The Parrillo Family

We spent some time up in Twin Lakes with Grammy and Granddad recently and while the lake was still frozen (mostly) the weather was awesome, so the girls had a lot of fun 'fishing' off the pier for ice chunks.  You can see them in the photo laying down on the little partial dock that extends over the lake.  And Lizzie - our puppy - had fun being outside after a long winter of being coop'd up. Frankie got outside to take in the sunrises each morning and loved when Nat dressed him up 'like a Jedi'.  He kept saying "I'm a Jedi" when he had his 'cloak' on him.  Too cute. This was our first time out on Lake Elizabeth since last fall when we posted this photo of Eloise on the swing . Everyone is dreaming of summer days up there on the lake and this past weekend was a really nice hint of what is to come!

We took all three kids to the wonderful Easter Egg hunt at their school this weekend.  We've been to a few different Egg Hunts over the years.   Here's photos from 2011 when Eloise was not quite 2 years old.  It was out at Wilder Park in Elmhurst and it was total chaos.  Parents were literally 'boxing out' on other kids so their own kids could gobble up a bunch of eggs.  Other years, we've had an Egg Hunt at our house, like in 2012  and 2013 with the kid's cousins . Last year, Nat discovered that the girls' school was having their own Egg Hunt, so we went.   There are a few photos of Eloise and SD and their friends here on this post . This time, we decided to skip the 'town' version of the Egg Hunt and just focus on the one at school.  With Easter this year not really happening due to travel of cousins (or permanent living abroad!), this was going to be our one big Elmhurst hunt! We got there early and the girls scoped out a good spot t...

For Ellie, one of the great joys of springtime in our neighborhood is the discovery of the dandelions.  There isn't a patch of them we can pass in the stroller without her demanding us to stop so she can pick either for a 'bouquet' or to blow them away like in the photos above. This ranks right up there with catching lightening bugs as a certain sign of Spring/Summer in Elmhurst.

Spring has definitely sprung here in Elmhurst.  In addition to hitting the trails in her bike trailer and playing in the sand with her cousin , Eloise is showing that she's a green thumb!  From her interest in our seedlings that we're growing indoor ahead of our summer garden to getting down and dirty and playing in the dirt in this video here.  Looks like she's the outdoors-type as in this video, she's at home with the mulch, dirt and twigs! (if you are reading this via email, you might have to click through the headline of this post to see the video). I've always heard a joke that one of the best thing about teenagers was that they're able to cut the grass. But...Who knows? Maybe with her green thumb, Eloise might be helping me pick up the yard sooner than I thought.

We were hit with a bit of a spring spell this week with temperatures in the upper 50's.  That meant that it was time to get out and P-L-A-Y!  Eloise stopped by her cousin's house (just down the street) and couldn't have been happier to be playing in the sandbox.  Sand on her hands.  Sand on her jacket.  Sand down her shirt.  Sand in her mouth(!).  Juliana couldn't have been a better host - sharing her buckets and shovels and being such a cute sandbox partner!  Guess who got a bath when we got home?!?