class of 2001

on monday, bryan and i purchased plane tickets to attend my

ten year high school reunion this may:

we'll be heading to vienna (home of my alma mater), prague (darringtons, ho!), 

and, just for kicks, howzabout any other european city we might feel like?

('cause we're travelling all cool and childless like that.)

that's right, the wheelers just totally upped their *awesome* ante.

little miss ballet bun

tangled

so i've recently been reviewing my blog and thinking, "yeah, this blog is great, but you know what it needs? more pictures of me."

anyway, not really, but i have been getting a lot of questions about my hair, so i thought i would just publicly come out and confirm the rumours:

yes, i'm growing it out.

about ten years ago i chopped it all off, and it's time to see if i look as bad with long hair (and by "long" i mean "below my ears") as i remember.

and so begins the many (many) months of awkward hairstyles in between.

i hope you all enjoy them as much as i do.

celebrate spring

so the wheelers decided to try a little different approach this year to some of our Easter traditions. the easter bunny (whom summer incidentally believes is made out of chocolate -- she keeps asking, "now can we eat the easter bunny?"), having previously visited our home on the saturday before Easter sunday, has been relegated to a separate holiday all together, and we've instituted a small celebration of the first day of spring, to take place on the first saturday after the vernal equinox. anyway, it's sort of a new idea for us, and we'll keep you posted on whether or not mr. bunny's relocation becomes permanent.

so, first off, the night before, each family member draws another family member's name and writes four compliments and two acts of service for the person they drew, then tucks the slips of paper inside a half dozen plastic eggs. we put all the eggs in a bowl (each one marked with a special sticker to identify its recipient) on the table for the easter bunny to hide.  the next morning, the girls hunt for their eggs and see what good things are inside.

this year, summer and afton drew one another, as did mom and dad:

then, it's time to see what seasonal goodies that delicious, chocolaty bunny has left for my girlies (bright colors! butterflies! fairies!):

and finally, it's out to the yard to play, cultivate the earth, and begin preparations for the season of growth ahead:

  

(hmmm....looks like somebody has already been experiencing a season of growth.)

happy spring!

gold rush

so after our delicious breakfast, 

the girls got going on their rainbow photo treasure hunt.

here is the first clue:

which led them to my (super awesome and aren't you jealous) yellow shoes,

on which was secured a second rainbow-color-clue, and so on and so forth:

until they found the "pot of gold."

which they promptly and securely sequestered in their little banks.



all up, the girls had great fun (and with minimal prep effort on my part, which is always a plus), and summer was stellar at following the clues; however, i think the metaphorical nature of the treasure hunt was a little lost on her. she's still looking around for that pesky *real* pot of gold at the end of the *real* rainbow (like the one in the picture!), but hey, aren't we all?

shamrock shirts

st. paddy's tee creation for my little lady lucks:

tutorial found here.



taste the rainbow

happy st. pat's!



what goes around

today, afton is the exact age (twenty months and five days) that summer was when our family officially became the fantastic four (i.e., i should have totally had another baby by now).

boy, does thinking about that make mommy exhausted (the happy kind, though).

true colors

is it just me, or is summer seriously channeling 

some cyndi lauper with this ensemble?

pi are squared

happy pi day!

ps - summer spontaneously (and much to our surprise!) began counting in spanish as she assembled the pies. and actually, that is not something she learned from ms. explorer, as one might guess. we have a "learn and groove music table" that the girls like to keep tuned to spanish. no matter how many times i change it over to english, it just ends up back in espanol. 

bright lights

remember this guy?

well, he has recently found new purpose as bryan's travelling companion, 

bringing picture messages to the girls from their dad:

hi hat

chocolate banana cupcakes with chocolate covered peanut butter frosting.

recipe here. (note: the melted chocolate should have 2-3 Tbl. of oil, not tsp.)

naked:

dipped:

inside:

don't hate us because we're beautiful.

lucky U

pour mes neveux:

tag found here. 

bless this mess

i'm going to take this as evidence that the girls haven't really caught my meaning 

when i say, "put the toy you are playing with away before getting out another one." 

lovelies

in case you had any doubt

that these were the cutest girls ever.