Thanks, Easter Bunny!

It was a relatively quiet Easter here in North Carolina yesterday - other than some festivities, it almost seemed like any other Sunday (quite a difference from a year ago). We started the day right, by sleeping in - no one got up until almost 8:00 AM (Daddy was sooooo happy)! Then we went downstairs, where the boys found their Easter baskets waiting for them (inside were all sorts of little toys and books - and of course, a chocolate bunny). After breakfast, Seanie did his best impression of a bunny, while Loch....did not.



Then it was time to dye Easter eggs (the finished product seen above, along with a cake that I made the day before - which Lochlain helped decorate). I don't think anyone found this to be as much fun as I thought it was going to be....except maybe Mr. Smurfhands:

Later in the afternoon after lunch and nap, we held our 2nd Annual Backyard Easter Egg Hunt (maybe someday other children besides Loch-a-doc and Seaniebear will participate):



Of course afterwards the Easter booty had to be inventoried:



The day ended with a nice lamb dinner followed by the previously mentioned Easter cake - notice how Seanie holds onto his fork without actually using it:

Thus ended our somewhat solitary Easter - at least the weather mostly cooperated. Strangely enough, we went from having the windows open and ceiling fans on for Saturday to snow flurries on Monday - and we'll be back in the 70s by Wednesday. Go figure.

Let's Go To The Movies

I am decompressing from today's Easter festivities and have editing to do of photos and videos, so I am putting this filler post of film shorts up to stall until tomorrow's Easter entry. Some are good, some are not, but hey - in the immortal words of Aunt Mo: "You get what you get and you don't get upset!"

First up - a quick pass of Loch's room before we redid it:



And then - the still unfinished re-do (Bean wants to get special blinds and I want to get a nightstand):



Next up - Loch and Seanie practice their laps in our indoor swimming pool:



Last but not least - I present to you a tale of two future North Carolina Highway Patrol riders (in two parts):

Tomorrow - I should have an Easter post for you all - hope you had a good one!

Storming the Castle

Yesterday we were invited to an Easter Egg Hunt (well, we weren't invited yesterday - we were invited a couple of weeks prior). The weather was great, the boys behaved relatively well, and a good time was had by all. It was quite a shindig. First, we got there and let the boys run around and play. There were kids of all ages there playing all sorts of games, there were bubble machines, there was a sandbox, and there was...a castle - which became a focal point of play for both Loch and Seanie for the rest of the afternoon:

Eventually, Loch even found some sort of "sword" to carry around in the castle

It was hard to tear them away from it for the egg hunt - but we got out there with them on the front lawn and managed to get a few eggs, including a discarded empty one Loch spotted that had rolled under a car in the driveway. We even got some good pics with Mommy and Daddy:

Did I mention the matching outfits?


1 and 2/4 men

Then it was time for lunch, with rousing cries of "PIZZA!" from the boys (and a lot of other kids, too). As that was getting setup, who should put in an appearance but the Easter Bunny himself! Sean was not as impressed (one way or the other), but as usual Lochlain took to the agnostic icon with his omnipresent attentiveness. At first, most of the other kids were just running up and saying "Hi" or touching the Easter Bunny's face - but Loch plopped down next to him and hung out. We had to coax him off the bench so that other kids could pose for pics. When food was served and everybody else ran off and abandoned good ol' Peter Cottontail, Loch grabbed his plate and juice and resumed his seat at the left hand of the rabbit:

"Er..you gonna eat all of that?"

Meanwhile, once Seanie received his plate of pizza, he just immediately plopped down on the grass for some quiet time and to reflect on the day's events so far:



A mad science show followed lunch - which left the castle free of almost all the kids at the party except for - you guessed it - Lochlain and Sean:

"Mommy is a hamster and you smell of Elderberries!"


"Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!"


Future Fireman?


Thanks for the distraction, lady!

