Enjoying: Easter Prep and Ice Cream Trucks

A little Enjoying the Small Things for you this Tuesday.

Enjoying…

A Box House

Lainey and her friend made a box house this past weekend which kept them busy for at least four hours. They even tiled the “shower floor” with glue, rocks and sea glass.

Things didn’t go well when Dash and Nella decided to stop in for a visit.

My friend Andrea who knows all the good parenting magazine advice told me she read an article that gave great suggestions for avoiding sibling resentment. You’re not supposed to blame things on siblings. Like if we’re at the beach and Lainey’s having fun, according to Magazine Experts (no sarcasm there, nope), I shouldn’t say, “Time to leave the beach, your brother and sister are shot” even if that’s true.

I like to take this new advice to the moon now.

“Lainey, time to leave the beach. I have to tell you, your brother and sister fought hard for you to stay. I mean, Nella was holding my leg saying ‘No mom! We can’t leave! Lainey’s having too much fun.’ And see Dash crying? He’s crying because he loves you and is so sad that you have to pack up and go.”

So this one went something like, “Lainey, there was a mean badger who was trying to tear up your box, and Dash and Nella ran in to protect it. They’re guarding your house! It’s TRUE SIBLING LOVE!”

She doesn’t buy any of it, of course.

Dash’s Life Goal

…to one day figure out how to get this mobile down. I’m scared of how that will play out.

Morning Face.



Pool Game Strong

It’s that time of year.

Dash’s Second Life Goal

…to take this puppet down.

His secret weapon? The Ked kick. Lethal, I tell you.

Looking for Nella and finding her here.

Haircut

I cut Lainey’s hair at the end of our spring break, per her request. She looks like a different kid, and the new look hasn’t worn off yet. I love it. I stare at it when she steps out of the car at school drop-off, when I pick her up, when she climbs out of bed in the morning and when she props her arm up on the counter to rest her head while she eats her pancakes. “Ugggghhhh. Seriously, I just love your haircut. Have I told you that yet?” I say.

“Mom, stop saying you love my haircut. I know.” Eye roll, eye roll, eye roll.

Ice Cream Trucks

Our neighborhood hosted a block party this past weekend and generously provided food and entertainment for the kids–entertainment that included, much to my kids’ delight, an ice cream truck.

I didn’t recognize the ice cream truck when it pulled up because it was a sleek and modern van–all white and minimalist.

“Whoa, nice van,” Brett said.

“That? That is not an ice cream truck,” I pointed out.

“It’s 2015. We have iPhones. It’s an ice cream truck,” he answered.

“I will never accept that.”

I’ve decided I’m going to start creeping out at night to find the white ice cream vans of the world. I will paint them yellow and add big polka dots and striped awnings. I will Banksy that shit up right.

Also I let Dash wear his Easter romper early because he’s growing about an inch a night, and at that rate I figured we have about three weeks of wear for this thing. You’ll be seeing a lot of it.

Gardenia

The bush in our front lawn is full of it right now–white blooms overtaking every branch. They’re so fragrant, you can smell them the second you step outside. I snip and sneak them in the house but always find them minutes later wilting out on our lanai because someday–won’t name names here–moved them due to allergies. So we wear them in our hair while we play.

Egg Head Queens.

Found these cute little crown combs in Target’s party favor aisle. Clipped the comb off with wire snippers and, voila! Egg queens.

Easter Basket Toiletries

Helping the Easter bunny out with his basket stuffing duties this week and need an easy last minute idea? You can add some special magic kid shampoo, formulated in the Easter Bunny Borrow. Hop & Peep is all the rage in fairytale land. I just used travel toiletry bottles from Target, poured our favorite kid products in them and taped on a printed label I made. Passing it on if you’d like to use: Download the free Easter label printable here.