My Alien

Yes, he made the mask himself. The fingers are gamepieces from "Trouble," which is his favorite board game right now.

Congratulations are in order!

Congratulations to our friends, Gabe, Dorothy, and Liam, on the new addition to their family, River James. He was born April 28th and was 8 lbs., 5 oz., 21.5" long. See his pictures and read his story on their blog. Congratulations!

Adventure in the City, Part 1

Jeff had yet another trip this week, but the destination was near enough that we could go with him. And because it's just how I am but I wish it wasn't, I got all stressed about the packing and preparation when I shouldn't have worried about it. We had a wonderful time together (when he wasn't working!) and we should have stayed longer. And now, the pictures...

We got to enjoy the perks of business travel, like staying in a beautiful hotel that we didn't pay for. I think this is one of the nicest places Jeff has stayed on a business trip, so it was fun that we got to experience it, too. Grace got to eat a snack in her stroller...

and Jonathan got to eat his snack while watching himself in the mirror. What could be better when you're a five-year-old boy?

Both kids were fascinated by the light with "things that look like necklaces," according to Jonathan.

And this beautiful old hotel still had the exposed stairways at the end of each hallway...

but also had the modern, very fast glass elevators with amazing views of the city. Jonathan has not inherited any fear of heights and absolutely loved the "crazy elevators."

This particular hotel seems to host very few children. I think I only saw two the entire time we were there, but we saw dozens and dozens of stylishly dressed business travelers in a hurry. (And I realized how plainly I dress and how thankful I was to walk around the city in comfort instead of a skirt and heels.) So, I don't think all of them were amused by our use of the elevators for our preschooler's amusement, but they all tolerated us, at least. Jonathan was thrilled.

Letting Them Go

When the weather warmed up and the butterflies were ready, we set them free. Jonathan, Grace, and I went outside, I fed Grace an avocado, and Jonathan watched the butterflies. He talked to them and persuaded them, one by one, to fly away. It was very sweet.

I had to talk him into it for a few days, and at first, Jonathan was pretty sad that we had to let the butterflies go. But I convinced him that they needed to fly free and have baby caterpillars of their own. (And from the looks of things a couple nights before we set them free, they were getting ready to have those babies pretty quickly. Ahem.)

This was a super-fun process from beginning to end. I could have written a children's counting book quoting Jonathan's play-by-play as he counted down from ten butterflies to one. I'm sure it's safe to say that there's already a children's counting book about butterflies out there!

I think we'll do this again next spring!

The Pulling Up Pictures

Time to move all these forbidden goodies!

The Lego Mailbox...

complete with mail. Jonathan tells me that the letters are about Baby Micah, Grandma, and kindergarten screening. (Sorry, Jennie, I know he's not a baby anymore, but Jonathan still calls him Baby Micah!)

Pictures of Mom and Grace

Phone Pictures of Dad and Grace

Thanks to Jeff for taking these since I neglected to bring the camera!

Today Was the Day...

that Grace figured out how to pull up on everything. And pull everything off of those surfaces. The ottoman. The trunk in the family room. The window seats and coffee table in the playroom. The rocker in her room. And, finally, her crib. And, for some reason, she seemed pretty mad about it all day. I think she's going to be happier when she figures out how to walk, or at least cruise (taking steps while holding onto furniture.)

I know that we had an unusually long time to be able to keep books and papers (and Jonathan's toys) on the aforementioned surfaces and successfully keep them away from Grace. Thirteen months and ten days, to be exact. And I certainly ran around chasing her and keeping her out of trouble a lot more today than yesterday. But it's really exciting to see her get strong enough to do all these things and see what a different little character she is than Jonathan.

I did take a lot of pictures, which I'll try to post. Maybe tomorrow. But our sweet Grace fussed for most of her waking hours today, and I am enjoying the quiet for the rest of the night. Ahhhh...

Intense

Now that we are not pushing forward to the next major event, Jeff and I have had a few moments to reflect on the last six weeks. To say they have been intense is an understatement. We have had a lot going on in our family. During those few weeks, we have hosted Jeff's parents, a first birthday party, a wedding, and a baby shower. (I can't say how thankful I am for a backyard and good weather! And I'm thankful for lots of helpers.) Jeff has had three trips for work. My dad has been in the hospital twice. And then there's all the normal stuff that normal people do that keeps life hopping. Oh, and our sweet kiddos. They keep things hopping, too. We're thankful that life looks like it may calm down...and we'll rediscover our "normal"...at least briefly.

My Sister's Baby Shower

My sister's baby shower was today! We were thankful for beautiful weather, and I was especially thankful for Jeff taking the kids out and about for awhile, and for all the help from my mom and Linnea. They helped with more things than I can list here!

Amanda helped a lot, too, and she and I got little bags of chocolate together a few weeks ago to give to each person. She came up with little quotes to put on the tags.

Mom and Linnea load the Aram (sp?) sandwiches into little boxes

Assembling the gift bags (think boxed lunch, but in bags)

All set up and ready for guests to arrive.

Drinks in the middle of the table

Goodies and lunch in the bags. Amanda had made a CD of songs for each of us that went along with the baby theme. (Not lullabies, but songs with lyrics including babies or girls.)

Time to eat!

Mom. Amanda, and me

Mom with her daughters

The cake. It was as yummy as it was cute!

My grandma gave these shirts to Amanda. I love them, but I love what Grandma said even more: "I didn't want one to think she was cuter than the other." Ha!

Yes! Hangers!

Opening the big box

Big thanks to everyone who showered my sister with gracious gifts for the babies!

Tee Ball

My wonderful husband took Jonathan and Grace to Jonathan's tee ball game and then to lunch while I hosted Amanda's baby shower today. At the game, both teams batted through their lineups four times. I think it was a verrrry long game. The following sums up Jonathan's thoughts about tee ball:

Jeff: Jonathan, I'm proud of you for having four good hits today!

Jonathan: AND, I saw TWO airplanes! One up high and one down low!!!

A Bath, PJs...

and her brother's bike helmet.

What else could a girl need?

Please Bear With Me...

As I experiment with the blog layout a bit. Don't worry, I'm not finished...

What's Cookin'?

Apples and peanut butter. :)

Links

If you have ever followed Ira's story or prayed for him, you won't believe it but he's five years old now.

If you have ever thought about the price of spices, you should read this post about their prices at WinCo. Even if you dislike WinCo, you might want to read it. :)

And, one more reason that reading Tip Junkie is so addictive: Fabric Flower Tutorials. I haven't made any, but they're pretty. Also, TJ only posts every few days and does a huge post on one topic. I like that!

The Weather Report

Monday's weather:
Sunshine.

Tuesday's weather:

Rain.

Our outdoor-loving girl was not thrilled that she was excluded from the puddle jumping. I think she would have crawled around out there if I had let her. She has an opinion, and she's not afraid to share it.

Yup, that face pretty much sums it up.