Today

Ava was downstairs "babysitting" the littles, while Jack and I were upstairs cleaning. (He's my cleaning machine) I was mopping and tearing up to "Don't take the girl" (why? I've heard that song since high school maybe, but it still gets me), Ava's soundtrack to High School Musical was coming up through the vents, and Jack was blasting "YMCA" from Jemma's room where he was cleaning. And I got some serious giggles. Bad enough I had to sit down. These are funny people I live with. Thank goodness.

Spring!

It's spring. Which means right now it's sunny and Jack's out playing basketball. This morning, the ground was covered with snow and ice, yesterday we had separate rain and snow blizzards, Sunday was just plain nasty, but Friday and Saturday were gorgeous. We've learned to soak up the sun when we can and if it's a bit too chilly in town, we head south to L-town and the temp raises 10 degrees...always just right in spring!

Started out with jackets...after a few minutes, Jack stripped down even further:

(but his pants are still on, so that's good)

I LOVE this picture. It's my people exactly...Ed's feeding a squirrel, Jack's moving in close, Jem's hiding behind her daddy, and Ava's hanging back to observe.

My boys.

Sun lovin'

Spring Break!

So it's the end of the first official day of spring break and collectively we have watched the Narnia battle scene five times (and re-enacted it another 3 times), painted 30 fingers and toes, walked downtown and played at the park, had hot chocolate and treats at the coffee shop, hit the library and loaded up for the week, reorganized two closets and found Yahtzee (happy day), played Yahtzee, completed laundry day, passed Jack off for his cousin sleepover, had three bubble baths, and ate more than our share of meals for the day. Now the monkeys are tucked in tight and I.am.tired. One day down, all week to go.

Slumber party!

Ava kicked off spring break with a cousin sleepover. They were some seriously busy girls...I don't think I saw them till breakfast the next morning.

Jack talked them into taking out the bikes in the morning...he's a hard one to turn down!

Plans!

All staked out and ready to roll:

That's Ava standing in the kitchen and I'm in the front yard.

Talking to daddy on the phone.

Super pumped:

Step 1

Ed and Jack started to clear the lot for our house this weekend. There was one dead tree smack in the middle:

Phil and Bryce showed up to help.

Jack stayed and worked hauling branches for four hours. And so when we headed out for dinner that night he looked like this before we got two blocks from home:

Heading to Ava's last basketball game.

And a close up of this handsome bugger:

Action shot.

In the huddle.

Team shot. These girls were awesome...they crushed the competition almost every game. Or maybe it was the coaching?

Jem

I cannot get enough of this girl these days. She is just too funny, too sweet, too three. Totally delightful.

Beauty

This little beauty cut her hair a couple weeks ago and it was long enough to donate to Locks of Love. She's been wanting to do this for awhile and I finally gave in...and I'm glad I did cause she looks gorgeous!

Spring! (at least till tomorrow)

Today was gorgeous and we were too busy soaking in the sun to get any pictures but I just like to take note of the first day of "spring" each year. I've lived here long enough to know that it's gonna be a good long while before it gets this warm for good. But I'll take a single good day whenever I can get one! We spent a long time staking out the new house today...every little inch one way or the other matters to me and the angle has to be just right. Ed's nice enough to let me hem and haw while he holds the measuring tape. For hours. And now I'm already changing my mind. I'll probably head back tomorrow with Jack as my tape holder and start all over! Then I went for a long walk in jeans and a t-shirt and actually got hot. Hot! I plan to hang on to that feeling for the next couple weeks (months?) of winter!

February picture!

Thank goodness for leap day! Got this one last night just before bed. I don't think I need to tell you how proud I am of making the first two months of the resolution....but I'm gonna anyway! I'm awesome. I'm thinking this is more family shots than we took Henry's first year of life.

So true, right?

We bought ourselves a little something....

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas for a good long time.

And maybe you noticed that there is not actually a house there, yes? Let's call this plan G. Plans A through F fell through in spectacular fashion...one after another, giant doors that seemed so right, slamming shut at the very last minute. Plan G was a very nice surprise that has been crazy smooth (just the way I like it). In fact when we drove by and saw the sold sign before we had actually paid our money, I was pretty sure that they had gone and sold it to someone else. But, nope, it's ours. And the house will hopefully not be too far behind, although the next step will be trying to get all the neighborhood dogs to stop pooping here. We like to keep our expectations small, ya know?

This face...

the lashes

the eyes

where's Henry?

there he is!

clappin' for himself

And my favorite: the nose wrinkle

I wish I could bottle some of this goodness and save it for later!

Cuddlin'

Ava's birthday ended with a surprise bout of pink eye. She was super bummed to miss school the next day when she was supposed to bring in treats but a certain someone was so so pleased to have her home all day!