Crocodiles for dinner

Melanie, Allison and I were leaving my mom's house to come home to Drexel Hill (about a 2 hour drive). We said a little prayer, I asked if everyone was ready, and then I yelled, "LET'S GO!!"

Allison immediately followed up with, "...EAT A CROCODILE!!" I've never even heard her say the word 'crocodile' and she's ready to eat one?

That kid puts E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G in her mouth.

May 8 in two parts

Part One
My great friends Christina and Baby Isaac accompanied us on a trip to Longwood Gardens, one of my favorite places in the world. When I'm there, I forget that the world isn't entirely beautiful, I forget there are places where nature's beauty isn't allowed to flourish, and I completely lose myself in the beauty of a carefully ordered and painstakingly but lovingly tended world.

Highlights:
These two beautiful people!! (so beautiful, they are in here twice - which I can't fix tho I even tried to edit the HTML; sorry!)

These flowers were amazing close up. Two different colors, several different kinds of petals on each flower. 

The color of brand new leaves in Spring is so cool, so much lighter than Summer green. This is the view from the deck of my favorite treehouse. Notice the cheeseball slightly to the left.

The children's garden area is amazing. There are several fountains and lots of water play. Kids are encouraged to play in the fountains as long as they don't get in. We got plenty wet without getting in anything.

Total cheeseball. I love that scrunchy faced smile! This time, sticking her finger in the mouth of a lizard. I've no doubt if a real one would hold that still, she'd try the same thing.

One of my favorite stained glass windows. 

Allison blowing the 'smoke'.

This is what's hanging over the 'smoke'. Kind of a dark but way cool little corner in the garden.

Longwood gives out a kids map with instructions for the Children's Garden and it says kids can pick the flowers in here. I've never seen anyone do it and I've never been brave enough to tell one of my kids to do it. Would you?

End of the trip: We dropped off the Howdens at their house and on the way home, Allison said the following:

Bye Bye Ki-tina (Christina).

Bye Bye Baby I-yick (Isaac)

Bye Bye Baby I-yick brmmm brmm (car)

Bye Bye Baby I-yick toys.

Bye Bye Baby I-yick rattle.

Bye Bye Baby I-yick blanket.

Bye Bye Baby I-yick mouse.

Bye Bye Baby I-yick mouth.

Bye Bye Baby I-yick nose.

and then she sang "I love Christina, she loves me. I love I-yick, he loves me. We happy fam-i-ly. We happy fam-i-ly.  Happy Birthday I-yick. Happy Birthday Ki-tina." 

It was a great (first part of the) day.

Part Deux:

o  Instead of napping, Allison took off her diaper and wet her crib.

o  Chris' disciplinarian/asst. principal at school called to tell me Chris is suspended tomorrow because he's been late 12 times this semester (that's since Jan 21st).

o  The paperwork for a food order I did got lost.

There is definitely opposition in all things, and there's nothing like teenagers and toddlers to make you appreciate the good times.

March in PA and DE

I haven't posted in a while, so thought I'd take a few minutes and post some random things from the past month.

March started out COLD. We were ankle deep in snow. Many headlines read, "March comes in like a lion" but I find the snow so peaceful. We Hawleys can't resist romping around until our fingers and toes are numb. My little snow bunny. 

And what do you think this tire swing reminded me of? Donuts, of course! (My mind is never far from them, though).

I just LOVE this constantly crumb-encrusted face. So full of life and joy, all the time!

A week after the snow, it was warm enough to go to the beach! (b/n 60 and 70 degrees) We stayed at my mom's in Lewes DE for a coupla weeks . I just LOVE kids on the beach. And I discovered that I love going in March when I'm covered in clothes and can't feel the sand all over me! I could roll all around, sit and play with the kids with no discomfort. And yes, those little black dots in the water are SURFERS. The air was warm but the water wasn't - 38 degrees! Yikes. 

Someone in our family believes that a Leprechaun visits houses the night before St. Patrick's Day (product of Catholic pre-school) so low and behold, someone came to our house and left a confetti trail from the bedroom into the family room and to a pile of cookies. Good leprechaun (another favorite moment in the St. Pat's excitement: Melanie made a card for the Leprechaun, only she spelled it "Lepercon" like it was for some diseased convict.).

The Sage

Every once in a while when I've had a particularly challenging day or week (or month) with Allison, I'll call my mom and complain a bit, and I follow it by telling her I'm trying hard not to wish away this precious time because I'm sure when Allison is older I'll miss these days.

And without missing a beat, with wisdom and a smile in her voice, my mom knowingly replies, "Or not."

Spring is coming!

