Molly's Smile

The baby whose smile caused so much stress and uncertainty at birth, has turned into an almost 4 year-old with almost perfect naturally rose-colored lips.

Believe it or not, this is Molly without the benefit of lipstick, Chapstick, a Popsicle, or even a fancy camera filter... just afternoon light in our dining room!

 

The Hippo

I think it's safe to say that when you're assigned the role of hippo in the kindergarten play, your teacher just might be at the end of her rope with you.

Just days after blithely telling her teacher "no" at clean-up time a couple of weeks ago (I'm cringing as I type that... that is not a word I could have fathomed using with a person of authority), Clara came home from school and announced that everyone had learned what their roles were for their play, and she was the hippo.

She also reported that everyone howled when she was given the role, but, in true Clara fashion, she was completely okay with playing an obese swamp dweller.

In fact, she wanted to get straight to work on creating her mask for the play, but after five failed attempts at creating a hippo face on a paper plate, we tabled it while we headed off to Scottsdale and then to Italy.

Who knew how hard it was to paint a hippo, and really, what does a hippo even look like? Luckily, Google came to the rescue. We waited until two days before the play to turn in our effort, and rushed the photo op, thereby searing black paint-covered Super Glue onto both of our fingers.

This little hippo made the very best of her role, and even wanted to dress in grey from head to toe the day of the play.

Now, we just need to work on hippo manners and being a little bit more of a teacher's pet.

Easter 2014

Easter wouldn't be Easter without a mad scramble of a morning, getting kiddos dressed and ready for Mass while still allowing time to explore the goodies in their baskets and find the eggs in the yard.

 

The Cassanegos spent the night with us, adding to the fun -- and the craziness! -- with Pikaia getting to hunt for eggs for the first time!

 

 

Luckily, this year, our Easter afternoon made up for the craziness of the morning. We got to unwind and relax with cousins and grandparents in spectacular weather, and even broke out swimsuits and blew up the giant waterslide to burn off all that Easter candy!

 

 

With a "big kid" table and a "little kid" table, no one is without a buddy ... or two or three... to hang out with, except for baby Luke, but he had his doting grandparents all to himself!

March Madness

In between our Scottsdale trip and our kid-free getaway to Italy at the end of the month, we squeezed in a whole lot of silliness, playtime, park visits, a hugely anticipated sleepover with cousin Marco, doctors' visits, a daddy-daughter dance, lawn tea parties, and St. Patrick's Day!

 

We snapped a picture of Joey having his first real phone call with a friend (best bud Andy), and learned that if both Joey and Clara are invited to a rock-climbing party (for buddy Michael), the six year-old will definitely outshine the 8 year-old, climbing higher, faster, and completely without fear. We also learned that the six year-old will definitely rub this in.

 

Clara discovered a new comic favorite -- Calvin and Hobbes -- at her piano studio, and Joey loved surprising cousin Megan at her basketball game midway through the month. He also paid closer attention to the game than anyone else in attendance, except for Megan's daddy, Coach Matt :)

 

At Clara's very belated 6 year-old checkup, we discovered that Clara is still solidly middle of the pack for height (47 inches and 50th percentile) and getting heavier and heavier to pick up (54 pounds and 80th percentile).

 

Finally, puppy Georgia keeps growing. She just turned one, is hovering just below 100 pounds, and continues to let our crew climb all over her, lay on her, and even try to ride her.