Easter

Twas the Night Before Easter

Twas the night before Easter and all through the home we inhabit
Not a creature was stirring- not even Ewan dressed up as a Rabbit




The boys were all bathed, and tidied up for the next day
All the previous days grub and dirt on Rowan washed away





The big twins had soaked and swirled their eggs around in dyes of green and pink
Taking great care to dip their hands in matching shades of the ink



Their hearts were content, their minds having focused
On the coloring of eggs and all sorts of hocus pocus




The resulting confections of Lucas' were as lovely as any Easter Van Gogh
Swathed in bright colors Matilda's egg looked like a regular Picasso






While I in my yoga pants and Da-da in his shorts
Had just laid down to take a respite of sorts
When down through the Chimney but what should appear
Four baskets of goodies, for the twins we hold dear!

Ewan and Rowan

Ewan is the squealest squealer ever when he is being tickled. He will squeal for hours, and is extremely ticklish, so it takes very little to get him squealing!

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Rowan has claimed the slide. He loves to play on it- with Ewan, or just by himself. He is such a cutie pie. One of these videos has Ewan chucking me in the head with his sippy cup. I can't remember if its this video or not!

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pig tails and hiding

Rowan ate his pop tart inside one of the empty cubicles where we store their toys and books this morning. Note the poptart residue in the other shelf. Ugh. He is still so small, and we haven't even turned his car seat forward facing yet because he hasn't met the weight requirements yet!



When Rowan isn't inside the cubicle eating poptarts, it looks like this.



Matilda's "Aunt Aneena" gave her the prettiest hair ribbons and bows last week. Tilly wanted to wear them yesterday, so we did "pig tails". She looked so cute! I think the more ridiculous the hair bow, the better I like it!



Tilly has renamed all of the twins after Peter Pan. She is "Wendy", Lucas is "John", Ewan is "Michael" and Rowan is "Peter Pan". I asked her Friday who Duane was. She said "Thats Daddy". Then she smiled in a sneaky way and said "That's husband DUANE!!!". So she called him Duane all weekend. She also professed a love of candies and said Aunt Aneena gave nice vegetable baskets. She now stops me when I am reading books and will say "Show me the word '_____'" and we spell it together. She spells all day long!

Lucas says everything three to five times very quickly in succession. He says it until you repeat it back to him what he said in acknowledgment. I always acknowledge what they say, but he is still a bit hard to understand, and its important to him to know I can understand him. His counting is really good now, and his spelling is getting better, too. He definitely knows his ABCS, but getting him to tell them to you is another story. However, everything is still the color "green".

Rowan has given up dinner! We are really struggling getting him to eat anything besides cereal bars for dinner. It started when he gave up his second nap, so we are hoping its just a phase. His new best friend is Lucas. He wants to do everything Lucas does. At dinner last night he choked on a flour tortilla, vomited on himself, laughed, then went on eating. Fun!

Ewan is still building his vocabulary very nicely. But, he gets frustrated and screams sometimes instead of verbalizing what he wants. He is still everyone's favorite. He flirts, pouts, bats his eyes, and smiles the sweetest way ever to everyone, then wants to own their lap for the rest of his life. He snuggles so close to you that he is like a second skin (Rowan is squirmy). When he is being held 24/7 he doesn't have any of his pouty whiney temper tantrums, so of course when I say he sometimes frustrates me, I am met with looks of apprehension and surprise! I told Duane this morning if he had been an only child we would no doubt have thought he was perfect, too. Its only because he has to SHARE that he is ever upset!

Tilly found the Christmas Penguin this morning, and tried to remember how to sing "Holly Jolly Christmas". She cracks me up, because the words she doesn't remember she just sang "holly" over and over and for the end, instead of singing "ding dong" she sings "Big Ball, Big Ball".

white bedroom

Here I am again, sadly late in adding the text to this entry!

Something about a flurry of children under my feet makes me want a really REALLY peaceful bedroom. So, for early spring, I have redone my room. This used to be an easy task before we upgraded to a King Size bed two years ago... just the same way my grandmother of 89 collects curtains, I have a plethora of sheets and duvets that I love to alternate between. But, when we went to a king size bed, I became very "sheets poor", and when it comes between choosing a nice little outfit for the kids, or a new set of sheets for mommy- guess who wins hands down every time? But, Duane treated himself to a television (hmpfh) so, I treated myself to new bedding. And then I treated the kids, too. And now we are broke. :-)

The comforter came from JC Penneys. I just happen to love Penneys!!! I shopped all the high end department stores, and nothing struck me as easy to care for and sweet as this! comforter set from JC Penney. I ordered the comforter set, and the sheets with valances for my room.

Then, I added some pillows from Taylor Linens. I love their bedding. I think its every bit as pretty if not prettier than Peacock Alley, with the same styling of Shabby Chic.

I ordered toss pillows in the daisy dot which features swiss dot and embroidery on a white linen background with an organdy ruffle trimmed in crochet.

And two more toss pillows in Elisa, a lovely old fashioned pintucking pillow with lots of ruffles and crochet accents. Both pillows came with goosedown fillers and are so cozy on my bed.

I searched high and wide to find someone that offered sales on Taylor Linens, and the only merchant I found who did was Debbie at Classic Chic. If you are on her mailing list, she frequently sends out 20% off coupons, and her prices were lower than everyone elses to begin with. She was very friendly, and I love my new room!

To finish the look, I threw a white crochet coverlet that I have had for just years on my settee, and added a white pillow to my antique rocker.

Snow

I posted these pictures last week and expected to update with an entry the same day, but we were all struck down mid-breakfast by a stomach virus. Oh my UGH.

But, back to the snow... we had a nice little snow in the south, and Lucas and tilly desperately wanted to go outside. We are sadly lacking in snow gear. Tilly wore a beach bonnet on her head, and Lucas a cloth baseball cap. They both are wearing crocheted scarves that I made for them for Christmas. At least Tilly's scarf matches her beach bonnet. :-) They were only outside for twenty minutes, while Duane and I alternated who was inside with Ewan and Rowan. They were content to watch the snow through the windows, and showed no interest in going outdoors.

Rowan likes Crowns

Rowans new favorite toy is Matilda's snow white crown from a dress up outfit my aunt bought her for Christmas.

Anytime he gets a hold of the crown, he wants someone (anyone!) to put it on his head, then he runs to look at his reflection in their kiddie vanity.



Rowan is such a happy little prince(ss). Can you believe he is still able tow ear his 12 month pj's from halloween? Hmpfh!



Ewan isn't as fond of the crown, but did try it on.



Matilda asked me to take pictures of her in HER crown after dinner tonight. She says "cheese" when her picture is taken, and for this its accurate as she was nearly covered in pizza.




Pizza isn't nearly as messy as blueberries. Every morning each of the kids have one half a banana. They have it with oatmeal, cheerios, egg, and on Fridays with poptarts (we call this "Poptart Friday"). We were out of bananas, so I let them have blueberries this morning. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?!



Tilly has taught Ewan to also say "cheese" for his pictures.



Its hard to believe that one whole room of my home looks like this: