April 3

I have been waiting so long for springtime, and I think it's finally here! This afternoon, the kids and I went outside to soak up some sunshine.

Caleb spent a long time digging in the mulch. He decided the landscaping fabric was buried treasure, and he found one lone roly-poly who crawled but refused to roll.

Daisy kept claiming to see a bug, but no bugs ever materialized.

She didn't mind. She was happy just to dig!

Apparently every piece of mulch was special, because she handed them all to me.

Caleb gingerly poked the daffodils. I think he was suspicious.

Happy girl in the sunshine! I love how the daffodils in the background look like little drops of sunshine.

I also love how everything is new when you're two. Daisy could spend hours exploring our little front yard, and find countless exciting treasures!

Case in point: this sorry-looking bunch of daffodils. Daisy was delighted by them!

How sweet is she?

Despite the abundant sunshine and lack of rain, Caleb decided it was time to play with his umbrella. He said it was protecting him from the (nonexistent) wind. 

Of course, Daisy followed suit.

But she quickly abandoned her umbrella to move a few heavy rocks that absolutely didn't need moving.

March 31

We had a lovely, peaceful, restful, fun Easter.

After an early church service, there was time and sunshine for us to play/work out in the yard before lunchtime and naps.

After naps, we headed over to Chris' parents' house, where the kids had a blast and played happily all afternoon and into the evening. We made it home just in time to say hello to our neighbors and their entire extended family, many of whom we're blessed to call friends, during their Easter celebration.

But among all of those fun things, I only managed to take this picture:

The kids and Chris, still decked out in their Easter finery, riding bikes/raking in the front yard. Immediately after this, Daisy experienced her first bare-knees fall on concrete and got a few little scrapes. She didn't even bleed, but I suppose one's first experience of concrete on flesh can be a bit traumatic.

Still, it was a great day.

March 30

We celebrated an early Easter today with a family brunch and egg hunt at our house. What fun we had!

The ground was still a bit soggy from the foot of snow we had less than a week ago, so the kids all wore their rain boots for the egg hunt.

I can't remember the last time I saw Max this happy. He was thrilled by the hunting, the eggs, the trinkets inside...

Ryan helped Daisy find her eggs, so of course she was happy as can be. This was the first year that all three little ones actually understood the concept of an egg hunt. Heck, last year Daisy wasn't even walking yet!

Sweet boys!

He may look disgruntled, but Caleb was actually really happy about the egg hunting.

After Daisy gathered all of her eggs, Chris and Ryan gave her a quick swing.

She loved it!

Daisy also loved opening her eggs. My mom helped her open them, and for each new egg, Daisy would clap with joy and reach eagerly for the little trinket.

She was so excited to show her toys off to Grandad! 

After the egg hunt, we headed inside where the kids discovered Easter baskets that Mom and I had prepared for them. 

Because most candy is off-limits for Caleb and Daisy, we had to get creative. My dad found these funny head lamps at Costco, and the froggy magnifying glass was another big hit.

(This picture cracks me up!)

Grandad helped Daisy open the goodies in her basket. Can you tell? Girl had a fruit leather in one hand and an organic, natural-sugar sucker in the other. And when she finished that sucker, Grandad promptly opened another for her. She's not quite two, and she already has him wrapped around her finger!

OK, this picture cracks me up too.

Max is enthralled with his sucker.

Daisy isn't quite sure if she's been caught with candy in each hand or not.

Caleb, well, that head lamp is just killing me!

I'm too tired to go crazy photoshopping pictures tonight, so I'm just posting this one of our sweet little family.

Emily and Billy, and her Baby #3 who will be joining us just a few weeks after our Baby #3!

Aren't Mom and Ryan sweet?

Daisy still prefers Ryan over almost everyone else. I'm so glad he doesn't seem to mind!

My goodness.

 My happy children melt my heart!

You a have no idea how hard we had to work to get all four children in a picture at once! First Max wouldn't cooperate, but Caleb and Daisy were smiley. Then Max got in the picture, and Caleb and Daisy were stone-faced. Then Caleb ran off. Then Max ran off. Finally, I just gave up.

In addition to all of our Easter goodies, my dad brought over an early birthday gift for Daisy: a sweet little rain coat and matching umbrella. Amazingly enough, when the kids woke up from their naps, it was raining! Daisy was so excited to try out her new gear.

There were plenty of puddles, but these two fought over this one little puddle like it was something special!

Daisy knew she was something special in her new getup!

Splashing in the puddle.

Cutie pie!

March 29

This is my favorite part of bath nights:

I wish I had captured it better, but the one picture I have that really catches the moment isn't appropriate to post on the Internet.

On bath nights, Chris gives Caleb and Daisy their baths and I usually head to the kitchen to clean up dishes or upload pictures from my camera. When they're finished, Chris pulls Daisy out of the tub first and dries her off, then sends her running down the long hallway to find me.

She's always slightly damp, naked except for her hooded towel, and so happy to find me!

I scoop her up, and she squeals with joy and clings to me like a baby monkey. As I carry her back to her room, she buries her face in my hair and snuggles up tight.

I'll be sad to see this stage go.

March 27

As I started to prepare dinner this evening, I realized I couldn't find my children. After looking unsuccessfully in the front two rooms (where all of their toys are), I found them reading together in Daisy's room.

My heart might have melted just a little bit.

And then while I was taking these pictures, Daisy showed me that she knows the names of all of the shapes in her book. While I snapped away on my camera, she touched each shape and gave it the correct name.

And just to impress me a little bit more, she then counted all of the shapes. Actually, she only counted to ten, and there are more than ten pictures on that page. But still, I was impressed that she was able to count to ten without any prompting!

