Happy Easter!

These are my favorite Easter pictures.  I hope your holiday was a happy one!

Matthew and his teacher at the Class Party.

The basket stash

Coloring Easter Eggs

                                                           

 Carrot painting at school

                                                               

 Helen's first basket

                               

   Easter morning - they kept laughing at each other

while I tried to take photos.   I loved it! 

 Amie was here with us - a wonderful weekend...



Never a dull moment...

Matthew has decided not to get married.  His reasons?  He wants

to be the only boss of his house and doesn't want to share his money.  Of course, if he does get married, he'll just marry Helen

(I already married daddy).

There you go.

In perfect 5-year-old-boy fashion, Matthew said the following:

You know the best thing about little sisters?  They think the stuff that annoys everybody else is hilarious!

At Helen's 9 month check-up, the Dr. was slightly "concerned" over her gross motor delays.  This news did not settle well with Helen.  One week later, she decided to conquer them all at once.  Now we spend most of our time making sure she doesn't pull the house down around her pretty little ears.  Her new found skills also allow her to eat everything.  So far, I've pulled the following from her mouth: a dice, a coin, numerous legos, varied paper products, the cat (yes, the real one), sidewalk chalk and one smooth stone from Matthew's rock collection.  Sigh...

Helen loves her baby shortbread cookies.  The other day, I mixed in a few with other, healthier, finger foods.  She quickly weeded through the pieces on her tray, ate the cookies and then tossed everything else to the floor.  She's a woman after my own heart!

The Greatest of Our Latest

 Matthew has started Karate lessons.  His favorite part is the
sparring competition.   He's the one in the middle with the red helmet.

 Matthew with his Karate buddies...and one of their little sisters.

 Our cartoon picnic (ie: lunch in front of the TV)

Helen's first wagon ride.  She loved, loved, loved it.  That

girl is all about adventure!

Helen loves her excersaucer, but we had to switch to a bouncer

with less noise.  See for yourself:

Helen can crawl!

Vacation!

We took 2 weeks to visit all the grandparents, plus took a side trip with some of Alan's family. It was really good to be away and spend some time together having fun. Check out what we saw:

This is the refurbished church
Alan's grandparents were married in!
It is now a library.

This was so pretty!

Matthew trying on Alan's old cowboy hat!

Helen in the bluebonnets .

Visiting an old house in Fayetteville

Don't you love when great pictures take themselves?? I went to snap this pic of Helen and caught the boys in the background. Love, love, love it.

Loves the beach...

...not so much.

At mom's house...she is a lovely person
who grows lovely things...

A-dorable!

Look who's sitting up

Valentine Mailbox for School
(We got Star Wars stickers - nothing "girly")

Maybe I need something pink to wear....

Yummy Applesauce

Matthew calls this my "rock star" hair!

This is a video of Helen watching Matthew. She is absolutely crazy about him and wants to be wherever he is!

Sign language failures

We decided to try baby sign language with Helen. It wasn't necessary with Matthew - he was very predictable and talked very early. But Helen (and the rest of us) were becoming frustrated trying to figure out what she needed. Sign language seemed just the thing. She had begun to screech to be picked up and, since screeching at people is not good manners, we opted to teach her "up please" when she wanted to be held. It worked beautifully. She opened and closed her pudgy hand and we immediately obliged. We scooped her up and told her what a smart, smart girl she was. Well, once that smart, smart girl realized how quickly she could train us, she began to sign "up please" all the time. All the time. You had to avoid eye contact to get across the room. Then, since that worked so well for her, she began to use the sign for everything else she wanted. "Up please" also means I'm hungry, I'm bored, I want my brother's legos,etc..... So, we're basically right back where we started. Except her daddy fears she might develop carpal tunnel from all the wrist action. But since it's at least adorable, here it is on tape!

Mothering

Matthew has officially entered boyhood. I saw it coming, him leaving his babyhood behind, but I'm not sure when it finally happened. I just know it has. It seems unfair that mothers spend so much time training their children in the very thing that will break their mommy heart...growing up.

Of course, it's what we want, but there is a constant pull on my heart; a tug of war between holding on and letting go. This is a letting go. So on to the next adventure, my little Pirate. I'm right behind you.