Wow – my third Mother’s Day! I was blessed on Friday by coming home from work to a lovely handprint painting from JT and Haley, courtesy of Grandma Keene, along with some freshly potted flowers. JT wouldn’t help plant the flowers, because he thought the dirt was “yuck.” All the same, it’s the thought that counts. 🙂

Sunday I woke up to gifts in my bathroom and cinnamon rolls ready to go in the oven downstairs. Jim had been busy! Even though he got home from work just before dawn, he wanted to make sure I had a smooth morning. It was a lovely day, with church, Costco lunch, naps in the afternoon, a family walk to the park, a yummy homemade spaghetti dinner, and my new favorite dessert-in-a-box: Ghiradeli Dark Chocolate brownies.

The only downside of the whole day is this picture – why does my left eye look like it got punched? 😦

On Wednesday, the weather was supposed to be nice so I texted some friends to invite them to meet up at the park after workout. Elisa, Katie, and I all packed lunches and blankets and enjoyed the sun on our sweaty skin while the kids played. It was a fabulous way to spend the morning. I got a start on my summer tan, too. 🙂

The crew

Haley enjoying some shade

Who’s going in first?

JT and Gracelyn

Tres Amigos

JT kept sneaking up and putting his arm around Brady, who just turned two. Brady would knock it off and then JT would wait a few minutes and put his arm back. Katie and I were cracking up watching it, and finally got a picture. Brady’s dad and Jim work together now, too!

Tyson crawls closer to Haley

JT got water colors in his Easter basket and has enjoyed painting with them at the kitchen counter several times. He is very careful to dip his paint brush in the water in between colors, and his colors have all stayed nice. Honestly, I’m impressed by this. He certainly inherited my attention to detail.

And call me crazy, but I bought him some scissors. Real ones. It says 4+ on the package, so I was a little nervous to see how this would go. But he got ahold of some kid scissors at his friend Kelsey’s house, and did just fine, so I figured he was ready. Sure enough, he sat and cut for half an hour or more and did a fine job. No missing fingers or hair cuts yet! He and Jim made a snowflake when I was at work on Thursday and it is lovely.

Today the sun was poking through while I was making lunch, so I asked JT if he wanted to do a picnic in the backyard. He was all in! We moved to a blanket and it was so nice to sit in the sun and laugh with my children. We’ve all forgotten what that’s like, here in the land of rain and cold.

The best part (or worst) was when Haley’s apple slice, that she’d been gumming on for ten minutes or more, was missing. “Where’s Haley’s apple slice?” I said. “I ate it,” replied JT. “Why? Yuck!” I exclaimed back. “Because it was sitting here on the blanket,” he answered me. Then he felt badly that he ate her apple slice, and gave her one of his fresh ones. What a goof!

Slider knows better than to hover on our blanket where there is food around, so she stayed busy chewing on her stick at a distance. What a lovely lunch!

We celebrated the first sunny day in a very long time, May 1st, by having dinner on the lake with our friends the Skagens. (I also got a chance to hold on to a rope behind the boat while another boat drove circles around the lake, creating huge rollers and sloppy water for everyone. Cool.) We ate pizza and lounged in the sun. When we were unloading the boat, the kids played in the grass and collected dandelions. Happy May!

I finally caved and got the high chair down from the attic. (I am soooo glad that I disassembled, scrubbed, tightened, and reassembled it when I put it away!) Haley was ready. And sure enough, meal time was much smoother. She loved eating her own cracker. In fact, she ate four! I sent this first picture to Jim on his phone and he wrote back, “Is that JT?” It doesn’t cease to amaze us how much our children look alike.

Happy girl!

JT thinks that Haley might want to play with anything that he likes to play with. Which is partly true, because right now she will chew on anything he hands her. It was cute to see him share his trains with her the other day!

I keep forgetting to blog about our fabulous night away in Chelan! Jim surprised me by booking a night at Grandview on the Lake through a great deal on MyNorthwest.com a few months ago. He also called our friends the Agledals and asked if they wanted to come as well. So the four adults ditched our four kids and spent a wonderfully sunny day and night away. Steph took this picture of us on our walk to breakfast Sunday morning.

Is it just me, or do holidays get better with kids? We had such a wonderful Easter! JT and Haley started the morning with their Easter baskets from us.

(Me: “JT, pleeeeeease stand by your Easter basket for just one picture?”)

We had a leisurely breakfast. Jim picked Blueberry French Toast Casserole, this fabulous recipe I got from my friend Stephanie. This time I substituted blackberries instead and it was really good. It looked so lovely I took a picture!

JT figuring out his new “Things that Go” placemat

Coloring with new window markers

Then we packed up for church… but not before I took my rosemary garlic bread out of the oven (another food picture – it was so good!) and snapped a couple family photos on the porch on our way out.

JT adding his flower to the cross at church

After church, we drove down to my parents’ new house. They moved in on Thursday but my mom was so excited to host and they did a lot of work getting ready for us to come over on Sunday. Jim’s parents came too. We had a great dinner and ate way too much, of course. My Potato Gratin recipe from my friend Shira was excellent – I will make that again!

When you’ve had one of the rainest Marches on record, and the coldest April on record, it’s a pretty big deal the day the sun comes out and the temperature hits 68 degrees. We’re back to cold and wet today, but we certainly enjoyed it while it lastest.

The Saturday before Easter, I met our friends the Shucks at the park for the Easter Egg hunt. We both arrived just minutes after the hunt began and missed it. 😦 But we made the most of the morning anyway.

JT and Asher