Dyeing Easter Eggs

This was the first year the girls could dye Easter eggs pretty much by themselves.  They stirred up their colors, laid out their eggs, and dropped one into each color all on their own.

Check out the concentration and trepidation!

Oh- and the pride!

We were trying for pastel colored eggs, and we got a little brighter than we had intended.

Unloading them into the egg carton was their favorite job.

 

Happy girls with their eggs and their baskets (which, we learned from seeing him at the mall the other day, is the same basket that the REAL EASTER BUNNY uses!).

We blew the insides out of each egg (so we could cook with them later) and then rinsed them under hot water so no egg stayed inside.  THAT turned them pretty pastel!  We took the girls out to the only flowers we have (isn't that pitiful?) to get a picture of their finished project.

And, here's some randomness.  First, a random shot of Elena, who was in her third day straight of wearing the tutu dress her Nana Rose and G-Daddy sent.

We also have some random, funny things the girls have said lately.  Today, in the car, Elena was saying that she was thirsty, so thirsty!  We told her she'd be home soon to get a drink, and she said:

"But I can’t hold my thirsty in!"

Christina replied: "What happens if you don’t?"

And, deadpan as anything, Clara answered: "You die."  

(Context for this story is that their fish at school died - all three of them!  So we have had some talk about death, but in a very matter-of-fact way, and so when Clara said this I think she was talking more about what would ultimately happen if you DIDN'T get any water - and she said it so matter-of-factly!).

Another Clara story - last week she started calling Elena "Sissy" - a term we have never, ever used.  When Christina said: "What did you say?" 

Clara said: "I call her Sissy.  My sissy."  

Christina asked: "Where did that come from?"

And Clara replied: "From my heart!"

Finally, you can tell they come from a very baking-focused household.  The girls were dyeing easter eggs – and they were letting the eggs soak.  Christina asked Clara: "Is the egg all done?"

Clara replied: "It just needs to rise for another minute."

April Fools

April Fools Day isn't a holiday we've ever really embraced - between Steve and Christina they've played only a handful of pranks over the years.  Still, something about parenting children makes every holiday (fake or not) seem more enjoyable, and Christina was compelled to make some kind of surprise/prank for the girls today after she explained what April Fools Day was.

So she took oranges, scooped out all the fruit, and replaced it with orange jello.  When the jello set, she brought it out for dinner and offered the girls (and their friend Sylvie) some oranges to eat.

 

Elena especially found it funny, and was telling our friends: "It's an orange, but it's not an orange - you know what it is?  It's JELLO!"  Clara mainly focused on EATING the oranges - she has only had Jello once or twice, and it seems like she likes it! 

Elena played an early prank on us this Monday.  While a teacher at school had her back turned, she took a blue marker and colored all around here eyes.  It took awhile to get off, and when we picked her up at school, she looked distinctly like a girl from the 80's, ready to go out and party.  You don't really get the effect in this picture, but her eyelids were pretty darn blue!

Pictures - finally!

Sorry that we had some trouble with this post - finally, here are the pictures to go with the fun day we had last Sunday!

Sunday Funday

Today we tried our hands at making homemade puffy paint - our results were a bit less glamorous than what we'd seen as examples, but we had fun, and it does indeed puff up!

In an effort to check whether Elena's recurring abdominal pain was somehow psychologically related to sleep instead of physiologically related, we skipped nap when she began talking about her belly pain and took both girls to the International Festival on campus instead.  Since she didn't have any pain there, at the same time of day she has had pain every day for three weeks, we are beginning to suspect that she's getting nervous-stomach pain at the idea of sleeping.   Perhaps tonight will be  better?

At any rate, the International Festival was a huge success for us.  We stayed three hours, which may be our record at any crowded event ever.  The girls each ate a bowl and a half of these Taiwanese noodles, and we also got to have fried bananas, baklava, swedish meatballs, beef and yams, and empanadas. 

We spent hours at the Children's World, where different campus and community groups set up displays and activities to reflect different cultures.  And we had a blast at the pretend dress-up section!

At one point, Steve was getting counseled by Clara to be quiet while her name was getting written in Russian on a bookmark.  Not quite sure why that required silence!

We ended out the trip watching some of our graduate students do a Bollywood dance - that was a fun one to watch.  Even more fun, though, was watching Clara emulate the belly-dancer who was on stage beforehand - that girl can really move her belly!

Such a fun Sunday with such agreeable little girls (at least, they were very dear and obliging in the last several hours, and that's something to hang on to!).

Daddy turns 39

Yesterday was Steve's birthday, and the girls were so very excited to celebrate with him.  Although they occasionally still hope for presents on someone else's birthday, mostly they now know that they are celebrating a particular person, and when it was going to be their dad they just couldn't stop talking about it.  They told everyone they met that day that it was their dad's birthday.

Christina took the girls to the party store, and they picked out some things for our celebration.  Top on their list was hats, which they made Dad wear as soon as he woke up!

Along with several twirly decorations we hung inside, the girls were convinced that Steve would like a pinata (and he actually had experienced some interest many years ago, before they were even born, so that was pretty intuitive of them!).  They picked this sun, which we definitely needed on a grey day.  Schedule-wise it was tough to figure out when to crack this guy open, and we ended up opting for 9am.

Success!  Confetti fills the air - along with several toys, noisemakers, and odds and ends the girls had asked to put in there.

After work, we all headed down to our favorite local spot, a brewery called the Kettlehouse.  They have a deck in the back that opens up to the railroad and the mountains, and it's a great place to have a drink or two.  Several friends joined us there for one of the first warmish afternoons we've had.

 

Some of the lovely girls of our group of friends - Elena, Annie, Clara, and Sylvie.

Then it was on to dinner.  Christina had made reservations at a restaurant in town, and unfortunately they got the number wrong - we needed 17 seats and had only twelve.  Our disappointment lasted only a few minutes, until the owner came over and escorted us downstairs to the private dining room - which had these great long wood tables with hefty benches, leather couches, a tv, etc.  It could seat up to 40, but the owner made one set of tables a "craft table" for the kids by spreading paper all over it and giving them bunches of crayons.  They had a little dance party in the couch area, and we all were so happy to have a place where we could be loud and run around and not bother anyone - it definitely turned out for the best!

Christina, Clara, and Elena had been busy that morning making Steve his favorite cake - a Guinness Chocolate Stout cake with cream cheese froth at the top - it's made to look like a pint of Guinness.  Clara and Elena had picked out candles, and each put half of them on the cake.  Christina took the lighting job on.

Champagne flowed, cake was eaten, shoes and socks were cast aside by some of our smaller party go-ers, and lots of dancing, playing, and  laughing commenced.  It was a great way to celebrate our favorite guy.  As we were leaving, we caught sight of the super full moon (one day early) and marveled at what a wonderful world it is.

Of course, a few hours later, the universe just wanted to show us life  isn't all roses and moonlight and we got to experience a great deal of vomit (Clara), tantrums and hysteria (Elena) and frayed nerves (Christina and Steve).  But, happily, there are no pictures of that.

Dream a little dream of me

This is the good night song the girls have been getting for a few weeks now - Clara has got about 80% of the three verses down, Elena can just barely get through the first verse.  Here, they chime in on that first verse together in a teeny concert.

Dreaming of Green