Happy Easter! Love, the Musantes

Egg Hunt Excitement

Saturday's egg hunt at Tyla's house

 hamming it up at the starting line

 maybe if I back under this nobody will notice...

 a small portion of the line of kids - I should've counted!

 GO JILL GO!

 making sure nobody was on her tail

 staking out the perimeter - good thinking, kid!

 quite pleased with herself

 Bob helping out Sophia

 Guy and Jess

WOW!

more fun after the egg hunt

Friday Fun

Did we seriously do all of this on Friday?

 At the beginning of storytime at the library, Jill got to hold a bunny!  She wasn't too sure about it at first.

 Ms. Quinn reading to the group

coloring her maraca
(plastic egg filled with dry beans, add tape)

 making some noise to show off their maracas 

After storytime we headed to Tyla's house to dye and paint eggs.  I took some pictures with Tyla's camera and will post when she gets a chance to download them.  Jill spent most of the time painting her entire left palm turquiose.

 Then it was time to make sugar cookies.  Homemade dough courtesy of Tyla.

 Easter bunny-shaped cookie cutter borrowed from -you guessed it- Tyla

 Jill did a great job cutting out the shapes

 and making a mess
(casually brushing flour on the floor like it belonged there)

this picture cracks me up
playing dress-up and baking - such a diva!

 flour everywhere!

 milk break

Tyla told me about the frosting recipe on the back of the Domino confectioners sugar 2lb. bag. It was AMAZING, like lick a spoonfull and go back for more amazing.

After it became clear that Jill was not napping on Friday, she decided to take all her clothes off and decorate her right foot in smiley faces.

Tony worked in Portland, ME on Friday so he avoided the holiday weekend traffic and stayed at Chris and Andrea's house for the night.  Jill and I stayed up way too late (after 9) to finish watching Tangled.  After Jill fell asleep I started my new book, "Where We Belong" by Emily Giffin. 

Jill and I had a fantastic day together but we were both happy to see Tony Saturday morning.  He was home in time for breakfast and Jill and Rachael met him at the door squealing.

Tuesday Night Club

Kristen and I have worked together for close to 7 years.  The past 2 years we've been in different departments, but we've stayed close. 

The Tuesday Night Club is an old term from Student Government at Westfield State.  Tuesday nights after the weekly meeting, the older crew would head out for drinks.  Freshman year I was recognized with the superlative "Future President of the Tuesday Night Club."  They tagged me for a social one.  Who knew?!

So earlier this week Kristen and I left the husband and kids at home (she is nearing the end of materity leave with #2, daughter Samantha) and met at a Greek restaurant near work to celebrate a colleague leaving the company after 21 years. 

I felt guilty for working all day and then drinking beer and socializing while Tony entertained Jill.  Little did I know they were having a hell of a time at "the ball."  Jill had apparently gone through multiple dresses to select the perfect pink dress and kept asking poor Tony - on his feet all day at work - to dance.  I was laughing at the mental picture.

It was so nice to visit with current and past colleagues and know that Jill was having fun and being good.  No diapers to change; no breast milk or formula to heat; no carrots to mash.  A 3-year-old is so much easier than an infant!  I was home at 9:30 and they were both sound asleep.  Tired from all the dancing, no doubt!

The Monday Morning Recap

Isn’t it funny how every Monday morning at least one co-worker asks what you did over the weekend and you can’t remember? It was only two days ago but you honestly have no idea what happened Friday night. And it’s not like college days when you’d actually have an excuse Thursday-Saturday; like “I can’t remember, but it was fun!” In adult- /parenthood, you can’t provide an exciting recap, and it’s not because you drank too much cheap beer. You’re just tired. Dare I say defeated?

So here’s my weekend recap from the last two weekends, while I remember. And I only remember because someone - usually me - took pictures.

The Friday night of St. Patty's Day weekend - my how our lives have changed!

The Doherty and Gooch kids came for pizza, play and several wrestling matches.
It's not a successful playdate without at least one bloody lip. Am I right?

 settling down to color with Ava

 Saturday morning "just makin' a mess, Mumma!" 

 Saturday night Cheers with Sarah at Stoneforge

Here's Heidi and Liz visiting Cambridge for lunch on Friday.  It was my first time meeting Liz - in town from San Antonio - and I felt like we had been friends forever!  We have or may not have drank hot sake with our sushi.

On Sunday, Mel and Cole came over in the late afternoon.  We played outside and let the kids run themselves into the ground before enjoying some cheeseburgers and calling it an early night.  

Fast forward a week:

Here's Jill at storytime on Friday morning. We had an unexpected day together due to silly parents sending their sick children to day care with the stomach bug. It was actually a really great day together.  I felt guilty not working but happy to serve as an imposter stay-at-home Mom for the day. 

Turning oversized pages of Is Your Mama a Llama? and listening to There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow was fun but nothing compared to the craft time that followed.

 Ms. Quinn snapped this picture of Jill and posted it on the library's Facebook page.  I promptly shared it.

Jill was the youngest yet most meticulous artist.  She kept working on her snowpaint design long after the others had finished.

 Saturday morning before heading to her first ever dance (ballet and tap) class

Hands on the hips

When did she get so big??

#instagram

 

There are more pictures and some short video clips that still need to be downloaded from the iTouch.  The gist was that Jill listened very well and had lots of fun.  Several adults, including a Dance Dad, noticed and offered nice comments.  She definitely had a blast but I wasn't sold.  She talked about trying gymnastics on the way home.  Jill just turned 3 in December.  We have plenty of years to fill with lessons, practices and games!  Our family seems to function smoother when it's not faced with scheduled events, especially prepaid ones. 

Saturday afternoon Ethan met Tony at the boatyard to help scrape the bottom of the boat.  I don't know how much help Ethan actually was, but he likes to show up with beer and that works for Tony.  He stayed for a cod dinner and let Jill drag him around the living room.  She totally showed off while Ethan was at the house and danced to Africa and some country music favorites (current favorite is The Wind by the Zac Brown Band).  Jill's day care provider and my friend, Tyla, listens to country music all the time!

 

Sunday's weather begged for outdoor time.  We invited ourselves for lunch (hey, we brought the food at least!) at my brother and Jess's house.  Temperatures were much more mild than Saturday and Jill, Guy and Lily ran around in the backyard while Scott, Jess, Liz and I drank mudslides.  Scott made a later batch and added peanut butter to the blender.  It was delicious; and I may have had 4.  Monday morning arrived prompty on time.  Too early! 

 

And so the genertic answer to the "How was your weekend?" question really is the truth every Monday: "Too short!"