An Update

I know I've been a bit of a bloggy-slacker lately. Both kids have been sick, and I, therefore, have not had many moments without one or both of them attached to me in some way. They are both on the mend now, so here I am with a little family update...

Let's start with Grace.

She has two new favorite words: never and ever. As in, "No! Never!" and "No way! Not ever!" Her simple two year old "NO" has had a very sophisticated three year old makeover. It's hard not to laugh when she tests to see what will happen if she responds in such a way. Until she does it over and over. Then it gets a lot easier not to laugh.

On the other hand, she is learning that there are much more appropriate ways of getting our attention. She has recently started coming up out of the blue, wrapping her arms around me and saying in her sweetest, most sincere voice, "I love you Mommy."

She is also showing her tender side toward Charlie. If he cries when I leave the room (yes, we're still in that stage), she has been known to hug him and say "It's okay. Mommy always comes back." She has also been known to do things like put barrettes in his hair when I'm out of eyesight.

No update would be complete without a few funny Grace stories, so here you go!

The other day Grace was walking around singing, "I don't like you. I don't like you." I said to her, "Those aren't nice words," and she quickly responded, "I'm just talking about onions!"

Grace usually plays in her room while I'm getting Charlie down for his nap. Last week, she had a new haircut, and I could hear her talking into her mirror saying, "Oh, thank you! I just wanted to look nice for playgroup."

I recently heard Grace playing in the water in her bathroom which is often a sign of trouble. I went in to find one of Charlie's onesies in a sinkful of water. Gracie explained, "I'm just soaking it. I'm helping! I'm getting the stain out for you."

Now onto Charlie!

On Sunday, he took his first steps! He has taken a few each day since then, but seems to move one foot much more than the other. It causes him to move in circles rather than moving forward, but at least he's moving, right?!? I am anxious for him to really start walking so that we can play outside without him getting grass stains from scooting on him bottom, so I've been "encouraging" him to walk laps around the downstairs pushing his wagon to get the hang of moving both of his feet.

Charlie also has a new favorite word: cracker. All day long he chats away, "cracka! cracka! cracka!" Anything crunchy and slightly salty qualifies as a cracker, and he would eat all day long if I let him. What can I say? He takes after his mommy.

Charlie is big time into "DADA!" right now. He knows when he hears the garage door open that Jeff is home. He scoots over to the door saying. "Dada! Dada! Dada!" all the way. He prefers Jeff to put his pajamas on at night, which I am SO thankful for because he is such a squirmer right now. He loves playing with Jeff, and it's so fun to watch their bond strengthen.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

We recently had the great joy of celebrating my grandpa's 90th birthday! We drove down to spend the day with family in the Portland area. It was such a fun day of catching up, eating way too much food, watching cousins bond, and, of course, celebrating Grandpa's big day. Grace and Charlie loved playing with my cousin's kids. They're house is set up great for kids with many fun things to play with. The trampoline was by far the hit of the day! (Even for some of us grown-ups!) Grace is still asking when we get to go back and visit them. (Although she's definitely not holding her breath to see their dog , who happens to be our old dog, Tanner again.)

I was so thankful to spend some time with my grandparents. It has been way too long since our last visit. Nana Bea with her two grandsons-in-law and Charlie "So this is the guy everyone says I look like. I'm going to be looking pretty good at 90!"

All the grandkids and great-grandkids with Nana Bea and Grandpa Oral

Easter Weekend

We had a great time celebrating Easter this past weekend. On Saturday, we went to our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. It stopped raining just long enough for us to decide to go. As soon as we got there, the rain started up again, but nothing says Easter in the Northwest like a wet egg hunt! The grass was covered in eggs, but it only took about 20 seconds for the kids to pick them all up. Grace had a great time despite the rain and gave a glimpse of her competitive side.

On Sunday, we celebrated Jesus' resurrection at our new church. (Jeff and I, along with 50 other families, have been a part of planting a new church in downtown Bellevue, The Downtown Church.) It was exciting to see the building so full on Easter morning!Later in the day, our family joined us at our house for an indoor egg hunt and dinner. Grace and Jacob were both expert egg finders, while Charlie sat and enjoyed the two eggs he grabbed. Sadly, Jeff's mom was ill, and we missed having Grammy and Bop be part of the celebration.

Bedtime with BaaBaa

Since Grace was a year old, she has had a lamb she sleeps with every night. Her name is "BaaBaa", and she is very loved. This picture was taken almost exactly a year ago.

A couple nights ago, Grace went to sleep like this. Apparently her doll, Micah, needed a place to sleep, and "Big BaaBaa" was just the right place. She slept like this all night long.

Although last weekend started like this...we ended up having beautiful weather, and we LOVED getting to play outside!

On Sunday, the kids had a great time playing in the backyard. Grace worked on digging her own "garden" and Charlie went down the slide about 63 times. Now if we can just get him to walk so I don't have to deal with grass stains on his bottom!

On Monday we got to spend the day with Jacob and baby Hudson. The weather was still beautiful, so we headed to a park to play for awhile.

The next day we met Grandma at a neighborhood park and had a great time playing.

Now if we can just get the sunshine to come back!