St. Patty's Day (Will the new baby girl look Irish too?)

We have celebrated St. Patrick's Day since we moved to the Denver Street house four years ago. Mostly because our neighbor Maybell is Scottish and hosts a party every year. (She says that being Scottish is close enough to being Irish--close enough to have a party anyway.) Many people think we have Irish heritage because of the girls hair. (Truthfully, I am mostly Scandinavian and Alex has some of everything in his background--including Danish and English.) Together we make Irish looking kids--the girls look especially Irish in green.

Here are the dancing Leprechauns after preschool on St. Patrick's Day. Challenger had a Leprechaun come an mess up their classroom and leave them treats. After that the girls thought that the Leprechaun would come and mess up our house too. (Thank you Challenger for making parents responsible for celebrating yet another holiday.) I told the girls that the Leprechauns only came to some houses and schools--they are tricky like that. (But they still kept looking for signs of the Leprechaun all day.)

Ridin' a Rhino and Seein' Siberian Lynxes

Another day at the zoo--we are trying to get in as many days as we can before we move away from it. It was a really warm day in March, we had just past the Elephants and Rhinos and Sophie said she wanted to ride one. I said that would be fun, but what about their sharp hornlike tusks? I had forgotten that there was a statue of one just down the hill. So we decided to ride the Rhino.

That same day we saw not one, but three Siberian Lynxes (Alex said that this was plural for Lynx). This was a really exciting thing for me because we have NEVER seen them! I was beginning to think that the exhibit was a ruse and that their were no Siberian Lynxes. But low and behold, at exactly 5:07 pm--three of them emerged from their den and were looking to the south. I think they were waiting for the zoo keeper to feed them. Did you know that Siberian Lynx have really short stubby tails and really pointy black tipped ears? These might be my favorite of the big cat family--besides the Amur Leopards. I think they are from Siberia too.

Spring Cleaning

Due to my somewhat cumbersome pregnant state cleaning the bathtub has become a real drag. I tried to delegate it to Alex, but he refused by pretending not to hear me as I complained about the dirty tub and asked him if he could clean it. Then I got to thinking about the early 1900s when people had children for the purpose of helping to support the family (this was before the child labor laws). So I suggested that the girls get their swimsuits on and help me to clean the bathtub. It went so well that I am now thinking of other chores to have them help me with.

Esmé really got into it. She loves the water and being in her swimsuit. The bathtub was sparkling clean after we were finished--and no one even slipped and fell and cracked their head. These girls are just as good as the mice Cinderella had.

I have to add that Alex did clean the tub last week--he did a great job too. What a great husband.

March Snow

Today it snowed alot and it occurred to us that we hadn't built any snowmen this year. So we made some smallish snowmen with the snow we had.

I know they were small, but it was fun and it was about all Esmé and Sophia could take. Any longer and they would have gone inside anyway. FYI, Sophia is not wearing gloves because she lost one at Costco and 2 other sets randomly. They've both learned alot about putting their own clothes on this year. As a result, Sophia wouldn't leave the house in the winter without gloves (until they were all lost).

Victorian Princesses

If only they were this demure all the time. Who wouldn't want to take them home and play with them? But then after a few minutes the red headedness kicks in.

My cousin Katie surprised me with some beautiful pictures of the girls for my birthday. What a great gift. Here are a couple of the shots she took. The bottom picture totally captures the girls doing what they do best...

Guilty Pleasures

For those of you who don't know, among my guilty pleasures is an obsession with vampires. It started when I was thirteen. Instead of some fluffy vampire piece like Twilight, I was initiated by Bram Stokers Dracula. Over the years I have watched many vampire movies, some good some bad and read many vampire novels. Until now, my favorite has been Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. My twin sister, Kristen introduced me to the Sookie Stackhouse series when I was out in Kansas this winter--Yea! It has just the right amount of raciness and intrigue that a good vampire novel should have.

The newest edition comes out in May 2009 and I am waiting with bated breath.