Dad's home!

We had a busy week last week...but then again all weeks are busy with 3 year old twins in the house. The highlight was John's return after a 2 week business trip that took him to India and Manilla via connecting flights in Paris, Singapore and Tokyo.

We'd decided he should look for the tackiest airport souvenirs possible given that he should have had a 2 hour layover in each spot. I had envisioned Eiffel Tower keychains/thermometers, sumo wrestler snow globes, etc. Alas, all did not go as planned, planes were late, connections made by the skin of his teeth, airport shops that didn't carry such treasures...

However, John didn't come home empty handed.

He brought mermaids 

and small mirrored handbags for the girls

and sumptuously vibrant textural scarves for me. 

While John spent a good portion of last week trying to get over jet lag, Ellie decided to start a few new fashion trends. Who else could combine pink panda pajamas, a shell necklace, pink & black leopard print sunglasses, a purple bunny basket and her Dora backpack with such...

well...with such elan? Notice the mermaid tail sticking out of the bunny basket and the upside down sunglasses. I'd love to have been able to hear what Grace was saying to Ellie. I imagined something along the lines of "Are you insane wearing that...that get-up?"

Thursday ended up being a pretty nice day so we spent most of the day outside. Even got the paints out. I loved that Ellie was a two-fisted painter. 

 Grace was a bit more subdued, preferring to stamp circles on the paper, for a little while.

Grace's hands.

Ellie's hands.

It seemed that paint was everywhere - on the table top and side, as well as the sliding glass door. Love that colorful little hand print. 

All too soon the clouds moved in and brought cooler temps. Bummer. I want spring back.