I Am a Promise. I Am a Possibility...

The post I have been dreading. The end of pre-K, have to deal with the fact that my oldest is getting older and therefore I am getting older too post. *Heavy sigh*

Luckily, my great big bundle of poten-tial-ity put on a heck of year end show and the jittery camera work was NOT AT ALL due to the fact that I was trying not to sob openly. Nope, I think there was a passing earthquake or something. We were so, so lucky to have a great year at a great school that Luce truly loved. She even ended the year on a high note by "winning" the coveted pre-K family book. And by "winning" I mean I dropped $30 on raffle tickets to help fund wells in Africa. That's what Lucia is taking about when she says charity water in the clip.... kids today with their raised consciousnesses. Honestly. So there was all of that... and meanwhile, Carmen was around too, being neglected of course.   Sorry Carmen, I'll put $30 toward your therapy sessions ASAP.

Wait, Was that May that Just Flew Past Us?!?

Wow, I am so far behind! Gah! Ok, May brought us back up to Maine for Papa's birthday and more cousin fun. The weather was fantastic so we had time to stop and smell the flowers, make a fairy house, and of course, spend some time at the beach. All the activity was exhausting, but luckily moms got to have a night out with their own entertainment. The end of May also brought a flurry of school related activities like art shows and performances. I'll try and upload a video of Luce up on stage, looking adorable in a self-designed doggie hat and singing her heart out. I know it's only pre-school... but I can't imagine 18 more years of this stuff. I either need to have my tear ducts removed or buy stock in Kleenex... or both.

Scoot Over Spring, Here Comes Summer!

In true New England fashion, it seems as though we bypassed yet another season (winter? spring?) and are now in full on summer mode. So what if it's technically a few weeks away, that certainly won't stop these two from jumping in the ocean (in Maine no less!). Along with the warmer temperatures, May brought us the annual Ellen's House egg hunt, birthday parties and some much needed spring cleaning. We are looking forward to a wicked fun summer filled with adventures with pals both big and small. So far, we're setting the bar pretty high.

Spring in Full Swing...

Let's see, the last we left you we were covered in Easter egg dye, and now we've moved on to sand. The girls spent Patriot's Day soaking in the sun down at the Cape with Mama Mer (Mama Fran was at work... the Dutch are lousy Patriots). The Spring weather has been most cooperative with our love of all things playground... did someone say play?! Who would think that Gilbert and Sullivan would appeal to the 5 and 3 year old set? Well, Nonne would and thanks to her part in the wonderful production of Pirates of Penzance, our girls now walk around singing the soundtrack - - tarantara tarantara. Carmen enjoys the "Major Generwal" even though "he tells a lie" and Lucia hopes to "sing as high as Mabel" someday. A mother can dare to dream...

It's the Most Colorful Time of the Year...

Sorry for the delayed Easter post... we've been trying to remove Carmen's Blue Man Group audition body art. The girls enjoyed full immersion egg dyeing this year with their pal Alexa.... although Carmen objected to the term dyeing, "We gonna die the eggs? Noooo!" So we tried to call it coloring for her sake. Another cute Carmenism happening at the moment is her saying "Awwight" (all right). Example, "Carmen please clean up the markers" *heavy 3 year old sigh* "Awwight"... it's adorbs. After the hard work spent on the egg assembly line, we headed over to Mimi's house where you know who had paid a visit. There were treats galore and who gets to have an egg hunt in the woods?!? Oh yeah, these two princesses. Don't tell them we only had about 20 eggs, and when they weren't looking I'd just take one out of their basket and toss it over my shoulder. We could have stayed out there all_day. It's a good thing our girls can eat their weight in hard boiled eggs, they need all the protein for their Olympic training.

She Has In Fact, Lost Her Mind...

So yes, Meredith did have a birthday, get the hair cut and said goodbye to all of her mental faculties. Such is life I guess. Good thing Auntie Alison and newest tribe member Simon came for a visit to soothe the savage beast. Mmmm, baby. Auntie Julie was also on hand to simultaneously entertain and terrify the children. Turns out, Aunties can be quite handy when they're not trying to eat the children. It was our last weekend up north, and while there was no skiing to be had, we did take advantage of the mild weather with some outdoor fun. Aunties sure picked a good weekend to be East.

One Small Piece of Pasta for Luce, One Large Step For Fran Kind...

She looks so sweet and innocent doesn't she? So I feel this blog wouldn't be complete without inclusion of the now infamous "Ditalini story." What is Ditalini you may ask? Well, it is a small cylindrical shaped pasta approximately the circumference of a 5 year old's nostril. Yeeeahhhh.

The afternoon started innocently enough, with the girls playing out on the sidewalk, drawing with chalk enjoying a picnic on the front lawn (which included some cooked pasta leftovers). When all of a sudden Luce said, "Mama... oh no... MAMA!" I looked up at her sniffing little face and she just pointed to her nose. 

Me: "What happened?!?!"

Luce: "I was just trying to be silly!"

Me: "DON'T MOVE!" 

I ran inside to retrieve the tweezers, but by the time I got back outside the pasta had traveled from the edges of the nostril, to half way on up the schnoz. Great. Lucia was starting to panic a bit (and ok, I'll admit so was I) but then I remembered reading something from our local online mom's group about this very situation. So I ask you dear reader -- do you know what to do if you need to get an object out of a nose that can't be reached with tweezers? The solution is remarkably easy, if not slightly nauseating. You simply cover the other nostril (the clear one) and blow into the person's mouth (as though you were administering CPR). Once I got a good seal, the pasta shot out like a bullet. A gross, snot covered bullet... but it was out, and we returned to playing without missing a beat. The whole thing was over in like 7 minutes, but it is a day that will live on IN INFAMY.

Ok, enough drama. Go look at some pictures of my kids.

Wait, one more piece of drama... so Mer turned schmirtysomething this month and had a mid-life crisis. How do I know? I received a text from her with the following message, "Would you kill me if I got this haircut?" So did she get the cut? Am I writing this from jail? Stay tuned for the dramatic conclusion...