New Addition

We have a new addition in our house - finally our new table! We got a call the Wednesday before Easter that it was in, so I was so excited at the prospect of having Easter dinner on our new table (our formal table only seats 6), but the delivery people couldn't deliver it until the day after Easter. But I'm grateful it arrived much faster than promised and I love the way it looks and fits in our kitchen!!

Swimming Season is Here!

We were so excited for playgroup this week -- our first swim of the season! There has rarely been a day since we last swam on Labor Day that Davey hasn't asked when we would be able to swim again. He has been amazingly patient with our answers of "not yet," "soon," and "when it gets warmer." I'm a little nervous for how it will go with watching two in the water... but mostly I'm excited for the fun he is going to have this summer -- I just love watching him have fun! 

Is this what Dr. Suess had in mind?

Davey likes to play physically but his latest game caught me by surprise. While I was laying on my back on the floor watching TV he came up next to me and asked, "Daddy wanna say 'O'?". I'm all, "huh?" He repeats, "You wanna say 'O'?" Then he proceeds to jump all 30 pounds of himself on my belly and make me shout "Ohhh!!". He just laughs and keeps jumping and I'm laughing and grunting.

Easter Sunday

The Easter bunny visited our house for the first time this year. Call me hum-bug but I just figured holidays were lost on Davey up until he was 2, so why bother. Anyway, he was pretty excited when we told him the Easter bunny had come and he ran to the front window to look outside (presumably for some eggs).

I hadn't been able to get him to put on the bunny ears for a picture, so I figured making him wear them when he saw his easter basket would be a good time and he didn't complain.

A very happy Davey with Bulstrode the freighter, 

lighthouse and drawbridge. Amazingly, candy takes 

second stage to trains.

We had to let Davey take Bulstrode to church with him. It was the first Sunday since Charlie was born that Davey didn't spend part of the service playing in the car seat.

Dave took the bunny ears to church for the children in his primary class and let them take a picture of him too. So cute.

I was impressed when I picked up Davey from nursery and I asked him if they talked about Jesus he said, "Yes, Jesus died." Then what happened? "The angel came." He didn't get the whole story, but I thought that was pretty good teaching and understanding. I had tried to explain Easter briefly but can't really even remember what I said, so I'm sure he didn't either.

That afternoon we had the Griffeths, Amy's cousin Erika, and the Browns over for dinner. Everyone brought dishes so it made the meal significantly easier for me. It was fun to entertain our friends.

Erika, Amy, Jeff, Haylee, Chris and me

The babies (Charlie, Jared and Kara) hanging out 

 and letting us enjoy the meal. 

Davey and Lauren are playing so well together these days. We barely heard anything out of them except giggles.

After dinner we had an egg hunt for the kids. 

By this time, they were expert egg-finders.

Our new friends and neighbors, Mendy and Mike Ferarra, came over with their son, Ryan, for dessert.

Mike and Ryan grabbing an egg.

Two happy kids with full baskets.

Easter was a really nice holiday for us. Along with all the fun, we are mostly grateful for and celebrate Jesus Christ's sacrifice and resurrection.

Easter Celebrations

Last weekend a friend of mine commented to me that after the next week was through, we'd be playing Easter Egg Hunt with Davey all the time. I knew right then that she was right - a game where everything you find has candy and toys in it? Right up Davey's (any kid's) alley!

Our Easter celebrations started with an egg hunt for playgroup on Wednesday. Davey was so  excited about getting to hold his Easter basket.

The kids were so patient waiting to start.

Davey finding his first egg.

One egg = victory!

We should all be so easily fulfilled.

Opening the eggs: trying to hold onto all the candy

and throwing the empty eggs aside.

On Saturday our HOA's social committee put on an egg hunt and games. I tried to be part of the committee, but was just finding it too difficult to get to the early meetings on the same day we have preschool and playgroup. It was fun to just attend and not have to do anything!

Davey enjoyed a cupcake before the hunt and afterward they had a water balloon toss and played on the playground. He was so funny during the hunt: it took me a few seconds to figure out why Davey was running past a bunch of eggs - this wasn't his first egg hunt of the year after all, I couldn't believe he would be willing to run past all kinds of candy - the funny thing was he only wanted to collect the blue ones! Lately he has been saying this about everything, sippy cups, juice, m&m's: "Favorite is my blue."

