Sophie

I think that this picture says it all! She is quite the character - picking up all of the typical girly hand gestures, head shaking side to side when she talks, finger on her cheek when she's thinking with her eyes looking up to the side, toe tapping, funny little phrases etc. She is well aware that she is turning 4 on June 6th - and lets everyone know it. It's funny cause she was telling someone "Mommy's birthday is coming and Chasey's birthday is next" ... I thought she was being so thoughtful thinking of us, but realized the only reason she was sharing this was because it led up to "and THENNN it will be MYYY birthday!!" Haha! But she really is growing in servanthood and has such a big heart for others.

Her new big thing is keeping the play room picked up for me, and she is always getting after Chason for making a mess after she has just cleaned ... hmm, where did she get that from?? And anytime anyone says they are hurt or not feeling well she immediately offers to pray for them, and does it on the spot. I am constantly amazed at the spiritual things that she comprehends, or is attempting to comprehend in her little mind. Calvin was lying on the floor fussing the other day and she says in her baby talk voice to him, "Don't be sad Calvie, God is with you. He is everywhere, God is with you!" thinking that that would be consoling to him. :). And in prayers that she says or conversations that we have with her you can see some articulation of the gospel starting to peek through.

She has challenged us this year with all of the struggles she has had adjusting to the move and everything else that has come along with this year at PC. In our flesh, it is so easy to focus on all of the headaches and setbacks, all of the times she has disobeyed or needed correction. But when we reflect on the evidences of God's grace at work in her, we are more in awe of God and his faithfulness - he is at work in our little girl's heart!

Chason

Oh my Chasey boy, my joy ... at times my heart attack, but still my joy, lol! This guy is something else. Chason is gonna be 2 in just 1 month and I have to say he is at my FAVORITE age right now. He is so much fun, always running around and climbing and jumping off of something - you can probably see the bruises on his forehead in the picture - he has a head of steel! Nate just took the clippers to his hair for the 1st time and now there is not a curl to be seen :(. He looks so much bigger with the cut, but I really like it. He is talking so much now, it seems like every day he is putting another 3 word phrase together, and he is totally into cars. Today he refused to wear any shirt that did not have a car on it. And this weekend we had a BBQ at our house, so kids were running in and out and the doors were left open. I walked into the living room and looked out the front window ... there was Chason ON TOP of our Pacifica pointing to the sky saying "look, birds!" I ran outside and at the same time, Helen my neighbor was running down the street to come and save him too. Scared both of us, but when I grabbed him down he was looking at us like, what's wrong with you guys?? I could go on, my little man keeps me very busy, but gives me many stories to share with friends :).

Here is the shot I took running to get him off the car ...

Cal

Our baby boy is 6 months old already! Thinking about that really puts into perspective just how long we have been in Maryland being that we had him 2 months after we got here!

His big blue eyes and wide smile melts our hearts, and we are constantly laughing at just how big and long he is and how he is bound to pass up Chason very soon. He is eating baby food like a champ and is already starting to pivot around on his tummy and push himself forward with his strong little legs. On the flip side, he has proven to be an even bigger challenge than the other 2 kids were as infants - which I didn't think was possible! He is still crying lots during the day, is not content to play on his own, pretty much just wants me to hold him and nighttime ... well, i'm not even going to go there, ha! But I have to say that he has caused me to draw nearer to Jesus and depend on HIM even more than any of the other kids have at this point, so that's a good thing :). But next thing I know, we are going to be celebrating his 1st birthday, he'll be wrestling with his little-big bro and running around the house with sissy, and i'll miss this.

.gram.

If you spelled "love" any other way, it would be g-r-a-m.

We were blessed to have my paternal Grandmother here for a week with us and ate up every moment! She lives in CA, so we don't get to see her too often. And with our growing family and having to purchase 4 plane tickets to go anywhere now, we probably won't be getting out there as often as we'd like anymore, so we took advantage of making as many memories as we could while we had her - took the Metro to DC and saw the sights, picnics, feeding the ducks, making cookies, walks, shopping, playing, talking and reminiscing ... my prayer is that even though the kids are small, that even just an portion of these memories made with Gram would remain with them as they grow. *Thank you to the Holter family for offering your ticket voucher & to my wonderful hubby for thinking of Gram when you got that e-mail!

National Cherry Blossom Festival

On Monday we ventured out to DC with our friends the Prado's for the Cherry Blossom Festival. The trees actually peaked early this year, so we just missed it by a couple of days. It was still a gorgeous sight and we couldn't have asked for a better day as far as the weather went. The kids were troopers, we made it to the Jefferson, Roosevelt & the WWII memorials and walked all the way around the tidal basin. As we were going to our car we actually got to see the President drive by too, so that was neat. I am happy we got the kids out to DC, even if just once while we are here, so when they are older they can say they went there - and Sophie can tell her kids she saw "Barack Omommy", as she now calls him :).

Easter

It really was the most beautiful day! We started out celebrating Our Savior's resurrection at Covenant Life, enjoyed the gorgeous weather and took advantage of the cherry blossoms with a mini photo shoot and then joined our friends at the Kauflin's house for an amazing lunch spread and an afternoon complete with an egg hunt and games for the kids. Here are some pictures from start to finish. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter, Oasis church we missed celebrating with you all!