welcome spring

anneliese was gracious enough to try out this idea for a photo shoot-

happy birthday ben

long overdue...happy baptism to harper

a roundabout story...i am feeling sentimental today since ben will turn a year old tomorrow. it is a very cold and rainy/sleeting day and i watched the slideshow i made for ben. that then made me want to watch other slideshows so the emotional high would last a bit longer. that led me to harper's and then i remembered i had never gotten these pics posted...

so happy 6 months to harper-this was a wonderful day way back in the fall..

weekend adventures

the weather has been a little unpredictable-we get excited about a 60 degree day and then it is back to the 40s-so i have learned to try and capitalize on the good days. saturday was a beautiful day-especially in the late afternoon-and when bobby went to pick up a craig's list purchase-the kids and i headed down to a patch of bamboo. they each had a pair of scissors and had fun making different kids of creations. ben sat in the wagon but loved playing with the bamboo sticks. then we explored down by a little creek-and discovered a wonderland of fun. the kids were jumping between rocks and ben and sat and put his toes in briefly...

i decided we should trek back to the car-just because ben was starting to get restless. there was a message from bobby that troy and the kids had come to the farm. the promise that we would come back with delaney was really the only way i got them to leave. as promised-we went back-this time with rain boots. delaney and anneliese ditched the shoes and they played until everyone was fairly soaked. 

we returned home-bobby made a fire, the kids had hotdogs and smores and fun with bubbles. 

sunday was colder, cloudy and very windy-which made our adventures on saturday all the more appreciated :) somewhere in there we also had 2 soccer games and 1 practice. 

today is grandma gerrie's birthday. we talked about her and all the things she loved to do-i think about her pretty much everyday and wish i could call her and tell her all the fun things we have been up too and also-give her a big hug. happy birthday grandma gerrie!

ben 11 months

 i figure i better do an 11 month post before his birthday. can you believe it!
4 teeth
crawling fast and then turning around to point or wave
saying mama, dada and DA for things he think are important-
favorite food is pizza and oranges
 these pictures were taken on spring break at my mom's house on that rare 70 degree day in march. i suppose he wasn't even 11 months yet... oh well i will post more soon.
a big thank you to my cousin rebecca and sister in law becky who took turns taking pictures :)

easter 2013

i was skeptical about easter this year. i was convinced we were going to be hiding eggs in the snow. but  the day delivered the joy and celebration that is expected of easter. on good friday-aunt beth and i looked at the weather forecast and talked about our options for a family egg hunt. grandma is in a short-term rehab facility, after being in the hospital for 2 weeks. we thought about doing a pot-luck there, but we decided the chaos of having all the kids in a small room might be more exhausting for her than needed right now. so we texted everyone and started planning the impromptu party.

 i have wanted this to become a tradition because it is loads of fun to watch troy deliver the egg hunt rules and then see all the kids running with excitement to find plastic eggs. i'm not the best at carrying on holiday traditions mostly because life seems so full already that planning a party, preparing food, and cleaning a mess of a house seems next to impossible. but after the party i was thinking about what my mom and i say when things are hard-'that seems really uphill'. i decided that if you don't get up that hill you don't get to enjoy the amazing view and remember when you accomplished that hard but wonderful thing. so maybe not everything is worth walking up a steep hill-but some things are. 

and-

 the kids did not have any special easter clothes to wear since i figured they would be wearing their snow bibs-

we had a successful gathering anyway...

attempt at a family picture before church. i forgot how to set the timer-so we promised ourselves we would try again later...i hope instead of a thinking how crazy grant's shoes look you will offer me a pat on the back that ben even has shoes on (and socks) double pat.


 bob invited us to his church-so we drove to the mcclouth methodist church where bobby went as a kid. the kids did surprisingly well sitting through the service and we got to hear bob sing a solo-easter special!

 beth is the queen of fun-she brought kites. watching her enjoy the kids smiles made me smile :)

 easter egg hunts are the best. and it was especially lovely to see the 3 babes together that were in tummies last year. i realize now what a great idea it is to hire a photographer for parties-because it is really hard to take pictures of all that is happening and be the host...sadly i didn't even get a pic of all three almost one year olds together :(

 it was a surprisingly nice easter-which made even more memorable.