My Fish Story

Today we made use of the early summer weather and spent the morning at the beach.  While my children and husband played in a giant hole dug in the sand, I decided to go for a swim.  We'd gone into the water together a few minutes earlier, but the adults only made it in up to our ankles. 

The water at Burlington Beach takes forever to get deep. By the time it was up to my hips the people on shore were the size of sand flies.  I was watching a school of minnows swim by when, suddenly, I came face to leg with an enormous creature.  The fish, which was about the size of a small dog, swam right up to me.  I gasped and jumped a little.  The fish had the same startled reaction (if you can picture gasping without lungs and jumping without legs).  I lost interest in swimming and ran to tell my family what I'd found. 

A passing kayaker identified the beast as a carp looking for a mate (sorry, fish, I'm married).   Wikipedia says the carp is related to the goldfish.  Now that I think about it, it did kind of look like those big goldfish they have at the Mandarin, only this one was much larger, and less festively coloured.

Of course, when I waded out with my family to show off my discovery, my gigantic swimming friend had already disappeared into the deep.

Girls' Day Out!

Today William went off with Daddy to watch drag racing and go camping, so Jadzia and I had a girl's day out.  I put out the APB on facebook that I was looking for a fun girl's playdate, and two of my Mommy friends responded; Zoe's Mom, Columbia, and Leyla's Mom, Cara.  Zoe and Leyla are older than Jadzia, but since she thinks she's three that wasn't a problem.

Our recent aquisition of Summer Bronte Creek Passes made it the agreed upon favourite place to hang out. We planned to see the old Victorian farm house, but it was closed. We did, however, enjoy some pigs and peacocks nearby.  The male peacock even spread his tail feathers for us and did a little mating dance.

After snacks it was off to the play barn (which meant driving to another section of the park). On our way to the parking lot, another Bronte visitor let us pet her dog, much to Jadzia's delight.  "Buster" loved the attention and didn't want to leave all the friendly preschoolers. Nor did Jadzia want to leave the dog.

Eventually we made it to the Nature Centre near the play barn (which is hardly ever open when I go).  Jadzia was delighted to watch the bees in the beehive, but backed away when I held out a cuddly stuffed larva for her to hug.

Next more pigs, goats, chickens, and finally the play barn. If I'd brought William, he would have been all over the upper level of the play barn, running, sliding, and jumping.  The girls, on the other hand, seemed content to hang out with Jadzia on the slower kiddie slide. I can imagine William being jealous when he sees the pictures of his sister hanging out with his girlfriends.

By this time it was past lunch time, so we all went out to an Indian buffet restaurant for lunch.  Some of the dishes were a bit too spicy, but they had lamb so I was a fan. Among other things, Jadzia scarfed down like five little dessert cakes (I don't know what they're called but they are like TimBits drenched in syrup). 

I had a wonderful time.  And Jadzia did too, as evidenced by her screaming as soon as she was alone in her carseat.  But the tears were short lived, and she soon fell asleep. She's been dozing long enough now for me to have a shower and write this blog entry.  Huzzah! 

Super Happy Jen invades Daylight Atheism blog.

I'm guest moderating at Daylight Atheism, while the blog's author gets married and goes on a honeymoon.  Today I used my powers for evil and wrote a short guest post. I warned him that if he gave me this power his blog would become a parenting/star trek blog.  Parenting, check.  Now I have to figure out a way to tie Star Trek in with atheism.   Enjoy!

Rattray Marsh

Recently Adam started a local photography meet-up group, because there wasn't one in Burlington, and because he was jealous that I meet with a writer's group every three weeks. So far the group has had two meetings, one at the Royal Botanical Gardens before sunrise on a Saturday, and another today at Rattray Marsh in Mississauga at a more reasonable hour. I joined the group of course, despite my lack of a single lens reflex or desire to spend a grand or two on accessories.  William recently got into his kiddie camera, which he brought with him (his isn't an SLR either, but it shoots video aswell).

Rattray Marsh is a beautiful boardwalk trail on the shore of Lake Ontario. I ended up spending most of the meet-up today with William and Jadzia, divided between two awesome 80s-retro playgrounds near the trail, both with sand (Jadzia's current favourite food).  William must be growth spurting because he downed two peanut butter and jam sandwiches, an applesauce snack, and nearly half a pint of strawberries.  We brought Morty the jackapoo, who happily ran up and down the play equipment after I "accidentally" let go of his leash.

