Easter Parade

When I realized that this year was an Easter Parade year, I knew I really wanted to try to do a good job with our hats.  I discovered some vintage hats in Chicago over Christmas and picked those right up, with the EASTER PARADE in my sights.

Working on each bonnet has been a good distraction from some uncertainties happening in my life right now (read: possible job opportunities).  A few weeks before the parade I suddenly realized that I must have a pram for my Pickle to ride in. Within 24 hours of thinking this thought, I had one.

I did a refurbish on it and then I got very dismayed as I saw the forecast get colder and colder. Last week I acquired a bunny snowsuit on ebay, with the thought of putting her easter outfit OVER it. When it came, I saw that was not going to happen so I tried to spruce it up a bit with some cuter ears and a little muzzle and I ended up putting a dress over it that I found at the salvation army the day before for $.49-

It was the right move.

At the Easter parade you either take peoples photos or get your picture taken. Guess which group we were in this year?

This was our view for the entire 90 minutes that we shuffled along 5th Avenue.  One of our first photographers was Bill Cunningham himself:

We saw so many sights, and I wish we could have stayed all day, but alas, I am the MOST enthusiastic member of the Posse (Phoebz a close 2nd), and we had to get to our church services, so a quick visit it was.

Here is what we saw:

We got our snaps taken quite a bit, but I was only able to hunt down a few internet sitings.  Here is Jason telling the NY Post that I am 31.

He seriously doesn’t know how old I am , which tells me that fantasy 40th birthday party in my head is probably NOT going to happen.  Here are some captures:

Pickle was a big hit.

Lolly hated it. Evidence from this blog (don’t forget to read the caption):

And here is what we looked like:

My hat had a hard time staying put, but that’s ok…I really do love how they all turned out.  Glad we remembered Jason owned a straw fedora too!

Happy Easter! Get ready for an Awkward Family Photo right…..NOW:

Easter Saturday

Our Bunny visits us on Saturday morning.  The girls decided Pickle got first go at the mini Easter Egg Hunt in our Apartment.  Sure enough, she stopped at the first egg she saw and the rest was history.  The girls have not yet outgrown this tradition, and they love it.

After I ran 8 miles at my fastest long-distance pace so far (yes!) we headed over to our neighborhood Egg Hunt.  The girls scored quite a few eggs at that one too.  Pickle got a lot of looks from passersby, as we did our Pram trial run for the Easter Parade on Sunday.

It was beautiful weather and fun family time.

Look at these two guilty girls caught red-handed eating sugar???

 

 

 

 

 

Isn’t he so handsome with his new haircut and new jeans and sneakers ?

 

Easter Prep

I’ve been distracting myself from waiting to hear about jobs (always WAITING…..) by really jumping into Easter Parade Prep.  We only get to go every OTHER year because our church meetings are in the morning every other year.  This year we will get to stroll 5th Avenue as a family and enjoy seeing all the Easter Bonnets (just like Judy Garland!).

I made this squirrel for a bonnet:

I took a little road trip to Yardley, PA for this pram, and gave it an Easter Parade Makeover (spectacular!)

And I bought a Bunny Snowsuit, once I saw the forecast.  Now, Pickle will be a Bunny dressed for Easter, instead of a Pickle dressed for Easter, as originally planned—gotta have a happy (warm) baby now don’t we?  The other two, well, they may have to suffer a little.

I know, I think it looks like a non-bunny creature too, and I may have to cut the armholes of the dress and put holes in the bonnet so that she has bunny ears, which is, frankly, going to kill me, but I could always repair it after right?  It was $7- on Ebay, the right size, warm, and a bunny….guys, I had to.

Now I need to figure out how to get the pram from my apartment to 5th Avenue on the subway, because if I am to transport it in the van, only 4 of us will be attending the parade.  Thank goodness for Uppa Baby’s–this pram business is Cray-Cray.

Needless to say, my creative juices are flowing. And though I am feeling pretty great about the Posse Offering this Easter, looking back on 2009 and 2011 is making me feel like my offering is still quite meager….but I DO have a pram this year….and a pickle….so—->

 

Chicago: Wicker Park

On New Year’s Eve we went on a little field trip to Chicago.  After hitting The Boring Store, we headed up Milwaukee Ave. to explore all the cool stores we saw as we were driving in.  It was a frigid day, so we only managed to visit a few.

Rudy’s Roundup was so inviting with it’s baby blue lettering.  Inside was a collection of treasures.  All the vintage clothing was 50% off.  I wanted to buy so many pieces, but I ended up sticking to the hats!  This year our church services are in the afternoon, which means I have a few hours in the morning to take the kids to the Easter Parade.  I am pretty excited.

These hats have so much potential for fun pieces, I am really excited that I scored them at such a low price. I also love getting something like this as a souvenir, because I will always remember that frigid day in Chicago when I found those hats at Rudy’s Roundup.

