Talking To Grandma

"Ha-da, ha-da", he says while walking around.
Imitating both a hello and the fact that Momma never sits still while on the phone.

Love Writes On Stairs

I've wanted to do it for a long time. Ever since I realized my stairs had the right number of risers, in fact. Last night, armed with a visiting mother and sister and a few sharpies, it was accomplished.

Many, many laughs and wonderful memories (and reminding the children that this was only something the adults were allowed to do) went into the writing of 1 Corinthians 13 on my stairs.

And I am THRILLED with the result.

Uniformity and perfection was discussed, but quickly dismissed as artistic flare and originality won us over.

Now I'm not quite so anxious to get real flooring as it would mean covering our delightfulness.

Karl was pleasantly surprised when he came home for the evening as we had started on a whim and completed it in less than two hours.

Now, to learn to live that which we have written.

Easter 2011

Easter was a little low key this year as I was fighting a kidney infection, but we did manage to do a few things to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior.
Heidi had asked if we could have an Easter tree since we have a Christmas tree every year. I was more than happy to work together with her on that and we decorated a branch from the yard with coffee filter butterflies and a"He is risen" banner.
(Thank you Auntie Summer for our beautiful gloves!)
We also made our own Easter baskets. Mostly from things I would ordinarily throw away.
We covered margarine containers with bunched coffee filters that the girls had dyed and wrapped electrical wire with floral tape for the handles.
I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome.
We also dyed eggs and had an egg hunt.
Then headed off to a family gathering where the girls were thrilled to hold baby cousin.
Mostly I was thrilled to have two little girls old enough to interact with and talk to about why we celebrate Easter and hear them praising God for sending His Son to die in our place and bringing Him back to life for eternity.

What We Did In California: Part 3

Spring! Glorious Spring! That's what was waiting for us when we arrived. Of course it rained most of the time we were there, but when the sun did peep out, it SHONE!

The girls fed Grandpa and Grandma's ducks,

played on playgrounds,

and picked flowers with Papa.

They also flew kites

and hunted for bugs.

They made boats and floated them with Grandpa

and simply enjoyed the novelty of being outdoors without a parka.

What We Did In California: Part 2

There was lots of riding bikes and learning to ride bikes ... and falling off bikes... on the days it wasn't raining. This, as you may have guessed was more Karl's department than mine. Through his encouragement, Heidi became a more confident rider and cousin Keira was able to leave her training wheels behind. Hannah spent more time sporting the headgear than actually riding, but seemed to enjoy every minute of it.

So did Heidi, how delightful to have spring while there was still snow on the ground back home!

What We Did In California: Part 1

My purpose in going to California was to spend time with my family, and we did just that. Not a lot of visiting friends or going places this trip, just lots and lots of being with those we love. My girls loved getting to know their cousins better.

Aunt Summer was a little overrun with nieces and nephew.

All the Aunties and Uncles enjoyed meeting Levi.

Because, lets face it, he's just plain adorable!

I taught my sisters to make truffles.

Because with Summer headed back to the mission field in August it is highly essential that she have the skills necessary to survive any dire situation.

You know, like the lack of readily available quality chocolate.

And I helped Mom turn a bedroom turned storage room back to a bedroom again. She had done the hard part of sorting and cleaning. I got the fun sewing part of the job.

This toddler bed is actually made with a crib mattress on plywood placed over three Rubbermaid totes! I made a skirt to hide the totes, put together a quick quilt and covered pillows to tie in with the curtains I made for the windows and storage shelves.

It's amazing how much I can get done when I'm not the one doing all the cooking, dishes, laundry and childcare.