I finally convinced the kids to find Daddy, and we miraculously tracked him and his new photography buddies down, even though we stopped to throw rocks in the water, and paused every few steps to have yet another strawberry.  The photographers were on a part of the boardwalk overlooking the swamp, taking pictures of egrets and swans.  I later asked Adam how he thought the group went and he pronounced it "Okay" and said he was "glad somebody showed up."  I think he had a fabulous time.

*I should note that all the photos in this post were taken by me, and not a real amateur photo enthusiast with a suped up SLR.

Annoyances and Joys.

I give you a list of minor annoyances that are giving me a bad hair day (am I the only one whose hair gets static when I'm stressed?)

• This morning William wanted to play with his activity book that comes with a dry-erase marker.  I gave him two rules: not on your skin, or on the floor.  He proceeded to draw a "hole" in the carpet.
• Yesterday we were refused admittance to the walk-in clinic because William's healthcard is expired.  I wish they still gave out the red ones.  The man in front of us in line had a healthcard that is older than both my children combined and HE got in.
• I was going to get a new health card but couldn't find the accordian thingie with all our documents in it.
• Raccoons (or some other creatures) helped themselves to our green bin.  I don't mind if they eat our garbage, but is it too much to ask that they do it neatly?
• This morning my parents' dog (who is staying with us for a couple weeks) woke Jadzia up 20 minutes before she would've woken up naturally.  That means, before 7 am, which is against my religion.
• If I hear a sentence that begins with "I want" one more time, my head will explode.
• Jadzia has hidden my watch somewhere.

Joys

• I found that accordian thing.  It was on the black shelf where we always keep it, where I looked at least seven times.
• On Tuesday, my fabulous husband took me out for a delicious lobster dinner.  I love lobster.  I wish it were cheaper so I could have it every day.  Okay, maybe just once a week.
• I got an appointment with my doctor, who declared my children healthy.
• My fabulous husband cleaned up the raccoon's mess this morning.
• He also filled the dishwasher.
• I got into an Early Years program where they mind the kids for two hours while I sit around and listen to a talk.  What's the talk on? Who cares!

The Nap-Time Drive

William does not like to sleep.  Nighttime involves a long Super-Nanny-style routine of screaming, guiding him into his room, more screaming, more guiding him to his room, negotiations for water, milk, stories, hugs, more screaming, and finally silence (theoretically sleeping but could also be laryngitis from all the screaming).  Luckily, Daddy usually handles the nighttime routine.

The same routine, attempted at nap time, achieves all the same results except the silence.  Once, after an hour, he agreed to "go to sleep", dozed for precisely 3 minutes, and then declared nap time over.

Time to give up naps?  In fact, William only has a nap about every other day, when I determine that he really needs it.  Some indications that William needs a nap:

• He has 2 or more meltdowns in the span of five minutes.
• He hits me, or Jadzia.  Or he hits me because I caught him hitting Jadzia.
• With no prompting whatsoever, he says "Mommy I'm not very tired right now."
• I observe him taking thirty-second cat-naps on his tricycle, train table, or on the floor.
• He asks me to read him ten stories in a row.
• He becomes slightly more demanding than usual.
• He giggles like an insane-asylum inmate.
• He throws his toys.
• He demands television, and a glass of milk.
• His listening drops from around 40% to -50% (the negative meaning he actively does the opposite of what I'm asking).

The only way I know of to get William to sleep is to put him in the car and drive until he dozes off.  I used to time every outting to end around nap time so he would fall asleep.  He soon got wise to the fact that I was taking the extra-long scenic route home from playdates.  I would make up bogus reasons for the detour.  In winter, we were looking for snowmen.  In spring, we were looking for new parks we could visit later.  The moment I see that he's konked, I drive home and transfer him, and his sister, into their beds.

Now I don't even bother lying, or timing my outtings for that matter.  If we're sitting at home, and it looks like he needs a nap, I'll say "I'm going to put you in the car and we'll drive until you fall asleep."  Why not?  If he had any power against the magic sleeping spell of the back seat, then it wouldn't work whether I lied or not.  Of course he fights me, but he still sleeps.

Today, I was driving around the neighbourhood, feeling like a failure because I didn't have a better nap time routine for my son, and because I don't command enough respect to prevent him from hitting me as I put him in his carseat.  Instead of driving around the block, I drove straight up Brant Street (past where it's still called Brant Street) into farm country.  As William began to nod, I saw a blue heron fly by.  As Jadzia started to look drowsy I turned around.

