Randomness

We don't really have anything too interesting to report, except that the kids and I are going to Bandon with my mom tomorrow (through Thursday).  I'm excited...we haven't been there since the beginning of September, which is WAY TOO LONG.  I am sad that we're going to miss some awesome weather in the valley, however!

Anyway, it's been forever since I've posted anything, so thought I'd just throw a bunch of random pictures together.  Proof that we haven't done anything very blogworthy lately.  (Actually we did go on a family bike ride, but I'm too lazy to upload those pictures right now. :)

I don't remember why he headed outside like this...had to check on something, I suppose.  Or maybe he just wanted to use his umbrella.  That's been known to happen, too.

Mandy got the kids these mustache candies at a bake sale at work.  They were quite tasty!

Hiding  (The glass in my hutch is "seeded," which is why it looks spotted in this picture.)

Judson named that baby Rosa and for a few days she was all he talked about and played with.  He carried her around in Cooper's laundry basket.  It was very uncharacteristic of him...and so very sweet! 

Helping Daddy wash the car

Easter 2013

We had a wonderful Easter...and week leading up to Easter (Holy Week).  As Judson gets older, it's fun to start new traditions, and I found one I'm really excited about.  I ordered "Resurrection Eggs" and a book that goes with them this year.  Each egg has a little item in it that represents part of Jesus' death and resurrection and every page of the book goes with one of the eggs.  I thought it would be a neat hands-on way to help Judson get excited and understand what Jesus did for us on the cross.  Even though some of it was above his head, he LOVED opening the eggs and reading the story each night.  (We did two eggs per night.)  I would definitely recommend this to other Christian families!

We dyed eggs but I didn't get any pictures worth sharing.  Something about trying to keep an 18 month old (and a three year old, for that matter) from spilling dye all over, I guess...  We'd gotten a sheet of stickers in an advertisement in the mail that day and eventually I let Cooper go to town with them to keep her occupied.  :)

Anyway, the weather was pretty fabulous all week and we spent lots of time outside having Easter egg hunts.  Both kids loved it, and I loved having something new to do outside.  :)

Both Saturday and Sunday were in the high seventies and it was FABULOUS.  Just the way Easter should be.  Our church had three services and Nate and I helped with children's ministry at the 9:45 service.  Since we didn't want to miss out on church ourselves, we managed to make it to the 8:00 service (which didn't have childcare).  It was quite a feat - Easter baskets, baths, making sure the kids and I were packed to stay overnight, dressing in our Easter best...and out the door at 7:45 am (five minutes late, but I was still pleased)!  We had to sit in the third row, which I knew was risky.  Cooper's at that age where she'll just start screeching if the mood hits her or if she doesn't want to do something.  Miraculously, she made it the entire service!  Hallelujah!

The rest of the day was spent at my parents'.  We had lots of fun and were thrilled to be outside most of the day. 

These two absolutely adore each other!

You don't even want to know how many pictures I took trying to get a good one of all three of them.  And I'm not talking about a smiling picture.  I would consider it a good one if they were all looking at me.  :)

Rowland at two and a half months...quite a big guy!

Helping Macy step down into the yard during an egg hunt.

Something was hilarious!  :)

 Okay, I'm including a bunch of similar ones, because my children rarely smile at the same time...

 

My parents' new dining room furniture (for family members who care :)

Also for family members who care: my parents' driveway and all their gorgeous bulbs

More daffodils ("quilting barn" pictured; house to the left).  They are everywhere and it's SO pretty!

All in all, it was a prefect Resurrection celebration.  Thank you, Jesus, for dying for our sins!

P.S. Cooper's shoes matched her dress perfectly, but did not come with it.  The shoes came from Goodwill a year ago and I'd forgotten all about them.  Right before Easter, I realized they matched her dress.  So fun!

Tubing at Mt. Hoodoo

Two weekends ago, we decided at the last minute to go tubing at Hoodoo with Phil, Bridgett, and Kristin.  I had wanted to get our kids to the snow and it just hadn't happened yet.

Anyway, we scrounged gear for our kiddos and I bundled us all up WAY more than it turned out I needed to.  Bridgett mentioned that they never wore gloves up there and I thought she was crazy.  It ended up being a GORGEOUS, WARM day and by the time we were done, I'd taken off my sweatshirt, gloves, and hat, and unzipped my jacket.  Note to self: going to the snow in the spring is way more enjoyable than going when it's freezing (especially with kids).  Also, paying to go tubing where there's a rope-tow is DEFINITELY worth the money.  (Kids under five are free.)

We got off to a rough start.  Cooper tipped over and landed face-first in snow and wasn't happy about it.  She was begging to get back in the car, and I eventually decided to let her have her binky, lest she ruin our entire day.  (She's only been having it for naps and bedtime for over a month and doing great  for the most part.)  Still, she was quite fussy and insisted she be carried for most of the morning. 

She didn't make a peep during our first run down the hill, but that was probably because I was screaming.  On second thought, maybe she did and I just couldn't hear her.  :)  It was much faster than I remembered from years ago AND I had her with me and didn't want to crash and injure her.  Anyway, as soon as we were at the bottom, she started saying, "Bebe" (binky) over and over and I realized she'd lost it.  ACK!  We didn't have another one and again I was pretty certain our day was going to be a short one.  Thankfully, though, we had gone down the first run and I spotted it way up the hill.  Nate ran up and retrieved it and saved the day.  We zip-tied it to her zipper and she happily sucked the rest of the day...  Yes, eventually she was perfectly happy, even way past naptime. 

All told, we got seven runs (out of ten) in and had a terrific day.  All three kids held up so well!  On our last run of the day, we did have a scare, however.  Phil and Judson's tube came unhooked near the top and instead of crashing into the safety nets, it hit Nate's which came undone and crashed into Cooper and me.  It was really scary, because the tow area was a sheet of ice and I didn't want to slide down it at break-neck speeds and take other tubers out.  I quickly decided to roll off with Cooper and no was else was taken out.  (Nate had grabbed the cable and tried to stop, wearing quite a mark into his gloves.)  Quite the adventure.  The employee at the top said he'd never seen anything like that.  (The tubes usually hit the nets if they come unhooked.)

I prayed before every run because it was so fast and we had such precious "cargo."  I was so thankful for a fun, SAFE day!

This was not when she face-planted.  I didn't witness it, but Nate did and said it was awfully cute (in a sad way, of course! :)

Bridgett forgot her sunglasses.  Thankfully, Nate had these goggles with him.

Judson broke his sunglasses right before getting out of the car (not intentionally), so borrowed some of Kristin's.

At the end of the day, I asked Judson what his favorite part was.  He replied, "Throwing snowballs at Phil."

Everything but the glasses was given to us by different people, yet she matched perfectly.  :)

She finally decided sitting in the tube by herself while we were in line wasn't so bad.

She spent a lot of time like this...cleaning snow and debris out of the tube. :)

 

Kristin fell asleep while we were in line.

SUCH a beautiful day!