March and April in a glance

March flew by and I feel like we're on the down-slope of April.
:(
Here's what's been happening:

 
We had a tornado scare so we headed to the basement.  What you can't see is that Quincy is dressed up as a princess under her coat.  Q'uel surprise.

 
We were totally thrilled to find that our bullfrog, Prince Naveen, stayed the winter with us.   Can you find him?

 
Ellie continues her love-a-thon with her teacher, Mrs. Millan.  90% (no lie) of her papers that come home have "I love Mrs. Millan!", or "Mrs. Millan Rocks!" (??? we don't even say "rocks" in this house so I have zero clue where she gets that phrase), or "Mrs. Millan is so beautiful" (okay, she really is) written all over them. 

 

Apparently Ellie devoted an Easter Egg to Mrs. Millan. (???)
 

 

Quincy still doesn't understand that you are not supposed to reach in and pull the eggs out of the dye with your hands.
 

 
Awkward family photo before the Easter vigil.  It was long.  Three and a half hours long.   But beautiful! (the vigil, not the photo:)
 

Aunt Liz decorating cupcakes with Quincy on Easter.... 

 
...while Ellie and Jack built a new Lego thing (fire-fighting plane I think).

 

We finally got the girls baptized---and just in time:  Ellie turns seven this week (which is a deadline). 
 

 

Aunt Cathy and Uncle Dave are the girl's Godparents.  Cathy's father is a Deacon at our church and he performed the baptism.  It couldn't have been more perfect. 
 

 

Taylor, Sarah, and Meagan with the girls.  Shout out to Taylor who is one of 3 students chosen from all of the students in the USA to go to Istanbul to present her science fair project.  WOW.  And she's like 6 feet tall and gorgeous.  And really (really) nice. 
 

 

After the baptism we came home and played croquet.

 

 

And then we went to Medieval Times.  Weird combo---baptism in the a.m. and Medieval Times in the p.m.---but it was AWESOME (and completely cheesy)!!!  The girls loved it!
 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring break ended yesterday for the girls.  I think Quincy spent about 75% of the break dressed up in some type of princess or fairy outfit.
 

 
Ellie beat me in croquet.  And I didn't let her. 
Oh, and she loves just wearing normal (non-princess) clothes. 
 

 

Tink is so sweet.

 

 Otis.....awwww....
  

And for the 5th (?) year, the Big Bouncy Thing comes out again.  I wonder if the girls will still use it when they're in college.

 

 

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The girls had no idea what St. Patrick's day was until mass today. 
Prior to today they thought it was just a day to wear green. 
I think I need to do a better job explaining traditions to them. 

Quincy's Kindergarten Play

Quincy's Kindergarten play was a musical by the name of "The Bear Went Over The Mountain".  Her class was The Owls and they did a ribbon dance for their portion.  Not really sure what a ribbon dance has to do with owls in a forest .....but it was cute! 

 

 

 
Quincy and her teachers, Ms. Hemmann and Ms. Bell
 

Being the tallest in her class means she is always back row center in anything (makes it kind-of difficult to get a photo :) 

 

Valentine's Day 2013

We hand-made the girl's valentine's cards this year---and it took about a month to get it all together.  When I found the (totally cute) idea on Pinterest I had noooo idea just how long it would take to cut out all the hearts and attach them all together to make (70!)  googly-eyed monster-valentines!  Good thing we started the weekend we spent in the mountains....

 

 

Perfect carrying bags for their valentines!

 

 

 

I cracked up when the girls came home from school and Quincy showed me the bag that she made in school to carry all her valentines home in. 

 

 

This is what the girls do....

...while I am folding laundy in the bedroom. 
I think I made out better than Tim!

 

The girl's first service project

Our church, St. Thomas Aquinas, partners with one of the homeless shelters downtown to provide meals for the men at least once a month.  This month I took the girls for the first time.  They did a great job and, more importantly, were able to see that not everyone in the world lives cushy lives.  I think they came home with a new sense of what service actually means.
 

Uncle Dave :)