Happy Easter

Though the day was a little cold and very windy- the sun was out and we were happy.
We had a great Easter.
Ella and Grammy and Papa are here and it makes for a nice celebration.
A lot of time was dedicated to cooking.
Yesterday I made vichyssoise and made the pineapple glaze for the ham.
This morning we worked on the ham some more before chuch- left it on time-bake while we went to 9:30 church.
Nell and Zaven were very well behaved. And Chris gave a nice sermon.
After church there was an Easter egg hunt in the church yard. Zaven collected eggs for himself and Nell.
Grammy, Papa, Ella, Zaven and Nell came home and kept the preparations for lunch going. Chris stayed and did the 11 o'clock service and I attended the nursery. Once I got home we put the finishing touches on the asparagus tart and the salad and chris got home and we ate.

This afternoon we had some napping and then went out to play- it was very windy and cold.
All in all it was a nice day.


coo

ella and zaven playing on poisson rouge

nell in a dress that was laing and ginna's

i got new throw pillows

nell and papa walking to church

nell in her easter dress

nell enjoying her easter basket candy

zaven dying eggs

zaven walking to church-( i should have brushed his hair!)

recently

i started a post a while back that was a list of things that the kids say that are funny. it is not a complete list, but i wanted to write them down as i think of them, and this blog is sort of their unofficial scrapbook.
i will copy it at the end of this post.

here are some pics of the order of events piece i did for sarah and brant - i am really looking forward to the wedding.
i wish chris and the kids were going to be with me, but i will be glad to see the other burbanks.




a few weekends ago we had a beautiful warm day and we went to a little park that has an 8 vain windmill and some nice short paths that the kids can go on. here are some pics that chris and i took that day. chris has been taking a lot of pictures- it is fun.







That Thing You Say
nell and zaven are always saying things that crack me up. i thought i should write some of them down before i forget them.
this one already passed.
instead of "look" nell would say "loot"
zaven is still calling rhode island "ride o-land"-
nell will walk like frankenstein and say "i got monsta hands"
zaven says "you are not opposed to" instead of "supposed to"
in talking about basketball he says "the ball went out of balance" instead of "bounds"
and my favorite is that zaven calls his friend grace's dad "marg" - his name is mark.
the other day i told nell i was running out and that she was staying with dad and zaven and she said "i'm gonna cry"
nell likes me to sing to her before bed but she likes to have me change the words.
instead of rock a bye baby i sing "rock a bye dabba in the water" or "rock a bye big girl in the water"
last night it was "go to sleep little banana" then she wanted me to sing it loud- this really cracks her up. when i said i wasn't going to she said "you have to" which is kind of true- i will do most anything to get her to go to sleep, as evidenced by the fact that i regularly count her blankets as the last step in getting her to lay down.
nell likes to sing too- she sings "baa baa black sheet anyone here" instead of have you any wool.

nell will also say "don' look at me" and also awkwardly out in public nell will say "me no like that man- he's lookin' at me" or point at people and say "what is that?"

nell's best friend at school is a little girl, chloe. nell call's her clo clo- it is very sweet.

Brice and Chistie's visit

We had a great treat of having Brice and Christie come and visit us last week.
We loved having them here. It was fun seeing Nell get to know them better and Zaven was thrilled to have more playmates. And he knows uncle Brice is always coming with some Hot wheels. The 100 car case is getting mighty full!
Here are some fun pics from their time here.
We went to a "Save the Bay" aquarium- the kids were able to hold crabs, starfish and more.

Nell makes a break for it.

we had quite times for reading

and snuggling

and our evening entertainment!


This weekend we were lucky to have some beautiful sunny days.
Saturday we got up early and went to the windmill park and played there for a long time.
then we went and had a picnic at 2nd beach.
Then it was home for Nell's nap and I took Zaven to another birthday party!
Tonight we went for a walk after dinner.
Chris has a new lens for his camera and is enjoying getting lots of shots, here are some from tonight.

a few pics.

i know, i know, i never update the blog these days.
sorry.
here are a few pics from lately. little nell is getting so big and she is so fun to be around.


i wish i knew what zaven is doing or reacting to in this photo- i can't remember, but I thought it was funny.


zaven and nell continue to be good friends who have a lot of fun together. never a dull moment around here.

