Lions in Spring

March came in and went out like a lion this year.  The last day of March and we had rain, sleet, freezing rain and snow.  Oh and that was after a long weekend of non-stop rain which left about 4 inches of standing water covering half of our back yard.  To say we are ready for warmer weather and spring is an understatement.

I think the birds agree as we have been hearing them happily chirp all day long in the bushes near our driveway.  The kids painted bird houses as a little craft today at home and after patiently waiting for them to dry, we finally hung them up!  Hoping some birdies use them as a new home.

Katie painted her bird house, pink, purple, red with splashes of white.

Mikey painted his red, green and blue with a few bits of brown and yellow.

Mikey's finished product.

Ready to hang.

Yes!  A sunny day...finally!  He's proud of his bird house too!

Here birdie birdie.

Month of March

It's been a long and bitterly cold month.  We are trying to weather the last of March by sticking to our normal schedule with a few things thrown in here and there.  We didn't really do anything overly exciting this month but I did snap a bunch of photos of us doing random things......so here goes!

Daddy taking both the kids out for the afternoon!

Our brave Katie during Critter Caravan at school.

 A new meal for dinner beef and Peppers. Recipe is (here).

Almost done with the first month of Insanity and loving it!

Mikey checking out the books at the library.

Doing a tornado experiment.

Napping.  His cheeks get so rosy!

Lucky Charms and green milk for St. Patty's Day.

Lots of snuggles by these two kiddos.

I love lighting this candle from The Honest Company at night.  Smells like orange creams-icicle.

Play date with Vicki and Manny.

We braved a semi-warm afternoon for riding bikes....

....and scooters at a friends house.

The one warm day in March that we could put the windows down a crack.

Brotherly love.

Another play date with twins from school.

Mikey took this picture of me.

Being silly!

Sweet and silly..

....just plain silly.

One of our first chapter books.  We are currently reading Stuart Little and the kids love him.

"Mom, I want to be a chef like you" said Mikey while making jello.

Gym class at Great Play....

.....really tires Katie out.

They finally spotted the ladder in the corner after coming here for 2 months!

Peeing in the driveway.

These are super yummy!!!!

The ipads at the library kept the kids engaged for an hour.

Here's our Stuart Little book.

A picture Katie drew at school of a person.  The red squiggles spells Mommy.

She puts these away, every single time we do the dishwasher.

Indoor play date.

Abby and Katie.  Such sweet girls.

Throwback Thursday.  The first time Scott met my family at my mom's July 4th birthday party years and years and years ago.

This huge choo choo train can be yours for $2K at Home Goods.

Dad's know a lot but Grandpa's know EVERYTHING.

My Dad drove up for a quick 3 day weekend.  We drove him all over on Friday and gave him a taste of what our busy schedule looks like.  On Saturday we went to the Stamford Nature Center to let the kids burn off some energy before the rain set in.  While we were there we experienced our very own Private Tour of how Maple Syrup is made.  (We went to the Maple Sugar Festival at the Nature Center a few weeks ago and also went on a field trip to learn about it with Mikey's class but being able to ask questions and interact directly with the Maple Syrup Maker was awesome!)

 We learned that the maple syrup has to be heated to precisely 219 degrees (which is really hard to do with a wood burning stove).  Also, there are 6 different grades of Maple Syrup.  Usually Grade A is made at the beginning of the season and Grade B is made near the end.  Also, the temperatures at night and the following day need to be just right for any sap to flow from the trees.  You also need at least 12 inch circumference for each tap on a maple tree.  Those were just a few quick facts we learned among a lot of other stuff.

Katie loves coloring and painting.  Papa joined her.

Papa got to get up close and check out all the equipment. Mikey was very interested too.  Especially the part where we get to sample taste.

I spy a Katie bug.

 This tortoise named Sully was really getting his workout for the day.  He was really friendly but was serious about logging in some miles.  He was walking around the entire room for the 20 minutes or so that we were in there.  The funny thing was he was going so fast that every picture I took of him looked like to one below...all blurry.  But he was bookn' it!  Mikey is normally shy at doing certain things especially if there are a large number of people around.  He doesn't like the attention on himself.  But when the staff person got out a snake he showed no hesitation when he walked over to pet it.  I was amazed.  I couldn't even get out a quick warning to him to be careful.

Go, Sully, Go!

This particular snake that Mikey touched will be going to the Bronx Zoo soon.

Sully is 12 and will live to be 100 years old and will grow 3 times his current size.  I can't believe people had him as a pet!