If I Had A Hammer....

Last week Steve emailed me a detailed list of jobs that need to be done around the house/yard with an outline for the next month of when and what he will be doing. Some might say his list was "ambitious." Some might say "delusional." I won't tell you what I called it. :)

I didn't know, though, that he was planning on hiring a crew to help him. And when you can get local labor this cheap, it's totally worth it!

I love that these two love doing jobs together. William has been asking about "pounding the fence" about every 10 minutes since Saturday afternoon.

I know all of these pictures are virtually the same, but I love how happy my boy looks in all of them, so I couldn't leave a single one out!

Besties

One of Caroline's closest friends, Cate, came over for "quiet time" yesterday. The girls watched a Barbie movie, destroyed my living room, changed dress-ups a million times, colored with chalk all along our front walk way, had a fight, made up, and then rode bikes to the park together. We spend a lot of time with Cate and her family, and having her at our house is pretty much effortless. The girls play (mostly) beautifully together and have lots of little games and activities that they love to do.

As I watched through the front window as the girls were drawing yesterday, I found myself very grateful that Caroline has so many wonderful friendships in her life. My own girlfriends are very important to me, and it is such a blessing to see my daughter make her own friendships so easily. I hope her life will bring her the kind of friendships my life has brought me, and I hope she will value her girlfriends, care for her relationships, and be a great friend in return.

I am deeply grateful for the friends she has made in our community, at her preschool, at our church, and, of course, the friend she had before she was even born. And I am equally grateful for the women I am lucky enough to call my friends.

Egg Hunt

Caroline, William, and I hosted an egg hunt in our backyard for a huge crew of the kids' friends. The kids had a blast. The mommies were disgusted by the extreme amounts of candy the children ate.



Caroline literally decorated 25 cupcakes by herself. She did a great job!

3 of Caroline's "princess" buddies.

All the kids waiting to start the hunt while the big girls from across the street hid the eggs...

The hunt begins!

William was so not into picking up eggs. He was into eating the candy, though.

Lots and Lots of Easter Pics

I had a realization while shopping for Easter candy last week: I won't always have little ones in my house for holidays. I know this is pretty obvious, but it literally made my heart race. All the hard work, all the cooking, all the shopping and planning is so worth it to make their holidays extra-special while they are young and truly believe in the magic of it. Here's a peek at how we made this Easter special.

We dyed eggs...

The Easter bunny had baskets chock-ful of goodies carefully hidden for Caroline and William to find on Easter morning...

We dressed up in our spring finest and had a photo shoot before church...

Hey, look! Proof that I was there, too!

Nana and Papa helped us celebrate...

We had an egg hunt at church...

I hope you will remember the Easter of 2010 as special, my little ones.

Happy Easter!

This is seriously the best picture they would give me. And William has discovered "dead eyes." Nevertheless, it was a wonderful day. Hope yours was as happy as ours!

Nana & Papa

Steve's parents, Nana and Papa, are here for a long Easter weekend. The girls have been playing mermaid and the boys built a really cool train track. The weather is gorgeous, there's been lots of bike riding, and I've got lots of yummy food planned. Life is good. :)

The Birthday

William had a really nice birthday. I think 2 is just about the perfect year for birthdays - he had absolutely no expectations, but was utterly delighted by each little thing all day long.

When he woke up, we came downstairs and he had an ENORMOUS pile of presents on the table; his new bike and car garage were all set up for him. William kept saying "oh, wow!" and "William's new bike!" Caroline couldn't wait for him to tear into all those presents, but he was pretty content just to play with what was already available.

The day passed in a busy blur. After a couple of presents, we went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. William looooves donuts, and since they are a rare treat around here (except when Grandma comes to visit) he couldn't believe his good luck. Since all he had talked about for weeks was "blowing candles" we made sure to light one at every meal. Caroline had two other parties that day, so we were on the go.

Finally after nap - except he didn't take his usual 3-hour nap and just jumped in his crib instead - it was party time! We had his party at our local Y. A huge group of the kids' friends came, and it was a blast. William was so excited to have all of his buddies in one room! Steve and I were reminded yet again how lucky we are to have such a wonderful circle of friends here in MA. :)

William adored the Thomas decorations. I had picked up his cake on Saturday, and after I showed it to him he kept taking me over to the box and saying "see it again?" All that practice made him a candle blowing expert!