Jemmies & Violets

I feel like I've been posting a lot about Jem lately. He's at a stage were pretty much everything that comes out of his mouth is cute. He's been trying to convince me that we should plant some "Jemmies", since he discovered that Violet has flowers growing in the garden named after her. I asked him what Jemmies looked like, and he said "yummy white flowers, and yellow too". Speaking of yummy (vegetarians, avert your eyes!), what's a boy to do when his fork is sticky and his hands are covered in sauce? EAT WITH HIS FACE. Violet continues to evade answers about school and draws pretty much non-stop. We're trying to keep her motivated to keep practicing her reading, but if she decides she's not going to do it, she's not doing it.
Violet is always planning her next birthday party. Every time we walk by the cake section of the grocery store, she says "oh! I want that one with the clowns...oh, no, I want the one with the princesses....no! the pink roses one...Mom, can I have the one with the little ice cream cones on it again?". Now that her party is actually in sight (only two months away!) she's been training me on some dialogue that will come off as witty banter between us during her birthday party. I've forgotten exactly how it goes (because one has to tune out some of the birthday talk around here to stay sane), but she gets to say "nope-ity, nope-ity, nooooo!" at the end. I'm sure it will be funny, and I'll make sure to learn my lines for the important day.
Here she is trying on a dress from Libby for Max & Angies's wedding this summer, where she will be the most enthusiastic flower girl anyone has ever seen. She looks so grown up!As soon as I rustle up the video of her performing for Jesse's high school's talent show, I will post it. She was amazing. She sang into a microphone in front of 800 people, danced, and blew the crowd a kiss when she was finished. A true performer.

On becoming a snuggly

We left Jem's snuggly in Toronto, and only realized this calamity when we came home. His snuggly was one of my old maternity t-shirts, stretched out and worn, that he holds it to his face as he falls asleep.
Tonight I offered him another one of my t-shirts instead. I was nervous. Would he accept this substitute? He thought about it, held it for a while, smelled it thoughtfully, and said:
You gave me a t-shirt into my arms, and I feeled it, and I smelled it, and now it's a snuggly!
And he went to sleep.
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72 hours of sugar and sunshine (or, Easter weekend, as some might call it):
Violet ensures an even distribution of treats the Easter Bunny hid in the garden.

The booty in the basket.Cupcakes by Teta Peach, enjoyed by all.Jem eats the top off of everything first (even toast).and then bring on the crazy (I mean Violet, not my family in the background).