pictures. Heaven forbid we get a nice family photo!
After church in Deerfield we went to Grandma and Bampa's for brunch. There were more treats to be discovered there.
And mimosas!!
And another egg hunt.
And more photo opportunities.
Happy Easter and Spring Solstice and whatever-you-please to you!