May 2: Chubby cheeks & pie hats.

April 29-May 2: Weekend recap, Morning dialogue & more...maybe more...no, probably not more, just the first two things.

What a weekend.  We went full-tilt bridal, starting with the nuptials of Will & Kate (yes, Hen and I did watch, no, we didn't do it ironically...)  Henry is on a princess kick these days, claiming that nearly everyone he knows is a princess, or should be a princess.  Princess Grandpa Mac is probably the most special kind of princess, who delivers the mail AND gets married in a pretty dress.

The bridal theme continued with little sister Mary's bridal shower on Saturday.  A lot of thought and work went into the day and it was absolutely perfect, from the weather to the food to the guest list.  Mary received a lot of VERY nice gifts from her friends and family.  Most of them are being hauled back to Brian's condo in VA, a few are hiding in my basement...hahaha!  There's always an evil bridesmaid in the bunch.  I've elected to be that maid.  Obvious perks--stealing gifts, undermining the bride, giving a sloppy drunken toast WHENEVER the maid deems appropriate (including mid-vow exchange).  Unfortunate drawbacks--crazy eyes in every photograph, unattractive maniacal laugh, shunning from family members.

Crazy train!  All aboard!

Hen and Kitty were fabulous during the busy pace of the bridal weekend.  I was worried Monday morning might have been fugly, but they were up, bright-eyed, cheery, ready to attack the day.  This morning, in our last 30 minutes at home before heading out, Henry initiated a conversation with me about a curious subject, but one close to his heart.  Poop.

Hen: Mommy, everyone poops.  They all do it.
Me: Yes, honey, I've heard that.  Tell me, who poops?
Hen: Dogs and cats and chickens and groundhogs and pee-wee (stuffed toy hamster) and Elmo and people and dinosaurs and Alice!  They are all things that poop!

I am especially amused by the fact that Alice has a category separate from people.  Maybe we need to explore that a bit further.

From later today.  Talking about things that he eats.

"I eat a lot of things.  I eat (listing on fingers) pepperonis and sandwiches and fruits and vegetables and bananas and frosting.  Lots of frosting.  I drink juice and water and chocolate milk and regular milk.  When I am bigger, I will only drink juice and eat frosting.  That is it.  Frosting only."

Can't argue with that.

Photos will follow, they're mostly taken by my phone and need to be moved to the computer, and some will be stolen from Brigie who took a majority of the pictures at the shower.  Just needed to get my patootie on here to update as it had been a few days!  Slackerbot 3000.

April 28: The Silly Bandz Women in History Collection: Abigail Adamzz

 

 I've been wearing this silly band for the past few days.  I have no idea where it came from, and I don't know what this shape is supposed to be, but it looks a lot like a female figure of the 18th century.  Super-duper love this ironic relationship--between the passing (passed?) trend of silly bandz (what the?! Where did these things come from) and women who played a significant role in our nation's history.  Henry has the other bracelet, so we're basically like the wonder twins.  

Headed upstairs now.  It's waaay past my bedtime.  I've been staying up late and am suffering in the morning when Hen-bot gets up at 5:45am and is ready to play.  

**ok, so this is Cinderella.  I'll be honest...I like this a lot less now that I know that.  

Professional Brownie Model

I received these today from our college photographer (he is WONDERFUL).  It's not often that someone else emails you pictures of your kids...typically the other way around.  This was during the "Just Art" portion of Japan Benefit.  Henry brought his scrilla along (three gold dollar coins, and yes, we're calling it scrilla) and chose his purchases wisely--his name written in Japanese, a nice big brownie and a dish of ice cream for Mama.  I love it when he treats.

April 27: Good Morning Alice

A relatively calm moment in a craaazy wackadoo morning.  Hope you can hear Henry in the background.  He says everything that he thinks, which is probably my favorite thing about the age that he's at.  Why develop a filter at all?!  Just put it all out there.

April 25: In Bloom

Remember those tightly closed tulip buds from last week's monster post?  They've found their voice and are now making our home a bit more beautiful.  I would loooove to say that I just have such a green thumb, I planted and nurtured these myself and reaped the rewards of my patience and hard work.  FALSE!  The last thing I enjoy is dirty work, and that includes planting things.  I do love reaping the rewards of other peoples hard work and silently claiming it as my own.  These were planted by the very thoughtful, organized homeowners who lived in this abode before we bought it.

With all of that said, we will step outside of our comfort zone and plant a little garden this summer.  I've already begun preparing the raised bed (that should have been done two weeks ago...whatevs) and am hopeful that we'll get things planted this weekend.  I tried my hand at a plot in the community garden two years ago, but that only ended in public garden shame and humiliation, and a lot of plants that "went to seed".  I still don't really know what that means,  but my super-crazy garden plot neighbor made it PRETTY clear that this was NOT a good thing.  I failed, but like a good sport, I will try again, this time, from the privacy of my own backyard where the only judgment passed will come from my husband and two children.

I don't know why it's been so difficult for me to get on board with gardening.  I love the idea of cooking straight from the garden, and have heard that if children grow food, they will be more likely to eat that food.  I get secret garden envy when I visit the homes of friends and family members, and my parents have been known to grow spectacular gardens full of flowers and vegetables.  My grandfather was the greenest thumb you'd ever meet, I admire those that can commit to gardening, but honestly, the thought of having to do it myself?  CHECK PLEASE!  No thank you ma'am.  I'm really hoping  that this summer will change things.  Keeping a garden feels like something that a 30-year-old would do.  Just to be sure that it stays interesting, I'll be bedazzling my gardening gloves and coming up with as many summer garden cocktails as I can think of.  Fancy drinks and sparkly gloves?  That's my kind of outdoor activity.

April 24: Eggstrodinary Alice

 

Purple cat toile peter-pan collared baby dress?  Purrfection.  

Easter was hoppy, relaxing, delicious, holy, sleepy, lots of other words that make little sense when strung together.  We needed that down time so much, and after a ridiculously large meal at the Boegel farm (seriously...like four proteins...the fam knows how to entertain), we headed back home for lazy television-watching and nap-taking.  Now that April is slowing down from "speeding bullet" to "chugging locomotive", I hope to have more of those nonsense low-key family weekends.