Call Day #101, 4/13/12

 Doing a craft at church playgroup.

Claire and the little person she made.

 The kids found something fun to do with the blocks.  I'm not sure if you can tell, but our kids are only two of the four redheaded kids in this picture.  Several people have commented on how odd it is to have so many in one place.

 Eleanor has been so well-behaved lately, at least most of the day.  Then, there are these unexpected crazy moments like this one as we were returning from playgroup where she cried and whined and fussed all the way up the stairs.  The problem?  I wouldn't carry her sweater (the purple one on the floor) for her.

 We opened the package we received from Grandma and Grandpa after lunch.  Eleanor declared that she wanted to wear this dress for her birthday since it has cupcakes on it.

 She also tried on every other piece of clothing in the box.  There was some silly posing going on.

 After nap, we finally did a craft we've been talking about doing for a while.  We made a forsythia branch.  Just talking about this craft has made us aware of seeing them as we walk around town, at the arboretum, etc.

 We decided to wake Claire up because she was sleeping pretty late.  This is how we found her, asleep on some of the books she'd been looking at.

 A blurry picture but it captures the moment.  Happy to be running at the park in warm weather.

It was definitely a static-y hair day.

 More static.

About to go down the double slide together.  (I really like this cute moment, but minutes later was mediating whose side of the slide was whose.)

Call Day #100, 4/9/12

In case you might have missed it, we've reached Call Day #100!

 After a quiet moment of getting things done while the kids played, I went to investigate.  They were in Claire's room and had totally taken apart the alphabet floor mat and moved furniture around.

This was all part of an effort to make a "trampoline" out of couch cushions under the window and establish a better vantage point for watching for the street cleaner to come.

After running errands this morning, we spent some time at a park.

Eleanor practiced pumping her legs on the big kid swings. 

 Climbing.

 Stomach swinging.

Eleanor and this girl played together better than I've seen her play with anyone else we've ever met at a park before.  They created all kinds of constantly evolving imaginary situations and acted out all of the Cinderella story.

 When we got home, Claire went right away to put the flowers she picked for Daddy in water.

 After nap, we went to the Arboretum.  They liked checking out a little brook.

 Not sure what Claire was expecting of our outing.  It took her a little while to enjoy being there.  She kept saying, almost crying, "I want to go to the ar-dor-etum."  Telling her we were already there didn't seem to compute.  Eleanor, on the other hand, took off running and exploring.

 Warming up to the ar-dor-etum.

 Finding Eleanor during a game of hide-and-seek.

Wanting to be like Eleanor and hide too.

 Can you find Claire?

 From hesitant to little explorer, leading the way, stick in hand.

Eleanor walked the full length of this dry rock bed.  Much better than the grass or the path, you know. 

 Playing in the dirt.

 Eleanor's main goal was to find the "purple trees" we had seen as we had driven by the Arboretum earlier in the day.  After much searching, she found one.

Rolling down the hill.

 Eleanor found a fun tree seat.  Claire wanted to check it out.

 Sweet.

 In a cherry tree.

 Wondering why it didn't have any cherries.

 Someone couldn't leave without another visit to the creek.  Like father, like daughter?

 Yes, it is a day later than most people, but we did Easter baskets tonight.  (I like a bit of separation from the celebration of the resurrection on Sunday.)  Eleanor was excited to have grass like some of her friends had at an egg hunt on Saturday morning.

 Enjoying goodies from Grandma and Grandpa.  (Thank you!!)

 Claire is big on saying "Cheese!"

Blowing her bird water whistle.

Call Day #99, 4/5/12

We've been talking about Easter and the events of Jesus's life leading up to the celebration of His resurrection on Sunday.  Here the girls are "playing Hosanna."  There are garments on the ground and they have palm branches in hand to wave.

They love reenacting this scenario.

Showing off their palm branches.  (We live in Boston--no real ones to be had around here.)

No donkey around?  Who will play Jesus?  That doesn't stop the reenactment.  This is their choice of how to have Jesus ride in across the garments spread before him.

We included some grape juice and bread in our lunch today and talked about how Jesus told the disciples what was about to happen to him.  Hopefully this also helps Eleanor understand what we remember with communion each week.

Claire in her new big girl bed after nap.  She has not yet gotten out of it at all and has slept well through the transition.  She still didn't get out of it today--just crawled to the end of it and helped herself to books off of her bookshelf.

A very simple craft this afternoon.  We cut out praying hands and talked about how Jesus spent time praying in the garden.

Of course, there was some silliness.

And laughing.

But then, I got busy with something else, and when I turned around I found Eleanor's blank hands looking like this.  Instantly, I knew what she had done.  Without prompting, she had drawn Jesus's wounds on his hands.  Thankful for her simple drawing and the bit of understanding it reflects.

Before dinner we headed out to the park.  Claire brought along bubbles.

Her delight at successfully blowing some.

Two-handed technique.

 Eleanor tries out Lila's scooter.

 Flowers.  For me?

Yes, it's the time of year when I get dandelions-a-plenty.