another beautiful weekend for fishermen's festival

last night i took the girls to see the miss shrimp pageant. at first they were really into it. then after two hours, they were pretty done. and they were only half way through the talent portion! crazy!
this morning we got downtown in time to see most of the lobster boat races and the crate running. then the girls colored on boothbay house hill (the kids do a big chalk mural there now every fishermen's festival), then we were done.
it was so warm and sunny and wonderful though! we spent the rest of the day outside, except for a short stint inside wherein nick and i took naps and nina read amelia bedelia aloud to us. she's such a great reader, i'm so proud of her.

then it was dinner and more playing outside at mom and dad's. as we left for the night, maggie ran up to the living room sliding doors from the deck outside and shouted, "goodnight! don't get any mischief!!"

haha! such a funny little girl!

*oops, i wrote "don't get any trouble" the first time, but nick reminded me that she actually said "mischief."

so you've heard about the royal wedding?

well, as irritating as the coverage is, you should all know that it has served a noble purpose. this evening, nina hit her head on the closet door and was crying. my poor baby! so i said, "hey, did you know there's going to be a real royal wedding tomorrow?"
the crying stopped. "really?" she said.
"yes," i said. "a real live prince will marry a princess. well actually, she's not a princess just yet, but she will be after they get married."
"really," said nina, very deadpan.
"yes," i said. "really."
"you're really not joking?"
i nod.
"really. for real. really there's going to be a princess get married?"
(can you tell she didn't believe me? this kept going for a while. all deadpan. it was quite funny!)

woo hoo! she was very excited and totally forgot about her injury. now i have to turn on the TV in the morning and watch some recap, but she'll be excited. so, there you go, next time they interrupt real news for that rubbish, know that it perked up my little princess!

happy easter!

we got some fantastic pictures of the girls at easter. enjoy!

back to school today

nina wasn't thrilled to go in the morning, but i told her maggie and i would come for lunch, and then she warmed to the idea. i think maggie was as sad about nina going as nina was!
and who could blame them, they had such a great time playing together all day during vacation. maggie was lonely all day, poor kid. i'm just not as fun as nina, no matter how hard i try.

the weekend was also super fun. chester was here, so that was nonstop action, and then easter of course. nina had been looking forward to easter for a long time. we did easter baskets here, then church had an easter egg hunt on the lawn, i hid candy and wrote clues to it at mom and dad's house, and isabelle hid giant eggs full of candy for them. lucky little girls!

i must say, my clues were excellent. one clue led to the next, and i put little chocolate eggs that mom and bought with each one. the girls each had their own clues, too. nina's were written (in rhyme, of course, because clues are better when they rhyme), and maggie's were pictures of things i could draw (like, the fishtank and the clock in the dining room). doing pictures for maggie was nina's idea, she really wanted them each to have their own treasure hunt. it was a great idea!

i have pictures, of course, but i haven't downloaded them yet. i think i am too tired to get the camera from upstairs tonight so hopefully tomorrow. the girls looked adorable in matching pink easter dresses though!

also, i'll keep it quick, but there is much garden news. i transplanted the tomato seedlings to larger containers because they sprouted their first true leaves. the fennel is sprouting, the brussels sprouts look leafy and big, and i even have one cantaulope seed that sprouted. nothing from the watermelon or nasturtium, but i'm trying to be patient. those are what i've started indoors so far. i'm probably going to get a jump on a few more things by the end of this weekend, and then take a break until it's time to sow the post-last frost seeds directly into the soil. then i get to watch things die, lol!!!!!

vacation week!

well, it's been a lovely week. mostly sunny and in the upper 50s, with lots of playing outdoors, bike riding, and walks up the road to get the mail. maggie has been so happy to have nina at home and they've been playing so well together all day. melts a mother's heart!

today the three of us went to story hour at the library, where we enjoyed an easter egg hunt, snacks and juice, story, craft, and music and dancing. maggie was really in to the dancing. her hokey-pokey is adorable! she has also started hopping on one foot, which she's really excited about, AND has been happily wearing a jacket when it's chilly (for the most part). i've been getting a LOT of mileage out of the upcoming easter candy bonanza. i've told her that she'll get lots of easter candy if 1) she wears her jacket when it's cold, and 2) stops eating her boogers. i know, it's gross, i should keep it out of the blog. poor maggie's going to read this one day and be so embarrassed. sorry maggie.

and she's adorable, but she torments me. when i first started discouraging her from eating the boogers, she started putting them on her tongue and sticking her tongue out at me. i thought girls were supposed to be all sugar and spice? lies. i've probably made you all nauseous and erik swear to stop reading the blog forever, but so be it. i value an honest record of their childhoods above all else. maggie's just happens to involve an unpleasant amount of snot.

assorted cuteness

here are a few isolated little bits of nina and maggie cuteness:

scene: in nina's room, helping her pick out clothes one morning before school.
me: how about this pink shirt?
nina: no, i'm not too fond of that one.

fond! tea with the queen then!

scene: at grandma's house, watching a horror movie or something (i wasn't there)
nina: don't worry maggie, it's just fiction.

fiction! when i was a kid it was "pretend." or if we wanted to use more syllables, "make-believe."

scene: at the playground in sharon this weekend
me: nina, you really liked that spinning thing at the playground. do you want me to tell you about why it spins faster when you lean in and slower when you lean out?
nina: yeah!
me: well... (brief description of conservation of angular momentum)
nina: why do heavier things have more energy?
me: well, that's just one of the fundamental laws of the universe.
nina: so, you don't know.

oh snap! the girl's right!

i feel bad because i like to balance out nina cuteness with maggie cuteness, but i can't think of anything off the top of my head. no no no, never never never!

boston!

here are some pics from our sunday in boston:


this is why we didn't end up going to the aquarium. all those people in the photo are the line!! nope, not for us...

good thing there was a carousel just around the corner! that was just as much fun.

aww, nick is crossing the busy city street with the girls. don't they look so big and cute!!

this is a statue of some coach of the celtics. the girls got a kick out of it.

in front of quincy market. not my favorite place (boring!!) but a landmark nonetheless.