Dear Easter Bunny

With Easter coming up this weekend the girls have been busy getting ready. I, personally, did not know we had to get ready, but apparently we do. There are pictures to be hung (specifically for the Easter Bunny said Alexa).

Chloe felt she needed to make him some things to take with him. This year she decided on a couple of kites.

And then there are letters to write.

She wrote, "Dear Easter Bunny we want a duckling love Chloe Gagnon" (Um. Dear Easter Bunny we do NOT want a duckling love, Mommy.)

According to Alexa she wrote, "Dear Easter Bunny I hope you don't get a sick tummy." Hey we write about what we know people.

I hope you have all made suitable preparations at your houses.

Art By Alexa

Alexa tends to get a little discouraged being the younger sister. She seems to feel frustrated when her art work doesn't come out looking like her sister's. That said, I love the way she has taken to drawing people. They are just so cute. I mean look at this...

She drew me (top left), her (top right), her sister (bottom right), and Cabbie's food dish (bottom left- I mean hey dogs are hard and really his dish is one big extension of him). Is that not the cutest thing?

Today at her home daycare she made these Easter puppets and proceeded to give me a puppet show while I cooked dinner.

All this talent and a cute little face peeking up at you. Who could ask for more?

Easter Eggs

We were dying Easter Eggs today. I covered the counter in newspaper and the kids in smocks and let them at it.

As you can see they had a good time.

The results....

Anyone want a boiled egg? We have a few to spare.

Things I Learned...

Or maybe I should say things I was reminded of over the last 24 hours. I got Alexa a Tinkerbell CD player for her birthday.

Isn't it cute? I thought she would love it, and she did. That was until two nights ago when it quit working. You would put the CD in and all it would register was Er. Which I am pretty sure meant error, and not emergency room. She was in tears because she has gotten into the habit of playing her music each night while she goes to sleep. Well, I promised to, "Take a look at in this weekend."

Why do I say these things? I first looked at the paperwork that came with the player. It said all I need to do was take it back with the reciept. Um, wouldn't it have been nice if I kept that? I could also have a "certified technical expert" look at it. Not really sure where you find one, but I am pretty sure that was going to cost more than just replacing the thing. So I thought to myself, "I'll just take a look and see if I see anything obvious." I really don't know what I thought I was going to be able to do. I mean it involved this...

Which as many have noted is very shiny (from lack of use). But I attempted to unscrew things and came to this...

Well, this doesn't look good does it? I poked at a few things and wiggled stuff and then put it all back together. So now I proudly present....

The new one I bought her today. Please. We all knew where that was going didn't we?

The other thing I was reminded of? I was reminded that my body can have a huge physical reaction to emotional issues. Without getting too personal, after a week of apprehension and nausea leading me to make a phone call that gave me great mental relief. I learned this... there are some wonderful amazing people out there in the world, but I am not ready. I know that sounds vague and that is intentional because the details are really only helpful to me and not meant for posting on the Internet. It was a wonderful and liberating reminder that no matter what other people want for me it is only how I really feel about it that matters. May you all find the solace of always listening to your own heart.

Things to Remember

Next time I am thinking, "Wow, the kids are playing so nicely together and I have gotten dinner all cooked." It could very well be because a bedroom looks like this...

Also spring is here and the snow is all gone from the yard. Please check to make sure the dog is not smuggling in sticks to chew up.

I have been picking up stick bits from the floor constantly.

Uniforms R' Us

Chloe wanted to join Girl Scouts this year. She is an official Daisy now. Her troop leaders decided that the kids should each design their own uniform t-shirt. Chloe got hers today.

This is her own design. It shows her, a cat, and a dog on level one. A bird in the sky on level two. The moon and a planet on level three, and a lot of questions marks along the top. Not sure what they are all about but she sure is excited to wear it next week.

Doesn't she look all official?

I wish we had done this when I was a Girl Scout. Why did we have to suffer through such hideous shades of green?

The Things We Pass On

Never let it be said that I am not a worrier. I mean really. I know I appear all calm, cool, and collected (stop snickering) but I am not. I obsess and worry pretty much constantly. I would like to say I have gotten better as I have gotten older, but the truth is I think it has gotten worse. I do much better when I can talk about what I am worried about, but that doesn't happen too much as I am plagued with guilt over burdening others with things that are on my mind. So for the overwhelming majority of time I am trapped in my own head with a chain of events relaying themselves up to some kind of horrid illness or death. It takes a physical toll on a person I can tell you, and it is one of the many reasons that I run the distances that I do. It also might factor into why relationships never really seem to work out for me, but lets not dwell on that shall we? Where were we... ah yes, worrying and stress. So I worry and stress about things that usually end up being no big deal when all is said and done.

