Watch it, Daddy!

This morning Liliana was standing in front of Jason who was holding a cup.  I think the cup must have dripped some water onto Lilie's arm because she wiped her sleeve with her hand then said, "Hey! Watch it, Daddy!"  I probably would've followed this up with a reminder to be respectful but I ended up being too tickled at the short exchange that happened next:

"Hey, watch it, Daddy!"

"Watch it with what?"  says Jason, unaware of what had happened.

"With your eyes."

It took a couple of seconds for me to process then Hahahahahaha!

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We've noticed that the maternal instincts are quite strong in our little one.  She loves to take care of her baby dolls, rock them, read to them, feed them, etc.  She is going to rock out parenthood someday and not just when she has infants; this girl is apparently already well-equipped for teenagers.  Just a few minutes ago, Liliana was in the living room playing with her Barbie dolls and I heard her scolding one of them, "Oh no, you're not going out like THAT!"

Hoodie cutie

Liliana was chilled by our unseasonably cool temperatures yesterday at breakfast.

The nearest warmest thing was one of my old hoodies, so I wrapped her inside it.  She looked so snuggly that I had to take some pics, and she willingly hammed it up for me.

Easter Morning

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Sacrificing my pride in the name of documenting precious childhood moments  (please ignore my bed-head and PJs)

Easter Loot

Winery trip

Katie and I received a coupon for a wine tasting from her friend Marci's parents (thanks Debbie and Alan!).  The winery is located in Augusta, near where we were married just 11 short months ago.  We finally made the trip last weekend, and it was a really wonderful experience.

The spring weather helped to make for a beautiful drive.  We took the back roads to get there, and cruised past picture-perfect spring scenery: green hues everywhere, farms waking up from winter, and horses all around.  Traffic was minimal on our road, so I drove as slow as I could as we took it all in.

We were amazed to find the day was pretty warm - unheard of in March around here.  We spent some time exploring around the winery with Lilie before we started our wine tasting.  She chased a few butterflies - even though she seemed scared of them when they came close to her - and found some flowers for mommy...

The winery grew a bit crowded, especially around the tasting area.  It turns out they want you to stay at the circular bar while you taste all your selections, even when there are tables nearby.  Folks were packed pretty tight around the bar, and we quickly realized this wasn't going to end well for Lilie.  We weren't at a standard 'bar'; imagine a barn-like area, open at both ends, with a circular wooden countertop in the center.

We ended up breezing through the tasting (including chocolates, of which Katie and I had remarkably few), grabbing a complimentary bottle of wine and our two free glasses, and heading back home.  It was a bit much to expect a three-year-old to handle being limited to a crowded bar area, surrounded by pretty glass things she couldn't touch.  Still, we had a great time, as you can see by our pictures:

Studying butterflies...

Snowy trees

We have a couple of dwarf crab apple trees in the front yard.  They were attacked by some kind of bug a few years ago - caterpillars that stripped almost all the leaves from the trees.  I remember applying a 12-month fertilizer/protector that resolved the problem, but forgot all about it last year.  The result: no blossoms, no leaves and no crab apples for the year.

The trees blossomed this year, and turned out so beautifully that I rushed to buy the chemical again.  Hopefully we'll be able to enjoy the trees all year long.  Here's to a good start:

She gets those eyes from her mommy...

Heartbreaker

Glowing bubbles

I saw glow-in-the-dark bubbles at Walmart.  Some would shy away from these, thinking "I bet they don't really glow." or "Never in a million years." or even "Yeah, right - and if I buy them, I'll be visited by a magical fairy that will grant me three wishes."

Unfortunately, they had me at 'glow-in-the-dark'.  I'd probably buy glow-in-the-dark apples if they sold them (they don't - do they?).  And since this was only three dollars, I thought it was worth the money.

Not only did they glow (okay, the bubble solution was glowing, not so much the bubbles), but the solution and the wand worked together to put out bubbles in awesome quantities!  We had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows and played with glowing bubbles far too late into the evening, but it was worth it.  Here are the pictures:

Like I said, the bubbles weren't spectacular - but using a flash on bubbles in the dark turns out to be pretty cool!

The solution's glow was remarkably powerful...

*You* try to look cool while you blow bubbles.  Can't be done.

I think Lilie could have chased the bubbles all night long.

Once we started taking pictures of the bubbles, it was hard to stop.

Trippy, right?

Okay, so maybe she got tired and had to sit down...

We had a good night, even though we all were pasted with glow-in-the-dark bubble solution by the time it was over.  Hey, they wouldn't put it on the market if it wasn't safe to smear it on your face... would they?