Greatest show on earth

Last Wednesday night we had complimentary tickets to the circus through Amalia's daycare. The show must have made an impression because on Sunday the girls put on a sideshow modeled after the contortionist sisters from Mongolia.

 Lily even got Dana into the act. Not that she was a willing participant, mind you.

Not wanting to leave out Andy's daring feats, here are a couple of pictures of his completed garden/planter box out front.

He pointed out (several times) that he received MANY compliments from passersby as he was working out front. (I didn't want to point out that I think it falls into the category of polite conversation--like when you notice someone got their hair cut.) It does look lovely--and I'm sure will be even more impressive as the plants and seeds blossom into flowers.

Amalia on TV

Don't blink! She's at about 55 seconds in.

All in a day

 The girls got all dressed up to have high tea. 

Where math, science, art, and food meet. Lily decided to make a graph depicting the different marshmallow shapes in her bowl of Lucky Charms. 

I'll place this one much more squarely in the category of fantasy. This is Lily's idea of what Andy and I would look like as mer-people.

Who knew swimming was a contact sport? After a late afternoon trip to the local public pool, Amalia fell down not once but twice running back to the car. The second time was in a gravel driveway. Ouch. 

Lilies and leprechauns

Not to be outdone, Andy built a beautiful planter box in our front parking strip. An engineer at heart, Andy even found a way to involve thick wooden railroad ties and steel rebar.  

For some reason, the girls thought the sunny weather called for bathing suits, despite the 55-degree temperature outside. Lily is aching for summer.

Lily. Flower.

Posing for these pictures was about as involved as the girls got in planting the flowers. Instead they decided to fill the empty trays with clumps of crabgrass and dandelions to deliver to our neighbors, leaving the "gifts" on front porches up and down the street. 

  

I don't really have a transition here, except this is how the day started off. Lily is very much still in the St. Patrick's Day spirit and decided to dress Amalia up like a leprechaun.

And, according to Lily, this is what a girl leprechaun looks like. Yes, I let them both go out to eat Sunday breakfast at a restaurant dressed like this. I'm that mom. Choose your battles.

Garden gnomes

A busy Saturday thus far--from Lily's violin lesson and hip hop dance class back to her school to help plant a new garden (or per the parlance of the moment, "a living classroom"). 

 Amalia helped Andy rake the dirt and was quick to pick out any rocks.

 Does splitting an earthworm in half really make two earthworms?

Amalia and Andy taking a lunch break, eating some good for you--and for the earth--refreshments provided courtesy of Whole Foods. Note to self: Chocolate macaroons are no substitute for brownies. This was confirmed when Lily asked for a second brownie bite and was informed by the Whole Foods person that they'd run out.

Lily and friends testing out one of the new planter boxes. 

Sourpusses

I think the grapefruit often gets a bad rap--what with its bitterness and interactions with medications and all. But on the upside, it does call for fancy, serrated spoons, which are pretty nifty.

Warning: This video may fall into the category of "My mom thinks we're so adorable people will even want to watch us drink grapefruit juice."

Rainy day theater

Our soggy Sunday called for an impromptu performance by the Pierce Family Players. The play of choice was Cinderella. The cast: 

Lily as Cinderella. 

Amalia as the fairy godmother. 

Andy as the handsome prince. (I'm not sure why he's wearing a beach hat or his pea coat is tucked into his sweatpants. Poor Cinderella may want to reconsider. Oh, and I was the wicked stepmother, of course.)

As the story begins, Cinderella is scrubbing the floors. 

But with the help of her fairy godmother, she is able to get ready for the ball. 

Where she meets the handsome prince and dances the night away. 

The next day, the prince looks everywhere for his princess. 

He tries the shoe on every maiden in the kingdom. 

After being reunited with her prince, Cinderella celebrates by eating some green eggs (inspired by Dr. Seuss' birthday this week). Fin!

Girls with guitars

I believe this clip is a direct result of Andy showing Lily some of Justin Bieber's YouTube videos. She came to me this morning saying, "Take a video of me!"

Chillaxin' at the band house. 

 Ham and cheese. 

When Lily came into my room this morning, I thought my ear-piercing age restriction was being defied. 

But the "tape-ons" were really just part of her dog costume.

She made cat ears for Amalia.

 The cat, wearing her breakfast.