The Easter Hangover........

Yes, I truly believe there is such a thing as an Easter Hangover. Most sufferers are the parents of young children who have spent the day eating nothing but sugar. The day usually will start well. The children are excited at the massive amounts of candy that reside in the Communal Easter Basket brought by Nanny. The parents look forward to talking and gossiping with each other. The older kids look forward to just getting away from their parents unsupervised for an extended period of time. It all looks so promising in the beginning......




So, my day started off with the girls getting their Easter Baskets and oooooing and ahhhhhing over the candy and the fun toy that they received. Then I had to make the Vidalia Onion Dip, because what is a holiday gathering in my family without it? (Denise was also highly anticipating it so i did not want to disappoint.) :) Anyway, that's why the first photo is of an onion. Usually the recipe calls for two large sweet onions. When the girls and I went to the grocery to get the necessary items a few days before these were the type of onions available. They were all HUGE. I used the soda can as a size reference. Imagine holding a nice sized melon in your hands and that was what it was like. This wasn't even the biggest in the bunch. (It was about the size of a small pumpkin!!








So we get there and the food prep is underway and the kids are digging into the fruit and marshmallow bunnies that are laid out for the chocolate fountain that Judith brings to every holiday gathering. At this point i figure it's Easter and the candy is the thing so I wasn't going to worry about how much of it they were actually eating. So we eat and then it is time for the Easter Egg Hunt:








Bitty had great fun finding the eggs (some with and some without help)

Gabi found the one highest up and Nicole decided she was going to entertain herself by playing on the playground equipment. :) (Notice her cute new short do?)

Bitty got bored with hunting for eggs and decided to wander over to the swing set and play on the swings.

I'm sure you've noticed there aren't many pictures of Bug. That's because she, Gabi and Jordan were off doing "big girl" things. That and most of the pictures I took of her, her hair is in her face. Regardless I did get a cute picture of the three girls. :)

As with all of the festivities where the chocolate fountain is included, the time had finally come for Judy, Brady, Lauren, Holly and whoever else to start dunking weird stuff in to see what it tastes like with chocolate on it. That leads to the next picture:

Yes, that's right. they dipped a pickled egg in....or rather drizzled the chocolate over the pickled egg. The only two to actually attempt eating this were Judy and Brady;

Now if you actually click on the picture above and look at the face Brady is making you will see he realized that this was a HUGE mistake. In fact the next thing he said was: "I think I'm going to throw up......" and he disappeared into the kitchen to spit out the nastiness into the trash can. (At least I'm assuming that's what happened) Judy actually swallowed hers.....EWWWWWW

Next comes the part of the festivities where David makes everyone nervous by lifting Bitty up high and throwing her in the air. She of course LOVES this and gets mad when he actually stops because everyone has had a heart attack or he gets tired.

Now, all eyes can not constantly be on Bitty. That is why she found the pencil and offering envelopes on the back of the chairs:

The lighting at this point was just perfect and i got some nice shots of Bitty. The one on the right is when I actually asked her to smile. That was what she gave me.

And, as with all festivities there has to be some sort of catastrophe and that involved Bitty tumbling down a few steps. She of course was fine; but, she also had no nap and so a little tumble turns into a HUGE catastrophe. Thank goodness for Dee Dee. Even Mommy and Daddy couldn't console us this time.

So that ends our Easter Adventure and leads into our Easter Hangover. By the end of the day Bug had eaten more candy than she has ever eaten before. By bedtime the girls were so tired and strung out there really were no protests that it was bedtime. The next day though they were tired and grouchy and just no fun to be around. Thank goodness we had plans to visit the Zoo a bit later in the week........

Dee Dee took the day off and we all went to the zoo. Here they are petting the goats:

And, here is Bitty refusing to wash her hands after petting the goats:

We ventured inside the barn and got to see even more goats. Cute shot of Bug in her ponytail and sunglasses. :)

Bit climbed up here all by herself and made Dee Dee nervous. But she was totally geeking out on the goats: "GOAT!!!!!!!!"

Here Dee Dee and Bitty are looking at the beehive that they have. It was neat and even though I don't like bees (b/c I'm allergic to them) I don't mind looking at them through the glass. You could even see them do their little waggle dance to tell the other bees where to find flowers.

Dee Dee and Bitty looking at the tigers. The other one was sleeping up near the glass. I didn't get the best picture of him b/c there were sooooooo many people trying to get his picture. Regardless i thought this picture of Bitty looking at the other tiger was cute.

Dee Dee and Bitty walking behind Bug and I. We were on our way to go get lunch.

