Happy Birthday Little E!

It's crazy to think today we're celebrating E turning four years old! It just is amazing how fast time goes. I still remember it like it was yesterday though. Stay with me as I reminisce. I had had contractions all day of the 4th, but they weren't enough to stop me from running errands, dropping off a publication at the printer and cleaning my house! Then, in the middle of the night my water broke. I wasn't due for another two weeks, so I wasn't even packed yet! Josh and I got around, called Carla to come stay with MJ and then by the time we were ready to leave, the contractions were much stronger. We got to the birthing center and she was born 30 minutes later! She has been independent from birth! Ha!

She is truly a delight, sometimes a challenge, always adorable and very curious. We love her so much. She does pretty well fitting into the middle of our family. She likes to do things on her own, make snacks, cook with mom, and play with babies, playdough or outside. She adores her big sister and her baby brother. She loves going with Daddy to check the cows, but craves Mommy time too. She makes me laugh every single day.

Today we took cupcakes and party favors to school for her classmates. She was so cute asking each one if they wanted one and handing them out. We took her 4-year portraits last week, and I'm so glad we did as our weather has turned crazy-again! It was the last beautiful day we've had lately. She was finding our daffodils that were past their prime, but she loved smelling and holding them anyway. She stood in the yard looking out at the cows and talking about seeing Daddy working.

We're looking forward to celebrating tonight as a family and with the rest of the gang on Saturday. Happy Birthday Sweet Emma!

This week

It's been an interesting week, with some highs and lows. I picked up MJ from school on Monday and we headed to Nampa for errands because the girls didn't have dance. E got to stay with Josh and rode the tractor and helped feed the cows. I took dance studios photos both Tuesday and Wednesday, which went great, but were exhausting. We had dinner with Mark, Carla, Mich, Matt, Stephanie and Mya Tuesday evening. It was a little impromptu gathering for pizza at M&C's. The girls came over since Jared was out of town. That's been the fun stuff. The not so fun as been the sickies at our house. It started with Little J yesterday morning. He had gotten sick in his bed. My poor baby didn't even wake up. After that it was nasty diapers all day. And now a yucky nose. Then, last night MJ got sick. She's home from school today just in case. I'm hoping it was a really quick bug because J seems to be better now. Makes me really appreciate how healthy they are for the most part! The weather has been kind of funky lately-beautiful on Monday then back to cold and rain the last few days. Makes me want to crawl back in bed and snuggle with my kiddos!

My week has been full of photo editing, laundry and cleaning up after my babies. Poor things. But, here are some fun photos from recently.

Working on homework-building structures out of toothpicks and marshmallows





J loves books.







E and a giant sucker she found in the candy stash. I can't seem to keep anything from that girl!





Our impromptu picnic a couple weekends ago.

Odds and ends

This is the hail from our little storm April 13.





The kids enjoyed hanging out at M&C's on Sunday. We went up there for dinner.



J tried the trampoline for the first time.



E requested I put her hair in three little piggies.

Little things

Sometimes I find it amazing how things can happen-little things that don't seem hugely important at the time, but really they do mean something. They lead us to people, strangers who become friends, or to situations, events that will change us. Sometimes I find it a little silly that I have found blogs-blogs from people all over the country, world even, and that I read them and I connect with people who I probably will never meet in real life (IRL), yet they become friends. They bare their soul on the Internet for all to see, and I see a little glimpse into mine as well. And there is a connection. It may seem like a little thing, but I know it can lead to bigger things. That is the amazing thing about God and how he works. Sometimes it's through the little things, but I am very thankful for that.

Meet me friend, RK-she and her husband have two beautiful daughters, one just a few weeks younger than Little J. She is the IRL friend of my IRL friend J. RK and I have never met, yet there is a connection. I contacted her recently for some help with my photography blog. And I recently found two amazing photographers in her area that I admire, so I let her know about them. Check out how cool this one little thing turned out to be here.

Spring is here!

Ahh, spring is here. The weather is totally unpredictable-warm days, some rain, windstorms. You never quite know. Today it hit 75 degrees, but it felt like 90 since we're not used to it yet.

We're all doing well. Today I photographed a wedding with the photographers who have taken some of our family portraits. Their son was getting married. It was fun seeing them and their family again. I actually photographed their first son's wedding three years ago. The kids spent the day with Grandma C and Uncle M. They had a blast working in the garden, running errands and helping Grandma put together the ballet barre'.

The grass is green and the baby calves are all running around. I still need to get out and get some photos to them too. I hope to get into the yard soon, plant some trees, flowers, etc. I have some house projects on my to do list too. It's hard to believe the school year will be coming to a close soon. I'm excited for summer and having the kids home more, but it's bittersweet thinking about MJ's Kindergarten year being almost over.

I realize I need to get some more photos of the kids too! Emma will be four in a couple weeks-wow, where is the time going?!

Uncle Ryan's visit

My brother came to visit the last weekend of March. It was the first time he has been able to make it out here. We were so glad he could make it work as he's getting into his busy season. His flight ended up being late out of G.C. and we didn't think he'd make it until Saturday around noon. But, I actually picked him up at 1:45 a.m. Sat. We were both able to get some shut-eye before he was awakened by two crazy little girls clamoring to see their Uncle. He even made them breakfast and let J and I sleep in some more.

Saturday was a beautiful day so we worked out in the yard-yes, I put everyone to work who comes to visit-Mom, Dad, etc. LOL! But, I worked too. We burned all the tumble weeds caught in the fences and sprayed the rest. Unfortunately the rest of the weekend's weather wasn't so great. We were planning a trip to the zoo on Monday, but it ended up raining. We went to church on Palm Sunday, then just hung around the house. Ryan played a game of checkers with the kids. The girls even had him doing Twister at 8:30 in the morning on Monday. He was so great with all the kids-reading to them, playing around, whatever they wanted. Monday evening, we had dinner at Jared and Stephanie's and Stephanie's sister joined us. We played Taboo, and I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time. It was a great evening. Ry stayed in Boise that night then flew back early the next day. Thanks again for coming bro! We love and miss you. More pics can be seen here.

March 19, 2010

The girls didn't have school Friday, March 19, so we were running around town doing some errands. We went to the bank, the postal place to mail something, the local nursery to look at some trees then we stopped by the playground for some fun. The girls ask to go to the park every time we're in town. Little J loved it too.