Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

We went down to Woodburn, OR yesterday for our first experience of the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival. Here's a glimpse of what we saw and did:

Easter baskets

I really enjoyed seeing their enthusiasm for their Easter baskets this year. Apparently, green "grass" has real appeal.

Egg Hunt Extravaganza

The kids participated in two egg hunts last weekend, one at their cousin's birthday party (the last two pictures), and one at their "school." JD quickly acclamated to the concept of picking up eggs, but, instead of grabbing as many as possible, he stopped to look inside each one. Don't worry, he still had a basketful of eggs when he was done.

A Beautiful Spring Day

The Big Day

Preparations for Auntie's Big Day

At play

Can you say messy?

You know you're a mom when . . .

1) You accidentally wash a wet diaper with the rest of the laundry

2) You find stickers stuck to the barrel of your dryer

AND YOU DON'T FREAK OUT!

Christmas Program in January

Tonight was A and JD's Christmas program. Yes, you read correctly -- their Christmas program. We had an abnormal snow storm in December that canceled and delayed everything from church services, my work party, and their Christmas program. But, thankfully, it was rescheduled for tonight. So, we heard Silent Night and Breath of Heaven at the end of January. A little odd, but delightful too. A started out in the back row next to cousin Addy, but one of the teachers wised up and moved our A to the front row. Silliness averted AND we could see our A better in the front row. She did a great job, and we, as true parents, took way too many pictures.

Lest you think that our dear JD did not take part, look to the picture above. Unfortunately it's pretty blurry, but I think it is adorable. His little hands on his little cheeks. His rolled up pants. Precious.

Gymnastics, Guests, and Snow

A went to a birthday party for one of her classmates yesterday. She had a lot of fun flipping, jumping and swinging on the gymnastics equipment. Take a peak.

Auntie Becca and soon-to-be Uncle Dave came over for dinner last night.

A and JD enjoyed having them over, and so did we.

This morning we woke up to a couple of inches of snow. As you know, this is a momentous event around here, so we enjoyed some time in the snow. JD lasted about 15 minutes, which I thought was pretty good -- considering it is really hard to walk in boots.

A promptly started building a snowman. But, you have to listen to the video. I think I'm developing a complex. Her comments are just like that commercial with the mom whose kids bring her out into the snow and they tell her the snowman is her! :)

While they were in the tub . . .

I overheard the following:

A: I am going to make my babies
JD: silence while A was pouring water into a bucket
Me: What are you doing?
A: I am making my babies
Me: Can I see how you're doing that?
A: See? (As she continued to pour water into the bucket.)
Then A turned to JD and said: JD, be quiet, my babies are sleeping.

With a huge sigh of relief, I am pretty confident that we won't be having any talks any time soon.

Happy Birthday, JD!

We celebrated JD's birthday and here are a few pictures from his special day!

We bought him a zebra bouncing toy. After a few minutes, he became very good at getting on and off. His big sister and cousins showed him how to really make it bounce!

I love the awe of balloons!

I made him a teddy bear cake. He looks very calm in this picture, but the reality was that in all of the other pictures I took, he was grabbing for it with both hands and Nana had to hold his hands back!


Happy birthday to you!

What a polite little man to eat with a spoon! Who taught him that? :)