All and Nothing

Lots of planning going on here over the past couple of weeks, for Easter, for vacations, for Elise's surgery, flights for Sonya's wedding, work travel planning, and on and on.  But at the same time, not a lot has been decided.  Ok, our Easter plans are set with a visit to Oma and Opa and a couple of days in a country B&B, but besides that everything is a bit in flux.  I think that's how most days turn out here... lots of things happen but not much gets "done".  Between work and kids, it seems anything that takes more than two minutes to complete gets pushed to the evening.  And by the time the kids are in bed, sometimes the last thing we feel like being is productive.  Oh well, the important things get done and in the meantime we've been having some fun.  Last weekend we made it to a big farm and Lily, Paul and Elise got to see lots of horses, pigs, and cows.  We're trying to make more of a conscious effort to get out as a family and do more 1/2 day trips to make the most of being in this great place.  There's still a lot of inertia to overcome to get us all out of the house at the same time, but it is a bit easier now that the twins are down to a single nap per day.  We end up with a big chunk of time weekend mornings where we can go and do something fun.  Hopefully the weather will warm up so we can get out for more outdoor outings soon.  In the meantime, here's what we've been up to lately.

Lily and her pal Livvy, matching swim buddies.

A typical after-dinner scene of random activity at our house.

Silly Lily with a friend from school over for dinner, hamming it up.

At a neighbor's birthday party earlier today.  We had a moment of feeling like everyone was suddenly a big kid, all three of them sitting and eating and behaving like civilized children.

Elise definitely likes to draw.  Especially while Lily's at school and can't guard her art supplies...

And she can now propel herself around on Thomas, one advantage of having a big ol' foot.  Another is climbing since this little monkey has about an extra inch of reach vs. her brother.

Sisters playing before bed.  They're all starting to play with each other a bit more, especially if the game is chase.

Bathtime fun, Lily can even help a bit now.

Paul having a celebrity moment wearing his stylish shades indoors.