Gardening and Trashcans?

Funny story. The other day we are at Home Depot picking out some veggies and some pots to plant them in. We pick out a few tomato plants and some pots for them to grow in. Nothing fancy just your old fashioned plastic flower pots.

We let Anna and Jared pick their own plant and a pot as well. Jared had some seeds from a scout activity he needed to plant and Anna picked out a strawberry plant. When it came to choosing a pot for Anna's plant we asked her if she wanted one like the the ones we had for our tomato plants. She, without hesitation, scrunches up her nose and says, "No way! I don't want one that looks like a trashcan!" Kevin and I lost it. We couldn't stop laughing. Maybe it's only funny if you know Anna, but we seriously could not stop. Anna ended up picking out a regular looking terracotta pot that we will paint someday.

Don't you just love her do it yourself outfit and hairdo? This is a girl who knows what she wants and does not settle for anything less. She is one of a kind!

Anna's Zoo Field Trip

Anna and her posse Brianna and Disha

Anna and her carpool buddy Andy

Climbing on the railing at the Giraffe exhibit

Lots of fun! Audrey was a trooper and Anna loved all the animals. The weather held out for us and we can't wait to go again.

Our little One Year Old

Audrey turned one this past week and we had a little family birthday for her. We web-camed with the Dunns in California for the event.

She loved all her presents from family and loved the frosting on her cake.

Audrey is our little adventurer. She loves to explore and climb. She is by far our biggest risk taker in the family. She loves to make us laugh. She certainly keeps us on our toes. Her favorite things to do are play in the utensil drawer, bang on the piano, be outside, climb anything and everything, play with her brother and sister. Her vocabulary consist of mom, dada, uh oh, Anna, bye bye, and ank oo (thank you) HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUDREY!

Spring Break

We kicked off the week Monday night by coloring Easter eggs.

Anna's so sweet smile:

Jared's silly face:

Classic Audrey:

Finished Product:

The week was full of goings and comings. Kevin still had school so we stayed close to home but still had fun. Some of the fun included two Easter egg hunts.
Hunt #1: My "Cone Heads" waiting for the hunt to begin.

Some serious egg hunting going on:

Even Audrey got in on the action.

Not too bad!

Friday we ventured off to a park we had never been to. The kids called it the Tire Park. This was seriously a cool park. I only took two pictures, but you can kinda see in the background how everything is made of tires. It was a lot of fun and the kids really didn't want to go home.
Jared and the boys:

Anna's favorite spot. She spent almost the whole time on this swing. I was getting queasy just watching her.

Hunt #2 Held on Saturday at the Dunn's house (no relation that we know of)
Waiting for the hunt to start (this is Anna's new "Aurg matties" pirate face it is a variation of her "what the...?" face. She is one of a kind):

Waiting with friends:


And it begins, I think they ended up with 20 eggs each and there were about 30 kids there!

The spoils. Notice the color of Anna's eggs...yes we are egg snobs. Pink only please!

Easter morning we had our own little family egg hunt. The kids had fun finding their eggs. Audrey wasn't sure of what to make of everything, but was happy anyway.

After that morning we headed off to our friends the Johnsons for some pre-conference cinnamon rolls and then to watch the morning session of conference. The trees had been blossoming all week and our street and neighborhood was lined with beautiful blossoming trees. These were taken on our walk Easter morning.

Hope everyone had a fun filled beautiful Easter, I know we did!

Audrey is so Funny

You've heard all the stories about babies and what kind of trouble they can get into like unrolling the toilet paper rolls, drawing on walls, falling down stairs, emptying out boxes of food, putting small items in mouth, taking off their own diapers, etc., but rarely you will find all the things kids could do into one package. Audrey is that package. This girl has done all of the above and more. She keeps us on our toes and keeps us laughing. This girl is seriously funny! Here are a few examples of our silly Audrey.

Anna's Field Trip

Anna's Preschool had a field trip to the Street Car Museum of Baltimore. They got to ride a few trains and learn about the history of this form of public transportation. Lots of fun!

SPRING

Spring has sprung and not a moment too soon. It has been a long cold winter and we have been looking forward to warmer weather for some time now. Last Saturday was the first day of spring and it was a whopping 72 degrees so we loaded everyone up in the van and headed off to Oregon Ridge Park (after a quick stop to Ritas for some Italian Ice).

The boys played some baseball and the girls were in the outfield digging in the dirt. Audrey spent most of her time climbing and running around.



It was a fun way to celebrate the first day of Spring.

Happy St. Patricks Day

IYE, All you Irishmen and women out there we join you in celebrating your day. Aunt Sonnet made sure we were decked out in our Irish green. Thank you Aunt Sonnet and Congratulations on your Engagement! We are so excited for you! Can't wait to meet Christian!

For Grandpa California

I'm talking to my dad on the phone the other day and he begins to whine...oops I mean point out that there must be more to our missing few weeks without our computer than just one picture of Jared getting new glasses. He then says he lives for the updates from his grandchildren and kids. Here you are Dad. Some pictures from our last few weeks.
Pinewood Derby:

Jared won first place with his Orange and Red Virginia Tech car. VT is his team.
Building Forts:

Anna being Anna:

Audrey being Audrey:

We took a quick trip to BV one weekend. Unfortunately I only got one picture of the kids sleeping. They looked too cute.

And here is one more for you Dad. Hope you enjoy!