those may flowers

Noah has worked hard to keep my kleenex supply from running low, sweet boy.  His favorite things right now include eating popsicles, car sounds, climbing, and giant messes.  He excels at all four.  Dustin had a birthday a few weeks ago and we scored a babysitter at the last minute and had dinner out with my parents (what a treat!).  

Paige has been cutting flowers for dinner (she sets the table for us) and I envision elaborate floral arrangements in her future.  The only thing stopping her now is that the supply is limited and she'll have to wait for all her garden flowers to bloom this summer.  She refers to the flowers on our porch as "my flowers" (nevermind that they were Allison's birthday gift) and as such has taken up the job of keeping them well watered and pinched back.  I do enjoy watching her tote the water pitcher back and forth with gusto - children need to feel useful and she certainly is.

Adam has adopted this arms-folded-across-the-chest look and now puts his hands on his hips with great emphasis.  He picked both up from Dustin (I think) and it's hard to take him seriously at times even though his drama is very real.  Seth has been building up a storm and is [back] on a Star Wars kick.  I have no chance at remembered any of the ship/cruiser/blaster/whatever names - my favorite part of SW is the Ewoks.  He builds whatever he sees in his head these days and I've nearly convinced him that he'll never need another Lego set.  Nearly.  He'll probably change his mind when his birthday is in sight, but it's worth a try, right?

S&P are so close to summer break and we are all ready.

easter hike

I missed our CO church this Easter.  We like the church we're at, I just...missed Calvary Belmar.  I so much love the people there.

It was a beautiful day nonetheless.  Everyone is healthy!  We are so thankful that everyone is healthy.  I set up the tripod in the front yard after church and simultaneously claimed we needed a family photo and assured Dustin that it would not take a lot of time (tricky claims to make, my friends).  I set the timer and we took 2 pics and called it good.  Noah is looking off at a neighbor but everyone else cooperated nicely.

Late in the afternoon I took the Big 3 hiking for a little while.  It was a glorious day - a perfect day to praise a risen Savior.  They romped and ran and galloped and giggled.  Adam gave me a small clutch of flowers, Paige ran circles around the rest of us, and Seth pointed out that Star Wars would be much improved if set in our forest.  We talked about Spring and hopes and plans.  And water spiders - we talked about those quite a bit.  Then we came home and grilled burgers and ate lots of tiny strawberry shortcakes.  It was just right, all that family time on Easter.