It's the Small Things in Life...

No major events pictured in this post, just pictures of some of the small things that go on in our day to day life that just make me smile :-)

Amelia has found a new kind of chair to sit on to read her books...balls. I love that she is the perfect size to just sit on a ball and that she came up with the idea all on her own. 

 This is not the most clear and perfect picture of Amelia, but its the memory of Jack taking this picture that I love.  Amelia was all dressed up in her church dress on Palm Sunday.  When Jack saw his sister, he said, "Amelia's beautiful.  Let's take her picture!" So I gave him the camera and he took a picture of her. I love how much he loves his little sister.

 One evening last week we took a trip to the free zoo otherwise known as the pet store. When we told Jack we were going to see animals he said, "I want to see a lion."  Sorry buddy, wrong kind of zoo.  They had a blast and were so excited to see all the pet store animals.

 For school last week we studied the letter L. Jack and Grace made lions after reading the story of Daniel in the lions den (along with many other activites.)  They are wearing masks that they also made to go along with our bible verse "Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7. 

 Barrett surprised me with the suggestion that we go out for ice cream one evening.  Doesn't take much convincing for me!  I thought I would just share my mint chocolate chip milkshake with Amelia.  I mean how much of a milkshake would you think a 16 month old girl could actually drink?  More than I knew! Before I even realized it she had eaten at least 1/2 of my medium sized milkshake!  That girl likes her icecream!

 The boys shared a brownie hot fudge sundae.

 Then Amelia thought she could sneak a little more ice cream from Daddy. 

 Heads work as chairs for Amelia too :-)

 Now that it has warmed up a bit we were invited over to play in Lorelei's backyard pool.  Jack has been asking for several months when we could go swimming so this was a big treat for him! 

 And of course the snack table by the pool was a big hit!

We got a new piece of furniture for our balcony - a table and 6 chairs.  We had been wanting a table for our balcony so we could go out there for meals or to play games. We have already spent a couple evenings just sitting out there talking, snacking, eating dessert, reading... just enjoying being together and outside.

 The kids love sitting at their picnic table on the balcony too.

Amelia has become quite the multi-tasker.  She can go for a walk while pushing her push toy while talking on her play phone which is being squeezed together between her ear and shoulder.  Oh my! Love this girl! She makes me giggle.

Easter 2014

Happy Easter!

So thankful for this day where we can celebrate Jesus' resurrection!

Jack - 3 years old

Amelia - 16 months old

 Amelia and Jack checking out their Easter baskets before leaving for church.

 Jack got a chocolate bunny, chocolate covered marshmallow eggs, a fishing pole bathtub toy & a Bernstein Bears book.

 Amelia got a mermaid bathtub toy, sun glasses (which she was soooo excited about) and marshmallow peeps.

We went to church and sang in the choir for the 9:30 & 11 o'clock service.  Awesome music, message and time of celebrating that Jesus Is Alive! After church we at lunch at Golden Corral with family then went to have our family egg hunt with the cousins at the park in our neighborhood.

 I love that there are 2 little girls(Eliana & Amelia) all dressed up in Easter dresses.  Too fun!

 Our family of 4 - Easter 2014

 This was the longest lasting egg hunt ever!  So many eggs!  It must have taken at least 10 minutes for everyone to finish hunting eggs.

Egg Hunts

The weekend before Easter we had fun going to our neighborhood egg hunt and the church helicopter egg drop.

 Saturday morning we took a wagon ride to the front park for the neighborhood egg hunt.

 Is that a face of excitement or what?!

 Ready to hunt!

 And their off!

 Amelia caught on real quick...picking up 2 eggs at a time! Way to go!

 Success. A smiling boy and an Easter basket full of eggs!

 A visit to the Easter bunny.  Jack was brave and happy to get a picture taken.  Amelia....not so much.

 Next was the petting zoo. Both kiddos loved this and had no fear of petting the animals.

 When we were finished at the neighborhood egg hunt we headed over to the church's helicopter egg drop.  Jack was in love with just watching the helicopter.

 On Good Friday we went with some of our friends to go visit the 'Grandmas & Grandpas' at an assisted living home.  The kids dressed up in their Easter clothes and had a parade for the residents.  The kids (& residents) heard the Easter story using Resurrection eggs and we sang a couple Easter songs together.  It was a sweet time getting to see the residents and to bring a smile to some faces.

While there, we were surprised with a visit from the Easter bunny.  That made for some big smiles for these big kids.  (Not pictured is Amelia clinging to mommy.  She is not a fan of big bunnies.)

Staying Busy

We try to go to story time at the library every couple weeks.  Afterwards the kiddos like to go play with the play kitchen, play in the puppet area and read books.

 Amelia was quite proud of herself for climbing up into this big chair for the puppet show by Jack.

 Jack's puppet show

 Tooth brushing time

 Going down the slide.  This girl has no fear!

 Jack went on his first long tricycle ride around the block.  He does awesome on his bike!

 Slam dunk!

 One evening after dinner we went to go play at a new playground and park close by.  The kids (including my big kid Barrett) loved throwing rocks into the stream.

 We followed a trail that lead over to the big road.  Climbing up this big ramp (not sure what it is actually called) was an added bonus.  We couldn't stay too long because a storm was approaching. 

 Jack is holding a pile of sticks here.  He was using them to "build a fire" on our walk.

 Such a beautiful sky!

 Amelia's favorite part of this playground was going up and down the stairs and slide all by herself.

 We have begun playing on the balcony at home much more often.  This way Amelia doesn't have access to eating all the acorns and berries in the yard.  Still lots of fun but much more relaxing for mom. :-)

 It was time to move Amelia into a new car seat since she is growing so tall.  So we moved Amelia to Jacks old car seat and got a new booster seat for Jack.  Jack sure loves having cup holders on his new seat.

 Amelia's first time in her new car seat - 16 months old.

 While emptying the dishwasher, I turned away to put something in the cabinet, turned  back around and this is what I found...Amelia in the dishwasher.

All set for a bike ride/car ride!