Another Warm St. Patrick's Day

Today was the warmest of the week. The next few days will see slightly cooler temps again. Do I sound like Tom Skilling? Or Denny Frary? Anyhoo. We had to get outside and enjoy it today. After dropping Henry off at school Clara and I took a wagon trip to the library and back. We also got in some nice playing time after lunch. Here's Clara, just being one with the yard.
After a bit of football Henry decided to draw a gigantic chalk dinosaur.
He then proceeded to show me how he could fit in its mouth. Actually, I noticed that when he began drawing he laid himself down and drew around behind his head to make sure the mouth was the right size. Clever child.
Here are the two leprechauns engaging in their favorite activity. Thank goodness we can finally do this outside.


And here they are in a spontaneous game of hide-and-seek. When it was Henry's turn he crawled in the mud under the neighbor's bushes and I had to help Clara find him. When it was her turn to hide, she hid here:
and I had to encourage Henry to "look" for her.

Last Saturday

We had some celebrating to do last weekend. In the morning we took the kids to a dance performance at Northwestern. They both got pretty into it. Here's Henry on stage with the dancers after the show.

After we got home and had some naps we called Grammie to wish her a very happy birthday. The kids sang a fabulous rendition of the birthday song.
Later we headed to Deerfield to celebrate Bampa's birthday. The kids showed off their new dancing skills.
They're naturals.
And we had no trouble getting them to sing again, even with bellies full of a delicious dinner cooked by Grandma Mary.

Clara's family portrait

Somewhere on this blog I have a photo of a drawing Henry did of the family. His was also in fabric marker, on the clothespin bag. If I locate it I'll make a link to it.

Smiles

Yesterday we had a nice visit with Vivian Opal. We gave her the cute pink cap Liz had bought for Clara, which Clara has outgrown. And Clara modeled her new Life is Good cap.
This morning we had some nice play time with Anna and Sebi. Norbert came over too! After watching his big brother and sister head over he pulled his mother outside, and led her across the street. She shrugged her shoulders and let him stay! It was our first solo time with Norbert, so now I'm hoping I can convince Helena and Ed to leave him with us long enough for them to go see a movie...which I'm pretty sure they haven't done since before he was born.
Clara and Anna played in the kitchen, uninterrupted by Henry- who was still at school.
Anna falls easily into the role of 'oldest child present'.

3/5-3/8

Cake!
High five!
Fox!
Nature Center!
Eagle nest!
Mardi Gras!

Rob's Birthday

A good way to start the day....
Pancakes and cartoons!
And a good way to end the day...
Dave's!!!
And yummy wine. Ours was the bottle in the middle.

Good Friends

Last weekend we took another trip to Iowa City. Ellen was in town with her new little bundle, Graham. Check him out.
Amber and I had to crack up at one point when Ellen just set him down to go use the bathroom. There he is. Just chillin.
It was the first time for all of the kids to get together. Aren't they cute in their jammies? In case you don't know (not sure who's really reading my blog anymore....probably just Amber and my Dad...) Ellen, Amber and I have been friends since circa 1981. The 3 girls were all born in 2007/2008. So it felt like a pretty special thing to see them all play together.
Some of the interactions were a little forced at this point...
But we're pretty sure they'll find something in common over the years. If not best friends, they will at least always have a special connection.
Just like their mamas!!