2013 Tulip Fest

 We made it to the Woodburn Tulip Festival on a beautiful spring day!  The weather had been dry leading up to our trip, the tulip fields were full of color, the weather was not too hot and not too cold, the lines were short....all this to say it was the perfect day to visit the tulip farm!

 I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked, it is a little tricky when I have Heidi strapped to me!  Thankfully Jodi & Bekah were along so Jodi took some pictures for me which I have stolen off of Facebook (thanks Jodi!!).

 The girls had the cow train all to themselves!  They were also pretty excited to try out a bouncy house and they surprised us both by going down the big red roller slide.  These two are not known for their adventuresome spirits so going up and down the big slide by themselves was pretty impressive. 

We had a great day with friends and were so thankful Bekah could spend her last day of spring break with us!  Allison loves both Bekah & Jodi and that made the trip with my two girls very easy on me.  We can't wait until next year!

The Big Egg Hunt

 We spent Easter with our friends, the Carpenters so Benji, Allison & Madeleine were able to do an Easter Egg Hunt.  This is the first year Allison has really been into it.  And poor Benji followed Allison around so she got to most of the eggs first.  I don't think he really cared, though!

 They did inspect the eggs - but there wasn't anything in them.  They turned their empty eggs into me for a prize - I figured that was better than candy for this year particularly considering Benji has a severe peanut allergy.  And little Madeleine managed to find one egg, too.

Allison & Benji eventually took turns hiding eggs for each other and finding them.  We were all glad they managed to run a lot of energy off!  Both of them fell fast asleep on their way home from dinner!

Easter 2013

 Easter 2013 fell on a beautiful sunny day.  Admittedly, it was a bit of a hectic morning in our house, Mark was part of the music team at church so he had to head out early.  I kept the girls at home until 2nd service and managed to get all three of us to church on time despite a few challenges!  I hoped to get good pictures of both girls in their Easter dresses but I was not willing to wake Heidi up to do so!  Allison wore a very sweet hand-me-down dress from our friend, Bekah.

 Allison finally has some understanding of what Easter is all about this year and was happy to tell folks that 'Jesus is Alive!'  She was also very excited to tell us about the empty tomb they saw in Sunday School.  We love watching her understanding grow each year.

And Heidi did eventually wake up when I had my iPhone handy.  She wore a dress that Miss Leslie sent her for her birthday.  She was a pretty happy girl for her first Easter.  We celebrated with a big (& yummy!) dinner at Jack & Mel's house - filled with many friends.  

Easter Eggs!!

 Thanks to a very patient Nana & Papa Allison dyed Easter Eggs this year.  We did a mix of brown eggs & white eggs and I think I preferred the look of the brown eggs.  We had a little kit to decorate the eggs in to little animals.

 I think they turned out awfully cute!

And Heidi got a little snuggle time in, too!

The Big 3-Year-Old

 It seems like Allison is growing up so fast!  She has started to like her electric toothbrush.  I found her standing like this the other night brushing her teeth.  In case you wanted to know, I stand exactly like this when brushing my own teeth.  I have no idea why I keep my hand on my hip.  But I do and I don't think I really noticed it until I saw her doing it.  And I'm pretty sure I have that same spacey look in my eyes, too!

And it was time for a haircut recently.  Allison is great at getting her hair cut.  She sits so still and calm, I'm always impressed.  And she always comments about the other kids in there not sitting still & calm when we leave.  This time she even told the woman cutting her hair she could use the blow dryer on her - in the past she had always been too afraid.  I think she was pretty proud of herself for braving the blow dryer, as was I.

Celebrating Heidi

  I consider myself to be incredibly blessed in that I work with a group of wonderful people.  They are definitely one of the best parts of my job.  They put together a little party to celebrate the arrival of Heidi.  The cake above is one of my favorite cake's of all time - it is from New Morning Bakery (a local bakery) and is pretty much strawberry shortcake in a sheet cake form.  It has real, fresh strawberries in the middle, whipped-cream like frosting and the cake is a fabulous white cake.  It is heavenly.  And just one of the many reasons I like work parties.  And I have to admit, having Heidi's name on the stroller adds the perfect touch.  I should note, this was a full sheet cake so we had HUGE pieces of cake and still about 1/2 left over!  Yum!! 

I took this picture so I'd be able to remember the many folks I work with.  I also like the fact that I can spot my friend Roberta's handwriting so easily!  And a few of my favorite notes - one comparing babies to engineers and another that simply says 'Hang On!'

And then some fabulous and generous gifts.  A Beco carrier which I am finally getting the hang of and I love it (my friend Ramie recommended it and I have to admit it is probably the best carrier out there!), some Aden & Anais muslin swaddling wraps which I also love (these were from the recommendation of my friend, Claire), a few toys, baby care items, diapers and lots of fabulous summer clothes!  

All in all it was a great party, I felt very blessed and Heidi had a great time showing off her sleeping skills and was a trooper about being passed around!

Bath Time!

 Both girls love bath nights in our house.  Heidi loves sitting in her little tub.  We love seeing her chub grow with each bath night!

And on this particular bath night Mark let Allison eat a Popsicle in the bath tub.  It was a beautiful spring day (like 70+ degrees beautiful) and Allison 'helped' Mark work.  In this case that meant a lot of running around to various lumber stores one of which was getting rid of their freezer case and had all of their Popsicles and ice cream marked really cheap.  Allison got paid in a Popsicle on this particular day and she was thrilled!  We learned we shouldn't save the Popsicle until right before bed time.  This girl went wild about 20 minutes after her Popsicle which was right when she was supposed to be winding down.  Live and learn, right?