Easter Egg Hunt

We took Jake to his first Easter Egg hunt this morning. He got to decorate Easter eggs, participate in a spoon/egg race (good thing the eggs were boiled!), and pick up brightly colored plastic eggs filled with sweet treats. Jake calls them "num, num, num." (Don't ask me how he knows what candy is because I've tried to steer clear of giving him junk food...I have a hard enough time getting him to eat real food right now...but, nevertheless, he knows when something is good!) It was fun to watch his enthusiasm and enjoyment.

Coloring an egg before dipping it in the dye.

Since I'm usually the one taking the pictures, this was the only one of me. :)

What's inside these things?

Yeah for a fun Saturday morning activity on a beautiful Spring day!

How Big is Baby?

THIS Big!!!

I don't think he fits anymore...do you?

We're Making Cupcakes!

Today was a yucky, rainy day. That's hard on both a toddler and a mommy (what do you do with your kid all day when he just wants to play outside?), so we decided to make some pumpkin cupcakes. Jake loves to hop up on a chair and "see" anytime I'm doing something in the kitchen, so I decided to let him help me by dumping ingredients in the bowl. Well...most of them made it in the bowl. Let's just say I'm amazed at how big of a mess 3/4 of a teaspoon of baking powder can make.

Jake could not keep his fingers out of the batter.

Nor did those sticky fingers stay out of his mouth!

Click on this one for a close up of how dirty his little face was.

But he was a happy boy! It's funny how much he loved the batter, but would he eat one when the cupcakes came out of the oven? Not a chance. Silly kid. :)

Welcome Spring!!

Spring weather has been pretty random here. March came with major rain storms (one that was almost classified as a hurricane...67 mph winds!!...talk about downed trees, flooding, and power outages) as well as 70 degrees and sunny. We've all been loving more time outside, trips to the park, and the lovely flowers that are popping up all over our yard. The trees are beginning to bud, and I can't wait for the lilac tree to bloom! (Guess I'll have to wait until May for that one.)
We are happy to report that our home is currently under contract and its looking more and more like a May departure. Now's the time to hurry up and cross all of the "want to do's" off our list before we leave, in addition to all the moving-related "have to do's." I've moved many times, but never on this scale.
I don't have many recent pictures (Jake's not good about letting me get many photographs of him, as he always wants to "see" the end result, or will stop what he's doing as soon as he realizes I'm trying to capture it on film) but here's what I do have.

His absolute favorite sleeping position...head in the corner against the bars with his little bum up in the air. Too funny. :)

We went to a flower show at a local nursery. Jake's looking at the fish in the pond...I don't know what he was saying, but thought the expression was cute.

The weatherman says its a chilly 44 degrees outside. It was actually snowing earlier this morning. And I'm wearing capris (which I wore the summer before I got married, before Jake was even a twinkle in my eye) and flip flops. Wanna know why? Because they fit. Happy Day!!

The Big To-Do

Blessed hour (sometimes two) when my boy is asleep. A shower, some lunch, maybe a "must- do" or two gets done. Today that task is bringing you up to date on the happenings in our little world. I told you we went to Colorado (and Washington) earlier this month. Visiting family while we were there was a wonderful added bonus, but the real reason we spent a week in CO was to check out the area and look at real estate. Yes, you read that correctly. We've been given an opportunity to transfer to Colorado Springs (same job, different location), and after some prayerful consideration have decided to make the move across the country. We don't have a specific timeline, as our house is currently on the market and that's a waiting game.

So...I guess the word is out.

We had a number of wildlife sightings...

some very much alive

others not so much :)

Brian enjoyed a surprise birthday cake (thank you Aunt Francie!)

Jacob found his true love. It was love at first sight for him, not so much for Bella. Her tolerance for Jake's amorous displays quickly turned to annoyance, subsequent hiding from him whenever he entered the room, and finally blatant "Go Away!" (in catspeak of course...translate hissing and swatting at him). Poor Jake. His first broken heart.

We visited Garden of the Gods, a beautiful National Natural Landmark of red rocks in the Pike's Peak region of Colorado. It really was spectacular, especially with the snowfall the day before.

While we focused on the layout and general condition of the homes we were looking at, Jake scoped out the toys available to play on. Some of his favorites are as follows.

toy car

rocking horse

and, of course, the big boy toy...a riding lawn mower!

While in Washington, I managed to get together for a few hours one afternoon with a dear friend of mine from my missionary days. Here's the best shot of our three boys, Bradley, Collin, and Jake. (At least two of the three are looking at the camera) :)

Lindsay and her boys

And though I managed to make it home without taking ANY pictures while at Nana & Papa's house, we did have a great time. It was wonderful to spend a week with my parents, my sister and brother-in-law (yeah for their fun new house!), and to celebrate my Grandma's 90th birthday. Thanks for a lovely week...we miss you lots!

Good old John Deere

Just got back from a visit with family and friends in Colorado and Washington. We had a good time and I promise to post more pictures and more about the trips, but that will have to wait for another day. But I had to share this picture of Jake on the riding lawn mower. I think he would have taken it out for a spin had we given him enough time to figure out the mechanics of it. :)