It would have been my greatest hope not to pass that trait onto my children. It appears that I perhaps might have. Alexa had her four year old check up today. She has been worried about this for days (trust me if I knew this was going to be an issue I never would have mentioned it). She has been complaining non-stop that she didn't want to go because she might have to get a shot. No amount of reasoning or bribing was going to change this either. I offer for her to pick a special desert for me to make if she had to get a shot... you name it brownies, cookies. She wouldn't have any of it. We arrived at the appointment and we got right in to see the nurse for the height, weight, blood pressure, ear check , etc. I thought we were settling in just fine. I was, however, mistaken we had to wait about 45 minutes in a very stuffy exam room for her doctor. She was crawling in my lap begging, "Mommy please save me. " It was pitiful. When her Doctor finally arrived she seemed to relax for the exam, but then we discussed her need for a mumps booster. Oh boy. Dr. Wing also wanted to do a throat culture since she was ill this weekend and her throat appeared sore. It was soon after this that Alexa threw up all over the exam room. I would say that she wasn't over her stomach bug from this weekend except that after coming home and resting for a bit, she was fine. I mean fine. Eating, playing, running. I think she stressed herself out to the point of being sick to her stomach. Poor thing. The upside is she is much better now and even built herself one heck of a train out of boxes.

She also managed to weasel her way out of the shot at least for another week or two.

On a happier note here is Chloe today headed out (in the rain) to take a field trip with her Girl Scout troop to visit the fire station.

The Girl Scouts that just brings back memories. See I passed that on too. It isn't all bad!

The Best Laid Plans...

I was all set to write a post today depicting me taking the girls ice skating for the first time. They were invited to a birthday party today and we were all set to go. I charge the batteries in the camera, bought a gift, we were ready. That is until Alexa came down with a stomach virus in the middle of the night. I was up so much it felt like I had a newborn again... not that I think she was having an enjoyable time either. At any rate we were not able to go ice skating (Danny I hope you had a great party). Poor Alexa was so sick she didn't even come out of her room and downstairs until about 4:30. She did get her own entertainment show though. Chloe doing her best to cheer her sister up preformed a puppet show for Alexa, using penguins of course. She also wrote and read her some stories. Using that special flair that only Chloe can do.

Here is one of my favorites. It is called "Cabbie the Wonder Dog".

It says, " Cabbie! the wonder dog runs over to his food dish

to save it from a dust bunny!" Please note the lovely cape that Cabbie is wearing and the amount of kibble in his dish. I tell you she reached right into his dreams for that one.

It even inspired Alexa to prop herself up for a little drawing too.

Here is hoping she is better tomorrow and that Chloe and I don't become the next victims! Now if you will excuse me I must get back to my disinfecting and Purell Hand Sanitizer applied every 15 minutes.

Big Excitement

Our big excitement around here on this first day of spring is...

Alexa's tomato seeds have sprouted and

it is movie night! Note the blanket, bowl of popcorn, and happy smiles. Hope everyone got outside to enjoy some warm air and sunshine.

Art Opening

We attended an art opening tonight. It was not as fancy as it might sound. Chloe's art work was chosen for the second year in a row to be displayed during the month of March in City Hall. All the kids are invited to the opening and given an award by the mayor. She was really excited to be chosen again, although she had no idea what piece of art was in the show. "Wow, I must be a really good artist if they chose me twice!"

It turns out it was her texture dragon. Chloe took this picture to make sure you could all see it.

When we arrived Chloe was spotted outside by her buddy Declan (they have been in school together since preschool). He wasn't in the show but was downtown with his mom and raced in to see Chloe's art piece. He was so excited for her he wanted to be right with her when she got her picture taken. (Notice the height difference...)

His mom finally convinced him to share the spotlight.

This art opening is like most others there is food. This one has apple juice, goldfish, and oreos. it is important to cater the artist's likes.

Here she is getting her award. This isn't the mayor I couldn't get him from where I was sitting. This is the woman from the Burlington Arts Council who sponsors the event giving her the "prize" a container of paint and a brush.

Here are all the kids from her school pictured with the mayor (tall man on the left side). Look closely to spot the blonde kid in a white dress in the back. This was moments before she attempted to climb onto the stage thus turning her back to the camera for the other shots.

It was a lot of fun. The girls and I walked downtown in the 60 degree weather to City Hall. I must say the combination of warm weather, Church Street, and Saint Patrick's Day made for some interesting people watching along the way.

