He loves

 Caeden is really in love with his big sis Annah right now. He recently learned how to say her name, and now notices if she is not in the room with him. The first thing he says when he wakes up is, "Annah, Annah..." and when we drop her off at school and drive away, he says, "Annah, Annah..." He will probably be 15 before he can say Sylvia. We are teaching him to say "Sissy" for her, since we call her that a lot.

Monday, April 24, 2006 - This past week Caeden has decided he doesn't want to BE fed; he wants to do it himself WITH utensils! He does a pretty good job--as long as we can get him to the tub quickly after he's done eating! ;)

Sandbox

 We opened the sandbox tonight!

 We think we might need a bigger sandbox soon!

Owie Toe

Caeden doesn't yell, "Owie!" so much anymore, but he does still say it a lot. A while back he had an owie on his toe, so he got into a habit...now anytime he says, "Owie." and we ask him, "What's owie?" he says, "Toe." He says it so often, that we've started calling him Toe. I know, it's kinda weird, but you just have to hear him say it; it's so cute.

Easter Sunday 2006

The kiddos looked pretty cute in their Easter outfits made by Grandma McEowen.

Grandma even took Annah and Sylvia to the fabric store to pick out the fabric they wanted for their dresses! The girls have cute hats too, but we couldn't get them to wear them for the picture and smile too.

For some reason, Annah wanted a picture with Daddy holding her upside down.... ??

 Sylvia found an egg!

 "Thank you Easter Grandma!"

Annah egg hunting

Annah opening her hummingbird feeder from Gram & Krampa Mc--such a great gift for our outdoorsy girl.

 Caeden's idea of an egg hunt: 1)Find egg. 2) Sit down and eat contents of egg quickly before an adult can grab the candy away from you.

Caeden received some bath time numbers and soap crayons in his Easter bag from Gram & Krampa.

 Uncle Eric and Caeden, having a chat at Grandpa & Grandma Lopshire's house.

 Sylvia looks a *little* like her Grandma, huh?

 Annah and Grandpa really were smiling...

All of the kids slept most of the way home this time; they were SO tuckered out.

We drove in rain and storms about half of the way home from Indiana, and saw a beautiful double rainbow in Gibson City!

A trip to Indiana

We love spending time with our family and friends in Indiana!  We're having lots of fun here this weekend.

 Bubby & Sissy

 I was so excited to be able to attend Lori's lovely bridal shower at DeBrand's Chocolates!

 Jeremy caught a BIG one!!!!! The bass was 4 1/2 pounds and 21 1/2 inches long!

The kids thought Dad did a good job! Man, the fish looks as big as Sylvia!

Aunt Erin, Caeden, and Sylvia coloring Easter eggs

Annah's tree, blooming

This is Annah's tree. It didn't bloom the first few years we lived here, but every year since it has started blooming, we have always taken Annah's picture with it during the short day or two that the beautiful white blooms are here. This year is the first that she's been able to climb it.

The blooms appeared today--exactly the same date they appeared last year!

They smell so good! We wish they would stay longer!

Spring is here!

It was such a pretty day today.  We made sure to spend some of it outside playing, and enjoying the new flowers coming up!

thrilled to get to play outside and wear shorts

Annah and Sylvia really are this excited about the flowers blooming in our yard and spring being here!

Yeah, Sylvia loves her daddy.

Welcome Willet Babies!

Congratulations Cora & Josh! 

Welcome little blessings Ella & Lea!!!

Arrowsmith Village Easter Bunny Visit/ Egg Hunt

The Village of Arrowsmith put on a very nice event for the kids of the village today!

 Sylvie and Caeden were both very excited to meet the Easter Bunny for the first time!

 Annah was not so excited to meet the Easter Bunny for the first time.

Each child was allowed to start by picking up 40 eggs! The girls picked up their eggs as quickly as they could, because it was cold and VERY windy outside!

 Each kid has an individual style to picking up eggs!

Caeden thought his very first egg hunt was really fun!

But he thought the Easter Bunny was even better!!

In fact, he fell in love with the Easter Bunny!!

 He wanted to stay with the Easter Bunny all day, and not come back to Mommy or Daddy.

The Easter Bunny liked Caeden too, and decided just to sit down and snuggle with him.

If we'd let him, Caeden would have probably fallen asleep on the Easter Bunny's lap!

It was just about the most precious thing I've ever seen.

Annah's "Dorothy" braids

Annah, very excited to have her hair in "Dorothy" braids

Annah, enjoying the first daffodil of spring!

Growing and playing some more

It's kind of difficult to get Caeden to talk into the microphone and actually say what I want him to. But, a couple more of Caeden's favorite things to say are "cookie" and "shoe."

I took Annah to the doctor today to get her physical for kindergarten. When we got there, the nurse told me she'd already had it. I thought she had too, but when I asked about scheduling it, they told me she needed to come back. Anyway, I asked about what Sylvia's height was last month, because I couldn't remember, and the nurse told me she was 35.5 inches tall, and weighed 29 pounds. I must have heard her wrong last month, because I thought she was 24 pounds. Anyway, she actually does weigh 5 pounds more than Caeden.

Caeden tried on his raincoat today, and walked all over the kitchen for about 15 minutes saying, "Coat! Coat! Coat!" He didn't want to take it off; he felt so cool in it!

my favorite 3 kids in the world...

Spring Break

Of course, it is storm-time again here on the Illinois prairie where we live. We have already seen evidence of tornado damage from 2 different storms this spring--both very near to our home. In mid-March we spent some time in the basement in the middle of the night trying to get the kids to sleep while we were down there. And, last night, while we didn't have power for about 8 hours, some neighbors 4.7 miles from us had a machine shed and three concrete silos flattened and scattered all over the place. I drove by (Well, not by because I couldn't get through the road since it was covered with debris.) this morning and was amazed by the damage. Thankfully for them, their house was untouched. But, it is scary living out here in this flat, windy land sometimes!

Last week, Annah was on spring break from school, so at the last minute we decided the kids and I would go to Indiana. Mom came over on Tuesday and took us back on Wednesday. We had a nice, relaxing time! Annah got to go fishing and tree-planting with Krampa and Uncle Travis. And, both girls helped Krampa plant peas in his garden.

Sylvia was thrilled to have a tea party with Gram. And, I got to do some scrapbook supply shopping--always a treat for me! ;) Jeremy joined us on Saturday, and we visited with Grandpa & Grandma Lopshire and Great Grandma DeHaven that evening too. In fact, we saw all 3 of the Great Grandma's over the weekend! That was a special treat.

Some funnies...

When Gram and I were putting the girls to bed Thursday night, Krampa appeared in the doorway. Sylvia looked at him and asked, "Do you have a baby in your tummy?" As I scrambled to explain that his tummy was just full, Krampa just gave Sylvie a hug and kiss and laughed and laughed! He even shared the story with his classes on Friday; he was so proud. ;)

When Annah was fishing with Krampa and Uncle Trav, Krampa accidentally got his fishing lure stuck in a tree. Annah told him, "It's okay Krampa, Bill Dance does that too." I'm sure Krampa about jumped out of his socks upon hearing that Annah knew who Bill Dance was! (A relative recently sent us a funny video clip of Bill Dance bloopers and Annah watched it with us.)