April - Mercury is in Retrograde

For the past few weeks I've been attributing extraordinarily horrific behaviour to excitement over the Easter holiday fast approaching.... growth spurts.... Nick being a whole lot o' 2... Adrienne being a whole lot of girl.... and a bevy of other excuses that seemed to explain away the madness.
But it was earlier this particular day, just hours before Nick colored his face, Adrienne got sent to her room - twice, and a laundry list of other misdemenors, that I came upon the truth behind all these wretched, who-has-possessed-my-children actions.
Adrienne called me into the family room, "OOOOOooooo!! Mom-MMMYYYY! Look what Nick did!!"
*sigh*
I looked at Greg, shrugged my shoulders & said, "Mercury is in retrograde for 4 more days."
"What's THAT supposed to mean?!?"
"That means we have 96 hours left until the mayhem drops back down to its usual level of controlled chaos."
My calendar has now been updated through the end of 2012 with every Mercury retrograde cycle.
Next time.... I'll be prepared!!!

English muffin pizza night.
A) Adrienne continuing to wear her new headband like a Solid Gold dancer.
B) Nick is absent from this picture due to the fact his arse has been thrown on the naughty chair (again) for having a meltdown over something which neither Adrienne nor I had any clue. He remains absent for the majority of prepping dinner since he is screaming "NOOO! Noooooooooooo!!!!" and blowing rasperberries off in the distance.
He finally decided to calm down and join us....
and made his English Muffin Pizza with EXTRA cheese.

Even with Mercury in retrograde there were a few poignant moments like this one...
Cuddling up together to watch Star Wars while Adrienne continues to rock the 70's headband & slathering Nick with lipgloss...

Another day, another opportunity to prove that she was born 3 decades too late....
(jeez... I think I better get the girl a new pair of pjs... she looks like a sausage!)

This is getting posted for the sheer fun of writing thought bubbles.... We went to Vic's Pizza after Holy Unction...
Nick: "Oooooo! That white shirt would look SO much better with red pizza sauce hand prints!"
Aunt Tasi: "Ewww. Yicky, dirty little children. Oooo Arthur... keep them over on your lap - away from me!"
Uncle Arthur: "Blasted kids in my lap... now I can't get to my BEER!"
Adrienne: "I'm a fish!"

I've been coming home to incredible (and true!) tales of trips to the beach, indoor playhouses, meeting new critters at the barn, playing with kids from all over town and oodles of art projects decorating the house.
But THIS particular project took things to a whole new level. In a battle worthy of Iron Chef....
"Kyo no tema.......... PEEPS!"
Adrienne takes no prisoners as she decapitates the first Peep.

The silent screams of the Peep don't deter Nick either...

No time for petting them... the clock is ticking in Kitchen Stadium...

Rolling out the sticky rice
(sticky Rice Krispie Treat, that is...)

Layering the Peepshimi

Wrapping the roll

"Who take it? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?!"

In a rare Iron Chef deadlock, it was a split decision as everyone devoured Peepshi and took off on explosive sugar highs...

April - Greek Palm Sunday

Well how 'bout them apples... a completely STELLAR picture of them.... TOGETHER! Like in the same frame! And they say miracles don't happen....

The hat was enormous (but matched perfectly with pintuck pleats and happen to be a steal!) how to fix it..... fake flowers & a safety pin!
I'll give you jelly beans if you just let me take one nice picture.
This actually earned him 2 jelly beans.
The boutinniere (aka 'boot'))didn't last long. After a lengthy "NO BOOT! I don't WANT a boot!" battle I finally won with the bribe of 2 more jelly beans. Once I got his coat on I thought we were home free. But we got to church and the usher seated us in the FRONT row of a PACKED house. It took about 5 minutes before he picked at it again & whispered "off, Mommy". OK, ok.... no more boot.... Yes, the 'boot' is made from the same flowers as on Adrienne's hat.

