Painting with worms

**** Disclaimer- no worms were harmed in this project****

Mason has been studying bugs this week at school.  Monday was butterflies, today worms.  He made a worm painting at school with his class- it was so rainy we decided to do it again with our own worm.  Such slimy fun!

Mason's worm coming out of his blue paint.

Sophia doing a worm dance.

Wormie making a fabulous painting.

Pretty close to the finished painting.

Sophie's worm wasn't quite as active... maybe it didn't like purple?

Here's the worm all cleaned off and ready to be released.  The kids wanted to keep the worm as a pet- so now I have a container of dirt with worms on my kitchen counter.  I guess that's the least I can do for making such great artwork for us :)

Hopping down the bunny trail!

Just some pictures from the Easter weekend.  We weren't too great at taking pictures of egg hunts this year- so here's just some from the weekend.  

Mason flying his Optimus Prime kite from the bunny.

Sophia LOVES her Hello Kitty "sunbrella" as she calls it.  

Blowing bubbles!

Mommy and Sophie.

Mommy and Mase.

Glittery pink egg by Sophia.

Mason's technique with the blue.

Sophie getting help from Grandma Nati.  Happy Easter everyone!

Salad Spinner artwork by Mason

Mason has been off pre-school all week for his Spring Break.  I think it has snowed every day.  We've been having fun doing inside things, going swimming earlier today, and yesterday meeting some friends to ride the carousel and play at the local mall.  Today we did some fun art projects with the salad spinner :)  

Mason choosing what color to use:

Deciding on orange this time.

Before.

Spin it as hard as you can, push, push, push!

After- we added blue too.  Isn't that groovy?

Here's another one.

So much for "Spring Break" huh?  Oh well, we'll make the best of it!

First S'mores of Spring

We broke out the fire pit on Friday for some family fun and yummy s'mores.  Mason was a big helper to Matt finding little kindling around the yard and learning the ways of fire-starting.  It was all the fun of camping- and then jumping straight in the tub afterwards :)  Welcome spring!

The boys with their fire ready to be started:

Sophia and Daddy.

Here's toady playing around.

Yummmmmmm..

First bite of s'more- check out Cosmo looking for anything that's been dropped below.

First bite or s'more for Mason.  We are gonna have a great summer!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

A wee leprechaun visited our house on St. Patrick's Day and left a treasure hunt for Mason and Sophia.  There were two little pots of gold chocolate coins at the end of the hunt.  We don't know where the leprechaun went after he left- maybe your house?  Maybe the pub?

Mason's treasure pot.

Kiss me I'm Irish necklaces :)  You wouldn't know to look at them, but our kids are mostly Irish.  Matt's dad is 100% Irishman and my mom is about 1/2 Irish. Guess that's why we have such good luck!

Following the clues left by the leprechaun.

The leprechaun left a clue in our bathroom, and if anyone wonders- they pee in GREEN!

Finding the treasure!

Have a great day!!

Trampoline time!

We just couldn't wait any longer!  Santa brought our kids a trampoline 3 long months ago...so as soon as the weather got nice enough for all the snow to melt and the trees to bud we set it up in our yard.  The kids love it, and it's just so nice to be able to play outside again.  

Sophia getting some air.

Go Sophie!

Look at those smiles!

Big jumps from Mason.

Whoo-hoo!!

Ring around the Rosy is much funner when you can fall down on the trampoline!  

Little Miss Sophia

We headed outside this past weekend, in fairly nice early Spring weather.  We got some cute pictures of Sophie goofing off on the swingset.  

Hugs & Kisses ~ Valentine's Day 2009

Just a few pictures from our fun Valentine's Day.  Hope you all had a great one as well!

Mason and his Monkey Mason balloon.  

Sophia and her Toady balloon-perfect!

YAY!  Pink, heart shaped chocolate-chip pancakes and pink milk for breakfast.  Mason boycotted the pink milk.  "Mom, I don't like this milk"

Some fun gifts and cards, plus chocolate hearts to go with their already VERY nutritious breakfast.  Tee-hee!

A tribute: Tiggy

We wanted to make a little tribute to a very special member of our family for 10 years.  Tigger came into our lives when Matt was in his first year of Law school, and we had just moved into our first home together.  We got her at the Humane Society, we picked her because she was so sweet when we brought her into the screening room with us.  She laid right down for a belly rub, and she liked to jump up in her cage (hence the name Tigger).  We treated her very much like a first child.   She loved camping, hiking, catching frisbees and balls like a crazy dog and always loved people.   

Over the years she dealt with a lot of change- two human babies being brought home and a late in life doggy sibling in Cosmo.  She was always sweet, even as about six months ago she was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor in her colon.   
She always had a special bond with my mom Susan who would tirelessly throw balls for her, and Matt's dad Charles who would do the same.  She loved and remembered you guys long after your visits would end.  

We will always love you Tiggy, may you rest in peace and be surrounded by frisbees and tummy scratches.  xoxox Matt, Steph, Mason and Sophia 

Happy Birthday Cosmo!

Our third child celebrated his first birthday yesterday.  The kids were so excited for Cosmo's cake, and their own cupcakes.  As Mason said, "Mom I don't want to eat that wet cake that Cosmo is going to eat."

Do you see the resemblance?  A face only a mother could love...

Mason loved watching Cosmo attack his d0g-food cake.

He couldn't believe we were actually letting him eat from the table...usually he has to sneak in that behavior when we're not looking.

Happy Birthday Cos!  We love ya!  p.s. Tiggy also had some doggy cake, but we didn't get a picture of her...