Then it was time for ANOTHER egg hunt! This time, the little kids got a larger area to comb and a bigger head start! Loch filled his basket in a short time, and then proceeded to pick up eggs and put them in other kids' baskets. Seanie had Mommy helping him and got a fairly full basket as well:

Loch industriously putting all his eggs into 1 basket


The one kid Lochlain DIDN'T help

The spoils of the hunt

Then it was time for delicious cake, mad-science-made cotton candy and the door prizes - both Lochlain and Sean won some Fisher Price Little People! But it was the cake that got most of the boys attention (we had to convince Loch that cotton candy was both good tasting AND edible):

It was messier than it looked


"No, Mommy - this is MY cake! Bad Mommy!"

Upon departing and thanking our host, he asked Lochlain if he was in Kindergarten as they shook hands goodbye. Upon learning Loch was only a little over 3, and having been offered Loch's left hand to shake (he had his prize in his right hand - we think he is a "righty" but are not entirely sure), our host said we ought to get Loch ready for a career as baseball pitcher (and he may not even need to use steroids). I am not sure - as Loch displayed his talent for soccer (and wishes everyone a Happy Easter):

I Got Served

...with the following grievance from my sister Feather thanks to the Bureau of Communication:

Never mind that in the past couple of weeks I have re-done Lochlain's room, started to move/ re-do the home office, gotten the flu, taken care of the boys solo while Bean was in NY for a couple of days (while having the flu), and put out another issue of our family newsletter (for which, by the way, Feather was the only member of my immediate nuclear family who did not submit something). We also recently took the boys to the Greensboro Coliseum to see Playhouse Disney Live - a "live-action" ensemble of some of the Playhouse Disney shows (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, My Friends Tigger & Pooh and Handy Manny). Lochlain loved it - it was great to see his face light up as he saw each new act show up on stage. Even Seanie got into towards the end, dancing along with the finale. I was recovering from having the flu when we went, but it was still an enjoyable experience - I was surprised to see that almost 2 1/2 hours had gone by while we were in there. In fact, the whole thing went so well that we are going to see Go Diego Go Live! in April.

Things that are not going well are Lochlain's poor potty training efforts and his fresh behavior. And I mean old-school fresh - Black Book fresh if you know what I mean (and longtime Meagher afficionados do know). Fortunately for us he (and unfortunately for my mother, God rest her soul) is not as bad as I was when I was 3, but it is still daunting - made more so by the fact that most of the time he is a sweet, caring, thoughtful little boy. Today, he told me that I was his best friend (an honor I share with Puppy and Blankie). I know what you're thinking - "Awwwwww!"-but of course he told it to me as I was yelling at him for going poopy and pishies in his underpants AGAIN. One of the funny (?) things is that after all the yelling, crying, and carrying on, he will either get on the potty or just turn around, walk up to it and go! Arrrggghh!
My brother and all my friends should be grateful they have girls.

Speaking of which, two of our bestest friends in the world had themselves a baby girl! Congrats and much love to Roly, Annmarie, and (Welcome to) Madelyn Arleen Boyon! This is the 2nd child of close friends who shares a birthday with a Meagher kid (Maddy was born the same day as Carter Meagher, and Steffie Lynch was born a year after Lochlain). Anyhoo, Maddy looks like a cute kid from the few photos we have seen:

Madelyn Arleen Boyon
DOB: 03/03/08 4:04 PM
7 lbs. 1 oz., 21 inches

By the way, Seanie's no angel either. He refuses to take naps in his crib (though he has no problem going to bed in it). So he will usually take his naps on the couch - and sometimes our bed:

Finally, here are some vids for Feather to watch - and maybe if she put as much energy into serving me electronic grievances as she did into her family newsletter submissions, the world would be a better place. Our first video has Lochlain and Seanie clowning around - Loch appears to be a big fan of the movie-made-into-Nickelodeon-TV-series Barnyard, though we have never watched it. The second feature has the boys attacking their mother with creepy weird oven-mitt hands. And where was I while all this was going on? Why, washing out Lochlain's poopy underwear, of course. Enjoy!