Gator Who?

Today I was provided with an excellent opportunity to undo four years of University of Florida brainwashing that has turned Josh into a "go Gators" robot. UNC is playing in the Sweet 16 in Charlotte, so I took Josh out of school early and we went to Bobcat Arena to watch the team practice. We rehearsed saying "Go Tar Heels" in the car so there wouldn't be any embarrassing Gator blunders in front of my fellow alumni.

I'm pleased to say that other than one "Go Targets" blip, Josh was screaming for the Tar Heels like a mad fool. He learned one Tar Heels cheer and charmed our seat mates with his enthusiasm. One guy behind me even said, "Now that kid's been raised right." Mission accomplished.

Egg in the Face

Our neighborhood hosted a post-Easter egg hunt on Monday because many of the kids were out of school, and Josh held his own in the more difficult "older kids" hunt in the woods. Molly and her fellow babies picked up eggs off a grassy field.
The most interesting part of this Easter celebration was our first annual egg toss. Josh was thrilled to get to wear a protective garbage bag and couldn't wait to get his hands on the raw egg. There was no way this situation wouldn't end in disaster, so I volunteered to be Josh's partner to negate any impending craziness. Sure enough, when it was his turn to toss the egg to me (I was standing about four feet away from him) he tossed the egg right at my face. I luckily turned to the side and it bounced off my forehead before splattering on the ground. I'm sorry to say we don't have this moment caught on film.

Happy Easter!

Molly quickly figured out that the plastic Easter Eggs today had chocolate in them, so she was an enthusiastic participant in our Easter Egg hunt! We had lunch at our friends Anne and Gideon's house and then hid eggs for Josh, Molly and Gracie. Molly wobbled around as fast as she could, but after getting distracted by the chocolate she only ended up with two eggs. That turned out not to be a problem, as she just stole some from Josh and Gracie's baskets later.

Here are some pictures from our day:

Here Molly is moving in on Gracie's Easter basket.

Easter Eggs

As you can see from this picture, Josh had been very excited about Easter Eggs this year. We've had several bags of plastic ones around the house for the numerous egg hunts over the next few days, but when things got a little slow this afternoon I decided we should try coloring our own. I only had six that I could spare, but we had to start somewhere! Josh was fascinated with the eggs changing colors.

Our project got a little complicated when we introduced Molly into the equation, and then it turned into an all-out brawl when she went for the eggs. When Josh started screaming, "Molly, NO, bad choices!!" I decided to put the eggs away.

Babies and Books

Molly has recently developed a liking for books (much to my delight), so this morning I took her to Charlotte's new children's library. She had a good time listening to songs, stories and nursery rhymes from a librarian, and then she enjoyed climbing in the computer chair. It gave her a good vantage point for smiling and shrieking, two of her favorite past times.

Emily and Vivy and our friends Sarah and Owen also joined us at the library.

Photo with Live Bunny

The result of the "Photo Session with Live Bunnies" arrived in the mail today, and I should not have been surprised to open the envelope and find this! Once again my kids have delivered a weird shot, and we've wasted $40 on "professional photos." This time we have Molly licking her lips as if the little bunny looks tasty, and Josh looks like he was drug out of bed for a picture. If anyone wants a copy of this gem, I have five extra!

At least the bunny looks cute.

Raise Your Hand if You're Having Fun

Chris' sister Missy, her husband Tyler, and their son Ethan came to visit this weekend, and we had a great time showing them some of our favorite places in Charlotte. The weather was somewhat uncooperative, but we were able to get in a fun trip to the botanical gardens before the storms came through on Saturday.

We ate a picnic lunch outside and then walked through the orchid conservatory and the gardens. We literally were closing the car doors to drive home when the rain started to fall.

Here are a few pictures from our day:

Josh and Ethan tested their luck running between the two fountains that will unexpectedly shoot water over the walkway. They stayed dry, but just by a hair!

Amazingly, all three kids are looking at the camera for this shot inside the orchid conservatory.

This is Josh and Molly's new favorite pose.

Molly demonstrated her dainty eating techniques Friday night when we took Ethan, Missy and Tyler to our favorite pizza restaurant.

Nothing quite says "fun" like ending your Friday evening at Harris Teeter with three kids in a grocery cart! The kids had a good time with the free balloons and cookies, but we didn't have room for many groceries.