If you give a cat a cupcake.

Today I was reading Nell her most recent favorite book, "If you give a cat a cupcake". I looked down and she was making a funny face.
I asked her what she was doing and she showed me that she was making the face that the cat in the book was making.
Below are the page from the book and the face Nell was making. She is such a sweet, silly girl.




When she is not imitating cats in books, she is looking very cute and grown up these days.

Lately

Last week we had a snow day. Zaven decided that it was his webkinz dog , Pancho's, birthday.
so we made some brownies and decorated them and sang Happy Birthday. It was fun.
You'll note that Zaven's pajamas are inside out - someone told him that would make it snow.


This weekend Zaven had his basketball game and he played well. He is going to do a basketball camp during winter break.

Chris and I bought each other a new espresso machine for Valentine's Day. It arrived today. We are very excited.
Chris is so excited he has had WAY too much caffeine today- not sure he will be able to sleep.


The box that the machine came in turned into a playpen for Nell and Zaven. The packing peanuts got everywhere, but they had a great time.


We had a beautiful day today, it was sunny and 50. Tomorrow it is going to snow all day. But it was nice to have a sunny day today.

le

Our trip to Washington D.C.

On Sunday the 18th Chris and I headed down to D.C. to stay with Meg and Chris and be a part of the inauguration.
Milla was kind enough to come and be with Zaven and Nell.
We arrived in DC at about 7pm and went straight to a birthday dinner for Meg, at the new & amazing Bourbon Steak restaurant at the FourSeasons in Georgetown. We had a few star sightings there, David Gregory (the new host of Meet the Press) and Cher! The food was amazing and we had a great time with the whole Haney Family.
Monday we ran around in Georgetown and that evening we went to the Haney's for another birthday celebration.
Here are me and Meg before we left:

This is the view of the Capitol on Monday night- we started getting very excited seeing this.


Tuesday morning we were up and ready to walk the 2.4 miles from Meg's to her parents, we headed out


There were all kinds of memorabilia available as we walked over. I regret not buying more. There were a couple of shirts in particular, one with Obama's head on a man slam dunking a basketball and another one with Obama as a D.J. this one was a yellow shirt with purple silk screening.

I did end up getting some shirts, but there are others out there that i wish i had. i also got some "Presidential Peppermints"
nell is so cute when she says- "I got my Barack Obama"

As we were walking we also ran into Meg Fulmer and her family. So fun to see them so randomly.


When we arrived on the balcony- we had a lot of company on surrounding rooftops- these guys meant business.

the excitement continued to grow

and grow

during the swearing in and Obama's speech I stood on the balcony and watched through the binoculars- others watched on TV, but there was a delay and I loved being outside and able to hear the crowd. It was a remarkable event.

as you know, after the ceremony Obama walked Bush to a helicopter and off he went. He flew right over us. Bye, Bush!

later in the day, more people showed up to watch the parade.
among them was Sheryl Crow, (wearing a very cute hat, I might add-)

Chris, Meg and me

Joy Bryant and me

As we waited for the parade to start we were hoping that Obama would chose to walk part of the route. Meg told us that Clinton had walked just in front of their building so we were hopeful. Kevin and I spotted some official looking fellows talking to the police at the base of the building and predicted that they were alerting them to the plan. As the motorcade came we were so excited. Then the doors opened. We could not contain ourselves. It was amazing.

i love this picture.
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joe biden was actually waving to someone on the Haney's balcony who was a friend of the family.


We had a fantastic time. I am so excited about the new chapter for our country and so happy to have been there as it started.
Huge thank you to Meg and Chris and all the Haney's for being wonderful hosts and to Milla for taking care of the kids while we were gone.