All Fools Parade!

This morning, Mom and I brought Andy to Woodinville's All Fools Parade. It was just as we remembered it, and I got a kick out of singing the fight song along with the high school band - Go Falcons! We stopped in at the Osh Kosh outlet store, and Andy insisted on wearing his new sunglasses for the duration...

Go Falcons Go! Fight Falcons Fight! (just half my lifetime ago...)

Two new photos from my mom:

Waving at the fire fighters.

Post parade, Shawn gave Sylvia a spin.

Miss, Tod, Bryn and Macy came for dinner (and as usual, had to bring half the food - we're not real well stocked at the O house). It's always such a great time!!

Update: More photos from the night on Miss' blog: http://todandmelissa.blogspot.com/2008/04/best.html

Happy Birthday Risa!

Mohawk Girl

After Sylvia's bath tonight, her hair was sticking straight up. It's a little hard to see in these photos, but they're cute anyway so here they are...

Green Eggs & Ham

When Mom's away, the family plays! I came home after dinner the other night to find that Shawn and Andy had read "Green Eggs and Ham" one too many times!

This smile says: I'm so HAPPY that I'm not expected to eat that!

Sweet Siblings

WTF???

At least now it's clear we were just being smart to leave our sled on our front porch all this time...

30 years later...

Yes, that's Peter and me, circa 1978. It was Woodinville's first ever All Fools Parade, and we won first place in the clown category. Check out the dirt road on Woodinville's main street! Geez I'm OLD.

From the Woodinville Weekly: "Remember when? Photo courtesy of Denise **** Today, Cherise **** is 36 and an attorney in Seattle. Her brother, Peter, is 34 and a comparative literature professor in Philadelphia. Thirty years ago the Woodinville youngsters took part in the first All Fools Day Parade dressed as clowns, pushing a baby buggy that carried banty chickens. Over the course of the parade the chickens laid two eggs. Cherise and Peter won first place as the Best Clown entry. They won kites and two Woodinville Weekly T-shirts. Their mother, Denise, describes the parade as “a wonderful tradition started by a wonderful woman (Carol Edwards). I miss those days very much.” She plans to attend the parade this Saturday with her daughter and grandchildren."

Breakin' with Barrack

. Try JibJab Sendables!

Videos

If you've had trouble viewing videos I've posted recently, they should be back up and running now. Enjoy!

More Easter!

We spent the afternoon turning Mom and Tom's condo inside out!

Andy spent much of the time in the office, quietly undoing the rolls of change that Mom had painstakingly rolled.

Shawn's gradmother Helvi sent us these adorable bunny rolls made from Finnish cardamom bread. Yummy and cute!

Happy Easter

We started Easter weekend with Nonna, who came over on Friday to color eggs with Andy.

On Saturday night, Andy was sure to leave his emply Easter basket out where the Easter bunny could find it. Andy woke us up at 7 this morning to show us his full basket of chocolate, candy and plastic eggs filled with little toys. We made the mistake of leaving him unattended for about 5 minutes, in which time he ate:

(1) the ears off of his hollow chocolate bunny,
(2) an entire pez dispenser full of pez,
(3) half of a Cadbury caramel egg,
(4) a pure dark chocolate frog, and
(5) several licks of a sucker.

UH OH, boy full of sugar on the loose!

What is left of his Easter candy! The Easter bunny also hid chocolate eggs all over the living room, something the Easter bunny did during Shawn's childhood too. Andy had fun searching high and low for those, while Sylvia looked on from her exersaucer. Sylvia, incidentally, got a stuffed bear and plastic eggs filled with Cheerios - how age appropriate of the Easter bunny.

After his morning sugar load, I insisted he eat eggs to get some protein in that little body!

Parent's Tea

Andy's school has a great tradition - one night of the year (tonight) they invite parents to come to tea. The kids practice their manners for a long time, and practice specific classwork (it's a montessori) to show off for their parents. Shawn stayed home with Sylvia, and I went for tea. What a treat!

When we arrived, Andy (prompted only a bit by his teachers) asked if he could take my coat; he led me to a table and pulled out my chair for me; he set out the wax paper square they use for snacks, set a cookie on it for me, got me a dixie cup and filled it with tea from the pitcher. He watched to see if I was done with my tea and kept checking my cup. When I finished it he quickly stacked our cups, grabbed the paper squares and put them in the trash. Then -- and I cannot overstate how sweet this was -- he came around to my side, put one hand on my arm and one on the chair to indicate it was time for me to stand up, and then pushed the chair in for me after I got up. Then, prompted only a little by his teacher, he asked "Would you like to see me do classwork?" We went upstairs to the montessori classroom and he showed me what he's been working on. Then he cried (I think it was the stress of having me sitting over him watching - I probably should have sat on the floor with him!). But then we went back downstairs, sang a song, and Andy gave me his gift, which he made himself, even coloring and streaking the water with a toothpick to make the paper design. It was a lot for a just-3-year-old to handle, but he did so well, and he was proud of himself too. I am one lucky mom!

Spring Fever!

One of my partners gave Sylvia one of the CUTEST OUTFITS EVER. I was worried that the clothes wouldn't fit, so we tried them on tonight and got spring fever! I could not resist taking a gazillion photos and it was hard to narrow them down to even the several handfuls in this post. I think we have our Easter outfit! (She also gave Sylvia a stripey shirt to match the hat, plus the same pants in orange and red - so we get to switch things up!). My close friends probably think it's funny that I'm so ga-ga over girly clothes, being the queen of sweats and someone who wears the same shoes to work every day, but after 3 years of boy sweatpants, it's SO MUCH FUN to see her in pink, in flowers and stripes, in dresses....

I love this picture of them smiling at each other - not posed.

Uh oh, getting rough!