Easter and B is 5!

Happy Easter!! We enjoyed the Easter holiday this year, as every year. Big J's parents were in town and it coincided with Bri's 5th birthday! Within minutes of finding their Easter baskets with carrot-shaped bubble blowers the kids discovered baby A liked bubbles. Then within minutes baby A discovered she did NOT like them blown 2 inches from her face and promptly told me and the other two rascals so! Easter is so fun with kids!! We did the usual egg dying and hunting, making bunnies and candy devouring and reading Easter books that Easter is all about. But, we also remembered the reason we celebrate Easter, the resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. His acts of kindness and selflessness are examples to us all. Good can be done in the world, we just have to do it!

B turns 5!!

Wow! Hard to imagine I have a 5-year-old! And she's sure a cutie! We reminisced about all the things she's learned in the last year: how to ride a bike without training wheels, climb straight up a 5-foot pole, swim underwater, go to Pre-k and make new friends, write her name not in all caps, draw people, eat well, be a big sister to a new little sister, something like 'copy' can be good or bad depending on peoples' intentions, learning new words in Russian, ASL, Chinese and Spanish as well as English (boy is she getting confused!), 7 new Articles of Faith, speak to a large group of people, beginning piano, beginning ballet and tap, a pan is still hot when it's fresh out of the oven (reocurring learning process apparently), beginning soccer skills, beginning reading skills, PBSkids.org, practice helps you get better and that life can be tough but faith in Christ can help. Our cute little B has quite a nack for helping others feel better and has such a sweet and thoughtful personality. She can also be quite stubborn and bothersome if she wants to be but we will always love her!! The side picture is at her school cupcake birthday celebration and this lower picture is her bowling party where she shot the winning score--93!! (with bumpers of course) Go Bri!

Snow and Jane-in-the-Box

This was our biggest and only snow storm this year--we were thrilled! They even cancelled dance class, school and an afterschool activity. Visiting Teaching was still on though; I guess we Mormons don't tend to shy away from hardships. We went out first thing and made snow angels, threw snow balls, shattered ice on the sidewalk, ate some white snow, built a snow hill, etc. B used a childs size snowboard to cruise down the two foot hill we'd made. Her balance amazes me even at such low elevation changes. Little J enjoyed the snow more this year except when he got too cold and wanted to go in for hot cocoa. Low tolerance for cold, that one. Ah, the joys of snowhood. I love it! I love driving in it, playing in it and seeing the kiddos enjoy it. It's the one redeeming quality of winter and I missed out on it most of the years my childhood in Texas, unless we went to Montana for Christmas to visit the grandparents. So, perhaps that's why I feel giddy with excitement like a kid again when snow begins to fall. Love it!!!

This other pic is baby A who got herself in this predicament. Yes, her upper body is stuck in the middle hole of this chair. "I'm stuck and I can't get out!" I watched beginning to end as she got further and further stuck and it was really quite an amusing little show. Little J use to come up with ways to go through these chairs, but never got caught up like this. Baby A seems to be warning us that she is going to be getting into situations frequently where we have to bail her out and she hardly knows what went on to be in such a situation. Goofy girl. She and little J are going to be serious mischief makers basically once baby A learns to walk; much like my older brother and sister. Fun times ahead, fun times!

Christmas Fun!

Christmas 2007! I figured while I'm posting I may as well post post-dated stuff as well. I know I'm time-liney like that. So, Christmas was fun this year, as every year. We did our traditional pretzel dipping, tree decorating and nativity reading/play. And my bro James came up from school in the deep South. J and kids took him to NYC and had a blast! I stayed home with bug-a-boo since it was too cold for her and I was not feeling well. We had a webcam session with Big J's family so we got to wish each other Merry Christmas almost in person and we talked with my family via telephone. Christmastime this year was not exceptionally cold and we even went out for a game of bocce ball (gift from us to us). Baby A's favorite gift was her toothpaste, Bs was an art set and little J's was a marble race. J and P enjoyed a weekend sans 2 kids in Atlantic City for our fave Christmas gift to each other. The only other real memorable part of 2007 Christmas was while Big J was doing dishes he got a sizeable gash on his knuckle and was at urgent care for a while getting stitches. And no, the memorable part was not him doing dishes, as he freqently does that. :) It was that I think this was the longest stretch (since a little while before we got married--6+ years) he's not had to go to the hospital. Yay Big J!!