Easter

We didn’t remind Norah that it was Easter Sunday so she was very surprised to find her basket on the table. Alice of course climbed right onto the table to get a closer look at her loot. Look at my pretty flowers! Just kidding – this is Paula’s porch. Thank you to Susan for the pretty dresses for the girls and the fun candy filled toys for their baskets! We had dinner with friends and yet another Egg Hunt! 

Easter Preamble

My kids are at such great ages. We had so much fun celebrating Easter this year and ample opportunities to do so!

Norah picked up on the Easter Bunny (School? TV? Friends?) and was talking about him/her nonstop soon after St. Patty’s day. She was drawing pictures for the Easter Bunny and thinking of things she needed to tell him and asking to meet the Easter Bunny etc etc. I was getting worried we were going to have to do the Shopping Mall thing to arrange a meeting but fortunately Norah’s friend David from preschool invited her to his neighborhood Easter Egg hunt in University Park and guess who was there? Celebrity sighting!! It was a cold rainy day but even so this was not a party to miss! There was face painting, someone making balloon animals, bouncy houses, and breakfast. University Park is to Dallas as Eagleton is to Pawnee. David’s parents invited us to their 4th of July celebration – I can’t wait.We also dyed eggs twice. Once at our house and again at Hope’s house. Hope’s mom made her own natural egg dyes. I’ve always wanted to try this but it seemed like a lot of work so it was nice to have the best of both worlds and have someone else do all the work for me.I didn’t take any pictures of the kids but I did get one of the good looking eggs Later that day (Good Friday) we went to another Easter hunt with the moms from church. I was surprised how into it Alice was (she slept through the other egg hung so this was her first). I don’t remember Norah being so excited about egg hunts but then again in Ithaca we just had to hide eggs in someone’s apt because it was so cold. Nicolasa  Norah and Hope were serious egg hunters so it was tough getting pictures of them. Alice loves slides!

Alice in March

Alice never gets tired of going to the park and she’s very independent when she’s there. I’m always saying how different Norah and Alice are but she reminds me soooo much of her sister at the park. She’s very active and adventurous just like Norah. And she LOVES slides She desperately wants to be treated exactly like Norah – so much so that she’s begun protesting her high chair and climbing into the kid chairs at the table. I had set this plate on the table for Norah and Alice thought she was so sneaky getting to it first. I usually make Alice a bigger breakfast than I do for Norah and sometimes when I take her out of her high chair she will polish off Norah’s plate too. Here she is eating her first breakfast with her daddy very early in the morning I have to keep my eye on Alice these days. She’s very resourceful when she wants to be. One day she believed that I had treats in a certain cupboard (there had been treats there previously) and she kept pushing a chair all the way across the kitchen and climbing onto the counter. She did this over and over again.

Norah in March

Norah is so much fun. She surprises me with her sense of humor

One day while we were busy getting Alice ready for bed Norah managed to zip herself into a pair of Alice’s 18-24 month jammies (formerly Norah’s). This just goes to show what a petite girl Norah is because these jammies are pretty tight on Alice. We were grateful to Norah for stretching them out.These are the moments we’re grateful for our phones to capture the moment! Here is one of Norah trying to get my attention by taking my glasses from me: Norah LOVED the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Dallas didn’t post ANYWHERE online exactly where the parade would be so we probably walked 3 miles or more looking for it! When we finally got there the people in the parade were just wearing green t-shirts, riding on trucks and drinking and dancing making them indistinguishable from the people in the crowds. Bryan and I would have felt like the day was a total bust except that cheerful Norah was chattering away about the green necklace someone gave her and the dog she saw in the green tutu and so on and so on. She talked to dozens of people on our trek and made them all smile. Norah is always asking people to dance with her. Here she is dancing with Frederick at the zoo And she is always picking flowers. She knows she’s only allowed to pick weeds but we have some beautiful weeds here in Texas. She is affectingly generous and has given away many bouquets to me and others.

Arboretum

I love the Dallas Arboretum Last year the Arboretum had a series of houses representing different artists (Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Seurat). This year there is a series of houses representing different Explorers.

Marco Polo (An Asian Pagoda) Ponce de Leon (Fountain of Youth) Captain James Cook (South Pacific Tiki Hut) Lewis & Clarke . . . and lets be honest, Sacagawea (Canoe and Teepee)

Alice trying to squeeze her bottom next to Norah’s for the journeyNorah either contemplating the significance of the exploration, or demonstrating her resolve to keep her seat   Norah rowing with her imaginary oar Not Pictured due to necessity of constant supervision: Hernán Cortés (Aztec Pyramid with a slide down the side)

Not Pictured because I couldn’t find it: Admiral Byrd (Arctic Dome) – We have still some exploring to do!

Dallas Heritage Village

Last week was spring break for all of Dallas – even preschoolers. We avoided our usual hangouts because of anticipated crowds and instead explored a new one: The Dallas Heritage Village. It was actually my friend Angela’s idea to go (a mom of one of Norah’s preschool friends). I had never even heard of it and apparently no one else had either because the place was practically empty – and it was spring break!!   It was so nice to not have to stress about keeping track of them in a crowd. We spread out the picnic blanket and then just let the girls run around and explore. Just by luck we visited on the 2nd Wednesday of the month which is when they host a free playgroup complete with a story time, craft, and old fashioned games. This is Norah’s friend Hope A local women’s group had decorated the village with their knitting and it was so beautiful. They had thought of everything, flowers, birds laundry They had also made hobby horses and left them waiting outside the houses and shops for the children to find. What horse? Where? Got it! We will definitely return to this hidden gem of a hangout. I hope this post gives this place a bit of badly needed publicity because it is underappreciated. Kids under 4 are free people!

Primary Temple Trip

On March 2nd our ward Primary had a special activity at the temple. The children were able to sit inside the lobby for a lesson and met the temple president. All the children took great pains to be reverent and when the temple president requested that they sing “I Love to Sing the Temple” they all tried to sing through whispers. It was pretty funny.