Afternoon Sun

The Mess.

This morning we hosted playgroup, which meant that the kids were parked in front of the tv for 45 minutes while I frantically picked up the house, cleaned up dishes, etc. so as to look completely organized for our guests.  And of course, a clean, picked-up house is SO soothing to my soul.  It was perfect, for about 5 minutes.  Now the family room looks like this:

  Unfortunately, living with a 4, 2, and 9-month-old means that 99.9% of the time the house is a complete disaster.  DISASTER.  It seems to have gotten worse in the past few months -- probably a combination of being cooped up inside all winter, the ongoing accumulation of toys, and the fact that Siena and Libby are just really enjoying playing with pretty much anything in their sight these days.  When they were smaller the messes were much easier to manage, plus toys for babies are just bigger and simpler than all of the little pieces that come with older kid toys (think legos, doll clothes, a million pieces of fake food for the kitchen, etc).  I could literally spend all day picking up the house, only to do it all over again the next day.  Sigh...  So yes, many days the toys are not picked up.  And I have to be okay with it if I'm ever going to get anything else accomplished, or better yet, if I'm ever going to have any time to relax, have some tea, and catch up the blog. :)  Better a messy house full of kids and laughter, right?

Anyway, I'm partially writing this post for my daughters' sake, so that when they are mothers themselves dealing with their own children's messes they won't look to me and think, "how did Mom keep such a perfect house with three kids running around?"  Answer: I didn't!  My house is only perfect now because you are no longer living here. :)  But I miss you and your cute messy little girl selves terribly.

Easter 2013

So I'm long overdue on our Easter post, but so it goes these days.  We headed north to Chicago for Easter this year for a big Sustar gathering at Aunt Mary's house.  Practically the entire family was there for Easter Sunday -- what a treat!  And not only did we get to stay at Aunt Mary's house, but Baby Henry was a house guest as well...  cue the squeals of delight.  Add in the first WARM day of spring and it made for a fantastic weekend.  Christ is Risen, hallelujah!

The littlest Sustar cousins pose with their duckies in front of
our favorite Downers Grove restaurant, The Golden Hen

Keep away from my eggs, Uncle Patrick!

Finding our baskets on Easter morning

Four little bunnies!

All dressed up for Easter Mass

Easter lunch included a solo cello performance by cousin Liam
to an enthusiastic audience!

Grandma Yak lends a helping hand
during the egg hunt

Go Libby go!

Margaret's first Easter

Happy Easter from the Sustars!

8 Months

Margaret is a busy busy girl at 8 months old.  She loves to crawl, "wrestle" with her sisters, cluck her tongue, make fishy faces, babble, play her baby version of "I see the moon" on Mommy and Daddy's bed, put ANYTHING tiny into her mouth, and is starting to pull herself up to stand.  I love this age!!  Her sleep continues to improve, as she now has stretches of 5 hours between feedings at night.  Needless to say I'm feeling like a whole new mommy.  Our love for her continues to grow every day!  It's wonderful watching her little personality emerge.

Snow Bunny

Although the groundhog predicted an early spring this year, we've had anything but!  March has been a cold month overall, and a big 8" dump of snow right before Easter reminded us that winter is not over quite yet.  We're not complaining, though -- Daddy and Siena both had another snowday, and we got to leave this Easter present in Winnie and Picky's back yard.

Eckert's Easter Eggstravaganza

We had such fun visiting our local orchard, Eckert's, for a pre-Easter celebration.  Breakfast with the Easter bunny, an egg hunt, baby animals to hold, face-painting, and more...  What could be better on a beautiful spring day?  We'll definitely be back next year!

Libby slowly warmed up to the Easter Bunny

We love time with our daddy.

The hunt is on!

Baby bunnies to hold!  A little girl's dream.

95% of my motivation for returning next year
is so I can hold another baby duck.

Little Margaret is excited for Easter, too!

Siena LOVES having her face painted.

Great Wolf Lodge

Time to catch up a bit...  We'll see how much I can get done before Margaret wakes from her nap! 

March was a busy month, packed with lots of fun.  We spent a few days of Joe's spring break at Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City, a combination hotel / indoor water park.  The girls had a blast and have been talking about it ever since, even though they weren't quite big enough for most of the rides.  Highlights included the kiddie splash pool, storytime in front of the clock tower, the craft room, and buying Libby new pink Crocs. :)

Can you sense the excitement
behind those mouths full of banana?

Ready for some fun

Margaret loves the water!

Toweling off after a great day

An equally exciting destination was T-Rex Cafe, just down the street from Great Wolf Lodge.  It's a CRAZY dino-filled restaurant that shocks the senses at every turn.  Unfortunately Siena's first impression was not a good one, as a huge T-Rex literally stares you in the face as soon as you open the door.  It took her a few minutes to get over that surprise! 

Welcome to T-Rex!

Oh, silly Libby

Libby takes a minute before dinner to nurse Minnie

Finding the mommy and baby dinos was the best part