Wherever You Go, There You Are

Me, in the car with all the kids chattering: Hold on a minute, guys. I don't know exactly where I am right now.

David: I know where you are, Mommy! You're right here! You're on this street!

Easter Party

Our friends hosted an Easter brunch and Easter egg hunt after church. We went home and put on comfortable clothes and then headed over. It was lots of fun, and there were lots of eggs for all the children.

At Last!

After 40 days of Lenten sacrifice, Charlie was so happy to be reunited with Harry Potter in all forms (books, movies, and HP Game Boy games) now back in his life. Sarah was pleased to play her Game Boy again. They both did a great job throughout Lent.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

Earlier that morning... waiting to go downstairs together
Allison finds her basket
Sarah finds some eggs
Charlie finds his basket in the bathtub
Dyeing Easter eggs

Egg Hunt

The merriment continues, with eggs and baskets and lots of chocolate.

Waiting for the Bunny

The Mackadorables are nestled all snug in their beds. They continued the tradition of all sleeping in one room on the eve of a big holiday. They set out carrots for the Easter Bunny, with this note (written by Charlie):

Dear Easter Bunny,
Thanks for giving us candy year after year. And as a thanks, we're giving you carrots.
Thanks, Charlie, Sarah, Allison, and David
(they each signed their own names, except for David)

At bed time, they had lots of questions and comments:

Allison: How does the Easter Bunny get in the house?
Mommy: Um, I'm not really sure. Do you guys know?
Charlie: Maybe he comes down the chimney.
Sarah: Yeah. That's what Santa does.
Mommy: Yeah. Maybe you're right. Let's look on the internet tomorrow and see if we can find out.
Charlie: I think the Easter Bunny doesn't deliver all of the eggs himself. I think he has helpers, like Santa's elves. Maybe each of them gives out the eggs to, like, one county.
Mommy: Just a county?
Charlie: Or maybe the whole state.
Mommy: Or maybe each helper does one county in each state, or at least in each time zone. That would help them take advantage of the time zones to get it all done. Because really, the night lasts a long time if you think about all the time zones in the world.
Charlie: Yeah, you're right.
Allison: How does he find our Easter baskets?
Mommy: I don't know.
Sarah: How does he know all our names?
Charlie: The Easter Bunny knows the names of all the children in the whole world. He knows everything.
Allison: Will he know I'm sleeping in this room?
Mommy: Oh yes. Because we do that for all the holidays, so he's found you before.
Sarah: But how does he bring all the baskets?
Mommy: I think it's Easter magic, kind of like Christmas magic.
Sarah: Like Gallagher?
Charlie: Yeah. Like Gallagher.
Allison: I'm so excited for Easter!
Charlie: Yeah! But the real reason for Easter is because of Jesus.
Sarah: Yeah. He rose from the dead on the third day after Good Friday.
Allison: I know. So he wasn't terrified anymore on Easter.
Sarah: Mommy, if I find a lot of eggs, is it OK if I share them with David?
Mommy: Yes. It's lovely if you share them with David.
Charlie: We all can share them with David, can't we?
Mommy: Absolutely.
David: And I'm going to be lovely, and pleasant.

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Our neighbors hosted an Easter egg hunt for all the children on the street. The children collected a lot of eggs and got a great head start on gobbling up Easter candy.

The four-and-under crowd gets a head start.

The big kids wait for their turn.

Success!

Hunting for eggs

David found candy-filled eggs, a tennis ball, and a plastic baseball in his search of our neighbor's yard. Don't ask which interested him most. (Hint: it wasn't the eggs.) Sarah stops to sample the wares.

Opening Day for Charlie

Charlie had his first baseball game of the season this morning. He played awesome! He played third base and a little bit of left field, and made some great defensive plays. And he was really strong on offense.

In his first at-bat, he had a great hit to right field and drove in two RBIs. In his second at-bat, he started off batting lefty, but after a couple of pitches he mixed it up and went back to righty. He still idolizes Chipper Jones and still works on his switch-hitting. I think by switching in the middle of his at-bat he did a good job shaking up the pitcher. The next pitch was right down the middle of the plate, and he got a big solid swing at it and belted it to right field for a double, driving in another run.

The camera battery ran out early in the game, but we'll have more photos next week.

