Week in Review

This is our mix of pictures from the last week.

 

Sprout has become quite the helper in the kitchen. She likes to wear her apron and add ingredients to what ever we are making. She loves the stand mixer and food processor only if she's a participant in operating them.  

She also decided that she needed to clean her room. There were dust bunnies under the bed causing her great distress. She moved the furniture in her room to vacuum. If only she was this enthusiastic about picking up toys.

On a side note, you may notice a small mark above her left eyebrow. This is courtesy of Marcus during a bath tussle. She claims she was the victor, but that's been called into question.

Last fall a neighbor was asking for takers of some cut down trees. After everyone else told him no, he asked Barry who decided this would be a great project.

Forward six months and we finished removing the last of the trees Friday. Here is Dad in the backhoe adding to the dump truck pile. I believe it's been described that he drives like he's "killing snakes".

On the right, by the pick-up, are 3 men and a baby. Luis, Bruce, and Les are entertaining Marcus. Sprout decided to ditch this project and play with paper dolls at Grandma Jeanie's house.

Marcus has been enjoying the play set. He likes to climb the ladder to the fort area and keep a visual on the happenings in the yard. His next favorite activity is sitting at the top of the slide.

Sprout likes to help in the yard/garden. She particularly enjoys watering the plants. This borders on drowning them, but lucky for us they are all hardy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! One week late

We continued our annual tradition of corned beef and cabbage to celebrate St. Patrick's day. My mom made some rocking cabbage with bacon that got rave reviews. I think we've found a new favorite side dish.

 

The only way to kick off a family get together is with happy hour. 

 The guys relaxing after dinner. Barry, Luis, and Franky decided to forgo wearing green. What a festive family.

 Marcus is an enthusiastic eater and enjoyed dinner. Dessert was received with mixed reviews- we had chocolate stout cake and whipped cream to go along with it. Katie declared that the white stuff wasn't whipped cream because it didn't come from a can.

Kid Art

Here is some art our kids brought home from daycare/school. First, The Girl (including Groundhog Day decoration):

Now, The Boy:

Elena is 4. Marcus is approaching 2. Either A) Marcus is a prodigy or B) He had a some help. I have to admit that I am torn on this subject. Do I wish for him to be a great painter (read: starving artist) or hope that the ladies at Discovery World are very helpful?

Elena Turns Four-Updated!

Elena turned four back in February. I've been remiss in posting about her birthday because we took like one picture. Anyway, here she is with the cake we had for the family birthday on her actual birthday.

Here is a picture of my beautiful wife at the family birthday party. I couldn't help but post it.

Here is a picture of Marcus after Elena opened presents. That thing folks say about kids opening presents and then playing with the box instead of the presents? It's all true.

After the family b-day party and a small celebration at school, Elena had a big party at the YMCA. We had a great turnout and the kids really enjoyed playing in the pool. Marcus spent most of his time trying to wake up from a nap, so he didn't swim much. While we packed the camera into the Y, neither one of us actually managed to pick it up and use it!

Since we are lacking birthday photos, I borrowed this one from Mae Taggart's birthday party which took place a week later.

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I have an update to Elena's birthday post. My parents and our cousins Chris and Linda briefly visited Elena's birthday party at the Y. When they arrived, I got E out of the pool to say hi. She politely said "Hi," then started side-stepping back towards the pool. My mom got this picture of her during the exchange.

While everyone was swimming, the lifeguards briefly closed the pool. We took advantage of the break to feed and re-heat the kids. We hit the pool again after snacking. Later I asked a lifeguard why they closed the pool and she told me that they try to encourage kids to use the bathroom. Fast forward to thank you card time. Karen dictated for E. One card read something like this, "Thanks for coming to my birthday party. I'm sorry they turned off the slides and we had to get out of the pool. Thank you for giving me XGIFT."