Both Rooms Are Super Cool In My Opinion

Mara got pretty excited when she saw the finished product.

Tycho: My room is super cool and Mara's room is super lame.  Because my room has a rocket ship, so that's why it's super cool and Mara's room is super lame.





Yes, at some point in the last few months Mara started cooperating with picture-taking, but Tycho stopped cooperating.  Whadya gonna do...

We Painted!

Thanks to the lovely Shari Legere, who brought paints back from the states so we could paint the kids' rooms. Here is Tycho's room:

HE LOVES IT!!

Here, There, And Easter

This is Mara jammin' on the neighbor's keyboard. I am sooo gonna teach this girl piano. She is mesmerized when I play at church. When she gets a chance to play, she bobs her head up and down and laughs and laughs. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever.

This stuffed animal is Mara's favorite. I wouldn't say she HAS to have it with her wherever she goes (she's too independent for that), but she certainly appreciates it when I remember to bring it with us places. And that appreciation is VERBAL. For instance, when I give it to her at bedtime and pull the string (it plays "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"), she says "thank you," and then starts sucking her thumb (aside: it hasn't reached the point yet where the thumb-sucking stops being cute and starts being a bad habit to break).

This is my first time cutting a lobster tail. I did not volunteer for this task. But I concede it was a good learning experience.

This crab was in the garage last night and it FREAKED me out. I walked out to put Jacob's new bag in the scuba room and I heard it scuttling around. I found it by the tire, took a picture, trapped it in the recycling bin, showed it to Tycho this morning, then Jacob set it free.

And here's some Easter stuffs:

Mara and Tycho after their Easter egg haul.

About to color eggs

Finished!

Aquatic Easter egg hunt

Fell asleep that night with his prizes. And he's waving?

In the morning (Easter bunny left a trail of jelly beans to their baskets). Tycho was too excited to eat the trail, just followed it straight to the basket.

Mara, however, stopped and ate each and every one (good thing it was a short trail--just from her room to the closet).

(Mara with her mouth full)

With the loot

And aren't we cute?

BFFs

This is Sara. She is Tycho's best friend. You might say it's unusual, that a three-year-old has a best friend, or maybe I'm just using the term lightly. I assure you, I'm not. He is his mother's son, after all.

It all started at a play group a few months ago. There are normally at least 10 kids that go to play group, and Tycho was equally friendly to all of them. Insert Sara. I'm not sure who took whose toy first, but it became a game. Sara would take whatever toy Tycho had, then run off, and Tycho would chase her (and vice versa). Also, I think maybe they pretend the toy is a football because, inevitably, the chasee would have to get tackled by the chaser.

One time, Jacob took Tycho for a "quick trip" to the NEX... and came back a couple hours later. Apparently, on the way to the store, Tycho saw Sara in the barber shop and he HAD to go keep her company while her dad got a hair cut.

Tycho gets to go to a little church class for twenty minutes (they read a bible story and then color a picture) and he always ALWAYS has to sit next to Sara.

Another place Tycho "has" to sit next to Sara: library story hour. And when we sing the good morning song, they like to put each other in the song:

Miss Kaneisha: Tycho, it's your turn for the good morning song. What would you like to put in the song?
Tycho: SARA!!
Everyone sings (as Tycho and Sara jump together): Good morning! Good morning! We like the little friend that you have. In fact we like her so much we're gonna put her in a song in a song... in a song. Put Tycho and his friend in a song. Hooray!

(note: normally when a kid gets to jump for the good morning song, he puts shoes, or clothes, or toys/stuffed animals in the song, so it goes "... we like the pretty shoes that you wear. in fact we like them so much... put so-and-so and her shoes in a song. hooray!" Get it? That's okay, neither do I, but I sing along anyway)

Sometimes we run into Sara when we're grocery shopping. One time Sara taught Tycho how to ballroom dance right there in the cereal aisle (I really wish I had my camera for that one).

Sometimes (okay, a lot of times) there are genuine tears when these two part company. I guess it's the toddler way of saying "I'll miss you."

Home, Sweet Home

This huge tree is next to our house. It's perfect for climbing, though Tycho is a bit too young for that (so I have to help him).

This is Windmill beach. It's about five minutes from our house. We go to a beach at least once a week.


(this picture is from the day that Jacob went spear fishing at Windmill and caught a barracuda!)

It's common to find frogs and such outside.

...Not so common to find them INSIDE (Tycho got pretty excited to find this frog next to the bathroom). How did it get there??

We went to a farewell party and this hammock was there. The kiddos spent a good hour in it.

In a hammock, next to the beach, in the land of summer. Pretty much paradise.