Davey and Mackenzie showing off their goods after the hunt.

After the neighborhood hunt, we headed over to the Griffeth's for the kids to color eggs. We decided to take off shirts (and eventually pants too) to prevent ruining them since they dyes  were not washable.

Davey enjoyed trying to "sponge paint" his eggs, but it

was really a bit advanced for 2-3 year olds.

After the dying, the kids had fun playing on the playset. It was then we realized how funny and almost (but not quite) inappropriate it was to see them all playing...

Good thing they're too young to remember when their parents let them play with their friends wearing only underwear!

Charlie is 3 1/2 Months

I intended to post an update about Charlie at 3 months, but you all know how life goes. So a little about Charlie these days...

The week before Charlie was 3 months, he started being fussy all the time again. I decided to visit the doctor to see if he had possibly outgrown the dose of his reflux medication. She said that wasn't the case, but switched him to Prevacid to see if that would help and thankfully it has. Plus, it is soooo much easier to give him. Just half a strawberry-flavored quick-dissolving pill with 2 ml of water in a syringe.

Charlie weighed 12 pounds 12 ounces at 3 months, still growing quite rapidly. It's fun to have a chubby, cuddly baby. He is smiling all the time and just so happy and good-natured. He has laughed a handful of times, which is so delightful to hear, but I haven't figured out the trick to getting him to do it consistently. The way he squeals and kicks his legs in excitement when he sees me makes me feel so good. (Maybe something like Dave gets from Davey when he walks in the door after work.)

He is good at falling asleep unassisted and has started taking a long, semi-regular afternoon nap. He's still waking 2 times at night, so I'm trying to gear up mentally for letting him cry a bit to get him down to once per night when he's 4 months. Then I'll finally put him in his own room.

He munches on his hands constantly, so much so that I'm always reminding myself that he's too young when I start to wonder if he could be teething.

The hair he was born with has started falling out, but a decent amount of new hair has grown in so he doesn't look bald. 

He is discovering his tongue and I think it's so cute when he's sticking it out all the time.

Charlie also likes to play on his activity mat and has started batting at his toys. I love watching him grow and develop and had to capture some of it on video. Have fun watching our little sweetie!

Go Spartans!

As you can imagine, we were really rooting for Michigan State to win the NCAA Championship. Our boys got all dressed up to help the Spartans; unfortunately it wasn't enough. I can't believe they weren't all the inspiration the team needed! :)

A Bird House

The past few months, Dave has been taking Davey to Home Depot to "build something". It is so great - they provide all of the supplies and directions, even a cute apron to wear, a pin and a certificate of achievement for each craft they make. Davey really looks forward to those days each month. This week Dave was out doing a long training ride for the MS 150 coming up next week so I got to take him. He made a bird house so now we have it hanging outside our kitchen window. No bird sightings yet, but we'll keep waiting. It was the perfect craft because lately Davey has been really enjoying watching the birds that land in our yard. He even named two of them Dap-da and Boo-boo. Charlie was a trooper, hanging out in the wind listening to all of the pounding.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

The other morning we had a very intense rain storm with lots of wind and some hail. The strength with which the rain came down was quite impressive. 

Davey remarked, "It's raining from the clouds. We must pick it up. Put it back in the sky."

I replied, "We need it to rain; it makes the grass and trees and flowers grow. And we need it so we can drink it."

Davey was intrigued: "We? This? (Clutching his chest) This little person? Davey?"

It's so cute to listen to him talk and figure things out. He was really interested in drinking the rain as he then said, "I wanna drink the water from the trees."

Hangin' Out

These two boys are always together, already great buds. The other day Davey was asleep and Dave brought Charlie along with him to run an errand and give me a break. It was the first time I had been home without Charlie here. When Davey woke up, he was poking around my room, looking in the swing and the bassinet. I figured he was thinking of playing in them like usual but he turned to me with a concerned look of confusion asking, "Where's Charlie?" It's nice that he shows such interest and concern for his brother.