Awesome job, Charlie!!

Sarah's Tee-Ball Debut

Sarah played her first-ever tee-ball game this morning, and boy did she have fun. She played third base and had some good defense out there, but her biggest contributions were on offense.

The way her age group works is 3 coach-pitched balls, followed by 2 chances to hit the ball off the tee. In her first at bat, she hit one of the pitched balls! It was awesome. With strong offense behind her, she crossed the plate for her team's first run.

In Sarah's second at-bat, she crushed it off the tee into the outfield with the best hit of the game for either team. She had a very solid double.

Her team got behind early and was never able to recover, but her big bats were huge for her team, and Sarah was awarded the game ball!

Way to go, Sarah!

So Many Eggs

Today while running an errand at Wal-Mart, Allison and David and I saw an "Easter Bunny." He was waving and handing out eggs to the children. As we walked away (and you could see the man's arm through a gap in his costume between his glove and his sleeve), Allison said, "I think that's just a man dressed up like the Easter Bunny. I don't think it's the real Easter Bunny."

Later, they told Charlie and Sarah about it. We agreed that the real Easter Bunny wouldn't be sitting in a store today because he is probably very busy getting all the eggs ready for Easter.

Sarah: He probably has hundreds of eggs he has to get ready. Maybe even thousands!

Charlie: Thousands? Sarah, do you know how many people there are in the world? Six billion!

Charlie and I then proceeded to do the math to estimate how many eggs the Easter Bunny needs to prepare, making a few simplifying assumptions. We assumed that the average global life expectancy is 60 years old (I have no idea if this is a good average or not, but it seemed reasonable and made our math easier); that the population is evenly divided by age (again, we know this isn't true but it simplified our math); that the Easter Bunny brings eggs to children age 15 and under all around the world; and that he brings an average of 5 eggs per child. With those assumptions, Charlie calculated that the Easter Bunny needs to make 7.5 billion eggs!

Good Friday

For Good Friday, we went to a nearby nursing home to visit some parishoners of our church who are no longer able to attend Mass.

We talked to the children about it before we went. Allison ran upstairs and got me a cross she made out of popsicle sticks at Sunday School.

"This is for you, Mommy. It's a cross. It's to help us remember about Jesus and how he got terrified."

Allison told all of the nursing home residents, "Guess what? I play soccer now. I'm in the Tiny Tykes." She is so proud of herself, only she didn't know what to answer when they asked her what position she played or if they've won any games, because at her level they only practice. But a few of the residents told her they have granddaughters her age who play soccer too, and that made her happy. I think all the kids did a great job spreading good cheer for Easter.

The Nightgown

Allison was looking at Sarah's American Girl catalog, and then asked if she could call Gran-Gran. "Sure," we said, not knowing that there was a specific reason she wanted to speak to her grandmother. It turns out she saw a nightgown in the catalog that she liked, and she asked Gran-Gran if she could make her one. Gran-Gran agreed immediately, and Allison trotted off to ask Sarah if she could help her cut out the picture to mail it to Gran-Gran. She also told Gran-Gran it was called the Emily nightgown, so Gran-Gran did some online sleuthing and was able to find a picture that way. About a week later Allison got a package in the mail. It was a custom-made Emily-style nightgown for Allison, a matching one for her dolly Tracey, and some flannel pjs for Tracey's twin brother, Jack Rowan (JR).

Gran-Gran rocks! Allison is so delighted with the new nightgowns for her and her twins! I'm afraid that's a phone call she may try to make again!!

Allison's Soccer Debut

Allison started her soccer career today by joining the Tiny Tykes. Neither Charlie nor Sarah started this young, but she's been dying to play after watching them for so long, so her Daddy signed her up. The way that it works for this age group is that it's a series of practices with a parent. At the end of five sessions, they play a game. In the fall she will be old enough for the regular Under-6 league.

Bryant found her a jersey, shorts, socks and cleats from our stash. She looked adorable - and so grown-up.

She is delighted with herself!

Team 25

On Sundays, the kids have a clean-up routine in the playroom. We call it Team 25. Each child picks up 25 things and puts them away. I time them on my watch, but the grown ups stay upstairs. They come get us when they are all done and the grown-ups do the inspection. When we're all done, we put our hands in the middle like a sports team and yell "Twenty-five!" The cheer is their favorite part, and usually we do it a few times.

