Happy Easter!

Willow was suuuuuper excited about hunting for Easter eggs this morning. She woke up SHOUTING that she was ready to get up. Poor girl couldn't contain her excitement. We were even able to hide a few eggs outside to be found before the rain started. We were thankful to be able to enjoy our church service and Easter meal with both sets of grandparents and Aunt Kim!

Willow had a great time dyeing eggs with Nana and Gramma!

Very serious work!

Easter Egg Hunt

We've enjoyed going to an Easter egg hunt put on by our church every year since Willow was almost one (2012, 2011, 2010). It's been fun to be joined by some of my friends and their kiddos as well. This year Jeanne was able to bring her girls Mckenzie and Holly. The girls had a great time in the preschool-aged egg hunt, then both did a fabulous job helping their little siblings in the 0-2 yr old "egg pick up" (as Chris calls it). Like Willow at his age, Owen was more interested in putting the eggs in his mouth. It wasn't warm enough to wear Easter dresses, but they both had a great time!

Random (aka "Catching Up")

Life has been a bit busy around here. The birthday boy (aka Grandpa) has provided the inspiration to get online tonight to upload the pictures that have been trapped on the camera for the last 2+ weeks. 

Owen hasn't mastered turning yet, but loves to push around Willow's doll stroller (kindly given to us by a neighbor).

Owen takes bites off a banana by himself!

Willow's drawing of Mama.

Willow's drawing of Grandpa.

Willow's drawing of a snowman.

Willow's drawing of a "snowman behind a gate."

Looking so grown up in his collared button-down shirt!

I've nearly given up on trying to get a picture of the two of them together. Here's why...

Happy to be eating black bean soup!

Willow's Spring Preschool picture

Willow's Preschool class (hehe!)

Gotta love this face. She's going to love when we pull this out at her high school graduation party!

Snowy fun

Teachers love snow days in March! We had perfect packing snow for making a snowman and enjoyed spending an extra day at home together. 

Owen didn't enjoy the snow as much as Willow so we weren't able to get the face/arms done before we went inside before he completed melted down. 

It's never too cold for the trampoline =)

Owen: 11 months

"Sitting and smiling" thanks to entertainment by Daddy and Willow

Owen is quite the big boy these days as he walks around the house like it's an old trick already. His balance and speed improve daily and we know it won't be long before he's running around crazy like Willow. After being a fairly particular eater in January (spending most of the month sick), Owen made up for lost time by eating more than Willow at most dinners for 7-10 days. He currently has an ear infection as hasn't been as adventurous anymore. We'll see how he is once that clears up! When eating, he primarily uses his left hand. We're curious to see if we have a lefty on our hands. His attention/interest in books has SLIGHTLY increased (from near-zero interest), with Pat the Bunny, Who Said Boo?, and flap-books being among the more successful these days. We may be up to 10-12 days now in his entire life that he's slept from 7pm-ish until 5:15am-ish without waking up. Even on those mornings, though, he doesn't wake up happy and ready to take on the day =(   Morning naps are about 50-50...either 30 mins or 60. The afternoon nap is consistently about 75-90 minutes with maybe 3-4 in his entire life that were closer to 2 or 2 1/2 hours. I seriously don't know where these kids get their energy from! Owen is still a chatterbox and recently added "mama" to his repeated sounds =)  Owen is fascinated with Alli which has consequently given him a few scratches on his hands. Thankfully Alli tolerates a lot!  His second fascination is pulling Willow's hair. Unfortunately Willow doesn't tolerate that a lot! Willow has been handling her little brother well overall. She still melts our heart every time she instinctively rushes to get him a toy whenever he cries or talks in a super-sweet, motherly voice when he's fussy. On the other hand, Owen gets super-jealous when Willow is sitting in my lap (especially to read stories) and immediately rushes over to push his way in. To add to his killer smile, Owen has the best "happy squeal" in the world! We love our little buddy!

Sleepy boy

Some of my favs of Owen sleeping that have been trapped on my phone.