not in pictures

The busier our family gets (and the more children we have!), the less I'm remembering to bring my camera.... or the harder it is to capture those little moments (I need more hands!) throughout the day. Here are a few recently that I don't want to forget:

-Jessica and Dominic's wedding. The ceremony was beautiful (I attended solo because Dave was doing his first funeral). The whole family was able to head out to the gorgeous reception at the Glenn farm - the boys ran for hours it seemed in the fields, got to ride a four wheeler, and hold a bird (my favorite for so many reasons). I loved this day, and was so excited to see these friends get married!

-The way that my crazy and challenging two year old has randomly been saying "Jesus died on the cross...He loves us." He gets this sweet look in his eye like he knows he's saying something special.

-My baby boy has started talking while he's eating (breastfeeding, that is). The longer he eats, the louder he gets - he's even started throwing some consonants in there. It's SO funny.

-I savor the many sweet hugs from my big boy, and his sincere "Mommy, you're my favorite". He also LIGHTS UP when he sees his baby brother. It's so fun to see the way he so genuinely adores him.

These days are so exhausting, and challenging, but full of SO many precious moments like these.
More fun pics to come.... as soon as I can get to posting them!

Grandma and Grandpa to the rescue

After (and in the midst of) a BUSY bunch of weeks, it was SOOO nice to have Grandma and Grandpa come for a visit. Grandma Kathy came first so Dave and I could escape to Jen and Jake's incredibly beautiful wedding, which he had the honor of officiating (I didn't have my camara). Other highlights from their trip - attending a women's retreat with my mom (and Dave's mom!), celebrating my birthday, yard work, Grandpa Jack's outing to the zoo, yard work, and more yard work.

Grandma Kathy had some fab help decorating my birthday cake.

servin in up...yum.

We had family over a little bday fun

we tried giving Will solids - he wasn't quite ready.

Will playing in his jumper - he definitely has a special affection for Grandpa Jack :). He'd just laugh and smile whenever Grandpa came around.

32 bags of yard waste ready for pick up (this pic doesn't show the 2 rows behind). We didn't realize how much the winter snow had brutalized our back yard until we started our Spring planting. We also re-arranged our front beds, planted 44 dahlias, mulched, laid down some new sod, and created a new little patio with some bricks and concrete slabs we had.

sweet saturday

WOW, we've been busy. These pics are a few weeks old , but better late than never! On this particular Saturday morning (4/10) we ventured over to Glen Echo park (loooove this place) with Grandma Dee Dee to catch a puppet show. We got there 15 minutes early and almost didn't get tickets. The boys LOVED it, and getting to walk around the park afterward (and see Dee Dee's friend's art exhibit!).

outside the puppet theater


baby Will - taken by Andrew

checkin out the waterfall under the bridge

sneaky boy

Dave wasn't with us because he was prepping for his Sunday morning sermon. Which reminds me - craziest thing happened. I just ran into one of our sweet neighbors at the grocery store who I've been praying for. She told me that she'd struck up a conversation with a couple in line at the store a week or so ago, and somehow it came up that they went to 4th. The lady (don't know who it was) pulled out a cd of Dave's sermon and gave it to her. She was floored, excited, and I think a bit surprised that there was/is obviously a higher power at work ;).

Christ the Lord is Risen Today!

Hallelujah, what a Savior! And what a beautiful day to celebrate. It started with a glorious worship service with our "Jesus family", followed by a perfect O'Choi lunch and egg hunt. We all rested and napped, and then headed over for our "family" dinner gathering at the Wintrol's. There were many pictures taken throughout the day, so I did my best to pick the best to share here.


Coloring Easter eggs with a 2 year old was quite an experience. I think half of them were cracked - but both the boys did enjoy it this year, and it was a miracle we didn't end up with any stains on the carpet (a few close calls).

Easter baskets

checking out the goodies

candy!

lunch at the Choi's

Will and sweet Abby (checking out her egg full of cheerios)

ready for the egg hunt

I found one!

on the hunt

talkin candy

Will with his basket - he'll be starting solids soon, so we decided to outfit him with a few new eating accessories.

Will and Kaleigh

Tia kept them busy running a relay race for a bit - she rocks.

enjoying the gorgeous weather!

cousin couch time

tired boys after a long, full, wonderful day

blossoms!

The Cherry blossoms are by far one of my favorite times of the year here in DC. The weather has been glorious (sunny and in the 70's and 80's every day), so we tried to take every opportunity to be outside under these gorgeous trees (3 picnic lunches). I don't love my pictures as much this year, but that probably has something to do with the fact that I had all three kids sans daddy every time we were there.



We enjoyed our first picnic lunch with my Weds Bible study gals just as they were starting to blossom. Daddy had been gone for 5 days, and I was just getting over a stomach bug, so we were sooo happy to get outside. Here, Andrew and Joseph were on the lookout for some "bad guys" (older kids with toy guns...my boys had a surprisingly fun time trying to tackle them).

running...lots of running.

munchin at the table

Andrew with Uncle Dick at our second picnic after a morning in Bethesda

our set-up - loved the lemonade stand

with Aunt Jeanie, in town from Arizona

playing by the creek