Imagination

When it's wet and cold out (typical spring) the kids' creativity is put to the test. They can't go outside but they have a lot of energy. That's not a good combination for me. Usually I just give them suggestions - make a book, build a lego tower, clean the play room - and they reject them with a sneer. So I stopped giving them suggestions and a pattern has developed:

Step One - Kids whine and perhaps cry for up to 15 minutes. A sibling fight could develop.
Step Two - I ignore them or given them the fake sympathy - oh I know, I hate being bored. I totally agree with you. Please cry louder so that it has meaning. Do not be passive with your whining - show me passion! Stay committed to the misery! (Occasionally I will whip out the video camera and start to record. They hate that.)
Step Three - They leave me alone because they are not quite sure how to apply my instructions. (Or they're mad about the video camera).
Step Four - They start plotting together.
Step Five - Items are moved out of bedrooms and out of the playroom into a central and completely inconvenient location.
Step Six - Imaginations are in full swing and while there is a mess that will have to be cleaned up later they are OCCUPIED! And apparently having fun.

Their two most recent creations:
Overnight airplane flight to the North Pole in the upstairs hallway. Notice the fan that acts as a propeller for the plane. Also a nightlight and a dvd to watch for in-flight entertainment. They didn't dare ask me to offer a snack. I would have charged them $7.50 for a box of animal crackers and a yogurt.

Beach party in the foyer. The flagstones in our entry are blue and cold so that makes for the perfect ocean. My clean laundry was drafted to be a surfboard. The sofa pillow was a sea turtle (thanks, Diego).

This was their third time doing the "beach party". The first two times had WAY too much stuff - beach chairs, a cd playing beach music, and pool toys. This one was more sedate. More of a relaxing beach party and not so much an active beach party.

Spring?

I'm hesitant to declare that spring has arrived. Not only do I not want to jinx it but it's not uncommon to have a snow in April. But don't tell my flowers that, they may try to re-bury themselves.

Each morning we stop by the crocus to see how they're doing.

And the daffodils came into full bloom Easter morning. The kids were just as excited about the daffodils as they were about the candy.

Saturday afternoon was in the 70's so that means my kids dress as if it was July in Arizona. Brian created a new swinging game with them that must have been invented out of boredom. He pushes them and then tosses pine cones into their laps. Jamison laughed so hard while Lily had rules for Brian to abide by. "Daddy, back up a little bit when you do that." "Daddy, you made it fall on the ground." and so on.

And then she broke out in song. An original arrangement, at that. I give her credit for her confidence but I dread the day that she meets a Simon Cowell-esque person who tells her the truth.

Love the dirty knees - proof that he had fun!

Jamison was filthy by the end of the afternoon. Not a bit of him was clean. And since that meant that he played hard and spent time outside, I was ok with that.

Predictable Easter Pictures

We had a very quiet Easter weekend. Not only was it peaceful the weather was beautiful - very atypical. Nothing especially interesting happened but I did take a few pictures.

Thursday we arrived home to find a package on our front step. As soon as I saw that it was from Nana and Papa I was going to try to wait until Sunday morning for the kids to open it. Lily recognized her name on the box and I lost the battle at that point. She knew it was full of goodies and once she spread the word to Jamie it was two against one.

Jamie loved the spider man Easter egg.

Ignore the fact that Lily has no pants on. Now that the temperature is over 32* my kids do not wear clothes.

On the phone with Nana.

This is a stuffed plane that sings "Here Comes Peter Cotton-tail" and has a plastic propeller that whirls on the front. Jamison thought it was fun to stick his fingers in the propeller and more than once he got the tip of his nose to close. No blood, though, so that was a positive.

On Saturday morning we went to an Easter egg hunt at the golf course. For the first time in three years it was nice enough to have the hunt outside. It wasn't worth the wait. Most of the eggs were just on the tennis court in plain sight. Good for Jamison, not challenging enough for Lily.

One of his best picture smiles ever.

This is the one and only Easter picture I got of the kids. Yes, I had my camera with me all weekend. Yes, the kids were dressed up twice. And no, I never got an official picture. So the best Easter 2010 picture I got is one where Lily has chocolate smeared all over her mouth and Jamison's teeth are stuck together with a Starburst.

I did get a great shot of Lily and her friend Grace. Does that count for anything?

Jamison is not a dessert guy. Give him chips, crackers, basically any carb that is salty and he's a happy man. The only reason he likes sweets is to use them to make a mess. Case in point: the cupcake. Never took a bite, only licked it and smeared the frosting all over.

My favorite part about Easter morning was Jamison's hair.

Trying to figure out how to open the Peep's just so he can reject them.

Note to self about Easter candy for 2011 - go to Target the week before Easter, not two days before. Probably a better selection since the shelves were completely empty. I guess my Target is trying to keeps it's stock really low. Can't disagree with less overhead.

Jamsion got a new Bible since his old one was destroyed. Awww, you think, destroyed by using it so much. Please. Do you know my son? It was destroyed by him dropping it, throwing it, stepping on it, and basically anything BUT reading it. We bought a Bob the Tomato carrying case to (hopefully) protect this Bible.

Lily is under the impression that Easter=Marshmallows. No idea where she got this from but when I couldn't find Peep's or any form of marshmallow at Target I started stressing. Luckily I found a random box of Peep's forgotten on a lonely shelf in the holiday aisle. It probably had an expiration date of 1997 but can Peep's ever go bad? There are probably more chemicals than actually food in them.

Easter egg hunt around the house. Jamison was happy with one egg while Lily was on a quest to dominate the hunt.

And that was it. If I had taken a picture of them all dressed up and ready for church it would go here. I'll get one in 2011.