There in front of me was the entire city of Burlington, looking clean and new in the sunlight, and Lake Ontario beyond reflecting the brilliant Mediterranean blue of the clear sky. 

Zoology lesson

Jadzia brings me her toy cow and farmer.

Me:  "This is a farmer and this is a cow.  Do you know what a cow says?"

Jadzia: "ROAR!!"

Dinner conversation with William

William: "If I eat my ribs all gone then I will grow bigger and bigger like a dinosaur and you can let me out of the house and I will just CRUSH all the cars."
Adam: "What will happen to the people in the cars?"
William: "Oh, they will just get hurt."
Adam: "You don't want to hurt people do you?"
William (cheerfully): Yes I do!

Later on:
William: "Mommy if you eat your ribs all gone then you will grow bigger and bigger like a dinosaur and when Daddy lets you out we can be a family"
Me: "But we already are a family."
William: "No, a DINOSAUR family."

Our New Neighbours.

Everytime we drive into the carport, open or close the front door, the mother bird flies away.  It makes me wonder why she chose the top of our exterior light for a nest.  For warmth?  Unlikely, since the energy-saver bulb doesn't give off much heat, especially since we rarely turn that light on.  I do vaguely remember seeing a nature doc where some small creatures (hummingbirds, I think) nested near scary predators because they frightened other predators away. Perhaps the same logic applies here.

She doesn't fly far, usually sitting in the vines above the backyard gate, puffing up and singing presumably to distract us from her nest.   The nest is so high up that until today I couldn't even tell if there were any eggs in it.  Now I can see that there were eggs, and they've hatched, giving birth to some adorable baby birds. (Adorable, ugly and freakish-looking, same thing).

California here we come! (But not today William, don't get excited)

We're going to California. No, we haven't won the lottery. No, we have no extra money. But, this is the first time since our honeymoon that my husband has had two weeks vacation, and we're not going to waste it hanging around Ontario! We'll be leaving in June, staying one night in Surprise, Arizona (where my in-laws have a house) and borrowing their car, then off we go to where all the themeparks are (Anaheim and San Diego), maybe do a whale watching tour, Hollywood, you know, California stuff.


William doesn't seem to grasp the concept of planning ahead for a trip and keeps thinking we are going to leave right now. "No, we can't go to the store right now, we are going to California!" I try to tell him that we have to wait a whole month to go, but he just acts like I'm being ridiculous.

Just before we go I plan to chop off my ridiculously thick hair that currently reaches the middle of my back. I had a dream that I chopped off my ponytail and it ended up looking sort of like this, so that's the kind of style I might get. That's obviously the most important preparation, not booking hotels or anything.

Cool internet thingies

We're having a pretty slow day here in Super Happy Land, so I thought I'd take some time to show you some random, cool, internet thingies I've found.

First of all, yesterday was BoobQuake, a fun event started as a joke by fellow atheist blogger Jen McCreight (great name Jen).  After an Iranian Cleric linked immodestly dressed women to earthquakes, Jen urged everyone to wear their most revealing outfits on Monday, April 26 to see if there were any more earthquakes than usual.  200 000 people, including yours truly, wore our sexy shirts in support of this, and the story was picked up by CNN, CTV, and The Colbert Report, among others.  There was a pretty major Earthquake in Taiwan yesterday, but as Jen explains, it wasn't statistically significant.  Just to make sure though, there's talk of making this an annual event.  Oh, and Jen's selling BoobQuake T-shirts and giving all the proceeds to charity.  I'll buy one as soon as I figure out what size fits me...I hate buying clothes online.   Oh and just for the record...I read Jen's blog before she became internationally famous, so I can say I knew her when....Well only about a month before she became famous but still.

I was going to share more awesome internet stuff for you but my son is demanding "racing crashing toy videos"  So I shall leave you with this image:

I made this using IOGraphica, a program that tracks your mouse movements to make a pretty picture.  I first heard about it on my sister's blog, Design Chick's Blogaboo, which I've found to be another excellent source of random internet fun.

Mall Fair 2010!

This time of year a fair randomly sprouts up in the mall parking lot and starts charging ridiculous prices for food, rides, and games.  But what is normally a useless money-vacuum, is a worthwhile and wonderful experience when children are involved (of course it helps to share a bulk pack of ride tickets).  All the kiddie rides are variations on the same thing; kids drive around in a circle in some sort of vehicle (car, boat, worm).  Watching them is hilarious.  Zoe concentrates as though she is taking a driver's test.  Aedan performs over-the-shoulder blindspot checks.  William, in full road rage mode, growls "Go faster!"

