Clara Turns 4; Annabel Gets Eggs

Clara had her first true kid birthday party this year. We invited the 3 and 4 year-old girls from her class: Syd, Katie, Sophia, and Maire (who was unable to attend). The girls had fun hunting for their goodie bags which were hidden in plain sight around the house and kept them busy for much longer than anticipated. Then it was onto pizzeta-making. The girls put much thought and effort into choosing their pizza toppings, cheered when the pizzas emerged from the oven, took about 2 to 3 bites apiece, pronounced themselves finished, and went back to playing. They stayed much longer at the table when the cake (a lemon cake with pureed pumpkin sneaked in)and ice cream with strawberries on top was presented. Ah well. It was fun a party, finished in just under 2 hours with no major melt-downs. Success!

Annabel joined in for her first Tam o'Shanter Easter egg hunt this year. She "competed" in the 2-and-under division, which entailed Greg pointing out where the eggs were in plain sight and Annabel looking at him quizzically. Finally, I ordered Greg to put a few eggs in her basket for the sake of perpetuating this egg-hunting myth into posterity. Next year, she'll be back bigger than ever!

Clara, with her many years of egg-capturing competition behind her, swept up yet another prize egg this year--this time winning a rubber stamp and colored pencil set. If only there were some sort of competititive egg-hunt circuit to get her on...The girl would clean up!