Here comes Peter Cottontail

Happy Easter! I had an early meeting at church today, so Rob got the kids ready for church all by himself. Doesn't Camille look cute?




Unfortunately, by the time I got home from church to take pictures, Caleb had taken off his church clothes and replaced them with his Incredible Hulk t-shirt.

Anyway, the Easter Bunny came this afternoon and left baskets filled with bubble wands, jump ropes, magic washcloths, coloring books and crayons, stickers, fruit rollups and fruit snacks. The kids were very excited! The Easter Bunny left some eggs too - filled with peeps, goldfish, Reese's cups, and coins. (The kids were thrilled to get money to put in their piggy banks - actually, Caleb has a penny jar and Camille has a money bunny.) Once I figure out how to post videos, I'll post our video of the easter egg hunt. Here are a couple of action shots to tide you over.

The Princess and the Blue Ninja (Part Two)

Because the Easter Bunny bought some things that just would not fit into the Easter baskets, and because we thought it was better not to give the kids dress up clothes before church on Sunday, the kids got to get a couple of Easter presents early this year. Now they are appropriately dressed for their roles as the Princess and the Blue Ninja.

Here is the Princess with her new finery:



And here is the Blue Ninja, ready for action:



We can just see Caleb living in this costume, so we set some ground rules: he can only wear it at home, inside. Not school. Not church. I know...we're no fun!

The Princess and the Blue Ninja (Part One)

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess named Camille (or, depending on the day Princess Erika, Princess Annaliese, Maggie, Baby, etc.). She lived in a castle with her parents, King Daddy and Queen Mommy, who loved her very much. The princess loved her home where she has her very own big girl bed (complete with trundle for any family or friends who want to come visit) and fun toys. The best part about home? The resident Ninja (that would be the Blue Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle - Caleb) who - when they are not fighting - serves as her personal protector.

Here the fair princess watches as the Blue Ninja fights for her honor.



Action shots of the Blue Ninja fighting Shredder, the evil threat to the Princess.




The beautiful Princess glories in her trophy - a pretty pink tulip the Blue Ninja picked for her in the front yard.



The Princess has decided to wear dresses whenever possible. Here is one she likes because it has a butterfly on it.



She has also taken to wearing her crown and some jewelry whenever possible. Caleb's preschool teacher thinks it's funny and always makes a comment similar to "Oh look, the Princess is here..." One old lady stopped us on the street the other day to ask Camille where she got her crown.

I'm not quite sure why her sudden adversion to pants and other easy-to-play-in clothes. Perhaps it has something to do with this:



Caleb has become increasingly interested in swords and sticks and anything that can be remotely construed as a weapon. Here he shows his brute strength as he lifts this giant stick over his head.

Pool Pals

We enjoyed fabulous 85 degree weather on Saturday, so we pulled out the old wading pool. It was last year's pool (and was really too small for the kids then) so I'm hoping I can make a good case for getting a bigger one this year.




The kids had a lot of fun, though, splashing in the pool. They ran a "car wash" for all of Caleb's matchbox cars that had found their way into the sand box. They fixed up our little slide so they could slide into the pool. Camille was content filling up buckets with water and dumping water from one bucket to another. Caleb thought it was lots of fun to run and scream "Cannonball!" as he jumped into the pool. It didn't take too many tries before he realized that the pool is really too shallow for that!

There's nothing like ice cream on a hot day...

There is nothing like spring! The sky was blue, the few clouds in the sky were fluffy and white, the grass is starting to turn green, buds are forming on the trees, flowers are blooming. And - the best part - 80 degree temperatures are not unheard of! That was today. I couldn't have imagined a nicer afternoon, particularly because Caleb and Camille decided this would be the day they would play nicely ALL DAY! It was heaven.

The kids were so well-behaved that I took them down to McDonald's for an ice cream cone. We ate them in the back yard and then spent the afternoon playing in the sandbox, running around and playing croquet with some kids in the neighborhood. Camille decided to wear her crown all day and for the most part only answered to "Princess LuLu" (a character from our most recent round of library books), but she was loveable and cooperative. Caleb was a very good listener and was really helpful around the house and playing with his sister. I couldn't have been more pleased. If only the whole summer would be like this!

Is that a whale there on the beach?

So my husband has this knack for taking pictures of me that make me look entirely ginormous. I think it has something to do with the fact that he's taking them from a funny angle, two feet above my head.

Anyway, for those of you wondering just how big my belly is now, these are for you. Please note I have not shrunk two feet, nor is my butt as big as it appears to be. Again, it's the funny angle thing I was taking about above. Enjoy! And please be kind.




The good news is I don't look horribly huge from behind.

The Vacation Report

Since Rob was on spring break this week, we took the opportunity to take the kids on a little vacation. We ended up spending three days in Myrtle Beach, SC - mainly because Rob got suckered into one of these timeshare presentation deals. You know, the ones where they promise you X if you'll sit through the timeshare presentation. Our sales person must really have thought he had a chance of selling us something - he kept us three hours (and, yes, the kids were with us) - even though we told him right from the beginning that we weren't going to buy anything. The good news is that we got $50 in restaurant gift cards and $30 in cash and paid next to nothing for our two nights in a hotel on the beach. We had the most beautiful view of the beach from the balcony in our room.


In our free time, we spent some hours in the hotel pool (the kids LOVED the lazy river, although Caleb preferred running against the current to floating on the raft). Camille likes to tell people that she liked to "swim like Ariel" (from the Little Mermaid).

We also got some time on the beach. Here are some pictures of the kids having fun in the sand.






We enjoyed our time at the beach, but were all happy to return home. I am looking forward to the kids adjusting back to a normal sleep schedule (since we all stayed in the same room, Rob and I ended up going to bed when the kids did, except the kids decided to fool instead of sleep. Camille didn't get to sleep until 10:30 on Monday night and 9:30 on Tuesday. And, no, of course she didn't nap. Hopefully she'll be back to her 7:00 bedtime soon).

This afternoon was sad, though, when Rob had to go back to work. It was nice having Daddy home for a whole week. We'll have to vacation more often!