Baby Eliana


Yeah! Aunt Linda had her baby on Friday evening. Just got a few details from Linda via Skype. Baby is 7 pounds and absolutely beautiful! Congratulations Linda, Jason, Elijah, Sofia, and Ezra!!!

We love you Baby Eliana!

Happy Easter!!!
















Today was the most fun! The kiddos woke up to baskets with goodies, and then went into the backyard to hunt for eggs. They're still so young that it took about 45 minutes to find all the eggs. We then went to church with Grandma, Grandpa, and Diana. The service was wonderful. Then we headed over to Gma and Gpa's house for Easter brunch and more egg hunting fun. Eva and Andrew had so much fun playing with Jacob and Michael. Poor Eva was so exhausted, that she fell asleep in the swing :)

Egg Hunt at the Farm











We took the kids to Mother Nature's Farm for an egg hunt this afternoon. In addition to finding lots of eggs, Andrew also climbed up a huge hay stack. For lunch we went to a different farm, Joe's Farm Grill, which is fabulous! All the food is organic and very fresh. We ate on picnic tables under the shade of large trees, while the kids were free to run around on the grass. Andrew made a couple of friends while there and they played hide and seek.

Something is seriously, and systematically wrong in our country

This article should be required reading. Just a sample from one of my favorite, more fire breathing liberal authors, Jill @ Brilliant at Breakfast

"But if we can just examine every word out of Barack Obama's mouth, perhaps we can keep people from wondering why it is that people are living in FEMA trailers two and a half years after Hurricane Katrina but the goverment can come up with over $200 billion within 24 hours to help J.P. Morgan Chase buy up Bear Stearns at garage sale prices? It keeps them from wondering why the president vetoes SCHIP because $35 billion is too much but over $200 billion to bail out a private company from its own mismanagement and bad investments is a necessary expense."

http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/2008/03/now-here-is-issue-that-should-be.html

A Weekend Visit from Papa


It was wonderful having Papa here for the weekend. We spent most of the time playing with the kids in the backyard. Yesterday the weather was perfect-- in the upper 70s. Today, it was a bit cooler in the 60s. Thanks for the visit papa! We love you :)

Car Wash





Seriously, the weather couldn't be any better. It's been in the upper 70s, low 80s, so the kids really enjoy their time outside. Today we're doing a "car wash" and washing down Andrew's trucks and bulldozers. Kids and soapy water are always a great combination!

Messy




I have the messiest baby ever! By the way, she always eats like this. The child needs a bath each and every day, because she gets gunk in the rolls on her neck, food in her hair, sticky fingers, etc. Andrew was totally the opposite-- he was so neat and tidy, and actually still is. Well, at least one of them has table manners!!!

Chocolate Candy Crinkle Cookies



For some reason I've been doing a lot of baking lately. These were delicious! I rolled half of the cookies in powdered sugar before baking, but the ones in the photos were not, so they look different than the ones pictured with the recipe (found here ). So yummy. I tried them with regular hershey kisses and with the hershey hugs-- they're great with either, but I slightly prefer the hugs. Something about the little bit of white chocolate with the cookie just puts it over the edge of decadent and delicious!!!

Laugh Out Loud

Last week Andrew was watching a cartoon and laughed at a joke. It was so endearing to hear Andrew laugh at that joke, since it was the first joke we ever "got." Justin and I joke around with him all the time and he understands it when we do, but this is the first time he heard something on TV and laughed out loud. A cartoon character had a hat pulled over his head and he said, "Hey, who turned out the lights?" and then I hear giggling from the couch. Wow-- how did my little baby turn into a little kid who laughs at jokes. For the last week, he's been putting things over his eyes and saying, "Hey, who turned out the lights?"