Anglophiles, Unite!!!

Did your house get swept up in royal wedding mania today? Ours sure did!! Traci still remembers watching Charles' and Di's wedding back in 1981, so she wanted to share a similar experience with Katie today. First, Traci woke up bright and early at 5AM (30 minutes before her alarm!!) to watch for a bit in peaceful solitude before the rest of the household stirred. Thankfully, Katie did not wake up until nearly 7:30, so Traci got to see most of the ceremony live with just Michael on her lap. Once Michael went down for his morning nap, Katie begged to watch some of the wedding with Mommy. We did watch....THE ENTIRE THING...from car processions to carriage rides to the fly-over, in 30 minutes chunks throughout the day! Katie was enthralled! Traci's favorite parts? The DRESS (so lovely!), the vows (always nice to actually hear their voices), the carriage ride, and the two balcony kisses. Katie's favorites? The bridesmaids (her age!), spotting the queen (bright yellow!), and the funny hats. Michael's favorites? The trumpets and drums (he liked imitating them) and the HORSES (many neighs emanated from our living room). And, Mike??? Well, he might watch the fly-over later...that's about it.

Overall, wonderful watching a gorgeous ceremony with such pageantry and happiness all around. Cheers!!

Pardon the Interruption...Again

Sigh. Here we go again with more technical difficulties. Our point-and-click digital camera is once again out of service for the time being, so we are not going to be able to update the blog with pictures for the foreseeable future. (This is the second Canon Elph in a row which has had a jammed lens. Perhaps Canon is not the quality brand it claims to be...) We'll try to update here and there with videos or stories when possible; and, of course, we'll try to get our camera back up and running as soon as possible. In the meantime, here's a fun recent story:

Traci was surprised yesterday when she pulled up to Katie's preschool and saw some of the daycare kids riding ponies. When Katie came out of her classroom, she was bursting to the seams with stories about an "animal show" that came to her school. (Traci and Mike knew nothing about this event beforehand...) Anyway, she got to pet baby chicks, ducklings, goats, and lambs. And, most significant of all, she got to ride her first pony! Now, we've gone to many a fall festival where we've offered her pony rides, but she has always shied away from them. Leave it to peer pressure to get her to give it a go, without us there to watch and enjoy. And, she loved it! Guess we better get used to having to hear about fun milestones second-hand....

Contemplating Easter

Would have loved to have titled this one "Happy, Smiley Easter!" But, alas, it's really hard to get a family picture with any smiles from these whippersnappers. Once again, we hope you had a delightful Easter weekend!!

Happy Easter

We're having a fantastic day with the kids and just wanted to wish everyone a very blessed, happy Easter! Couldn't resist sharing some of our morning festivities via the attached video. Looking forward to a delicious ham dinner (i.e., finally, something not laced with sugar)...

Lucky Strikes

 

We had a brand-new adventure today, thanks to Katie's good preschool pal Jaden (3.5-years-old) and his sister Jenna (6). They suggested that we go bowling over Spring Break, and we did it! With a little help from some gutter bumpers and a ball ramp, the kids were able to bowl their hearts out. They bowled two games, cheering loudly for each other. Although Katie didn't bowl any spares or strikes, she always had a smile on her face. After bowling, the kids then ran around the alley, checking out all the arcade games and lights. Finally, they dug in for some pizza, chicken tenders, and fries. Traci's main job on this excursion? Keeping Michael the heck out of the way....much easier said than done...

Lion Princesses and Princes

We had our buddies Ms. Kim, Patrick (4.5-years-old) and Colleen (2-years-old) over for some Spring Break fun. The kids basically went wild playing Matchbox cars, dinosaurs, and...of course....busting a major move to the Lion King. Enjoy!!

Such Concentration

It was Easter egg coloring day in our house, and we went the easy route: we waited until Michael was deep asleep in his afternoon nap to get started. Katie was very into handling pretty much all of the egg duties herself this year, so there was a lot of concentrated preschooler silence. Not a single egg was cracked or dropped, but we already have bets on how many will actually make it intact until Easter. (The eggs are now sitting as a centerpiece on our table where both kids can just about reach.) It was a nice way to kick off our Easter/Spring Break week!