Easter

We hope you had a nice Easter! We enjoyed ours and wanted to share a few pictures . . .

Alex decided his chicky from the Easter Bunny wasn't quite exciting enough and that he should try eating Abby's book.

Here is our attempt at a picture of all of us . . . not bad for a self-timer shot, except that Katie is eating a comb! Ah, well, we try.

We loved watching the kids find all the eggs the Easter Bunny had hidden . . . he was pretty sneaky this time, with all the nooks and crannies of our old-fashioned house! Abby ran around holding two baskets and one bag, stuffing eggs into all of them as fast as she could. Katie chose a more methodical approach: find one egg, sit down and eat the contents, then stand up and look for another one. She ended up with about 1/10 as many eggs as Abby, but she enjoyed herself thoroughly!

Morning at the Park

Hooray for a sunny, warm spring day today! We've been waiting for this.

Ready for Rain

It's always a fashion show after a package from Grandma arrives!

“I’m only four, you know.”

Abby reminded me of that fact last Wednesday after I asked her to clean her room. I didn’t answer, but I was thinking, “Yes, I know you’re only four, and it’s kind of a precarious age . . . you’re irrestistibly cute, running around in your spring-green leisure suit with satin bows on the pockets, and bright green bows on top of your pigtails. I want to swoop you up in my arms and plant a kiss on your rosy little cheek. And yet I also want you to be so grown-up: make your bed, feed the gerbil, practice reading, brush your teeth, set the table, be nice to Katie, hold Alex while I shower . . . and the list goes on.

"You're somewhere between the curly-haired toddler who snuggled in my lap and rarely left my sight and the long-legged, inquisitive girl who will soon start kindergarten."

I suspect that much of parenting is a balancing act between holding on and letting go. I’m just beginning to feel that tug a little more acutely as I picture Abby stepping onto that yellow school bus in five short months. I think I’m ready; I think she's ready. But I also think I need to treasure this waning time with my preschooler . . . even if her bedroom strongly resembles a rummage sale gone awry!

Katie Mothering

This video is from three weeks ago, but it's so cute, I couldn't not post it. It's Katie singing to Alex before his nap. You may recognize tidbits of "I Am a Child of God" and "I Am H-A-P-P-Y" in her performance. :)