Clean Addy

Check out the rolls on that girl.

I only point this out because I am so proud of her growing body because her only nourishment comes from me. MIRACLE!

All wrapped up and warm in the towel Dorothy made her.
(Notice the hood is around her feet. Not sure why. )

Happy Helper

Jack is really becoming a grown up boy. He likes to do whatever we are doing.
He is helping us rake the leaves in the backyard.

Our leaves fell late and the snow fell early this year so we're cleaning up fall's mess so we can move on to spring planting and fixing up the backyard.

He filled his own paper sack with leaves and sticks too. I guess we need to get him his own yard work tools. I see lots of fun this summer working in the yard. Do they make children's work gloves?

It was just a matter of time

This toothbrush is now in the garbage!
The good news is that Jack's teeth are clean. The bad news is that he used toilet water to rinse his brush.

Jack has been fascinated with tour toilet for a long time. He loves to flush it and watch the water swirl down. Or if you're lucky, he'll walk into the bathroom while you are using the toilet and flush it for you. So helpful. Except for dipping Ryan's watch in the toilet once, he has not put anything in it or played in the water until today.

This morning, I let jack stand at the sink himself to brush his teeth. He wanted some privacy and pushed me out of the bathroom and closed the door. Now, I am smart enough to know that a 2 year-old does not need privacy and is probably up to know good. So I peeked in on him and he was standing at the sink brushing his teeth. So, I went to get his clothes from his dresser. When I returned to the bathroom I saw the toilet lid up and water dripping on the seat. You can guess the rest. Just to prove my hypothesis correct, Jack immediately dipped his toothbrush in the toilet and stuck it in his mouth. After I stopped gagging, I grabbed the toothbrush. Without a toothbrush to dip, Jack immediately put his hand in and gave the water a swirl. Good thing he was headed into the tub.

Bye bye Nemo.

16 hours in a car

We spent 16 hours in the car this past weekend to attend the wedding of a good friend. We drove out of town Friday night with an almost 2 year old and a one month old. What were we thinking?

Jack is a GREAT traveler. He loves cars and trucks and diggers and spent the entire trip to Washington, D.C. pointing them out as we drove while snuggling his favorite puppy.

Addy slept between feedings and only required a few extra stops along our way. Unfortunately, one of our stops for a feeding lead to a drained battery in Lewisburg, PA. The good thing is that we happened to be near a Taco Bell/KFC with a nice manager and 7 boys to help push start our car when the jump start did not work. Thank you boys!

While Ryan, Amy and Tracie (Ryan's sister) were all inside the D.C. Temple, Brother-in-Law Jay was taking one for the team by watching all 4 children back at the hotel. 4 children under the age of 3 with the youngest just 5 weeks old. Yep, he's a saint. Especially when the sealing ran a little long and the youngest baby was SCREAMING for food.

So we're all dressed up at the reception eating a lovely meal without children in tow and this is the only pictures we have of the four of us. Notice no Ryan and no Tracie and just Amy's hair and half of Jay's head. (and the bride and groom are not even aware the picture is being taken). So sad to not have a picture of the four of us looking smashing. It just shows you what a great time we were having that we forgot to take any pictures.

Here is a picture of Mariam and her lovely bouquet.
She did not put it down once it was in her hands.

We would drive the 8 hours again just for the pleasure of cousins spending time together. The added bonus was that Jack got to see his cousins on his birthday.

Mariam helped Jack open his Toby train and she sang him happy birthday.


We got to see, not so little any more, Joshua too.

Ryan and I took the kids to the temple on Sunday before we drove home. Jack would not put his new digger down. (thank you cousins for a great present)


On the way home, Jack got to eat his birthday donut. (Notice that he is still not putting down the digger. The digger and puppy kept him happy the whole way home.)

One month and getting bigger.

Addy is one month old. Had to post some pictures to show her cute jeans.

I finally feel like we are in a groove. Jack and Addy and I have our own little routine and we've even left the house. The three of us made a trip to the store ALONE. We went to music class too. Not to mention that Addy made her debut at a church function.

We're so Proud

Jack learned two new skills this weekend.

#1 Making yourself burp.

Yep, we're really proud. He was laughing at his sister's hiccups. When her hiccups stopped he tried to make the noise himself so he could laugh at the sound. This resulted in our nearly 2 year-old boy learning to swallow air to make himself burp. I was hoping Jack would wait until he was a teenager to perfect this skill. I guess he's just really advanced.

#2 Pretending to be asleep to avoid going to church.

Again, this is something we thought would happen when he was a teenager and not when he was two. Jack was all dressed and ready to go to church. When Ryan went to retrieve him from our bed, Jack pulled the covers up and started to make snoring noises. He would have been more convincing if he had closed his eyes and not tried to look at us to gauge our reactions. He'll have to work on this.

Happy Easter

Jack Rabbit

Bunny Addy


This post is dedicated to my Aunt Rosie who is the Patron Saint of all rabbits and bunnies.