A Little Mix of Water and Sun

The weather has been oh so good to us.  The kids are outside all day long and addicted.  We got a fun new water toy that brings our neighbor friends over for an extra good time.

Emmy enjoys painting and craft time outside.  

 Brenner enjoys play-doh.

He also is loving the water fun AND the mud it then creates.

Brenner is a crazy little boy who is talking so much these days.  Some of his favorite phrases are:  What happened?  Help me.  Emmy share.  Where Emmy?
He keeps tabs on his sissy.  Where she goes, he will follow...

And his words these days are endless.  And it's such a change from just 2 weeks ago.  His favorite words:  "ow-si" (outside), "mess," uh-oh," "ice" (he loves ice in his cup), "peas" (please- and he uses the sign for please by rubbing his chest the same time he says it.  It's the only word he still signs.)  "eat," "nack" (snack), "nice" (He usually says this when someone is not being very nice)...
He's been taking notice of how a conversation works, and now he's quite the chatter.  He loves to talk especially on the play phone and sometimes if you're lucky, on the real phone. What gets me is when he picks up a phone and says "hello?"  And then he uses gibberish and laughs very enthusiastically every now and then and finishes with "bye." 

He's always been a little momma's boy and I have loved it.  However, this past week, it's all about daddy.  "Dah-DEEE!," as Brenner would say.  I would still like to say, that when tears are flowing, it's still momma's duty to provide the healing love to make owies and boo-boos better.

He's quite the clown and loves to make us laugh.   And he's going to be 2 in August!  TWO! Unbelievable, Brenner boy.

Happy Easter!

We didn't get to spend Easter at the Hunt Club Farm as we did during our days in Virginia Beach.  But, we made up for it this year by having a grand 'ole day with friends...

Emmy had to wait until after we got home from church to discover her special Easter treats.  Wade played 'hot and cold' with her to guide her to her Easter basket that was secretly hidden by that sneaky Easter bunny... quite the goodies this year.  They got candy goodies, bubble fun for outside, and some good reads.

Next, we had our first annual egg hunt with our good neighbors, Theresa and Sarah.  Theresa and I hid eggs for the kids and they had a blast finding those colored surprises hiding in trees, underneath flowers or on an unexpected corner of the window ledge...  After they were found and the 3 were sifting through their baskets, Theresa discovered a lone, forgotten egg.  So she alerted the kids, and Emmy and Sarah ran like crazy trying to see who'd spot it first.  Then once it was spotted and put in the rightful owner's basket, I discovered yet 2 more eggs.  So the kids once again were alerted and they scrambled to add one more to their baskets.  Very fun indeedy.  Brenner enjoyed spotting an egg, popping it open and watching the goodies explode onto the grass.  So, I suspect we'll have some animal friends scouting our yard the next couple days to snack on leftover Starburst jelly beans.

We had some Easter-themed treats:  yellow cupcakes with a brush of vanilla frosting, a nest of chocolate shavings and 2 bitty jelly beans nestled on top.  So easy, so cute.

Emmy's never dyed eggs before, but I figured it's about time to add this to our Easter traditions.  I had this image in my mind of bright colored orange, blue, green and red eggs.  And it turned out that she's more of an artist than that.  She soaked her eggs in each cup and created an entire cluster of colors.

And check out these hands!  My oh my

Wade grilled up his first-ever batch of ribs, and they were nothing short of absolutely mouth-watering, tast-bud savoring, A-Mazing! I met some new friends along the way.  Their 2 girls got along fabulously well with our 2.  And the adults even got to squeeze in some Wii bowling action.  Mommies Vs. Daddies-style.  I'm going to say that the mommies won.  But, then I'd be lying.  So, I'll say that it was a close game.  Like a 4-point close game.  Cheaters, I tell ya.

This Sunday was a wonderful morning of worship followed up with the absolute enjoyment of good friends and new Easter traditions.  And nothing can really beat that.

Happy happy Easter.