Striking a few poses for me...
The West Side Story Rumble
The Hunchback of Elmwood

Little Orphan Adrienne
(for those fashionistas taking notes, yes there was a shoe change - despite the absolute gorgeousness of the pink satin, peep toe, ballet flat they were a hair too big... she tried SO hard to walk in them... but the only way she could was to shuffle along without picking up her feet.... we'll try again next month with a whole new outfit!)
What is THIS!? ANOTHER great sister-brother shot!?! TWO in ONE DAY!

Wardrobe change & on to Yiayia & Papou's for chocolate, lunch, chocolate, Easter baskets, chocolate, egg hunt and chocolate with the cousins.
Did I mention they got to eat some chocolate at Yiayia's....?

Haven't the foggiest as to what we told her but she was pretty excited about it....!

Whatcu talkin' 'bout WILLIS!?
Trying to recreate the super cute group shot from last year... not so easy when all 4 of them had already spotted (& partially mauled) their Easter baskets.

Egg hunt!
Ready... set.... GO!!!!

Olivia gingerly collected her eggs in her goody bag....

While Tori RAN, and I mean HUSTLED, through the yard. The girl was on a MISSION and knew it was a matter of life, liberty & the pursuit of jelly beans to find as many eggs as she could.
(She's been in egg training the last few weeks to stomp out the competition... Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing pics from the upcoming race against Logan - rumor has it she's going to be sporting a full out jogging suit, sweat bands & Chucks....)

Seriously.... just look at where that child is searching for Easter eggs - in the lattice under the deck! The girl means BUSINESS!!!!

Our 3 therios want no part of us helping them scavenge through their eggs.
Polite little Olivia sits perfectly poised as John OPENS HER EGGS AND EATS HER CANDY!
SO MEAN!!!!

Little Miss Know It All: "It's a jelly bean. And I'm going to eat it!"
Ahh... the sweet taste of success.

Now that everyone is all sugared (and a little boozed) up... time to run it off.

That's all I'm saying....

Adrienne looks on in complete amusement as Uncle Peter locks her daddy in a full nelson...

And now that he's captive.............. TICKLE HIM!!!!

TACKLE HIM!!!!

And ride his sorry ass like the donkey he is!

The donkey turned into a bronco & threw cowgirl.
Adrienne INSISTED I wear her headband. I tried to put it on myself... "NO MOMMY. Like THIS!"

Pretty girl.... I think you're the only one who can pull off that look!

April - "The Easter Bunny is comin' to town today.... JOHNNY"

My parents had quite an action packed day with the kids last week, starting with Easter Bunny Bingo.
I can TOTALLY hear it...
"Nick... turn around..." "NO!"

It was well worth succombing to the advice of his elders because who should appear but.........

THE EASTER BUNNY!!!!

They played bingo, the Easter Bunny came right over & sat with Adrienne & Nick, they darted right up to him afterwards (completely ignoring the line that had started to form. ugh... yes... those are MY obnoxious kids....) and in all little kid ways FREAKED OUT with glee.
Santa Claus... ehh. The Easter Bunny... BRAIN MELTING EXCITEMENT.

After the meet & greet, over to the Cypress for lunch with Greg...
A stop at the park before heading home...
This is DEFINITELY a bad plan, buddy.
So wait... I turn left at the tree stump, right at the holly tree and straight into the street? No... that's not right. Maybe Nick should drive....
I swear it's in the very fiber of their being...
boys + anything relating to dirt = HEAVEN
We have the video 'The Easter Bunny is Comin' To Town' (Rankin/Bass's 1977 follow up to 'Santa Claus is Comin' To Town') which the kids have been asking for incessently since LAST Easter. The rabbit's name is Sunny. For some reason they call him Johnny. And this ISN'T EVEN HOW THE SONG GOES!!!

Ooofs. What more do I need to say??

I'd say somewhere between 5 to 37 times a day we get serenaded by at least one American Idol hopeful, if not both, with Once Upon a Dream. Be forewarned... don't try to correct her version of "I'm eating sam a wanna seem" with the correct lyrics of "that visions are seldom all they seem" because let me tell you something: you're wrong. WRONG! SHE'S got it right.




Cheap thrills.... sitting on the drain.