Adorable children!

Today Lee got a great photo of Everett laughing while I tickled.

And Madeleine and I made brownies and this was her licking the bowl!

Quick, he's going to roll off the bed!

Everett has mastered rolling! He showed off when I put him on the bed this morning while I was getting dressed. I put him on his back and within seconds he was on his tummy, and then on his back, and then on his tummy, and then, quick, he's going to roll off the bed!!!

God can play with it...

We went to Chick Fil A for lunch today and the highlight of every Chick Fil A trip is the free balloon. Madeleine wanted a pink one. We got back to the car and somehow the balloon was let go. Madeleine was sad, needless to say!
She wanted to know where the balloon was going. In the sky, I replied.
With God? Yes, I replied.
Well, I guess God can play with it then... You're right, I replied.
I couldn't stop smiling imagining God playing with Madeleine's pink balloon from Chick Fil A...

I won a photo contest!

Our local paper has a website and they said they were running a contest for the best Easter photo. I submitted my favorite picture of Madeleine and I won two movie tickets!

Aunt Patty's Easter Party

Every year Lee's Aunt Patty (who is really Lee's cousin Patty, but that's another story...) hosts a wonderful Easter Party. There are Easter baskets for all the kids, a great egg hunt, and a pinata! This year my sister and her family came! Here is a picture of Uncle Andy (my brother-in-law) entertaining the girls (Madeleine and Sydney) with bubbles.



Here are the girls, Andy loves to have them do baby races! I love Sydney's smile.


Even Austin (my sister's little boy who turned 1 on Good Friday) found some Easter eggs!


And also a picture of Everett, he will be 6 months old April 5!


Happy Easter everyone. Christ the Lord is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Eleventeen

Madeleine makes me smile when she counts. She says 1-10 well (though she used to get hung up on 7) and sometimes says 11 correctly. 12-19 are okay usually but after 19 she says, "Eleventeen." Without fail she will not forget Eleventeen! Adorable!

Theological Musings

Yesterday I was thinking about God while taking the kids on a walk around the block. I was carrying Everett in the Baby Bjorn and Madeleine was riding her Big Wheel. I was wondering about original sin, how could this perfect baby in my arms be sinful? Then, Madeleine started to bicycle away from me, far away. I was saying loudly, "Madeleine," and then more sternly... I didn't want to be too loud, Everett was right in front of me and I didn't want to destroy his hearing this quickly. However Madeleine was not responding, not slowing down, nothing. She just kept pedaling away. She was down the street and making the corner as fast as she could. I am now running after my defiant child hoping that Everett's little brains aren't being too shaken about. My worries about his hearing no longer seemed important... Are we born sinful? Born defiant? Born wanting to go our own way instead of walking with God? Definitely.

As I made the corner, Madeleine was running towards me. She had gotten scared and wanted to make sure that I was still back there. In her nearly 4 year old mind I represent God to her. She was running away from me as quickly as possible and yet, wondering where I was when she finally stopped doing her own thing and looked around for me. When people are enduring trials and pain, I often hear them ask, "Where is God?" God is always there. God is walking beside us and when we decide to pedal ahead as fast as we can, God is loudly saying our names waiting for us to slow down, to stop, to turn around. Praise God that more often than not we run back to God because we realize that we need God. Praise God that when we do run back to God that God welcomes us with open arms.

Big wheels

Madeleine and Sydney love their matching big wheels... (thanks Nana! My mom got them these for Christmas). Madeleine is in the maroon top, Sydney is in the purple dress.

Wrangling 4 kids!

This is how hard it is to wrangle 4 grandkids to take a picture! This is Madeleine, Everett, Sydney and Austin (my sister's kids) and Grandma and Grandpa (my dad and stepmom) at Austin's 1st Birthday celebration...



We gave up on the photo...

Finally!

I got a picture of the teeth!

Bailey comes to visit!

My friend Erica Hall's little girl Bailey came to visit (Erica came too :) ) and Madeleine loved playing with her (though it looks like she was trying to strangle her!)

And then there were two... teeth, that is...

One of Everett's bottom teeth broke through last night (he was up every 2 hours, obviously not feeling great) and this morning the other bottom tooth is about to break through his gums. I'll try to get a photo later today...

Austin Swims!

My sister's little boy Austin swam this morning after swimming class, he loved it! This photo is before he went into the water. Unfortunately we had no one to document his actual going into the water, I'm going to ask Lee to come next week as our official photographer.

Our normal Saturday morning routine is to play with the boys as the girls are in swimming class (from 9:15-9:45am) and then we go to the baby pool where we watch the girls play until 10:45am. Then, it's off for lunch at Pei Wei (they open at 11am). Kristin and I used to sit in chairs and watch the girls play in the pool. However, it was so hot! Apparently warmed indoor pools radiate heat! So, we decided to get those boys in the water! Today we had two girls in the pool and Kristin and I were both holding onto a boy with both hands while the girls held onto us. It was exhausting, but the boys loved it!


Here's Everett looking snazzy!

And then there were teeth...

Everett had a low fever and has been drooling, so I felt for teeth - and I felt something! One of his lower teeth is trying to break through! Forgive the photo, this is the best that we could get for the moment... and I also included a happy baby photo. If you click on the tooth photo, it will get large and then you can see the tooth better. Enjoy!

My man Obama!

I love Barack Obama! There is a wonderful new video on www.dipdive.com Check it out and spread the word! Go Obama! www.dipdive.com

Everett Swims and Sydney Slides

At swimming class today there were two big events: Sydney (Madeleine's cousin, my sister Kristin's little girl) went down the slide!

(Madeleine got over her fears of the slide after watching a Caillou TV show (it's on PBS) where Caillou was scared about going down the waterslide, but in the end went down the waterslide. Yes, I have my days where I feel like Madeleine watches too much TV; I never thought a TV show would help her conquer her fears.)

Anyway, I got a picture of Sydney just at the point of impact (I'm getting slow in my camera taking skills in my old age).


And then, when swimming class was over, we went over to the baby pool to play as we do every week and this week Everett went into the pool as well! He seemed to enjoy it (or at least didn't cry!) Thanks to my sister Kristin for documenting the event.


I also included a picture that will show you why Madeleine and Sydney's teacher, LaSharon, is a saint.
That's Madeleine holding onto LaSharon's neck as Sydney is in LaSharon's other arm.

A photo session

Nana (Kerry's mom) got these adorable tops: a shirt that says I'm the Big Sister Madeleine and a onesie that says I'm the Baby Brother Everett. Here was my first (albeit unsuccessful) photo session. These are the best ones! How hard is it to get two kids to smile? And I also want to see their tops!