Front Yard Nature

Sitting in my office on a drizzly afternoon, I noticed 2 large woodpeckers hopping around the front yard.  I've certainly heard them a lot recently, but haven't seen any hanging around.  They let me watch for a few minutes before they flew away, looking for more bugs I suppose.

Word Explosion, Part 2

I don't know exactly when Marlo started combining words.  A couple months ago, I think.  In any case, she is trying very hard to contribute to real conversations in our house.  Her parts take a little decoding:

Marlo: "Chair nose floor."
Translation: "I fell off of my chair a few weeks ago and hurt my nose on the floor.  I'm kind of obsessed about it."

Marlo: "Deddy bus."
Translation: "It's time to get Hayden at the bus stop!"

Marlo: "Babybug outside bye-bye."
Translation: "Do you remember that ladybug I found in the house?  You put it outside and it went bye-bye."

Marlo (in tears):  "Milk pockpock!"
Translation: "Damn it!  Why won't my sippy cup of milk fit in my pocket!"

Marlo: "DRAW! KIDS!"
Translation: "I really love going to that toddler art class, and now every time we leave the house I think we are going to go draw with kids."

Marlo: "Ucky milk.  BLEH."
Translation: "I found a sippy cup of curdled milk and I tried some."

Happy Easter!

This Easter was the first Easter in our new house.  And, for the second year in a row, it was warm enough to hunt for eggs outside.  This is pretty amazing for Minnesota.  We even have buds on the trees, flowers coming up, and water (instead of ice) in our lakes.  It's actually spring.

The kids had a great Easter.  Festivities commenced with dyeing eggs.  Marlo--she of the ever-busy hands--pulled a cup of blue dye down on her head.  It was all over the floor, the cabinets, etc.  She's busy to say the least, and messes of this kind are practically a daily occurrence.  The dye incident was the latest of a string of events which included jumping off of her toddler slide set.  Repeatedly.  Sliding, apparently, is not nearly as thrilling.  In any case, we had her in bed by 7pm.

Easter baskets greeted the kids.  Marlo liked her gardening tools.  Hayden liked everything.  We hunted for the real eggs inside the house (the Easter bunny wasn't sure they'd survive the wildlife overnight outside).  Hayden graciously let his sister find a few, but ultimately she was more interested in peeling off the shells.

After breakfast, we searched for plastic eggs outside, and then hung out for a while to enjoy the unseasonably warm morning.  Dinner was at my parents, and the whole crew was there.  More Easter goodies, lots of good food, and a good time.