Speaking of looking silly while on a ride, my husband took a video of me riding the ferris wheel in an attempt to capture my fear of heights on film.  As you can see though, I was fairly calm and collected the whole time:

He looks so innocent

We were the first to arrive at the beach for our outdoor play date, despite having taken an hour preparing peanut butter and jam sandwiches, packing fruit and cookies, and washing off the sand toys that have been sitting in our sand box (aka mud and leaf box) all winter.  Most of my favourite Mommy friends came and the kids barely glanced at the playground equipment they were so excited to play in the sand.

Before anyone else arrived I had to remind William not to throw sand.  There have been times, while at the park near my house, that I've gone home for this after only one warning. But this park is a 15 minute drive, instead of a 5 minute walk, and my friends were coming.

In the next little while, it became clear to me that William was simply in a sand throwing mood.  Part of me understands.  The sand at the beach is so soft, so perfect, so throwable.  When he threw sand directly in his friend Aedan's face, I had a fun lecture-talk with him about what we could and couldn't do with sand.

"Can we throw sand in our friend's face?"
"No!"
"Can we throw sand in our sister's face?"
"No!"
"Can we dig a big hole in the sand?" 
"Yes!"
"Can we dump sand on our friend's head?"
"No!"
"Can we use the sifter to play in the sand?"
"Yes!"
"But we don't throw sand, right?"
"I will not throw sand!"

Soon after, William threw sand AGAIN.  This time at his friend Annaliese.  He likely did it because he was pretty sure I wasn't watching, and he would be right.  But I had lots of other mommies and children being my eyes and ears.   I took William aside on a bench for a time out.  I showed William the time on my watch and told him what numbers it would change to when three minutes were up.  Then, having no more weapons in my dicipline arsennal, I gave him the ultimate threat :  we would go home if he threw sand again.

My friend was just congratulating me on my calm doling out of discipline, when he threw sand again! The final straw was a fairly innocent exchange between him and his friend Leyla.  I say innocent, because she threw sand too, though I'm pretty sure William started it.    I had no choice, I had made a promise.  I packed up our stuff, and we left. 

He cried all the way home, saying "I want to go to the beach!"  I honestly told him that I wanted to go to the beach too, but we couldn't because he was throwing sand. We were running out of children who had not had sand thrown in their faces and hair by my son.  I only hope he remembers this incident, so he doesn't become a schoolyard bully, or the class loner.

Now, hours later, William just calmly told me "I've very mad that you left the beach."  There's always next time, William.  It's going to be a long summer.

One child less

Today my Mom whisked William off to Toronto for a media day.  They're going to ride on the GO Train, see the CN tower, have a special lunch, maybe see a play...or something.  Anyway the point is I only have Jadzia today!

Now should I go somewhere just for Jadzia, like the pet store or animal shelter or on a nature walk  OR should I go do something that would be tedious to do with William, like grocery shopping?  I was thinking of buying myself a timer to motivate myself to clean (and to make sure I never do more than 5 minutes of chores a day), so I'm thinking I'll go to the mall, get a timer, and visit the pet store with Jadzia.

But then it's Earth Day, so maybe I should go outdoors and not use a car?  I've walked to the mall before, but it was a long walk, and I got a ride back.  I could bike it too, but then I'd have to bring the gigantic 2-kid stroller, and there's still the problem of the entire way home being up hill.  Which is totally the Earth's fault.   I'm trying to be good here, Mother Earth, but you're not making it easy!

Super Happy Family Search Story

Here's my version of a Google Search Story, w using their search story creator on youtube. What a fabulously sneaky way to spread your ad campaign. As if they need an ad campaign. I mean, who hasn't heard of/used Google? W

BTW: The W's in this post are not typos.  They were requested by William.  Now off to watch monster truck videos.

How to get kids dirty

Step 1:  Make sure you pick a day that's kind of rainy in the morning, but not too much so there's still sunshine to enjoy.  Today, for example, was perfect.  The sky opened up as I was driving to the Royal Botanical Gardens to meet my friends for a playdate, but by the time I got there it said "Just kidding, cue the sun!"

Step 2: Bring lots of children. Especially three-year-olds, and a 16-month-old who thinks she's a three-year-old.  They will get each other nicely riled up.  They may even roll on the ground for you!

