Easter Par-tay

Today in preschool was the big Easter party... one of the beautiful things about going to a Christian preschool is the ability to celebrate Easter for what it really is! Lilly has learned lots this week and asked many questions about the cross, the stone in front of the tomb, etc. Here are a few photos from today...

Lilly and her buddy Grace

Lilly was super excited to find candy inside the eggs.

Happy Easter preparation everyone!

Goin' Eggin'

This morning the hunt was on... for Easter eggs, that is. We took part in a massive 40,000 egg hunt sponsored by our church. Hannah, who just had brain surgery 4 days ago, came with us- amazing!

The girls loved it, of course! Claire threw the eggs in her bag and then yelled "mas, mas" for "more, more." 

Lilly wore her KSU dress in preparation for the big basketball game today... Go Cats!

 Here's the BFF pair. Lilly filled her bag first and then proceeded to help Hannah fill hers. Hannah didn't like that very much, and instead insisted, "Don't help me, Lilly." Lilly was in "help Hannah" mode since Hannah just got out of the hospital, and Hannah was in "little miss independent" mode since she just got out of the hospital. It was too funny. After the hunt, Hannah and her family took Lilly to breakfast. It's about 5 hours later as I sit here writing this post, and the two are still across the street playing. What fun to have a best friend!

Happy eggin' everyone!

Kansas- spring break 2010

We'd counted down for weeks, and Lilly was especially excited to ride on the airplane to visit everyone in Kansas for spring break. At the airport, I was given many looks of sympathy from other moms as I sat there at 6am with 1 double stroller, 4 carry-on bags and 2 children who were not yet fully awake nor behaving appropriately. When asked where we were going. Lilly promptly replied, "to see Grammy and Nana." When the flight landed, one of the ladies told Lilly, "Have fun with Grammy and Nana." Lilly turned to me in amazement and said, "Mom, that lady knows Grammy and Nana!" Too cute. As with all trips to Kansas, this one was jam packed with things to do and too short of a week to see everyone.
Here's Lilly, Emma and Kate about to enjoy cupcakes at Sugar Sister's Cafe after Nana treated them to Pinkalicious, the musical, at the Crown Uptown Theater. Delish!

 Baby Caroline Jean joined the family in February, and we were delighted to meet her... congrats to aunt Amy! Claire was especially fascinated with "baby." She asked to hold her a lot, but each cuddle was short- a few seconds before Claire tried to push Caroline on the floor. I remember Lilly doing the same thing at that age when Claire was born.

Here's Lilly and her new cousin

When we arrived at Nana's house, her yard was decorated with giant Easter eggs. The girls rearranged them every day- quite the entertainment for them. Here's a peek of Claire with one of the "baby" eggs. The large pink one on the background is the "Mommy" egg, the large blue one is, of course, the "Daddy" egg and the large yellow one is the "Grandma" egg- Lilly has it all figured out.

Kate got in on the egg action too.

We were able to spend time with cousins Elena and Isabel also, but I'm embarrassed to say I didn't take any photos. I know. I know. I am ashamed I did not take more photos during our trip. I will post more later.

Miscellaneous fun...

I had some straggler photos on the camera...

It happened to Lilly, and now it's happened to Claire. In an attempt to follow the dogs to the backyard, Claire was stuck in the doggy door. Rob and I were made aware of the entrapment by a muffled and confused cry for help. I would have thought once would have been enough for her to learn her lesson, but this morning she did it again... twice! It's a good thing we don't have a pool!

It's a bird... it's a plane... no, it's just the Z girls taking flight with Dad; what a great arm workout. :) Rob is the ultimate dad... always willing to play with our girls. They climb all over him and love it when they play airplane.

This morning in Lilly's preschool class, they had a camping adventure - made complete with a classroom campfire. One of the other moms in the class e-mailed me this photo. Lilly is in the purple and white polka-dot dress (yes, it twirls).

 Question: What's cuter than two kids in footed pajamas?
Answer: Four kids in footed pajamas! 

Our buddies Brennan and Jaden spent time with us this week. Here's the fearsome foursome, Claire, Lilly, Jaden and Brennan, last night before bed.

Have a great week!

Twirling Update

It's all about the twirl, remember? Each day's outfit is chosen based on its twirl-factor. Lilly's pink petticoat wins the gold medal for twirling, but her Christmas dress takes a close second. So, as you can imagine, she asks to wear her Christmas dress every morning. At first I always said "No." It's March, why would any mother in their right mind let their child wear their Christmas dress?  But then I lightened up- why not? If she wants to wear her Christmas dress, so be it. And so Lilly is now happy- she's able to wear her Christmas dress to school, to church, to childcare, to nap, to play in the yard and just out and about. To her it's not about the red and green, it's all about the twirl. She seldom wears pants anymore... skirts, dresses and if it's cold out, leggings or tights under the dresses.  If she's wearing her sleeper pajamas or jeans she will spin around and then comment with a frown, "these don't twirl." We took the girls to get a haircut on Sunday and of course Lilly wore her Christmas dress. She let me snap a few photos when we got home...

We will be wearing the Christmas dress as long as our Twirly Girl asks to wear it... or until some new summery twirly skirts are added to the wardrobe. :) Lilly is one happy twirler.

Rain Friends

We've had a wet winter... lots of cloudy days, lots of rainy afternoons and lots of opportunity to use the windshield wipers on the car. The girls find the raindrops intriguing, especially those that land on the car windows as we're driving down the street. Inevitably a rainy car ride evokes the same comment from Lilly, "I like my rain friends." What she means is she likes each and every raindrop- they are her friends. "They make the flowers happy," she will say. If we're walking in the rain she will gleefully proclaim, "My rain friends are tickling me."  This morning on our way to preschool it was sprinkling and in anticipation of the usual rain friends comment, I said, "Look Lilly, your rain friends are back." To which she replied. "You don't need to worry about my rain friends, mom. You can just worry about yourself, OK?" Hmmmmm, I don't know what she meant by that but oh well, it looks like the rain friends will be here all day. :)

The twirl test

Skirts and dresses are the preferred clothing at our house these days. In order to earn the Lilly seal of approval, the skirt must twirl. Each skirt is given the twirl test. Some twirl more than others, hence some are favored. The prize winning twirling skirt is Lilly's pink petticoat (the same one she wore to the library when she was "lost"). 

 Shopping for an Easter dress will be quite the challenge this year- lots of twirling in the dressing rooms, I'm sure. 

Have a great weekend!