Attempted Family Pictures

So we tried to get some family pictures taken, but we had a little problem--and although he's really cute and we love him, he absolutely would NOT cooperate. This is one of the few shots we got of Jace when we went outside for a little while after trying to take some pictures inside. My cousin Kara took the pictures, and I really wish we could have gotten more shots with all 4 of us, but you take what you can get!

While we were outside, we got a couple of shots without Jace crying about it, but they were fleeting moments, and both boys wanted to play and not pose.

Dallon was loving the posing, the only problem was that he thought his little helicopter was the one who needed his picture taken. But we got some really cute pictures of him anyway.

We'll have to try again after Conner arrives, and long before he's big enough to be uncooperative! Its hit and miss I suppose, maybe the next time we try will be better. All in all I'm glad we at least gave it a shot. Its been 2 years since our last family picts!

2 Boys, a dog, and some sprinklers!

I took this video a few days ago. It was warm, and Chris got the sprinklers going for the first time this year. The boys had a little too much fun, and Bianca went crazy biting at the water and getting good and smelly (she's still a puppy at heart).

In other news, Bianca had a birthday on April 18th! She is now 2 years old, and I'm so impressed with her at such a young age. I can only imagine how fantastic she'll be in a few more years when she has more experience and is even more mellow.

I'm still a grumpy pregnant woman. I'll be over it soon enough. Its so sad how the last few weeks of pregnancy seem to last forever, but the first few weeks after bringing your baby home fly by way too fast. I'm nesting like crazy (probably because I'm afraid he'll come unexpectedly early). I went through baby clothes today, and am washing and sorting them. I also washed and put together the bassinet. I've been feeling the urge to clean, but I just don't have the energy to keep up with everything--so I'm a little frustrated, and trying to prioritize.

All in all, things are going great here. The boys will be out of school in a month. Chris is working a regular schedule, I've been released from my primary calling (for the time being at least), and Conner is almost here! We are so very blessed.

Happy Easter and Tracking

Happy Belated Easter! Here's a recap.

Easter morning--the Easter Bunny dropped off some candy and a small toy for each boy.

So we don't get really into the festivities for Easter, but we do like to color some eggs the day before and the boys were really into it this year.

Dallon inspecting the eggs in their coloring cups...he had to put each one in more than once.

Jace showing off one of his eggs.

TRACKING PRACTICE

Today we went to practice tracking at Hat Rock State Park which is just off of the Columbia River. The tracking went well (especially considering how long its been since we've practiced and how many ducks and geese were around to distract her!). We stopped and threw some rocks in the water, and the birds thought we were throwing food and came by to check it out. It was a nice day and it was a nice little outing.

Cute little boys, but not so nice to the birds. They thought it was fun to aim for the birds--and the birds didn't seem to care if they got hit!

Dallon in a few shots, in the top right hand corner he's trying to imitate the pose of the transformer on his jacket. He's a little obsessed with transformers these days and likes to refer to himself as "Bumblebee Dallon".

Jace was hamming it up for the camera as usual. He has a big scab on his chin from a run in with our coffee table and he has started to pick at it.

We will be going back to this spot more often now that it is getting so nice out.

To Conner from Mommy

So I decided to make something special for Conner, and I chose this crazy quilt. Unfortunately it turned out more yellow than I had originally intended (I thought the circles would "cancel out" more of the yellow than they actually did), but it is still very cute and was fun to make. Here are some pictures of it at different points during the process of making it.

Basic layout before any stitching......

All stitched together with hand embroideries done (click on the picture to see it larger for more detail)....

The finished quilt after washing all of the pencil marks off. I'm pretty new to actual quilting (as opposed to tying quilts) I used my machine to quilt it, and it took some practice before I was feeling confident that it would look OK.

I should have used the blue material I used for the backing instead of all of the yellow, but its too late now. I do like it, and I'm excited to put it to good use on our new bundle of joy.