The First Day of Spring: we look forward to this all winter long! Of course, the first day of Spring in PA is usually really cold and rainy, but that doesn't deter a Hawley from FREE WATER ICE AT RITA'S!! It's one of our favorite days of the year. We sit huddled in our car, lips turning blue from a cold treat on a cold day, and loving it.

http://www.fishbowl.com/clt/ritas/pc/200902/1/jmp/jump.htm

To all of you living way out west, remember the creamy cool sensation of a gelato?? Mmmmm.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A little homemade love from the Hawleys. Allison's first fingerpainting foray made great Valentines. Isn't homemade love the best??

Bored this winter?

Are you tired of the cold weather keeping you and your kids stuck inside? Looking for something new to spice up your life? Try a new hairstyle. Chris did! What do you think?


We thought it was a great joke and encouraged Chris to wear it to school for a day or two. Unfortunately, as time for church approached, Chris' attachment to the fuzz stripe adorning his head grew, and was quite reluctant to remove it. His better judgment finally won out (considering he rather enjoys having a bed and hot meals) and we are happy to report that the Halloween Parade of Feb '09 is over.

Snow in SE Pennsylvania

In light of Pennsylvania's lack of snowfall in the past few years, we have adopted Elder Wirthlin's counsel "Come What May And Love It!" We are learning to love our sparse little amounts of snow. Things we enjoy: Little ones can walk in the snow without getting snow in their boots. We don't lose any little ones due to high snow drifts. We don't have to work very hard to shovel the driveway (correction: Nik and Chris don't have to work very hard to shovel the driveway). We don't waste away our whole day making big giant snowballs for a snowman (see pics). And most importantly, the kids still go to school.

Ol' One Eyed Jack: this is about all we could do with the snow. It was surprisingly un-sticky. Chuck said it looked like most of the snowman was underground, some sort of Calvin-ist snowman trick (of Calvin and Hobbes).


The little pink thing is Allison. She is not sure why snow has to be so cold. If it weren't for the cold, she'd like it much better. Though it was a sad little amount of snow, it was beautiful. Stuck to the trees and coated everything beautifully. I love waking up to the pure white.

From Mushy Molly to Hannah Hardbody (I hope)

I've been doing Super Hula Hoop on Wii Fit for a few days and it's kicking my butt. I have unlocked the 10 minute Hula and it is so stinkin' hard. The first day I did it, afterwards I took the kids to the pet store to get food for our guinea pig and I could hardly carry the 11 lb bag of food through the store. I was shaking just carrying that thing up to the cash register. From Hula Hoop? How embarrassing.

Every day after I Hula Hoop I do the boxing game b/c they say I'm burning a lot of calories and it doesn't feel like work. Of course I also have two teenage boys and a pre-teen girl in my house - who wouldn't love boxing? That punching bags takes on many different forms.

Another failed attempt to imitate Michelle Burk

What a charming picture I saw on Michelle Burk's blog of her cute little daughter sitting on the counter unwrapping Hershey Kisses, participating already at such a young age in the holiday baking. I thought my toddler and I could have such a moment, and today, I tried to create that. I am baking chocolate chocolate chip cookies (nothing could go wrong with this as the start, right?) and wanted to put candy cane kisses on them. I got the bag of kisses out, primed my toddler by asking if she wanted to help Mommy, and we both settled on the kitchen floor with a plate full of wrapped kisses and an empty bowl. Handing the first kiss to my daughter, I instructed her to unwrap the kiss and put it in the bowl. Then I looked at her other hand and DOH! I totally forgot that her right hand is wrapped in gauze - a "magic mitten" helping her hand to heal from burns sustained on Saturday. There's no way this kid can unwrap kisses. Never fear, I rally my spirits, not willing to let the moment be lost, and tell her I will unwrap, and she can put them in the bowl. She promptly popped the first one in her mouth. To be expected, I thought; she's almost 2. The next two went in the bowl, and the fourth kiss went straight into her mouth. Having only a two year old mouth, there's not a lot of room for kisses, so now the candy cane colored drool starts rolling out of her mouth and onto her sweater. She jumps up and runs across the house. Now my two year old, who previously was yawning, is now, after licking a beater and maybe a bite or two of cookie dough and two candy cane kisses, streaking back and forth across the house, candy cane drool flying, having ingested - right before naptime - enough sugar to fuel a small jet in a cross country flight. I foolishly put her in her crib where she is now yelling "Mooooooooommmmm, oh MOOOOOOOooooooooommm" at the top of her lungs. The legend of Michelle lives on in Philadelphia First Ward, and I am settling comfortably in as Mediocre Molly. I am, however, at the very least, highly entertained.