Noo... More... Pai!
Easter:
Well Beltane/Easter has come and gone.
Last Tuesday at play night The KG and Stephie were able to make their first colored eggs. They had a great time and amazingly enough they didn't wind up completely covered in dye! I really enjoyed it too. Seeing her focused so intently on painting the eggs and then applying stickers to them just brought tears to my eyes.
The rest of the week saw the KG gathering from all corners of the world candy baskets. Rowan is now the happy possessor of a HUGE basket of chocolates, jelly beans, Nerds, and more. Honestly, mostly Er and I are blameless. The basket is comprised of the assembled booty from school, Auntie Barb, Yi-Yi, Uncle Terry, The Bumbargers, and us. Thankfully Rowan has no obvious expectation to be able to eat it all at once, so we will hand it out over the next several months as deserts after meals and treats and such.
This year as last lily562e, mommie_geek, cbumbarger, Auntie Barb, Stephanie, The KG and I all went to Waters Restaurant for Sunday brunch. The food was delicious and never-ending. The company was very pleasant. We all had a great time. Rowan, for her part, was able to meet the Easter bunny this time but I think she isn't too certain of 5 foot plus furry creatures. She was fascinated by the gigantic bunny (and its basket of jelly beans) and constantly wanted to see it but would immediately bury her face in my shoulder if said creature were to approach within arms reach. It was really rather funny if schizophrenic. Here is a link to some photos. :-}
Tables:
We now have an actual adult dining room table! As I mentioned in a previous post we (well I) had finally decided to retire the butcher-block table we had purchased from a Home Depot like chain prior to getting married. Originally we had two likely possibilities, an antique and a new Broyhill table in the mission style. Well last week I had the opportunity to look at the Broyhill table and frankly was disappointed. As I had feared, the table top wound up being made of particleboard covered in a nice veneer. This is not what I consider acceptable with regards to the durability requirements associated with a toddler. Additionally the workmanship was a little shoddy. My assessment was that it was an interesting design that was executed poorly. While at the Levins furniture store, I decided to look around. There I found a number of solid hardwood tables. Most, however, were priced more than I was willing to pay. Then I went to the clearance section and found it! A nice hardwood table that expands. The floor model was the only one left so I approached a salesman to discuss it. The clearance list price was $530.00 but after several minutes bargaining (pointing out the nicks, and scratches (that I will be able to fix), and using what little haggling skill I acquired in China) I was able get the price lowered to $260.00! At that price I was happy to take it. A real table! Woot!
Well Beltane/Easter has come and gone.
Last Tuesday at play night The KG and Stephie were able to make their first colored eggs. They had a great time and amazingly enough they didn't wind up completely covered in dye! I really enjoyed it too. Seeing her focused so intently on painting the eggs and then applying stickers to them just brought tears to my eyes.
The rest of the week saw the KG gathering from all corners of the world candy baskets. Rowan is now the happy possessor of a HUGE basket of chocolates, jelly beans, Nerds, and more. Honestly, mostly Er and I are blameless. The basket is comprised of the assembled booty from school, Auntie Barb, Yi-Yi, Uncle Terry, The Bumbargers, and us. Thankfully Rowan has no obvious expectation to be able to eat it all at once, so we will hand it out over the next several months as deserts after meals and treats and such.
This year as last lily562e, mommie_geek, cbumbarger, Auntie Barb, Stephanie, The KG and I all went to Waters Restaurant for Sunday brunch. The food was delicious and never-ending. The company was very pleasant. We all had a great time. Rowan, for her part, was able to meet the Easter bunny this time but I think she isn't too certain of 5 foot plus furry creatures. She was fascinated by the gigantic bunny (and its basket of jelly beans) and constantly wanted to see it but would immediately bury her face in my shoulder if said creature were to approach within arms reach. It was really rather funny if schizophrenic. Here is a link to some photos. :-}
Tables:
We now have an actual adult dining room table! As I mentioned in a previous post we (well I) had finally decided to retire the butcher-block table we had purchased from a Home Depot like chain prior to getting married. Originally we had two likely possibilities, an antique and a new Broyhill table in the mission style. Well last week I had the opportunity to look at the Broyhill table and frankly was disappointed. As I had feared, the table top wound up being made of particleboard covered in a nice veneer. This is not what I consider acceptable with regards to the durability requirements associated with a toddler. Additionally the workmanship was a little shoddy. My assessment was that it was an interesting design that was executed poorly. While at the Levins furniture store, I decided to look around. There I found a number of solid hardwood tables. Most, however, were priced more than I was willing to pay. Then I went to the clearance section and found it! A nice hardwood table that expands. The floor model was the only one left so I approached a salesman to discuss it. The clearance list price was $530.00 but after several minutes bargaining (pointing out the nicks, and scratches (that I will be able to fix), and using what little haggling skill I acquired in China) I was able get the price lowered to $260.00! At that price I was happy to take it. A real table! Woot!