Step 3: Go on a hike in nature.  Since you picked the perfect weather, parts of the trail will be muddy.  Make sure you let the children walk through the mud without assistance.

Step 4: Pause for a while on a particularly muddy patch of trail.  While you're trying to identify what species of swimming larvae you're looking at, pay little or no attention to what your 16-month-old is doing.

Step 5:  Hot dogs and ice cream.  Nothing dirties a kid's face faster than a chocolate ice cream cone.

Step 6:  If they aren't dirty enough yet,  FINGER PAINT!

Biking with kids

Today I was desperate to get out of the house and do something in the gorgeous weather, so I decided to try biking with my giant chariot stroller hitched up to the back of my bicycle.  We've had the stroller since last year, but the rules say that you can only put a kid in there (while attached to a bike) if they are over one year old, so this is the first season that both offspring can ride.

Things to keep in mind:

1. My children weigh 20 lbs and 37 lbs respectively.
2. Despite the appearance of a trim physique, my body is actually hiding fat very well and I am extremely out-of-shape.
3. I live in a deceptively hilly neighbourhood on the top of the Niagara escarpment.
4. Jadzia hates her helmet and spends most of the trip trying to liberate herself from it.
5. I hate excercise.  No, really.

My parents only live about a kilometre away, so I made that our destination.   My pipe dream when we bought the chariot was that I would bike everywhere, save a million dollars in gas, and become the fittest girl in the world.  As I began my journey I was thinking: this is easy...I'm always going to use my bike to go to Mom's house, and the library, and maybe some farther places too.  Then I hit my first hill.

I then noticed a design flaw in the road system.  Every stop sign and curb is followed immediately by a steep hill.  Once the bike gets going, I can pull 57 pounds of children plus 20 lbs of stroller fairly easily.  Getting going is the tough part.  Getting going up a hill is next to impossible.  The stroller does its darnedest to drag me backward while I huff and I puff and I creep up the hill at the break-neck speed of one inch an hour.  But exercise is the name of the game so I only gave up and walked the whole contaption up the hill twice, the rest of the time I charged ahead.  Super woman, was I.

By the end my legs were jello, my lungs were on fire, and my heart was threatening attack.  Luckily the ride back was slightly more downhill.  I was right about one thing; much more of this and I will definitely become the fittest girl in the world.  But is it worth it?

Ottawa Weekend Gettaway

Adam's friend-since-elementary-school Chris and his beloved Lisa are getting married in September and this weekend was their Stag  & Doe.  So my parents watched the kids for the weekend and we high-tailed down to our nation's capital to enjoy the party (and more importantly to enjoy a kidless weekend).

About halfway throught the 6-hour drive, Chris called to tell us the Stag & Doe had been cancelled.  The Maid of Honour/sister of the Bride had gone into labour 27 weeks pregnant and Lisa had gone to Toronto to be with her.  We found out later that the baby, Liam, was born 2 lbs 10 ounces with lungs strong enough to cry (I'm no expert, but I think this means he's going to be okay.  The really horrid complications from premature birth are usually from lack of oxygen due to under-developed lungs.)

Anyway, while I missed the opportunity to dance with my hubby, we got a lot more hanging out with Chris time than we would have had the Stag & Doe gone on.  The cancelled event would have included lots of people we don't know, and I would have spent the evening convincing Adam to get on the dance floor, while explaining to random strangers that we really are good friends with Chris and Lisa even though we have lived in different cities for years and years. 

Instead, we played boardgames at Chris's apartment, went out to dinner, then saw the most horrible movie imaginable: Clash of the Titans.  We were expecting a plotless action flick with over-the-top special effects but what we got was a really really plotless action flick with worse writing than is usual for the genre, under-whelming special effects, and bad 3D.
If I can be allowed a brief digression, some ideas for improvement (warning spoilers):