Today it took a long time for them to clean up, so the children and I were brainstorming ways for them to finish the clean-up faster next time. I was helping draw out ideas but was trying to keep it very kid-led: they can do it their way, in their time, without parent interference. I made a point to that effect, and Charlie said, "Hey! Can I be the President?"

Sarah immediately jumped in. "Can I be the Vice President?"

Allison: "Can I be the Princess?"

David looked up. Sarah said, "David, what do you want to be? Want to be the Prince?"

David: "No! I'm the Grinch!"

Charlie's Honor Chorus

Charlie was selected to represent his school in the county-wide Honor Chorus. Only two boys and two girls can be chosen from each school. They performed this weekend and it was a wonderful show. The kids have been practicing their music for a couple of months now, and had a half-day workshop on Friday and most of the day on Saturday. Our favorite song in the show was "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing."

Congratulations, Charlie! We're proud of you!

School Dance

Friday night we attended the Father/Daughter Mother/Son dance at the kids' school. (Allison and David hung out with Ellie and her mom). We had a great time!

"Daddy, may I have this dance?"

Sarah loves rock 'n roll! Put another dime in the jukebox, baby!

Fransine, Samantha, and Sarah

Our handsome dates

As Uncle says, "let the dancing girls dance!"

No Deposit, No Return

Sarah, as Bryant paid our check at a restaurant: "Why do you need a receipt for food? It's not like you can return it -- you've already digested it."

I laughed, so she went on. "It's not like you can return a bag of throw-up with the receipt. So why do they give you a receipt?"

Do You Mind?

Allison, after hearing a conversation between me and Bryant: Mommy, why does no mean yes if you ask if you mind something?

Paul is Dead

David wore his Beatles shirt yesterday, which always inspires a lot of comments from adults he sees. So perhaps the Fab Four were still on his mind today.

Me, at nap time, calling out from my room to Allison and David's rooms: Are the little ones in bed?

David: What, Mommy? One of the Beatles is dead???

Where's the Race?

Last night was the school auction, so they had a movie night for the children while the parents shopped. The kids wore their pajamas and brought sleeping bags and pillows for a "High School Musical Marathon."

When we picked them up at 10 pm, the adults in charge said that Allison asked them several times, "How is this a marathon if nobody's running?"

The Junk Group

While Daddy took the big kids fishing, I took the little ones to get Allison's hair cut. She really only wanted to get her hair cut for the lollipop. Afterwards, we went to Target.

Allison: Mommy, when we get home can I have a snack?
Me: You just had a lollipop!
Allison: That's not a snack; that's a treat. Because it's junk.

Gone Fishing

Daddy took Charlie and Sarah fishing and hiking at his hunting club yesterday afternoon. They had a great time and each caught a fish. Next time we want to go with them!

The Big D

Allison: Mommy, how do people get un-married when they’re married?
Me: Yeah. That’s hard. It’s called divorce. Have you ever heard of anyone getting divorced?
Allison: No.
Me: Well, it’s when …
Allison: You dump somebody?
Me: Um, yes.
Allison: But doesn’t that hurt their feelings?
Me: Yes.
Allison: Well, I’ve heard of someone getting dumped.
Me: Who was that?
Allison: Jake Ryan.
Me (thinking of Sixteen Candles): Who??
Allison: Jake Ryan. He’s on Hannah Montana, that we used to watch.

(Hannah Montana has been banned from our house due to just this sort of PG worldliness unbecoming preschoolers.)

Hammering Hank

Charlie dressed up as Hank Aaron for his Black History Month project at school. He had to choose a famous black American, research facts about his person, and develop and present a one-minute summary of the person's major accomplishments. He did such a great job he was one of the 3 children selected from his class to do his presentation in front of the whole school at the school assembly. Parents were invited, so we got this on video. Way to go, Charlie!

Click on the arrow at the left (below) to play the video.

Homophones

Allison and I noticed a woman's coffee mug that had 3-D pictures of peppermints on it.

Allison: Mmm! I love peppermints. And I bet I'd love peppermint and coffee mixed together.
Me: Ooooh!
Allison: Was that "Ewww" like gross, or "Oooh" like good?