Cold Weather, Good Times

The temperature dropped 50 degrees on Tuesday night, from a warm 80 to a frigid 30 and the girls and I were once again housebound and COLD. I was glad I hadn't packed up all our winter clothes because we all needed sweaters. Even though it's Easter and "spring" there have been flurries and "snow puddles" (as Ellie calls them) for the last three days. Determined not to let this interfere with our lustrous plans, the girls and I went shopping for a long over-due double jogging stroller and found a great deal on a lower end model with a locked front wheel, reclining seats, and a handbrake. Even better than those features is the fact that it actually fits in the trunk of our car with no finagling other than the easy removal of the front tire. Yes, there are nicer, lighter models out there, but I would have to use an allen wrench and three or four advanced degrees to get the dang thing in our trunk, so I got a cheaper, heavier model that is blue and actually fits. Don't think I'll run a marathon with it, but it works great for my 2-3 mile jogs. I was so excited to have the stroller that I bundled the girls up in every layer they own and went out for a jog through the flurries. All of us came back with pink noses, but no one complained and I love love love the new stroller.
I came back from the run rejuvenated and determined to do something fun for Ellie, so she and I started to work on a duck costume for the Columbus Metropolitan Library Duckling Day Parade. Every year they pass out materials for kids to make a duck costume and then all the ducks follow Mrs Mallard back to the library a la the picture book Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McClosky. Sounds fun, right? Well, Ellie wanted to make a skirt wearing duck, so I pulled out all my creativity and made a Hula Duck costume even though it was 23 degrees outside. And then the next morning amid more snow she and I set off for the library for an Easter egg hunt and the parade, thinking for sure they'd move everything inside due to the weather. Well, they didn't and after about 5 minutes in the cold Ellie was crying. So, we bypassed the parade and went to wait for the puppet show. Of course, as soon as Ellie saw the library she took off towards the kids section to look for Curious George books, but then got waylaid by the enormous Duckling Day Parade pictures from last year and wanted to wear her costume immediately. So we slipped it on (have I mentioned yet that this costume was made entirely out of paper? Maybe "slipped it on" isn't the best description) and now that she was dressed like a duck she wanted to go back to the festivities --which was fine with me because I wanted to chat with my friend Stephanie who was there and who just had her first baby. We went in to the puppet show and Ellie wanted out of the costume so she could watch. She was absolutely transfixed until there was a vacuum--at which point she was terrified (what does that say about my housekeeping skills?). By this time, she was done with duckling day and wanted to go back to Curious George. So, we sat together and read Curious George books for a good twenty minutes until she wanted to go home. Except then she saw the giant ducks at the entrance to the library and wanted to be in her costume. We crumpled her back in and she decided she was terrified of the ducks and waddled her way back to the car and we went home and dyed Easter eggs in the warmth of our own house. And then she told me that she liked her duck costume and we read the free book they handed out and she loved it, so I think all in all the experience was a success.
Today to celebrate Easter we had dinner with our old neighbors Chris and Jessica. We brought a salad and rolls and then Jessica made ham and sweet potatoes and roasted potatoes and roasted vegetable pasta and angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Needless to say, we're stuffed.