I promise not to keep making a big deal out of manual mode, but I’m just so excited. 🙂 I am slowly figuring out how to quickly get pictures that don’t require a flash inside (ugly shadows).

Morning “computer” time

Peeling oranges

I am SOOOO glad God gave me a daughter. This is how she went grocery shopping yesterday.

 

This is his “helpfully correcting my sister” face.

Last weekend we were super busy. Saturday morning we went to workout, and then I made a quick dash to Tukwila for a photography workshop. I spent four hours learning more about white balance, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and exposure. I now feel good about using manual mode on my camera, and that’s super exciting! I haven’t taken a picture any other way since. I’m getting good practice and some good shots.

This is the only picture we got from the very rainy kickball jamboree. JT and Haley and I watched some from the truck.

We took our friend Katie and her friend Diana out boating so Diana could try to ski. She did great. We can’t believe her perseverance in the icy water.

A little bit tired

Then we had a great dinner and poker party for Katie’s birthday!

There isn’t a whole lot going on this week. I’m back to work and teaching two evening classes, so things have been pretty busy. Jim had a long work week too, so we’re really looking forward to our fun weekend plans.

Today the kids built guns out of Trio blocks. They were busy shooting at me when I took this picture. JT also built an assault rifle. In our house, we have no problem with that. He told me how he put safeties on each gun so that if someone else aimed at something “that they didn’t intend to shoot,” it would be fine. He added that he would never do such a thing. Jim has trained him well.

This is his “looking tough” face.

Today JT and I made a clock that I saw on Pinterest during Haley’s nap. You write the minute hand numbers underneath the hour hand numbers and color code the hands. So far he loves it and it makes perfect sense. He has been able to tell time on the hour and half hour for a long time, but hasn’t made the step to fully understanding the minute hand. He can count by fives so it made sense to get going on this!

We did get a chance to go to the elementary school near our house with friends after preschool this week. It was in between rain showers and we did get lucky with dry weather!

Then two random pictures from around the house: Sunday after church, after Haley was in bed and Jim and I were settling in, I found JT here… kickin it in his chair, reading books. I just love that.

And Haley, doing a craft project with her pigtails and her scissors. She just cracks me up.

JT’s spring break was a week earlier than mine, and at first I was pretty bummed about that. But then I got to play stay-at-home mom all week, and it was pretty awesome. I had all this extra time (compared to my normal schedule; I am in no way insinuating that stay-at-home moms have lots of extra time) and could do fun things with my kids, plus some extra chores. In addition, Jim’s schedule this week put him home around dinner time. Crazy.

To top it all off, each day I exercised and did my Bible study first thing in the morning. What a great way to start the day. I also got some extra sleep because Jim had to wake up early and I didn’t. 🙂

Saturday we had pizza and game night. Jim had no idea that playing Chutes and Ladders would take so long. Funny.

Sunday we did the normal church thing and also had our small group at our house that night. It was raining so hard the kickball jamboree was cancelled (Jim is playing on a team this year!).

Monday: Jim was off, so I went for a run in the morning. It’s my first run of the spring and oh my, am I out of running shape. My time was fine but I was so sore. I have to fit in some more running! I took JT to preschool while Jim had lunch with a friend, but Jim picked JT up while I stayed home and Haley slept. That gave me an extra hour to work on some projects for work in a quiet house! After dinner, we finished watching Horton Hears a Who, which we had started the previous Friday.

Tuesday: We went to the Shuck’s house in the morning so I could help my friend Jen on PhotoShop and the kids played. After preschool, we met the Shucks at a trail so the boys could ride bikes, the littles could ride in the strollers, and the ladies could chat. Fabulous.Took a family walk after dinner and watched a five-year-old baseball game. JT was enthralled and got excited about playing next year. We plan to do this more!

Wednesday: Workout. Followed by lots of house cleaning, but without the usual tight schedule of Wednesdays because Awana/Bible study is on break too. After dinner I got the kids all bathed and in pajamas and ready for bed and then left for my first ever Zumba class. My friend Suzanne was teaching it and I convinced my friend Elisa to come with me. It was super fun.

Thursday: Took the kids grocery shopping and came home and had lunch and unloaded everything, all before the preschool run at 12:15. Phew! After preschool, went to a local park and met our friends the Schmalzes there to play in the sunshine. Came home to a yummy roasted vegetable soup that I had prepped that morning, and ate dinner as a family. Afterwards we took a walk around the neighborhood, with JT riding his bike and Haley in the wagon.

Also, I finally picked up our street mail and I had three birthday presents in there. Woohoo!

 

Friday: The kids and I spent the morning reassembling the inside canister to my Dyson DC17. Thursday night, Jim helped me get it apart (the directions online actually state, “use brute force.”) and I washed it all and left it to dry overnight. The kids did a great job with the screwdriver and the 14 screws took about thirty minutes. 🙂 Then I finished a project I’d been working on all week: dusting the blinds. Ugh. I am glad to know that is done for the year. The kids played in a fort while I got them packed and ready to go… to Grandpa and Grandma Cole’s house for the night. After the drop-off, I went shopping and spent my birthday money from my in-laws and got a ton of clothes. I am excited about the bright colors and can’t wait to wear it. Now here I sit, in a very quiet house. Tonight is book club.