Now, I usually like to pack all or most of our lunch when we go to the zoo. But, we were kinda moving slow and it just didn't happen, so i figured we'd just get it there. Well after a 45 minute wait in line we finally got to sit down to eat. The girls were extremely patient for having to wait so long. Bitty LOVES ketchup** and you can't really see it, but she was dipping her fork in the ketchup container and eating it.....and THEN dipping it in the applesauce container. I was able to get Bug to smile nicely for the camera....FINALLY.

I thought Bitty was going to spaz out when she got a chance to see the penguins so close. She kept yelling "BIRD! BIRD! BIRD!" and jumping up and down.

We went tot he aquarium and the manatees. (Because, NO zoo trip is complete without a stop there......and I think the reptile house is going to be included in that. Bug was not happy that we didn't have enough time to stop and see them yesterday.) Our last stop was the Alligator. At one point Bug asked if he was real, and Dee Dee and I assured her that yes, he was real. She wasn't convinced until he blinked. Then she was all "Yep he's real! He blinked at me!!!"

So there is the summary of the last few days. It has definitely seemed like a long term hangover. Since I personally have been suffering from a migraine since Monday (damn thunderstorms and pressure changes!!) it makes it feel like the days were longer than they really were. Still, as always it's been fun. Now I'm off to go put one heathen to bed and try to convince the other heathen that quiet time today will consist of us "resting our eyes" as we lay on the couch watching a movie. (or maybe some yarn time for me...i haven't decided yet...maybe I'll try reading.....) After, of course, I clean up the youngest heathen's mashed in lunch from the table.

** I know it's really spelled CATSUP

PICTURES!!!!

Ok so I promised pictures last time right? Here ya go!!!


We'll start as far back as Christmas......



The new train set the girls got for Christmas. We originally had it in the basement and then finally moved it into the loft. Bug's Christmas dress this year was soooooo pretty! And she even had red sparkly shoes to go with it!!



Bitty eating one of Bug's birthday cupcakes. Mmmmmmmm nothing beats the love of a cupcake!!!



Each kid in bug's class takes a turn to make play-doh. we were lucky enough to get to choose the color we wanted. Bug decided on yellow with LOTS of sparkles. (we used a WHOLE BOTTLE of sparkles....)

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The first snowfall......



Bitty had this uncanny knack for imitating Ralphie's little brother. (From the movie "A Christmas Story") When she'd topple over she'd lay there like a slug......

Bug making a snow angel.

And then, the snow really began to fall. I think we had like a snowstorm at least once a week in the month of February.

Just a few random shots of the girls playing inside.


By the end of February this is what it looked like outside:

*note: I have "brightened" these pictures so you can really see them since they were taken at night.*

The snowpiles at the end of the driveway. Bug next to the snowpile. And, as you can see, it was still snowing when I snapped these.

Daddy helping Bug stand on the tallest snowpile. Bug and Daddy next to the snowpile.

Poor Bitty...she was a reluctant snowbunny.

*The previous post to this one is two shots of our street when it was completely done snowing.*

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It's a good thing Bug looks so damned cute in these glasses. She's more than likely going to need real ones by the time she's in school. (David and I doomed BOTH the girls)

After a run in with the coffee table, Bitty wound up with a nice shiner.

Lately the girls have been playing with buttons. Bug likes to sift through them and pull out her favorites. She insisted that I take pictures of her favorite buttons. So, here they are.

Just a cute pic of Bug that same day. She's wearing one of my favorite shirts of hers.

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These were taken yesterday at Inniswoods. It was 70 degrees out and partly sunny. We had a great time and saw lots of fun things; bullfrogs, bullfrog tadpoles, painted turtles, LOTS of squirrels, ducks, birds and a nesting pair of Cooper's Hawks.

A few rare moments of sisterly love. :)

Bitty making her mama proud. after snapping these two pictures Bitty came over and handed me two handfuls of pebbles. ahhhhh The love of rocks starts young. :)

Bug climbing the wooden treehouse ALL BY HERSELF!! Last time we went David had to help her up.

A favorite sight at Inniswoods is their albino squirrel. (And, more than likely, his/her offspring considering he/she/they have been there for many years now) Bug and I had a good giggle watching him as he buried under the leaves for that nut he's holding in the second picture. :)

After they got up from naps, David took them for a quick bike ride in the trailer before the rain settled in. When they got home they waited in the yard for DeeDee and by then it had cooled down enough they needed jackets. When they came inside Bitty didn't want to take her sweater off. So, here they are on the couch watching "Ponyo."

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Here is the famous Library Bag that I crocheted. I made this for the girls to carry library books in. David however is refusing to "take that thing to the library" with him when he goes. I can sorta understand. It is a bit bright and rainbow-y and Girly. :) It's because of those reasons that I and the girls LOVE this bag. :)