Sheep Shearing with Grandma & Grandpa

Scroll to the older posts b/c this is the 3rd of a threesy tonight.  And I am about to sink into tv, so commentary might be scarce. 

We love ourselves some face painting!

Except seeing it in this light, Elliot looks a little like The Joker.

And in the background above is the star of the show, a craggy old farmer (is he from central casting?) shearing a sheep by hand!

And we closed the weekend at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum.  Which had some breathtaking views, of which we have no pictures.  We just congregated in the lobby of the White House for a photo-op. 

Bangs! Broccoli and Marathon

Look at Samantha's fancy new bangs!  After a winter of hair being stuck to her face and eyes and coated with food and snot, and chasing her around to comb her mop only to have her yank her ponytails out so hard I thought the hair would go with it, we finally wised up to the answer:  BANGS!  We cut them at home (better than Snip-its and I'm no pro).  We should have done this long ago for her.  And, she looks adorable.  And, and Elliot says, just like cousin Emilee. 

Somehow I got the magic formula right tonight because both girls ate heads of broccoli as big as their heads - this is actually the second bunch for each of them.  2 nights later, they would not touch a scrap of broccoli - go figure.  And, obviously, Elliot was wearing a ball gown she did not want to get spaghetti on, so chose to eat dinner shirtless. 

So for Marathon Monday - I somehow accidentally walked 7 miles with the girls pushing our blasted double stroller.  We watched a good 90 minutes of marathoners finishing the race and somehow the only pictures I have are of Ana's Taqueria on MIT's campus where Samantha slept in the stroller and then woke up to eat a burrito as big as her head.  I sense a theme here, of head-sized food.  And I blame LaBamba at UofI (where they sell burritos as "big as your head")

Easter Eggs

This one is for you Kate...and for me to remember for next year.  I saw some DIY webcast about an old school way to dye Easter eggs.  This is our result.  You need to use old silk scarves or ties.  They must be 100% silk.  We went to Goodwill and bought men's ties and cut them up.  Wrap eggs in silk.  Wrap white cloth over the silk (we cut up old t-shirts).  Secure with twist ties.  Put eggs in non-reactive pan (we used our tiny Le Creuset dutch oven, mostly b/c it looked like the one in the webcast and I don't know what is "non-reactive").  Fill with enough water to cover eggs.  Add 3 tablespoons vinegar.  Once the water boils, leave them in for 15 minutes.  Take them out and unwrap.  Voila!  You can reuse the silk 2-3 times.  You can rub veg oil on them to make them shiny...we did this, but not so smart for hiding the eggs around the house.  I thought this was a brilliantly easy way to color eggs, you boil them and dye them at the same time.  And, we learned that Papa and Ben have a lot of old patterned silk ties to donate to our cause next year. 

Easter Bunnies

Samantha at the end of the day, treating herself to a mini scone with English clotted cream, strawberry preserves and a fresh strawberry on top, just like Ami likes to eat them.

Easter cherubs on their way into Grace Church.

Breakfast with ... the cousins!

Samantha and Alden entertaining themselves in the pew during the service.  They were great, but Wendy and I got yelled at for talking, complete with evil eye from the man in front of us who apparently did not share our excitement over deviled eggs.

Recreated easter egg hunt with Zoe.  Over and over and over again.

The closing Easter parade.  Led by the not-pictured ring-leader, Zoe.  They put on quite a show for us.  Talent show, watch out!

April Fools 2010 - Fried Chicken Style

It's April Fool's Day and time to trick the toddlers again.  This time with fried chicken dinner.  I told Elliot we were going to have dinner in funny plates tonight (we all ate out of pans).  I sat one cupcake tin down in front of Sam & one for Elliot.  One sweet.  One savory.  Thanks to Hello Cupcake for the recipes for the faux food cupcakes.  We missed having the cousins over to enjoy the feast.  But we had lots of fun April Fools phone calling  the grandparents with Elliot telling them "There's a baby in mommy's tummy!!  April Fools!"

Oh yeah, that is my favorite jell-o in the "lemonade".  Same as last year's, and will likely be an every year staple.  If you bug Ben enough he will post the video of Sammy "drinking" it.  I can't figure out videos here anymore - too sick tonight to try harder.  So, bug Ben ;-)

Those hips don't lie.  This girl's got skillzzz.