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.

Wearin' the Green!

We had a long day of celebrating today. We started with some Lucky Charms and green eggs and ham for breakfast. Please note that it's still dark out. I'm having a little trouble adjusting to the time change.
It may be hard to tell, but those eggs are green. The ham is mixed in.
Then they obliged me with posing for a few cute photos.

After work we took our chances and headed to Hackney's. We couldn't find a spot in the lot, so we parked at Staples, a few stores over and hoofed it.
We were told the wait would be 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The kids played in the bushes a bit. I had a couple of books with me that we read and overall they were very patient!
Clara did have a need for some water. At first she was dubious about the big green cup, but she warmed to it.
Here's a little taste of the wait outside. It was even more insane inside.
I guess they called our name after about 45 minutes, but we didn't realize it until Pete went up to inquire about half an hour after that. We got a great seat and enjoyed the wandering musical entertainment.
Well, Clara didn't necessarily enjoy the music. She got very startled when the snare drummer started and then she sobbed into my shirt for the entire first piece of music. For the second one she stopped crying and actually watched, with her ears covered all the while.
(These pictures all taken with Pete's phone, btw.)
Our food came pretty quickly. Here's my corned beef:
And here's Henry with his Green River. Clara tried a bit too. After the first sip (her first taste of soda pop ever) she looked up and said "Wow!" Then after a second sip she made a face and declared it "spicy!" Henry, however, drank his right down.
By the time we got home it was past time for pajamas, brushing teeth and stories. Fortunately the kids went to bed pretty easily. And I'm enjoying my first night in a while without report cards looming over my head.

Marching along...

Wishing some happy Pisces birthdays to a few loved ones...Sharon, Rob, Darcie, Mom, Peter (Bampa) Sr...
Here are some pictures I just dumped off my camera. Henry and I were painting "Krazees" one rainy day a few weeks back. His Krazees were particularly crazy.
In the meantime, Clara and Pete had some crazy times of their own.
Last weekend we finally got back to ICIA for the first time since Christmas. Dad and Kathie took us out for dinner to celebrate Rob's birthday.
Who has the biggest cheeks here?
I love this picture. Unfiltered love.
We spent some time playing in Eleanor's basement. We have much envy for her basement. Henry made an electric guitar out of giant TinkerToys.
We only got one morning at the Java House. While there I spied these typical Iowa City natives in their typical habitat. Who knows what these odd individuals were up to.
Or these odd individuals, for that matter.
Java House has some new art. I would pay some big money for that picture on the left...if only I had big money.
The girls had some good play time out at Grandpa's house too. Clara, however, did not want to look at the camera. Eleanor had lots of things to say. "Birds! Look at!! Birds!" and "Qwarn!! Sheep eats it!! Qwarn!!!"
Yesterday Pete stayed home with the kids, as his parents are on vacation. They had a very nice time together, but no photos. Today I snapped a couple pictures before we all went our merry ways. Here are Henry and Clara in their Leprechaun Day finest.
Kiss him. He's cute.