And In Other News

I know that these types of posts aren't as much fun to read for the non-grandparent-types among you, but I wanted to just document some of the things we've been up to lately here in the Sawyer household.

My grandfather (Opa, or "Popper" to the great-grandkids) turned 80 the beginning of this month. Everyone who was in Utah, as well as an Uncle who was in town, met at Maddock's Restaurant (located up in Perry, near Ogden) to celebrate. It was a fun afternoon. We don't often get everyone on that side of the family together. Adriana was thrilled to meet my cousin, Jeff, who is also a dinosaur aficionado and was actually able to guess the obscure dinosaurs she picked during a game of "I'm Thinking of a Dinosaur."
Our St. Patrick's Day celebrations were fairly low-key, but we did try to get in to the spirit of all things green. I had an appointment very early that morning so all we had time for at breakfast was green oatmeal, but I did make the girls their promised green pancakes later that day. We also dressed in all the green items of clothing we could find, we made sure dinner had several green items, and the girls colored and cut out green shapes and pictures and then decorated their room with all of their green toys (and Daddy's green blanket made a nice new rug on the floor) so they could have a St. Patrick's Day party with a friend from down the street. To be perfectly honest I have never seen much use in the whole St. Patrick's Day holiday, but the girls had fun.
One of our local grocery stores, Maceys, held a "circus" last Saturday. The girls had colored pictures from the store and were able to come exchange them for some candy. There was also free popcorn, balloons, a station to make clown hats, face painting, and games. Both girls won the fishing game. Adriana chose a punching balloon as her prize. Miriam chose a banana. It's nice having young children who are so easily entertained. :) I'm also a big fan of free family activities.
We haven't done anything else particularly big and exciting, but we've spent a lot of time outside playing and gardening when we have nice spring weather. There's been a lot of dress up, reading books together (most exciting for me that Adriana is now sometimes willing to read books to her little sister), making "messes," er, culinary confections in the kitchen, play dates, and silly dancing.