Jared Singing his ABCs

Here is Jared singing his ABCs- he has been saying them for awhile but I finally managed to video him singing! :)

The Boys

We had Josiah's 6 month portraits on Friday, and this was my favorite shot! :) The rest of the pictures are on slideshow at the top right of the blog.



To see bigger versions of all the pics in the slideshow, go here.

The Land

After the Easter egg hunt, we all went for a walk on the land...





The first stop is almost always the pond, brimming with fish that the kids LOVE to feed! Papa built this deck, too.



As we ventured along the perimeter of the land, Jared kept stopping to explore...

Papa and Micah takin' a break...

I just love this picture of Jared!

Another one of Jareds pit stops; all he wanted to do was draw pictures! Yes, that is everyone else off in the distance!

Jared walking back to the swings trailing another stick... he was quite the loner for the walk...


Papa always takes the kids to see the chickens....

and the puppies...
And back to the swings! Here is Sarah, pretty as a picture...

and Hannah Banana...


And Micah!

Jared finished up the day once again... drawing in the dirt!

All in all, it was a wonderful Easter day!

The Easter Egg Hunt is On!

Sarah and I hid the eggs for the kids to find...

As you can see, Sarah didn't make it TOO hard for the boys to find the eggs... I think there are 6 eggs under this ONE tree! :)

Jared found one of the plastic eggs w/ a toy car inside and has stopped to examine it more closely! Micah is not far behind...

Sarah occasionally gave Jared a helpful hint!

And even after one of these "hints" he was gleeful! "I found one, Mommy!"

Finally Jared stopped to examine his hard won treasures!

Yay, they are here!

Finally, JR, Laurel, Sarah, Micah and Hannah arrived!

Sarah (who is now 10) has always been good with the kids. Josiah is certainly enamored of her!


Micah had a great time riding Jared's new tricycle!

Here is Jared putting on his shoes for the big Easter Egg hunt!


Laurel and her lovely kids-- Micah, Hannah and Sarah...

Waiting for the Cousins to Arrive!

Here is Josiah hanging out with his Papa-- one of his favorite things to do! He has fallen asleep many times in that very spot!

We decided to go outside and play until JRs family arrived. You can't really see it but Jared is playing with a bubble wand...

Meanwhile, Papa is playing with Josiah on the swings (that he built for the kids)! Halmonee is inside making Easter dinner.

Whew, did Papa push you too hard, Josiah?

Ahh, thats better.. :)

Jared loves to play in the back of Papas truck! Micahs not here yet, but he will join him soon!

A Sunny Easter Afternoon

On the afternoon of Easter, we went to Halmonee and Papa's house... but while we waited for Dad to load up the car, I took some pictures of the boys in the yard. As you can see, Josiah is sitting up now... he is SUCH a big boy! In fact, he was the only one sitting still long enough for me to get a few photos. Jared was zooming around the yard in anticipation of the long awaited Easter egg hunt with his cousins.

Finally, I got Jared to sit down with Josiah for a SECOND before he zoomed off again! :)



More pictures of the afternoon at Halmonee and Papas to come...

Easter Egg Decorating!

The night before Easter I decided to decorate Easter Eggs with Jared. I am not sure what made me think handling multiple containers of dye with a 2 year old would be an effortless process! :)

Jared was all excited and wanted to plunk multiple eggs into each container of dye... He wanted to add stickers before dying the eggs.... He wanted to move eggs from one container of dye to another.... Needless to say I was a bit crazed, but it was a blast nonetheless. The joy he takes in the simplest things makes it worth every second of nervewracking madness.

"Okay, Mom, I'm ready! Can I dunk it yet? Please mom?"

Even Josiah tried to get in on the decorating... here he is with one of the little egg-dunker-things!

"OOh--ooh, Mom! I want to do the stickers! I LOVE stickers!"

"Mom, can I just eat this egg?"

"Here they are! Aren't they great? Now, I just have to wait for these other ones to dry!!! Easter egg decorating is great!"

Jareds New Tricycle

Jared loves his little ride-on cars, but my mom suggested last week that we get him a tricycle so that he could ride it outdoors... and he LOVES it. The transition to pedaling is still a struggle because he can still go so much faster just using his little Flintstone feet, but he is getting there! :)

"Thanks for helping me up that little hill, Dad! I LOVE my new tricycle!"

"I don't know about these pedals though, can't I just walk it around?"

"Ha-- look at me, Mom! I am doing it!"

The Boys in February

Whew I am so behind... things have been so hectic I haven't really been able to post, but here are a couple pics of the boys from February. I will post more in the next couple days!

Josiah has been rolling over for about a month now and just starting to sit up (pics coming soon!)

Here is Jared laying on the floor with his baby brother. My favorite thing is when he puts his hands on both sides of Siah's face and says, "Siah-- you make me SO HAPPY!"