I Wish I Had my Camera When...

...We had my Mom over to celebrate her 60th birthday and we decided to venture out with kids past bedtime to have ice cream. The girls ice cream looked like a volcano and by the end of it Willa was covered in "lava"(chocolate sauce). Such a fun time...Happy Birthday Mom!

...Willa was trying to brush her teeth last night and the toothpaste was starting to slide off her brush and she shoved it in her mouth only to have most of it land on her lip. She then tried to say..."is on hy iii" Which really was, "It's on my lip!"

...Willa and I went to Kateland Farms with her pre-school(the camera was on my dining room table where I forgot it). They had 3 miniature horses born within the last 36 hours. These aren't the stubby legged ponies at fairs. These were perfect little replicas of a horse, just tiny. And the babies were even cuter! Willa got to ride a small carriage pulled by 2 of them and feed a bunch of carrots and hay to some very happy horses. The owner even let each of the kids take home one of the hundreds of prize ribbons his family had won over the years.

Here's hoping I can be a little more prepared for the next few Kodak moments.

Fancy Nancy Tea Party

We recently discovered a new book series for the young set called "Fancy Nancy." The books are super cute and introduce some advanced vocabulary by explaining it as a fancy way of saying ____. Thursday, we ventured to Barnes and Nobles for a Fancy Nancy Tea Party. The girls dressed up in their idea of what fancy is. It was very fun to see them try to accessorize. We even ran into some of their school friends which made the outing so much more fun.

Playtime!

Here's some pics with the Harnden's beautiful gang of 2.

Vacation

School is out for the week in our neck of the woods and that means we have more time to fill with fun activities. We've had several play dates with friends and this whole week is Splash Week at the YMCA. They offer free swimming lessons every day to promote water safety. Wayne and I always have mixed feelings about it because doing this EVERY DAY is exhaustive! The kids love it but they are up past their normal bedtime and don't sleep any later than normal so by the end of the week I feel like everyone has horns growing out of their heads! Including Mommy and Daddy. But it's free and the every day exposure really helps them learn.

Finally Spring

Finally a chance to get outside and play! It's funny to me that in the Spring, 55 degrees can seem so warm, but in the fall, it seems so cold. I even got a chance to do a little gardening, something I love. It will be challenging this year to garden with the help of one very exuberant dog. Already he has caused some damage to say nothing of the poop! In a few weeks we will have our gigantic Norway Maple taken down. I have never liked this tree, though I do have tree guilt for cutting down a perfectly healthy and living thing. Wayne laughs because I left my indoor plant (that I did not like) on the porch all winter so it died and I could then throw it out without guilt. Anyhow, in a few years, after the roots die and we get some sun back there, hopefully it will look like the oasis I have in my mind.
Just happen to have the camera ready when she got one of those twitchy smiles in her sleep. She gave Willa her first big awake smile today so hopefully they'll be more pics like this soon.

I'm so hungry, I could eat a Seahorse!

Good Friday Fun

Well, it feels a little wrong to have so much fun on Good Friday, a time when we should really be reflective of sacrifice. But time is always short so we fit things in when we can.
Wayne and I decided that we are done buying toys. Other parents can attest to this strange fact that toys, especially dolls and stuffed animal, are like Gremlins. Someone feeds them after midnight and the reproduce on their own. We have soo many and while my girls do play with almost all of them, there are still just too many things in this house! So for birthdays, we decided to let the girls pick someplace they want to go. Willa chose to go to Bounce It Out in Pittsford. It has 10 large inflatable bouncy, climby things. They had a complete blast! Happy Birthday Bear!

Then it was on to Easter Eggs! We took a little time to remember Great-Papa, who LOVED, LOVED, LOVED dying Easter Eggs. I think he did as many as the girls last year! Willa's memories seem to be quite fuzzy but Denver still recalls him clearly. She remembered that he really like the Yellow dye and she had to wait for him to get done with it. So she dyed 2 yellow eggs in memory of Great Papa. The fact that they were ONLY yellow shows their restraint, since by the end, almost all of them were a mix of all the colors. Needless to say by the end of the day we had 2 very tired girls, 3 if you count Adalyn, but all she does is sleep still, except at night, unless you're holding her.

An Easter Bunny Failure

So every year for...a lot of years now, I send a little box of Jet-Puffed Bunny Marshmallows to my good friend Amanda for Easter. This tradition originated when she and her hubby moved away from the area and could not find them at the stores near them. Every year, we scour the store shelves trying to find these perfect Easter treats. And every year it is somewhat hard to find them, but we always prevail. It saddens me to say that I fear an Easter Bunny failure this year. I've been to so many stores in search of these little delights but cannot seem to find them anywhere. I'm calling on the eyes of all who read this blog(all 5 of you) to also give your grocery store a peek and see if you can spot them. They are packaged in a regular Jet Puffed Marshmallow bag and are pastel colored and shaped like bunnies. I found a pic on someone else's blog for those of you who are a bit more visual. Click Here to see them.

So drop me a line if anyone can find them, I don't want to be an Easter Bunny Failure!

3 weeks old already! It goes by so fast. What amazes me is how long things take me. Like today, the whole day was about making sure I made lasagna for dinner, remembered to wash Denver's incredibly stinky blankie, and making a couple birth announcements for family who live out of town. And I didn't even finish the birth announcements(but they are darn cute if I do say so myself)! I wish I had the time to make them for everyone on our Christmas card list but that so can't happen. Maybe I'll scan them in and post them tomorrow.
Until then, I think I'll go watch a baby sleep.

Willa Turns 4!

Yesterday my little Willa Bear turned 4. I've never seen a kid more excited about a birthday! And it wasn't the presents, it was just the fun fact of being just a little bit bigger. She spent the whole day naming things she could do now that she was 4. Like reaching higher books on the bookshelf, eating all her supper(yeah right!), and all sorts of digressions from there. Talking with her is sometimes like talking with Dory from Finding Nemo. Add in her recent lack of volume control and it's a fun mix! You never have to wonder what's on her mind since she's usually telling you a play-by-play of her day. She's fun!
Unfortunately, all 3 girls have colds, yes, even the baby. I've never had a newborn catch a cold before but it's pretty pathetic. She's pretty cranky(when awake, which is not all that often) and very snargly. The last few days have been a little rough around the edges. We've all had to be ready to go before 9am and each day got less and less successful at it. I am blaming it on the no-sleep factor. Adalyn has been up at least every 3 hours this week and then takes a long time to settle back down. Last night she settled easier but was up quite a lot. Today, or at least this morning, I am basking in the fact that I don't have to have anyone ready to go except Denver. Plus, Wayne is off today so there is another set of hands. There is a reason they don't stay so small forever, I'd go bonkers! But I will still try to enjoy every moment, however sleepless it may be.
Here, looking terrified, Adalyn got her first bath with help from big sister Willa. She cried the entire time but smelled great afterwards! After her Dr. visit yesterday, she is a hefty 7 lbs. 5 oz. Over a pound in a week!