HAPPY EASTER!!!

Taylor helped pick the spring colors for our title today. Yesterday was Easter and we had a very fun day. We had some friends over and the kids played and played. Taylor's been thanking Jesus for being risen every time he prays, which is really nice. He is also very happy to have gotten a new Thomas train in his basket (since he lost his Thomas in Montana a few months ago). Aric got a cool doctor play set and has been loving that. I will try to post more later, but here is a picture. :-)

SUNNY DAY




















The boys and I spent most of the day outside today soaking up the sun (amidst the clouds) and weeding / playing in the dirt. I wanted to get a picture of Aric smelling a flower, because it's such a cute ritual. He shouts "f'ower, f'ower," marches over in a business-like manner, grabs a stem, shoves it to his nose, blows on it by breathing out through his nose (so it makes a sound, which is what he thinks "smelling" is), then moves on seriously to the next bud. Of course, Taylor loves to smell the flowers, too, because he's a very olfactory person. He always notices smells and seems to be affected by them more than most people (or at least a whole lot more than me!). Today, he decided I needed to take a picture of him "smelling the tree," which is our giant arborvitae. I obliged, but the picture didn't turn out great. He also had fun on his "hand-me-down" tractor which used to be Daddy's. His feet finally reach the pedals!

In other news, Jeremy left this morning to go upriver on a 4 or 5 day trip (hopefully, he'll be home for Easter!!). We are grateful for the work - it's the first hours he'll post for the month of April. With Jeremy gone, my big assignment for the week is to go to bed at a decent hour. I think 11:30 is pretty decent, but I've only got 2 minutes until that deadline, so I'd better sign off for the evening.

I posted some pictures below of the fun trip Taylor and Aric took to the Oregon Zoo with their friends Jack, Emma, and Baby Levi (not pictured) a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

Well, it's time to update, and I have a bit of writer's block going tonight. I think it's because I was up about every hour or two last night. I think it was mostly Taylor (my tired brain doesn't track details well), and I don't know why he was up, but it didn't seem to be anything traumatic or I would've remembered (we hope!). Jeremy woke up this morning oblivious to the night we'd had...or so he thought. When he woke up, the first thing he said is, "Why do I feel so tired??" So today's been a slower day for us, but not that abnormal. That's life with toddlers, I guess. Not that we're complaining. Our boys are so much fun!

The kids and I went on a "walk" today, as we often do when it's not raining. Taylor rides his tricycle (with a lot of pushing help on the uphill) and Aric says "wunn fasss, wunn fasss!!" (Run fast). He always manages to somehow escape my death-grip on his hand and then he runs gleefully down the sidewalk, making me run to catch him. He doesn't do well with following directions - he grins impishly (see previous post for an example) and does the opposite of what we've asked. It certainly keeps us on our toes.

Taylor and I went and "previewed" a preschool today. We haven't yet decided whether or not to send Taylor to preschool next year, but it was fun to "check it out." Taylor was VERY shy during our visit and informed me as we left that he was too shy because he was too little, and he'd go to preschool once he was a bigger boy. Right after that, the two of us bought some new letter and number books to work through at home, and then for the ENTIRE afternoon (excepting the walk), we worked through them. It's fun to be in learning mode (when it happens).

Since I've chosen to write on a scatterbrained night, we're headed back to the subject of the walk. Bear with me as I hop around. :-) Aric discovered dandelion fuzz today, and boy, was he excited!! He poked at it with one finger, then GIGGLED as a few pieces of fluff drifted away. Then he poked a little more adamantly, laughed some more, and then hit the rest of the fuzz of with an exuberant slap! It was a lot of fun. Jeremy and I are looking forward to this summer with the boys a lot. They are both at really fun ages where we can get out and enjoy nature a little bit and enjoy the boys' sense of discovery. Jeremy is planning to take Taylor on a "Just Me and My Dad" camping trip this summer. (If you've never seen the Mercer Mayer book, you are missing out!) I'm a little jealous - I think it will be incredibly fun! I'm sure we'll do lots of "whole family" trips and fun days this summer, so I can't feel too left out. :-)

We should have plenty of time to do family fun things, because Jeremy isn't working much. It's been a few weeks since he's gone to work, which is pretty normal for this time of year, but it always takes a little adjusting. He keeps busy at home working on his current Volkswagen Bus restoration (it's another Westfalia camper). He's doing an excellent job, and will hopefully be able to finish it early this summer (it would be a blast to take the family to a drive-in movie on classic VW night, which is usually in June). He's PLANNING on finishing it by fall, so we'll see how it goes. :-)

Speaking of Jeremy, he is going down to Oakland for (we think) his last Reserve time at the end of the month. I'm hoping to have some combination of parents/in-laws come out to keep me and the boys company. That should be fun!

I'm slowing down, so I think I'll call it a night. I've got plenty more to write about another time. Take care. Love you all!

Hello to all our family and friends. This is the first post of what will hopefully be a frequently updated online journal (aka - blog) of our family's happenings. I have been so terrible at corresponding for so long (I think it's officially been over a year since I stopped emailing our long-distance friends) and I'M SORRY! Life has been busy with the two boys running around, and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down, so I figure I'd better find a better way to keep up. I never seem to have the amount of time I'd like for sitting down and catching up with you all. I'm hoping this will be a solution. If I can keep updating this site, I will be able to keep in touch with all of you better. You'll just need to visit this site to see our latest news. Let me know what you think by posting your comments. Hopefully it will work well for all of us. :-)

So, for today, I'm just gonna share a few pics and a little "funny" from Taylor. Last week he asked for some "farmer John cheese" to go on his dinner. I couldn't figure out what he was talking about until he showed me -- the parmesan cheese!!! We're still chuckling about that one. By the way, Taylor's picture shows off his brand new haircut (he was getting rather shaggy, but now he's ready for spring). Aric's picture just shows off his personality - he tends to think he should get away with anything because of his winning smile. :-) Hope you all have a great weekend and we'll try to post more soon.