Good Friday

Good Friday is a holiday for Ed that I tend to look forward to for weeks. It seems to come after a long month of travel and bad weather and all around glum. We usually head somewhere warm(ish) and have fun with the kids. This year we stopped at our lot on the way out of town and caught Phil digging our hole:

the big and the bitty:

We ate lunch at Costco and ran into multiple grandparents and many other friends heading south for some sun. And good thing, because when we got home to check on our lot, it looked like this:

darn snow.

little mama eating breakfast

I'm just sayin'

I woke up Saturday to a beautiful sunny morning with 100% chance of rain. 100%. And yet, there was nary a drop for at least 10 hours. We soaked it up:

(that's Ava's baby there in the car seat)

As much as I enjoyed the sun, I have to say, Mr. Weatherman, you've been quite the disappointment this year. I mean if it's going to snow for three days straight, you might want to mention it. If it's going to be sunny, let's not call for rain. All.day.long. And I know it's Spring, so that can be a bit tricky but I don't think it's too much to ask to be within 20 degrees one way or another.

And speaking of snow, here's my Jack with his snowy owl today:

brotherly love

This was a nice surprise....

My camera was holding tight to some pictures from this summer that I just could not access and it finally dumped them all for me. Can you say Summer Time...

At the Sandpoint Music Festival, thanks to b-day tickets from Paula and Susan.

The market...me and Ava's favorite Saturday treat.

The lake house.

Oh summer, we miss you.

It is almost impossible to get a non-blurry shot of this kid:

Henry. He's not your usual Driskill babe. He's into everything. Except toys. Which means he's learning all about the word "no". I'd feel sorry for him, especially when I look at that cute face, but I know better. He's eighteen months old, 50% for height and weight and one tough cookie...no crying for shots, no crying when tackled, no crying when carried around like a dolly. But a whole lotta crying about the six teeth coming through and the fact that he can't play basketball in the driveway with Jack. And speaking of basketball, he's seriously addicted:

He likes to have one (of any size) at all times. I got him up the other day and he had one in his hot little hand and was grinning like crazy cause I hadn't caught him with it when he went to bed. He has also given up his morning nap (man, I drug that out as long as possible) but he has replaced it with a need for cuddles on the couch, which I'm happy to oblige. Just weeks ago he wouldn't have been caught dead sucking his thumb in public (I don't think the other kids even knew he sucked it at all...only in his crib, only at bed time), but he's been popping it in there pretty regularly lately. He says the usual words but my favorite is when he yells "Jack", which is pretty much all the time. He is a sweet sweet (busy) boy.

We've been busy.

Doing what? That's hard to put my finger on. After a pretty crazy event season (at one point there were four events in two weeks), I'm taking the spring off and it feels, well, weird. Between not working and living in a rental, my creative itch is not getting scratched and honestly, while I am a serious procrastinator, I do my best work under pressure. The busier I am, the more efficient I get. So I am finding myself all busied up with not much to show for it. Ideally I'd be working on my house plans but we're in the middle of a crazy stretch of nasty weather so I have been putting that off till the sun starts shining (see? procrastination at its finest). I'm not doing any house projects, my kids are trucking along, Ed's traveling like crazy so I rarely cook, and yet, I seem to have a load of clothes in the dryer at all times (not to mention one in the washer, which I keep forgetting about and having to re-wash). And I still feel busy. all. the. time. It's weird. And I'm gonna blame it on the weather. So here's to a happy, productive, dare I say crafty April!

Happy Happy Birthday....

to our favorite person

in the whole

wide

world!

this would have been awesome

in December.

Jack says

"I think my best years will be when Henry's big enough to play with me all the time."

Special guest

Pete the Panda is visiting Jack's class from China and gets to go home with each kid for a night. Jack.is.pumped. As soon as I saw his little face at pick up, I knew this was his day. Jack's got a busy night planned out for him, which includes pizza and ice cream...cause he is company after all.

Breaking ground!

The driveway.

That was yesterday. Today it's covered in snow. Poo.

Spring at Grandma's

March family picture!

And Happy St. Patrick's Day!

And as you can see, my little people take the pinching very seriously so we wear green. And it can't be on your unders. That doesn't count.

This is what I'm telling ya...they are a funny bunch

Jemma just got up from her nap and said, "Jack, you the bomb...thank you for cleaning my bedroom."