Tomorrow, Jim and I are going to the Preschool Work Party. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? But they pay us in tuition credit, so it’s too good to pass up. Then we have a DATE for no reason at all, for the first time all year. We’re going to a movie and dinner in Port Orchard, which will totally feel like it’s 1997 all over again. 🙂

This is possibly the best spring break ever.

I had a great time turning 33. It started on Thursday, when the kids went home with my parents and I had the evening to get a pedicure and a massage. Woohoo! Then I came home and watched a movie with Jim, who was home sick from work.

Friday Jim made his classic french toast (yum) and I went to work and had a lovely surprise of flowers delivered to my office from my wonderful husband.

Jim’s breakfast

Leaving for work

Surprise!

After work, we met up with friends to ride Harleys to dinner. The weather was gorgeous and we had an awesome time.

Saturday was my birthday workout. We did all my favorites: crab walk, medicine ball throws, and abs. We also did a few things I classify as “workout death.” Jim came, and so did two other husbands, so it was super fun!

After workout, we took the boat out on the lake with some friends. We had a relaxing picnic lunch and Katie skiied. The lake was pretty rough from wind and boats, so Jim and I declined. It was so sunny and warm!

After we were done, we couldn’t get the lift to work. It was a little disappointing to end that way, but it worked out. Jim went to get the trailer while I met my parents to pick up our children, and then we went back to get the boat. The kids came home from my parents’ house having been to the circus, ridden an elephant and ponies, and with new rolling suitcases for our big trip to NC in May. JT had this on his wishlist (literally, written down) since he saw some friends of his with them last month. Grandpa and Grandma had no idea! These two kids are loved.

After we picked up the boat, Katie offered to feed us dinner because by that point we were starving, and so we enjoyed dinner with friends before heading home.

Easter Sunday was marvelous, and we had my birthday dinner at my parents’ house. And dessert. Check out this cake!

That’s right: all 33 candles!

Easter started with a trip to JT’s preschool Easter party on Thursday. We had such fun. I loved how they did the egg hunt: assigning each child a number so they had to find those specific eggs. It made it last longer and no one was hogging all the eggs.

Then, of course, the big day. The kids had Easter baskets outside their doors in the morning, which honestly I don’t think they expected at all. JT knew it was from “Mom and Dad,” but Haley guessed it was “from Jesus.” I love her answer, even if it’s not true!

 

JT got goggles and wanted to try them out in the sink, right away!

When we went downstairs for breakfast, JT and Haley found Easter bags from Grandpa and Grandma Keene. They are loved!

We got ready for church and took some photos. We also snipped our only two daffodils out of the front flower bed to flower the cross at church, which is a fun tradition.

Love it!

Flowering the cross

After church, Haley and I played while the boys loaded trailers. Then we had a picnic in the warm sun before heading to my parents’ house. Here we are on the drive down. 🙂

JT is actually pretending for the picture. He’s pretty funny sometimes.

When we got there, Grandpa had work to be done! The kids were excited to set up the trampoline.

Love this one.

This one too!

Hunting pictures are in honor of Gena Cole. “Pictures without heads.”

We just love the tradition of palm branches on Palm Sunday. The kids look forward to waving them and yelling “Hosanna!” I got this adorable picture of my two after church this week.

It is sad to look back and remember that the same people who once yelled “Hosanna” turned, just a week later, into cried of “Crucify Him!” JT reminded me that it was God’s plan that Jesus should die for us, and that Jesus went willingly. I was so blessed by his innocent insight!

Tonight during dinner, we were thrilled to see a world of white outside our cozy house. It hailed and then snowed! We went outside and got a plateful of hail to look at it, touch it, taste it, and make predictions about what it would do once inside our house. Then we went outside again and ran in the snow, giggling and catching it in our mouths. Of course, I brought a camera.

When I put JT to bed, everything was white and it was falling beautifully in the street lights. We watched from his window together, whispering about the snow and wondering what it would look like in the morning. It was a wonderful surprise to our evening.

So stop complaining, Seattlites, and enjoy a little spring snow.

Our friends invited us to a real farm to see baby sheep and goats. It was soooo fun.

These little ones were only eight hours old!

Look who got to hold one… until she fell asleep. 🙂

JT got to hold her too… but I couldn’t back up any more for this photo!

Little farmers in the hay

Oh, how I wish her face was clear…

 

Every child deserves a dad. Especially a dad like my kids’ dad… who plays with them, teaches them, and smooches them. I got some great photos of him wrestling and chasing Haley the other day. I was thinking about how this is 100% DAD. Sure, I wrestle with the kids and I chase them around, but this kind of fun is only possible with a dad. I am sooooo very thankful that my kids have him!

Jim has also been working with JT to help clear chairs and load trailers after church. I just love watching JT enjoy serving alongside his dad. We get lots of comments on him helping, and how he does a great job backing the truck up to the trailer. He gets Jim right on every time and hooks up the lights and safety chains while Jim is lowering the trailer. I finally got some video of this in action!

In this first clip, JT notices that the trailer is too low and the hitch will hit.

In this next clip, he gets it right on as he yells, “Back just a hair!” at the end. I love the manly thumbs-up he is in the habit of giving (he uses it for me at home, as in, “I heard you Mom, got it covered.”).

Then he clips in the safety lines and pulls the chalks. I have video of that too, but he was really distracted by a fruit-by-the-foot wrapper that he was determined to bring home to use as a tape measure, so it took a lot longer than normal and I just can’t make you suffer through 44 seconds of fruit-by-the-foot wrapper.