Pickin'

Strawberries!

My favorite strawberry-picking farm is closed. FOREVER. They lost their land lease, and I was so sad to learn that we would never get to take the kids there again to enjoy strawberry-picking or their sub-par pumpkin patch. Last week we met up with some of our littler friends to help relieve some nice people of their juicier berries.

Some little girls did some sampling.

And some little girls did some smiling.

How is it possible that a little girl who will eat lamb curry, sushi, and grilled vegetables with gusto doesn't like strawberries?

Easter continued...

We had an awesome Easter this past Sunday, filled with everything Easter should be filled with: church, friends, Starburst jelly beans, family time, little girls in dresses and hairbows, boys in "shirts with a collar", picture taking, egg hunting, and Easter baskets.

And we managed to train Harper to shout "Jesus is alive!" when we ask her about Easter.

Please forgive my pictures. The flash on my camera only works about a third of the time, and the other two-thirds of the time I just take really bad pictures.

Aidan got a new hat that he insisted on wearing the entire day. On the band on the hat is a little gold pin in the shape of a rabbit.

He asked several people at church on Sunday if they "liked his new hat with stripes and a golden bunny on it". Love that kid.

Even when he makes faces like this for most of his pictures.

My Dane has another loose tooth. This one's been loose for about a month.

He's been training with Brandon (every now and then) to run a 5k next month.

He didn't believe me when I told him that if he sneezed his face would stick this way:

I can't get over how much older Emerson looks in this picture than she did last Easter.

Gone is whatever was left of the sweet toddler with the baby fat, replaced by this lean little girl.

(Sidenote: we've recently switched the kids back onto whole milk, in an effort to put a little meat on these kiddos' bones. They are all great eaters, but we still see a lot of little ribs and bony legs running around.)

One little Easter-celebrater did not want to take pictures with Mommy, so I basically had to chase her around the front yard with my camera for a few minutes.

In what is becoming an annual Easter tradition, the kids all got beach towels and swimsuits in their baskets.

Harper has not let this pink tu-tu swimsuit out of her sight since Sunday.

We rounded out our Sunday with an Easter egg hunt in the backyard.

Emerson had the honor of finding the very last egg, that no one else could find, inside this football glove.

She was just a little proud of herself, shouting "Boo-yah!" at her brothers when she found that last egg. That's my girl :)

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter weekend!

Hoppy...

...Easter!

Easter Sunday found us

JUMPING

for

JOY

in celebration!

More pictures to come...

and, yes, I know it's 3 days past Easter and I'm just now posting this. Technical difficulties with Mac and I and my Easter pics :(

Another March 26

Dear Harper,

Happy (late) birthday to my sweet three year old! Last week we celebrated your 3rd birthday in style, with three of our favorite families, one Minnie Mouse cake, and lots of calzone. You have been so excited about your "Minnie Party" for the last month. And having just three families (11 kids total) instead of the 50-people madhouse we usually do at for birthday parties here was a welcome change of pace.

You and your friends entertained yourselves in the backyard, enjoying the perfect weather while it's so briefly here, and the adults stayed in the kitchen and debated the merits of the meatball/mushroom/olive/cheese calzone.

Your friends know you well, and you opened gifts of baby dolls, dress up clothes, a beautiful twirly dress, and a beauty parlor chair for her dolls. And from MoMo? You were so excited to get "makeup so beautiful". My mom got you a little cosmetic bag, filled with Minnie Mouse panties, a powder compact, and Disney princess chapstick.

You marched around in your new dress up clothes with your new baby doll and your makeup bag for the rest of the evening.

Your first week of being 3 has me wishing that the next 51 weeks are nothing like this one has been.

Later that night after your party, I woke up in the middle of the night (2:30 in the morning, to be exact) needing a bottle of water, and when I stepped outside of my bedroom, guess who I saw on the playroom couch? Wide awake and applying your brand new princess chapstick to your little three-year old lips? I have no idea how long you had been on the couch playing with the makeup that night, but you proudly said "I put my makeup on, Mommy!", at 2:30 in the morning, just as happy as could be.

A few days later, Daddy picked you and Emmy up from school and learned that you had exhibited effective leadership skills on the playground. You had pulled you jeans down, and ran around the playground in your new Minnie Mouse panties, followed closely by four other pant-less preschoolers. We're going to need to work on that.

We love you so, so much, Harper girl.

Just try to go easy on us this year, okay?

Love, Mommy