Almost Spring Swing

OK, it is March and nearly 60 degrees. This is some kind of blessing. I got to shove the kids outside today while I made dinner. That meant I didn't have an art project of some kind to be cleaning up off my table/floor/couch (pick one). Obviously this is some kind of sign from the heavens that I have suffered enough this winter and lets just call this a wrap. Technically I only had to shovel like twice, since my kindly neighbor used his snow blower to clear the drive the last time it snowed. This has to be some kind of record for Vermont and I do realize that I have probably hexed myself and now we will have an oddly snowy spring. All of that matters not because look...

I put up the swings and there they are outside! In the fresh air and I didn't have to spend 15 minutes stuffing them into snowsuits only to have someone want back in after 15 minutes because they were cold. I am just giddy with excitement and I don't think that it is just sleep deprivation.

The Birthday That Doesn't End

Alexa wanted to have some friends over to celebrate her birthday. I chose this afternoon since she was spending the weekend with her dad. I spent the morning baking a cake and hanging balloons and streamers (using all my skills from the high school prom decorating committee). I came up with several games for the kids to play. Alexa wanted a cat theme. We started with making cat puppets.

Alexa was so excited waiting for her friends to come over she kept pacing around the room.

I thought we should play pin the tail on the cat, but Lexa wanted to play pin the heart on the cat instead. It turned out pretty cute.

I came up with a ring toss version that I called toss the collar on the cat. I wasn't sure that this one was going to hold up too well. Not being terribly mechanical I didn't know how my foam board, Styrofoam, and wooden dowel would hold up, but it made it.

We played toss the fish to the cat. I made some felt fish and stuffed them with dried rice. At four years old they were so eager to help each other when it missed they would run up and toss it in so we could all clap for the thrower.

It always reminds me how small my house is when I pack in all these kids and adults. They were a very festive crew munching on cake, ice cream, and other munchies.

She had a wonderful time. I am happy to say that I don't need to organize another birthday party one for nine more months!

Birthday Girl

I woke Alexa up this morning singing, "Happy Birthday." This would be considered cruelty to anyone else, but she likes my singing so it is OK. She sat up in bed and wiggled her feet around in her footy PJ's. "Mommy, I think I am still three."

"Why?"

"Look." She pointed at her feet.

"What am I suppose to be looking at?"

Insert a long sigh..."I look the same." I had to tell her that turning four will mean some more gradual changes. It was so sweet that she really believed that she would wake up and look totally different once she was four. She wasn't really buying my explanation at first, but then she noticed the presents in the hall and decided it must be her birthday after all.

She is spending the night at her dad's tonight, so we had a birthday morning. She thought opening presents was a pretty fun way to start your day.

Thank you Auntie Kim and Uncle Louis. She loved the book, and I am going to have to do a whole different post with that adorable outfit.

When we got home tonight there was a package sticking out on the mailbox. She was so excited that the presents just keep coming! So Aunt Andrea and Uncle Ryan, yours arrived in perfect fashion and she thanks you too!

Early Birthday Present

Alexa has woken up every morning this week and asked me, "Is it my birthday yet?" To which I always have to tell her no, not yet. So today when we got home and a big pink envelope was sticking out of the mail box she was pretty excited. She begged me to open it. I relented. I mean what difference does it make really? In fact opening one at a time probably makes her really notice what it is before moving on the the next one. Besides it was from Grammie Eva and she already told me she could open it early. So I let her dig in.

Thank you Grammie Eva! She was pretty excited about the necklace...

and the dress.

She wanted to try them on right away over the sweatpants and everything.

Then she added the crown.

One happy nearly four year old kid.

No Nagging Required

Chloe came home from school today with a new library book. This in and of itself is not a big deal, she does this every week. The unique part was that she chose the book because she wanted to know more about penguins. See her class has been studying penguins and Chloe loves penguins. She was so interested in them that she wanted to know why penguins and seals are enemies. So she checked out a book on seals and sat down herself to read about them. This people is huge. If you were a teacher right now you would get my excitement. Reading non fiction text in order to find information... well now we in education get all excited about that skill. And doing it of your own free will... now see it just doesn't get any better than that. So I, of course, snuck up on her and took the picture.

In case you were wondering she did answer the question herself. She figured out that seals eat penguins and also have really sharp teeth. Enough to make anyone enemies.

On a different note my tomato kid has been dutifully looking after her plants. Each day she fills up her watering can and waters the seeds without being asked. I will keep you posted on our gardening excitement. As you can see from the picture there isn't much snow around outside so we dream of warm days and planting outside.

The safety cone out on the street, I can't explain only to say it seems to be working its way down the block. In this neighborhood we don't ask a lot of questions about random things that show up in front of your house. Last year the women down the street had a couch left in front of their house. Not one you would want mind you and it took over a month for them to get the city to get rid of it. So safety cones... that wont last long.