An April shower of photos

I'm behind again, I know! So here you go!

Dada was dancing with our silly "Dee" and although I can't remember the song, they were certainly having a good time spinnin' around the kitchen!

This girl. That is, yes, marker all over her. During break she decided it would be a good idea to draw all over her face, neck, arms, and fingernails with markers. She was so pleased with her "clown face" that she came downstairs to show me! She wrote her name, tattoo style, around her arm. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH HER!? And body art isn't the end of it. She also graffiti-ed on a different day all over her bedroom table, the back of her bedroom door, her windowsill, and the guest bed quilt! There is a very unhappy Mama here at the Best Nest...

But here is a good one of my Muggin and me. Naturally we're at her house. Lookit the giraffes all over the background ;) This is how we looked when we went to hear the kids' uncle Rob be The Don in Don Giovanni. We had a good time getting gussied up for our first opera. And Rob, of course, was excellent. And thank heavens for subtitles. Heh. It was really fun to go to an opera where you love the lead! ;)

Carrie snapped this one of Grandmama channeling her inner diva. *snicker* Hehe! Love you, Mommee! =D

Not a bad shot of most of the fam. To the FL Reed crew, we missed you! And some of my other AZ cousins are missing too. But you get the general idea of the big shindig. Happy 60th wedding anniversary to Nana and Pap Pap! =D

Carrie swiped our camera and proceeded to document Nana and Pap Pap's 60th anniversary. This is her best shot of Hinrew & Muggin. (M, there is another one that is a great CLOSE UP of your legs. Lemme know if you want it. Heheehheehe)

This is David, my cousin. He was awesome and priceless with the kids. They climbed all over him and he was such a good sport about it. Thank you, David, once again for keeping Carrie occupied! It was great to see you!

A really good one of my Nana, I think!

My aunt Kay, giggling at Carrie as they duel cameras....

Carrie is still going strong with the camera. She's cracking up my uncle Gary, Pap Pap, and Dada.

She caught Muggin and I, too.

All these ladies were tickled to get their picture by someone two feet shorter than them. And THEN Carrie kneeled down on one knee to get this one. I thought they'd all lose it! That's why they're trying so hard to be polite =D

Dada and me... minus the tops of our heads.

My aunt Tammy reading to Carrie.

Probably the best picture ever of my and my Pap Pap together. Isn't he so cute!?

Liam crawled right up onto Pap Pap's bed and started fluffing his pillow. Guess he decided he'd had enough and was getting comfy since nobody had the sense to put him to bed ;) See the tiny peppermints on the nightstand? The little bugger opened one up and helped himself. See more on that later!

Mercifully, they conked out in the car on some of the trips. This was after Nana & Pap Pap's shindig. I turned around to blessed silence and had to get pictures as proof!

Hinrew and Betsy. I think she liked us better on this trip, since Triskal stayed home and played with Michael and Jeannine. Hehe!

Liam found my heels and was clomping all over the house with them. He balanced amazingly well, actually...

...that's one of Betsy's paws in the background. Hehe!

Liam beat us all out of bed on Monday morning. I heard him singing downstairs but didn't think much about it. Dada went down to find him covered in chocolate (see face) and at least 14 candy wrappers from Hinrew & Muggin's candy bowl. Of course Monday would be the day with the most hours in the car! Oy vey........... such a boy. His Hinrew did the EXACT same thing when he was little one Easter Sunday. He discovered a solid chocolate car in his Easter basket, and while dressed for church, proceeded to down quite a bit of it before he was apprehended. Boys! ;)

Journey with Geoffrey, part 1. This is Liam's buddy Geoffrey. I'm going to start a photo album of all the places he goes. The swings are at the playground in Care Bear's first neighborhood- Marianne Estates of Shippenville, PA. She was too little to use the playground when we lived there, but they both loved it last week when Dada had to be in Clarion for the day!

Dada has been bitten by the Breadmaking Bug. These are the loaves he made last night. First attempts. Yummy!

Liam supervising while Dada assembles his tricycle.

Liam "helping" Dada assemble the trike... alas, his legs are too short to pedal the darn thing. He has to scootch way up the neck of the bike to reach the pedals, yet he throws a royal fit if Carrie so much as sits on it. Gonna be a loooong summer, methinks.

It's not easy being green...

Sorry! I know, I know. I just had no motivation to blog there for awhile. This one is from St. Patty's Day when they wore their green outfits. It's the only one I didn't blog from March, and I realize that's only mid-March. Oopsie. April is already better! =) Enjoy!

April adventures!

Here's our "Dee", all decked out for her first bike ride of the season. She spotted those pads at the store when we bought Liam's helmet and decided that she just had to have them, and that it would be okay if she fell off her bike because they would keep her safe. We said, "sold!" (she rode her bike maybe 3 times all last year!) and into the cart they went. She's wanted to wear them everywhere now, so we've had to hide them inside her helmet in the garage. That girl and her accessories...

Liam watching big sister ride in circles.

Drama Diva. Not enough steam to get over the crack in the sidewalk. I look at her and she's sighing huge, dramatic sighs, and shaking her head with her hand on her helmet like that. I made her do it again for posterity. After a few more laps in the driveway, she got really good at going around with no pushes! Must have all the coordination she didn't have last year. And, I guess, the confidence.

Poor Triskal got as close as she could to her girl. Just couldn't stand to not be in on the fun!

While the Drama Diva was carrying on, I checked on Liam. I noticed he was playing very contentedly, in his socks! I said, "buddy, where are your shoes!?" And he told me, "stuck inna sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide, Mama!" Sure enough:

Testing out his snazzy new dinosaur helmet

Dada's "helpers" assisting with all the bike prep. They were soooooooooo anxious to go for rides!

All buckled in safe & sound, for Liam's first time on Dada's bike! He liked it. No comments about "Dada's bum" though, like Carrie's running commentary the first time she rode. *snicker*