• Have someone who knows how to write go over the script, and remember show don't tell.  For example, the talk Perseus has with his father about how he really does love him even though he's adopted, could have been said with a look and a hug.  His father's speech about being angry with the Gods was just embarrassing.
• Actually film the movie in 3D, instead of doing a bad convert of a 2D flick.
• Make Olympus look more awesome and heavenly, instead of an over-exposed version of the counsel of the Jedi.
• Eliminate the character of Perseus's mother's husband.  The back story is okay, but why have him come back for revenge?  Can't Hades summon giant scorpions by himself?
• Only once should we be told that Zeus feeds on love but Hades feeds on hate.  After that, we get it.
• The whole plot with princess Andromeda should be either scrapped or built up so that we actually care about her being sacrificed to the giant octopus thing.  Seems like a no-brainer to me that we should feed her to the Crachen to save the city, what took them so long?  Instead we killed off five guys and a tree-monster trying to get Medusa's head.  That's just not good economics.
• The two hunters that join the team but don't actually do anything after that (beyond ride a scorpion) should be part of a subplot with Andromeda and we can have fun getting to know them.  In fact, all the characters should be developed better.
• Perseus should die at the end.  The fates said he would, so he should.  He's a demi-God, so he can come back to life if they really want.
• Longer fight scene with Hades at the end.  The guy is a GOD people!  Just because Perseus killed his pet monster doesn't mean he should suddenly be able to go down with one quick jab to the gut.  Even I could have lasted longer against Perseus (who is about as Godly as my pinky toe BTW). 

Anyway, we had a great time staying in a hotel without our children.  I mean, I love my kids, I really do, but they can be mood-killers.  In any case, the break was nice.  The next day we had a delicious breakfast at a restaurant Chris recommended and then saw the Aviation museum.  Lots of planes, but a distinct lack of fun interactive exhibits.  Not the most fabulous museum I've ever been in, but definitely more well-put-together than Clash of the Titans.  Perhaps I should see the original movie...it has to be better.

After the museum we drove home to Burlington.  Not only did our children not miss us, but William has been asking all day when we are going back to Omi's house.  My parents took the kids to the Science Centre and to High Park and they may have had more fun than we did.  They definitely did less driving.

Conclusion: MORE WEEKENDS AWAY!!!

My Genes at Work

Yesterday William yanked a handful of hair from his sister's head.  Today at the Early Years, he hit another boy in a fight over a toy and left a red mark on his face.  Those are some of the worst offences, but there have been many more instances of hitting, kicking, scratching and throwing.  He's getting more and more physical with other kids and with me.  I'm told he must be going through something: a growth spurt, illness, etc.  Or perhaps he's over-tired, but he has only himself to blame for that.  He fights sleep even more than he fights me.

When he's defiant, or physical, or both, I call him on it and his bubble bursts.  His bravado becomes tears.  He wants a hug.  He says "I love you Mommy"  and "I'm sorry I hurt you and Jadzia."  We talk about hitting and why it's not allowed.  We talk about how to get what we want with words.  We talk.  We talk. We talk.  And the next day, it starts all over again.

I was like this, I remember.  Oh, yes, this is all from my side.  It took me a long time to make any real friends in school, because when I met kids I couldn't bully the way I bullied my siblings, I didn't know what to do with myself.  First I acted crazy and noone wanted to be my friend, and then I became shy and everyone made fun of me.  I'm confident that my son will not become a murderer just because he hits at the age of three, but I would like him to have an easier time than I did in elementary school.

In the mean time I'll keep telling him I love him, trying to avoid love-testing experiments. What is a love-testing experiment, you ask?  It goes like this, do something that you observe your younger sibling getting away with (ie pulling hair).  When you get in trouble, think to yourself "HA! That proves that they love her more!" 

A night time visitor

Last night I was in the kitchen getting a glass of water when I happened to glance into the playroom.  That's when I saw a large rabbit, about the size of a three-year-old child (a little taller if you count the ears).  He had fluffy white fur, a perfect pink nose, and he was wearing a green jacket.  He hopped around the playroom, carrying a basket full of eggs.

As he pulled each egg out of his basket, I saw that they were the same eggs we had coloured the Friday before at my in-law's house.  I quickly checked the fridge.  The carton was there, but it was empty.

The rabbit hopped right past me, down the stairs to the basement.  His basket didn't look like it would hold any more, but he reached deep inside it, farther even than it looked like the bottom would be.  I knew then that it was a magic basket.  He pulled out two Easter Baskets, one for each of my kids I presumed, and placed them on the coffee table.

When he was all done, a hole that looked like the entrance to a burrough appeared in the middle of the carpet.  The rabbit hopped inside, and the magic hole disappeared behind him.  I thought this was all a dream, until I woke up this morning to find all the coloured eggs hidden in the playroom just where I saw the rabbit hide them, and two baskets of Easter goodies sitting on the coffee table in the basement.

Happy Easter Everyone!