Transit Tees was cool. I wish I had bought this shirt with the embroidered train on it.  We also visited Lomography.  I heard the gal that worked there talking to someone about shooting with film and how it makes her more thoughtful about what she is going to snap a photo of . I REALLY need a dose of that. I take TOO MANY photos.

I WANTED to visit Fluevog and Free People and all the vintage resale shops on Milwaukee, but it was too bitter out and we had to head home.  Next time.

 

Crochet: Eggs

 

Lolly asked me to get her some eggs to hang from her chandelier. I crocheted some up.  The stripes are wonky because I crocheted it in the round, and the shape needs some tweaking since it’s just poly-fill, but they did the job, and she was pleased. Pattern here.

Easter: The Wardrobe

I love getting new duds for Easter.  Who doesn’t? We were down one girl this Easter as Phoebe was sick at home.  Her fever reached 105 on Easter evening! Yikes!  Don’t google “fever 105″….

I knew that I would be feeling less than Easter fashionish due to the state of my belly, so I bought a little bunny sweater and some neon pink tights and called it an Easter day.  Lolly LOVED her outfit (so glad), and I hope she will wear it for an upcoming concert and Pickle’s blessing day.  I made the flower belt for her dress, mimicking a jcrew one that Phoebe was meant to wear (I just bought a flower and some ribbon at a trim store in the garment district and voila it was done).  I was in a hurry to to get myself ready on Easter Morning so I didn’t realize Jason was wearing a bright orange and blue tie until it was time to take a photo.  Not very Easterish I think….but I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled.

Doesn’t Jason look so cute in his Seer Sucker Suit?  I love when he wears it.

We ate some food too!  The best part of Easter Dinner is the Easter Lasagna the next day. DEELICIOUS!

 

Easter: The Hunt

Saturday morning the Easter Bunny visited our apartment.  The girls hunted for all the eggs hidden around our family room and rifled through their baskets.

A few hours later, as we were headed out the door for the Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt Phoebe decided to stay home–a true sign she wasn’t feeling well.  Her fever inched up and and up and up as the day wore on, poor baby.

Lolly committed to getting enough eggs for both of them, and she did not disappoint.

When we returned home we spent the next 7 hours or so cleaning out our apartment.  We managed to clear 3 drawers and 2 shelves for the Pickle…truly a miracle.  We clean out our apartment several times a year, but since we have been here for 5, we were extremely ruthless on what got to stay and what had to go.  We sent at least 7 HUGE bags of garbage to the curb and 4 bags of recyclables….plus we are donating stuff too….and our apartment is pretty clean and organized!

I am just happy we have found space for our new baby…I knew we would be able to, but actually doing it is a HUGE check off my TO-DO list.

Easter: The Eggs

Good Friday we spent dying Easter Eggs while watching Easter Parade…a tradition.  It was the first time egg-dying took quite a long time. We tried to do some fancy stripes with rubber bands, but we weren’t very good at it.  We ate a few along the way too, when the shells were TOO cracked to dye.

In the Baskets

Lolly has been so sweet this season, remembering rituals about Easter.  I loved seeing her face light up as she tried to describe Dying Easter Eggs.  And then she remembered that on the Saturday before Easter she wakes up and finds a little trail of Easter Eggs leading to a mini egg hunt in our family room.

I, of course, pretended to have no idea what she was talking about…

Thankfully she brought all this up in time for me to figure out what to put in the Easter Baskets this year.  I did absolutely NOTHING for Valentine’s Day, so I will make up for it on Easter.

For Lolly:

The Muppets

Go Fish (our is destroyed)

Eeboo Fairy Queen Playing Cards (the girl LOVES games)

dippin dots scented nail polish

My Even More Wonderful World of Fashion

Phoebe:

Hop

Finish this Book

Sleeping Queens

Rory’s Story Cubes

Crackling Nail Polish

Both:

Fashion Color Bic Pens

Colorclick Pens

Kokesha Dolls

Bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs

I skip the messy grass and just fill their baskets.  The eggs this year might have a few dollars here and there and some wrapped candy probably.  Phewsh, I think I got it ordered just in time.

Ham

2006:

Dinner = Kids eating what’s on their plates.

2010:

Sisters: What’s for dinner?

Dad: It’s a ham dinner.

Sisters: We don’t like ham! I don’t like ham! What’s ham?

Me: You do like ham. Trust me. You like it. you’ve had it before. you like it. Just eat it.

Dad: Green Eggs and Ham!

Lolly: Dad! Stop! It!

Ham served

Lolly: Oh! I’ve had this at Grammy’s house. I like this.

Phoebe (mumbling): ASLihf327rht

Me: What?

Phoebe (really quiet): I like the ham.

Me: See!? I told you girls you liked ham.

Jason: Yeah, Kristy made us a ham dinner.