(Can you tell from these pictures that she was pretty impressed with herself, too?)

Cutie pie Caleb was pretty proud of his little sister. But more than anything, he wanted to get his hands on my camera. After much begging and pleading on his part, along with this winning "please?" face, I handed over the big, heavy camera. 

He took four pictures, but this one was his favorite: 

Not quite in focus, but pretty well framed. Not bad for a three-year-old!

And then, with a warm and fuzzy heart, I went back to the kitchen to make dinner.

March 24

Chris and I were scheduled to serve in our church's nursery this morning, so we loaded Caleb and Daisy into the car and made the 25-minute drive to church. As we drove, the snowflakes began to fall. Once we arrived at church, we watched out the nursery window as the blanket of snow grew thicker and thicker. It took us an hour to get home, but we made it safely. While the kids napped, the snow continued to pile up, and when naptime was over, they headed out to play.

I donned my Dad's 35-year-old snowbibs (I wonder if he knows I have those?) to join Chris and the kids outside. My 6-month pregnant belly was almost more than they could take, but  they managed to zip! (I promise that 35 years ago, my dad's physique did not match that of a 6-month-pregnant woman; I think over the  years the elastic has stretched quite a bit.)

Caleb and Daisy were so excited to pull open their confetti eggs in the snow! Sadly, the snow was still falling so fast and hard that you can't really see the confetti because of all the snowflakes.

Daisy was very serious about her confetti egg.

These boys rolled about in the snow like puppies, and it was so funny!

Then, sledding time! Chris and Daisy were catching snowflakes on their tongues, while Caleb ate the snow off his mittens. (This time I wised up and put double layers of mittens on both children. Worked like a charm at keeping their little hands warm and dry!)

During dinner, we saw these visitors in our back yard.

After dinner, Chris and Caleb went back out to build a snowman.

I think Chris did most of the building.

Our Frosty, with a carrot nose and a raisin smile.

But Caleb preferred the bucket-for-a-hat look for Frosty, and Frosty's hat for himself. Funny boy.

All told, we ended up  with around a foot of snow on Palm Sunday. This view out the window, which I had decorated with springy gel decorations earlier in the week, made me laugh pretty hard. Even better? By Good Friday, it's supposed to be in the mid-50s. I love the midwest.

March 22

The only thing better than a playdate with beloved friends? A playdate with beloved friends who come bearing 5-pound bags of salt, and Easter gifts for the kiddos.

Catherine and Mary made Easter gifts for Caleb and Daisy, which were a delightful surprise. They made these confetti egg poppers, as well as bracelets and paper snowflakes for each child. Caleb and Daisy were so excited, and Caleb was even more thrilled when he found this biplane in his bag. You see, this biplane belongs to Michael. It has long been Caleb's favorite toy to play with when we visit Amber and her kids; in fact, when I told Caleb that they were coming over today, his first question was, "Will Michael bring his biplane?"

When Caleb pulled that biplane out of his bag, I thought it must be a terrible mistake. Michael must have accidentally put the plane in the bag, and now Caleb would think it was a gift for him... but I was wrong. Amber has started a Lenten tradition with her children wherein they each choose one of their small toys to give to a friend. Michael chose to give his biplane to Caleb, and now Caleb is the happiest child on earth. What a blessing!

Meanwhile, Daisy learned some fashion tricks from Mary. One of Mary's favorite looks is the skirt-as-a-headdress look. Somehow, Daisy figured this out on her own and tried it out today. 

It was a struggle at first,

But she was quite pleased with the end result.

Much later, after naptime, Daisy helped me make dinner. 

She grabbed those bell peppers by the stems and shook them like maracas!

I will take a helper like this any day, even if she is taking up valuable counter space.

(Side note: I hate the fact that our mustard-colored countertops and cream backsplash make every kitchen photo look yellow!)

But I love my sweet, sweet girl!

March 20

Every morning for the past few weeks, as I struggle to find something grain-free and low-effort to feed the kids for breakfast (eggs will only get you so far!), Daisy and I have the same conversation.

Daisy: "Go somewhere?"

Me: "Where would you like to go?"

Daisy: "Go Butterfly House. Go gym. Go 'Neer's house. Go Gramma house. Go somewhere?"

The poor girl must have cabin fever, because before she's even out of her jammies, she's asking to go somewhere.

(That's Daisy, writing on the chalkboard wall while Caleb does something that is likely mischievous.)

Caleb, on the other hand, relishes being home because it means that he gets to keep wearing his shorts and t-shirt/muscle shirt. He knows that if we go somewhere, I'll make him change.

He also knows that if I get any say in what he wears, he'll wear pants and a long-sleeved shirt. So lately he's been skirting the issue by getting himself dressed before I'm even out of bed. I suppose I should appreciate his newfound problem-solving skills?

March 17

How did we celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year?

By racing up and down our long hallway, over and over and over and over.

Daisy happily wore her green sweater and sparkly leprechaun-hat head boppers for the festivities, but Caleb dressed for performance in his mesh muscle shirt and shorts.

They had so much fun! Daisy still prefers to be carried by Daddy for races; I think she realizes it's the only way she has a fighting chance in the competition.

(Please ignore our hideous, circa-1968 linoleum flooring, as well as the  nasty carpet remnants in our closets that are just too darn hard to remove right now. I keep having this fantasy that one day, I'll peel up a corner of the linoleum to discover that, unbeknownst to us, it was laid right on top of the same hardwood that runs throughout the rest of the house. Sadly, I think that fantasy will never come true, and I have no idea how to go about finding wood to match the rest of our floors, let along paying for it. *sigh* But those joyful smiles on Caleb and Daisy's faces tell me that they don't mind running on ugly linoleum. So at least there's that!)