Rain, rain

Maddie sings, "Rain, rain, go away, nex-a time you come back" (instead of "come again another day"). It's one of her favorite songs and she's had plenty of opportunity to practice it these past few weeks. We've had a bunch of rain. Makes us a bit reminiscent of Washington. You're not going to see me complaining about it, though, since it has kept us from having the scorching heat we would usually see this time of year. My pregnant self is dreading the 100+ degree days, so I'll take the rain for as long as we can get it!

With their usual outdoor activities on hold, the girls have had to be more creative with their play. Here are some pics:

In-home pedicures:

Cardboard box:

Dress-up:

And, of course, just watching the rain while enjoying a treat:

Prayer

Maddie was saying her nighttime prayer the other day, and this is what she came up with:

"Now I 'way me
Down to s'eep
I pway to God
I go to s'eep"

Mommy hopes so too!!!

And Claire usually puts an addendum at the end of the prayer that goes like this:

"And please, God, make more dandy-lions tomorrow."

That girl loves her dandelions. If only she knew about the weed-killer her daddy has been applying to the lawn. It seems God has been listening to her, though, because there is always at least one for her to pick each day, in spite of Daddy's efforts.

Happy Mother's Day!

The girls wanted to make it a special day for Katie.  They planned a surprise breakfast in bed for their mom.  I was able to help them get it together, sneakily before Katie woke up.  Surprisingly, everyone got to sleep in and this action didn't happen until AFTER 7:30 AM!  

So with a flick of the lightswitch and a few yells of "Surprise!" Mom got a delicious breakfast of cereal and coffee in bed this morning.  The girls also gave their mom a nice t-shirt for sleeping in, with the world's greatest airplane on it (something needed to replace that old ratty t-shirt she was wearing!).  

After mass we enjoyed another fine brunch at the Club with some good friends.  

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, grandmoms, and great-grandmoms out there!  We love you!

Beautiful (albeit stolen) flowers

Here they are: the beautiful iris that my mom and I snuck out and stole - er, I'm mean saved - last year from the area of housing where they demolished a bunch of houses. Someone lovingly planted these pretty things and they were just going to get neglected in the field or bulldozed or mowed over. So we "rescued" them and relocated them to my front yard. They sure turned out to be pretty - and they smell nice too!

Silly

Yep, my kids are silly. Maddie insisted on running around in this tutu all day long, and Claire rode to her swimming lessons all decked out in her cap and goggles. They were quite a silly looking pair. :)

Pretty Maddie

This morning Maddie finished her breakfast early and went to go play while Claire and I finished ours. Then I got Claire dressed for school (not her usual day, but they were making up a snow day today). Maddie came back once to tell me that I had left my purse out last night (I usually put it into the closet) but then she disappeared and was playing quietly by herself. In hindsight, she probably was playing TOO quietly. Here's what Claire and I discovered when we came back into the living room:

Isn't she pretty? I'm actually ducking a hug in that photo. Anyway, she managed to find the ONE red lipstick that I own while she was going through the contents of my purse. You know, the purse that I left out ONE TIME! I own several gazillions of tubes of light pink lipstick but there was a random red one in there. Fortunately, she was pretty neat with it, in that she only put lipstick on herself and didn't get any on the couch. Which was great, except that meant I wasn't TOO mad so I'm not entirely certain that she understood that she wasn't supposed to play with Mommy's make-up.

"This is harder than I expected..."

"This is harder than I expected, keeping track of a baby!"

This came from Claire's mouth, as she followed a 1 year-old around our house. We were babysitting a friend's baby this afternoon and Claire was a bit overwhelmed after about 20 minutes. In her defense, this little guy was REALLY exploring our house and finding all sorts of things to get into (guess we'll have to re-babyproof our house sometime in the future...). And she took it upon herself to watch his every move and 'keep track of him'.

Then, after she watched me give him his bottle and rock him to sleep she said, "Wow, I guess babies are a lot of work!"

Maddie discovered he was here when she woke up from her nap and spent the afternoon trying to keep him occupied ("Here is yo' toy, Baby! Baby, you want to pway, Baby? Baby, I find yo' stuffed anim-o!").

They were hilarious. I'm thinking this was good practice for all of us! Maddie and Claire are definitely going to be wonderful big and biggest sisters.

Happy Birthday to my Mom!!!

Because I love her SO much, I'm not going to say which birthday this one is. Suffice it to say, it's one that ends in a zero! We love you and wish we could have been there to give you a birthday hug and help you celebrate!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

School photos

Claire's school does their school photos in the spring and they just brought them home in their backpacks on Thursday. Here's a peek at Claire and her class this year:

For sale to a loving home...

 

Our trusty Hyundai Elantra is up for sale on Craigslist and at the "lemon lot" (used car lot) here on base. It has faithfully served us since January 2001, when I bought it new as a single gal. It traveled to Germany and saw many adventures in Europe. It then traveled to Washington, where it became Phil's drive-to-work car. Now that we bought the van Phil will be driving the Volvo and the Hyundai has found itself looking for a new, loving home. Hopefully we can find it one soon!

Easter egg hunts

As I mentioned before, the girls participated in four organized Easter egg hunts. If the Easter Bunny decides to hide eggs here at the house tomorrow they'll have hunted five times! I think it's a bit out of control but they seem to think it's great fun (and Altus isn't exactly chock full of other activities for the kiddos!). Here are a few photos of the festivities:

Easter bonnets

Claire's preschool had an Easter bonnet parade this week. The preschoolers were supposed to make a crazy bonnet at home and then they all paraded around the school to show off their neat hats. We managed to find some white hats at Walmart and Claire and Maddie decorated them with fabric paint. Their hats weren't very "crazy", but the girls had a ton of fun making them and I think they turned out beautifully:

By the time Easter rolls around, the girls will have each participated in no fewer than 4 egg hunts. I have never stuffed so many eggs before in my life! And their stockpile of candy is rivaling the bounty they brought in at Halloween. Good thing they didn't give up candy for Lent!