Almond Blossom Time

It's almond blossom time, my favorite time of year where we live. After seeing my friend Jen's beautiful pictures of her girls in the orchard, I started to panic that I would miss my chance to get pictures of our kids. There was supposed to be a lot of rain, and the first time I tried to take pictures, the farmer who owns this orchard was out spraying. I waited one more day and took some quick pictures before the promised rains. As it turns out, we have had more sunshine and fuller blossoms, which would have made for better pictures. But I'm not going to give it another try, I'm just going to be thankful for these. It is really tricky to fit in pictures after school and before Grace's nap. I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we're enjoying the blossoms. If I get ambitious, I may take some pictures of the trees themselves tomorrow to show off how beautiful they are right now. And, to see pictures of the kid(s) in the orchards in years past, click here and go to the bottom of the post. They're awfully cute!

Another Picture Catch-Up Post

Here are a kabillion pictures for you.

Pretending to be the baby.

This was taken the day that we decided to drive to the hills to see the snow. I'm trying to feed Benjamin in Starbucks, and as you can see, he's very interested in my plans. Instead of going to the hills, though, I came down with a nasty tummy bug, and we turned around and went home. I was so thankful it only lasted 24 hours and I didn't share it with my family. Whew!

Grace's first braid. Thanks, Mom!

He's working on finding his fingers.

A friend of mine gave this hat to Grace. I love it!

Looking looong in the cradle. His feet don't really reach to the ends of the sleeper's feet, though.

Going to school in the rain

Going on a date with Benjamin. Thanks to Cheryl for watching the other two. We are tired, as you can see. I am getting really anxious for our little guy to learn to sleep through the night.

Benjamin's Dedication

At the last minute, we decided to have Benjamin's dedication at church on Sunday. Ryan had a rare Sunday off of work, so he and Amanda had the twins dedicated, too. A baby dedication is actually more of a parent dedication, because we as parents promise to dedicate ourselves to raising our children to know God, and the church promises to help us.

Since we planned the date at the last minute, we didn't get everyone invited that we needed to, so we're sorry for that. Big thanks to everyone who made it. It was really special to have you there, and to have such a family celebration. These are some of the pictures from Cheryl's camera.

Here we are with our kids. We didn't get any shots of all of us looking in the same direction, but all three kids did really well during the service, and I was thankful. Benjamin is wearing the gown that his great grandpa wore for his baptism. Jonathan got to wear it, too, when he was this age.

Benjamin is asking to be put to bed here.

Amanda and Ryan and the girls.

Benjamin was really sleepy during his dedication and finally fussed and fell asleep at the end of it.

The whole crew.

Amanda with Dad. We were thankful that Dad made it to church for the first time in quite awhile.

Todd with Dad

Mom feeding one of the twins. Yes, my mom has a shiner in this picture. Long story, but nobody punched her or anything. :)

Sleepers

Because you know I can't resist taking these pictures.

And this one's for Dorothy. :)

Silly

This isn't Grace's most complex sentence, but it cracked me up.  (And yes, Jen, she usually does speak with exclamation points, doesn't she?)  This is what she said, while poking her tummy through a onesie:

"Belly button hiding!"

Two Months Old

Our sweet baby was two months old on the 17th. So, I'm behind on posting, but at least he's not three months old yet! Life is keeping me very busy. I'm still in way over my head, but so thankful to have that problem. :)

The Sweeties...They Keep Me Busy!!!