Ben and Lucy's Egg-cellent Adventures

I know the pun is terrible but it's the best I could do at the moment. Here's the rundown of Easter at the Haws household.

Ben holding his surprise from the Easter bunny The rest of the story: Both grandparents had already sent Easter gifts so I wasn't going to do baskets for the kids, but when he kept wondering when the Easter bunny was going to come, I had to improvise - and quick. While he was talking on the phone I ran downstairs, threw some fake grass into a basket, tossed in one of the gifts I was going to give him for his birthday, then, as quietly as possible, put it out on the front step and rang the bell. He was thrilled and none the wiser. Thankfully Lucy is still oblivious to holidays so I was off the hook for her. Lazy parent, yes.

All dolled up and ready for church.


New Easter outfits

Trying to scrub off the pestilential Easter egg dye. I have a love/hate relationship with this tradition because I love coloring the eggs, but not the accompanying mess. We managed to spill only one cup of dye on the ground, so all in all, a success.

Lucy's Easter picture - girlfriend loves to color. More on that in an upcoming post.

Ben's picture - an Easter Egg hunt. He's obsessed over the fact that his Uncle Randy found the Golden Egg worth $100 at their Arizona egg hunt and is wondering when we'll do something similar.

Lucy mostly liked dipping her fingers in the water but actually colored an entire egg herself.

The aftermath. Sadly, the little metal egg dipper that comes in the box didn't hold up very well so we had to resort to the tools at hand, so to speak.

She did her mama proud and chose purple.

We've been happily eating the hardboiled eggs this week, even though no one likes the yolk part, so that always gets tossed.

What's your favorite Easter tradition?

Will You Be Watching?

The royal wedding is tomorrow morning - let the countdown begin! My DVR is all cued up and ready to record Wills and Kate's every step and my little sister recently arrived in London for her study abroad program, just in time to witness firsthand the global media extravaganza.

Maybe she can score one of these - a knockoff of THE engagement ring.

Not to be left out, Columbus's own gourmet ice cream purveyor even created its own special flavors inspired by the wedding of the century. I'll take a scoop of Prince William's Chocolate Biscuit Groom's Cake, please.

What do you think of all the hoopla? Bah humbug or jolly good fun?

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Just got tickets to see this when it comes to Columbus in the next few weeks. Going with a group of girlfriends and I can't wait! Have you seen Mary Poppins? What did you think? Will you go if it comes near you?

The Men in Lucy's Life

1. "Dadadadada" - She made a bit of a scene at church today trying to escape to go sit with him up on the stand. This girl loooooooooooooves her daddy.

2. "Beh" - As my grandma said about her older brother, she adored him so much she wished she could be his dog. What will we do when Ben's at school all day next year??

3. "Eh-mo, Eh-mo, Eh-mo!" She's never actually sit still long enough to watch an episode of Sesame Street, but loves her Elmo board books, as well as the doll and rolling backpack she inherited from Ben. I suppose it's just prologing the inevitability of the Ponies and Princesses onslaught.

In the News

A few articles in today's newspaper caught my eye and caused me to sit up straight.

The first shed some light on the many questions I've had about my quirky sleep habits - I think I might fall into the category they describe:



Apparently there is a minute subset of the population (1%-3%) that "function well on less than 6 hours of sleep without being tired during the day." This is me. For some crazy reason I fall asleep around 11 and then just pop awake most nights around 3 or 3:30 a.m. I might doze a little longer, but a normal night's sleep is around four hours. Even sleeping pills don't make much of a difference and this goes on for weeks, until I have a night (like last night) where the lack of shut-eye finally catches up to me and I crash around 7:30 or 8 p.m. and sleep for 12 hours. Andy exercised, tackled the mayhem in our kitchen, and watched the NCAA championship basketball game all while I was passed out on the couch. He finally roused me at 11 to go up to bed, where I promptly collapsed and fell back asleep until 7 this morning.

The article continues that "'short sleepers' are also energetic, outgoing, optimistic and ambitious...The pattern sometimes starts in childhood and often runs in families." This is definitely the case since that describes my personality fairly well, I remember waking up early without an alarm clock when I was young (even during summer vacation), and I've often commented that I inherited my mom's ability to similarly function on very little sleep.

But rather than feeling like part of an exclusive "elite," I'm not sure this trait is something to wear as a badge of honor. I wish dearly that I could sleep like normal people and wonder if this insomia will only get worse over time. In addition, it's well documented that sleep deprivation leads to a number of harmful potential side effects such as irritability, overeating, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

What are your sleep patterns? Short sleeper or could you win a gold medal if napping were an Olympic sport? Any suggestions for how to get more shut-eye?

The second article expanded on rumors that Katie Couric will likely leave her chair at the CBS Evening News when her contract expires in June and instead trade for a syndicated daytime talk show. Say it aint so, Katie!!! Please don't jump ship and abandon legitimate journalism for lighter, tawdry, or solely feel-good fare. What about something like 60 Minutes or Meet the Press instead? Side note: If you are a CBS News executive reading this post, I would be more than happy to fill Katie's spot, but would do it somewhat reluctantly knowing that one of America's preeminent female news anchors had left the scene.



The final article, entitled "India Graduates Millions, But Too Few Are Fit to Hire" documents how despite a population of 1.2 billion, many companies are having trouble finding high school and college graduates with the necessary English reading comprehension and speaking skills to communicate effectively enough to fill job openings. We read about the threat of India and China as new players in the knowledge economy, but apparently India's education system hasn't caught up to its technology infrastructure in many cases.

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

Can you tell where Lucy gets her startling lack of hair, as contrasted with my older sister's luxuriant locks?

I love this picture because it captures Lucy so well. She excitedly brought me the camera to take a picture of her and then clapped her hands at her side and grinned so she could pose for her shot. Such a precocious little bug!

No Foolin'

This morning while the kids and their friends were doing this... I had some time to do this...

Counters cleaned, floors swept and mopped, and dishes put away. I love this look and the feeling of having the kids entertained while I multitask. Nothing like time alone with a Swiffer WetJet as a form of cheap therapy and mental calm.

To top things off, it looks like this outside today and we had the pleasure of hosting three friends and eight kids here for lunch. Sunshine + yummy food + great company = A good day.

Ben accidentally ate a bite of a cookie with nuts in it so I kept him home from school to monitor him. He's currently on the couch watching a movie while Lucy naps. Allergic reaction + a trip to the emergency room = A bad day.