Easter Baskets 2014

 I failed to get a picture of J's Easter basket, but here is M's. He chose the maraca from a $0.25 bin at a garage sale.

J's included some gardening gloves, a bunny, and an easter matching game, inspired by this silhouette blog post. I know you are all surprised, but J is REALLY good at playing memory. And spreading the cards all over the floor to create a mega slipping hazard.

I think the bunny was still her favorite though.

Here is the video, should you want to watch her reaction.

Easter Cupcakes

J asked to make cupcakes and who was I to deny a request for baked goods? She looked at the back of the box and told me exactly what we needed, even though she called the cup of oil another cup of water. She put in all the ingredients and is a champion egg cracker. She even counted out the number needed without any help from me. She helped me fill the liners with batter as well as frosted a few all by herself. Then we made little cupcake flags out of sticker paper because I can't seem to help myself. In my head they were going to be treats for an egg dyeing party that I didn't actually manage to do.

I frosted this one, in case you think my 3 year old is a frosting savant

She had a fun time putting the flags in. And taking them out. And putting them back in. She is an art director in training :) No really though, she told me what color I should make the words and what color to make the background too. She insisted the frosting be yellow, after I picked a french butter cream specifically because it didn't have any yellow tinge. And because the light fluffiness is to die for. Totally worth pouring boiling syrup into a running mixer, despite the fear of splatter burns I get each time I make it.

I had them all on the cooling rack, but she decided they needed to be lined up on the stove and moved them one by one when I wasn't paying attention.

Baby JJRW

Sometimes kiddos are just too sweet and you have to take pictures of them.

Well I tried to grow wheat grass this year

But someone snatched it from the counter when I wasn't paying attention.

God made dirt and dirt don't hurt? That's what the playground kids used to say if your candy dropped and you still wanted it enough to eat it anyway.

Mesa I.D.E.A. Museum

Arizona Museum for Youth, the one from here, had a rebranding and has some fun new exhibits, most of which are not photographed because two kids means fewer pictures.

I bought a groupon for 4 so our friend Ella played hooky from kindergarten came with her mom. M enjoyed free rein in the infant area. I thought my busy man would explore the whole space, but he was content to sit an workout the various discovery tubes in a 1 foot radius around him.

I liked the puppet show the girls gave us.

I always admire exhibits that engage infants to adults and all the ages in between. This one definitely did.

J showed off some impressive tower building skills.

They had a super cool black lit camping room, complete with tents, a fishing hole, and magnetic fishing rods.

Unfortunately most of the pictures looked something like this.

I call this abstract work Toddler in Motion.

J loved the mural of "La La Luna!" She never passes an opportunity to point out Luna when she sees it.

They had about a dozen different little craft projects to do. Ella is modeling her astronaut helmet.

They had all kinds of fun dress ups with a prop video camera to "make" a movie.

There was a TV on the wall showing them on their alien world.

It's a fun museum and just the right size. We will probably take advantage of their airconditioning and go again this summer.

Happy Easter!

Desert Botanical Gardens

The Desert Botanical Gardens had a new Chihuly exhibit and Madre Dos invited us along to see them.

They also had their butterfly experience open which was very exciting for one curly-haired girl.

I thought this guy was pretty cool, but I think he's technically a moth.

This butterfly is my favorite though.

J's favorite part of the whole day was probably this ground squirrel's performance. He was as interested in M's gold fish as M.

Grandma's extra hat was a little too big.

M rather enjoyed his ride, and a little sunshade peek-a-boo.

Of course, we never pass up a chance to play in a water feature, especially such a beautiful one like this.

Thanks Madre Dos for taking us!

Alaina

Meet a new Maidename!

 She is simply lovely and I'm sad she is in Tucson so we can't love on her more. Her other auntie, Lil' Sis was in town from New Jersey and we were able to snap some pictures.

M was feeling a little jealous so I didn't get a chance to pose with my new niece. Look at that look of congenial distrust.

Blueberry Beard

Thankfully a few drops of hydrogen peroxide have saved his shirts from the same fate as his chin.

Sleeping on the Couch

It's not a traditional pose, but it's how I found her

A Side Effect of the Flu

Tissue boxes were at more accessible heights 

"Did you need one? Here you go!"

When did she get so big?

She dons a petite little backpack and I get foreshadowed trauma of her going off to kindergarten.